News: Ventura staff answer the call for Red Nose Day

Ventura in Rotherham did its bit for Red Nose Day and Comic Relief, handing part of its contact centre over to the annual charity night.

80 telephone lines were manned by over 130 volunteers from Ventura, who gave up their own time to take donations from the public between 6pm and midnight at the company's Dearne Valley site.

Over 2,400 calls were taken by Ventura staff, from advisor to general manager level.

Ian Cherry, Managing Director of Ventura said: "Our team of exceptional volunteers donated their spare time to Comic Relief and the vulnerable people it helps here in the UK and in Africa. Spurred on by the nation's generosity we had a record-breaking and fun-fuelled night!"

In total £80,995.50 was pledged through Ventura's contact centre. The largest single pledge taken was for £1,000 from a personal caller.

The team also let their hair down and fundraised themselves during the day by doing their very own bush tucker trials, fancy dress and prize drawer raffles, all in the name of charity.

As the evening drew to a close £74,360,207 had been raised which is the highest total reached on the night in Red Nose Day's 23 year history.

On the support from call centres, Helen Puddefoot, Comic Relief's Head of Campaign Management, said: "Ventura is one of a team of UK call centres taking donations and we'd like to say a massive Thank You to all the staff who will be giving up their precious Friday night. We also want to thank BT which is again providing the infrastructure behind the record-breaking telephony system."

Ventura website

Images: comicrelief.com