SMITHS News PLC has raised £102,359 for local and national charities as part of their community week initiative.

In January, when the community week initiative launched, a target of £70,000 was set. Since then staff have been working hard to raise money for both local and national charities.

It is the second year running that employees at the company, whose headquarters is at Greenbridge, have smashed their target.

Mark Cashmore, group chief executive said: “Raising this amount of money, and we are still counting, is an outstanding achievement and it is a credit to everyone who took part in fundraising and/or sponsoring colleagues.

“We have been able to support more than 15 different charities this year by the sheer amount of hard work our employees have done to raise money for their great causes.”

As part of the initiative, the company held a community week in June for staff to take part in lots of fundraising activities.

During the week, 32 employees took part in the Company’s flagship fundraising events; a 375-mile bike ride from Southampton to Newcastle and a challenging 26-mile walk along part of the Ridgeway to raise money for the charities they support.

Employee Brett Hanley, IT Support Team Leader, who took part in the bike ride, said: “The S to N bike ride was an amazing experience and with the support of my friends, family and colleagues I’ve raised £1,090 for my nominated charity, the Swindon Downs Syndrome Group.”