Encouraging Employees To Make A Difference
We understand the importance of giving back to the community – it is something we feel passionate about throughout the company.
ROQ takes an active role in supporting local and national charities. The company encourage all employees to engage in fundraising activities and volunteer work in the community. As well as having lots of company initiatives throughout the year, we have also introduced a charity matching scheme to encourage the employees to work creatively in raising money for charities of their choice.
We hope you enjoy reading about the fun we've had.
Virtual Balloon Race in Support of Trinity Hospice
This year, ROQ celebrates its 12th birthday and are coupling the celebrations with a charity balloon race for Trinity Hospice! The ROQ Virtual Balloon Race page will open on ROQ’s birthday (30th June) for balloon purchases, with balloons costing £3 each and taking flight on Friday 30th July.
You can purchase as many balloons as you like, and they can be tracked daily with a leader board of how far balloons have travelled... The winning balloon will be announced on Friday 20th August!
Check out our announcement and find more info on how to get involved here
60,000 steps in a day! EACH!
A brave bunch of ROQites took part in a virtual walk to Trinity Hospice as part of their £50 fundraising challenge!
This involved surmounting 60,000 steps (roughly 25.5 miles, the distance from the ROQ Test Lab to Trinity Hospice) in just one day! There were lots and lots of sore bones on Monday morning but the team raised over a grand for the hospice, which will also be matched by ROQ's charity matching scheme!
Good work guys, rest those feet!
Power Up 2020 for Movember
We took part in our own 'Power Up' gaming challenge in support of Movember!
The event involves playing video games for 24 hours, which was more difficult than usual due to it being held remotely because of the pandemic! Most our gamers completed the challenge though, and raised fantastic amounts of both money and awareness for a worthy cause.
Movember 2020
March The Month
Our colleague, Niel took part in March The Month for Prostate Cancer UK, walking 11,000 steps every day in the month of September - which is like walking the coastline of Jersey 3 times!
Well done Niel, grab yourself a well deserved beer!
Easter Raffle for Brian House Children's Hospice
We supported Brian House's Easter fundraiser by raffling an Easter Hamper with our colleagues, raising a grand total of £100 for the Blackpool-based charity.
Cash for Kids Superhero Day 2019
We supported Cash for Kids' Superhero Day for the second year running by having a cake sale and donning only the best superhero attire! It was great to see Fireman Dec make an appearance too!
#ChorleyHack
Felix helped out at the ROQ sponsored Chorley Hack Event where teams from local Schools were challenged to create a game or animation to teach about E-Safety. Felix got the chance to mentor the pupils by helping them debug their games and assist with technical queries! He was also on the judges panel for the "best game/animation" and had a fantastic day!
Game Heroes - March 2019
We took part in Macmillan’s Game Heroes challenge on Saturday 9th March. Macmillan’s event involves playing video games for 24 hours, raising money to help those affected by Cancer. This is the fifth time we've taken part in the event and we smashed our previous funds raised, getting over £800 of donations for the Cancer support charity!
RED January 2019
We took part in RED January for the second year running! Using our Fitbits initiative to drive the fundraising, we raised a whopping £1000 for Lancashire Mind, getting a healthy start to 2019 in the process!
Cash4Kids #MissionChristmas
Throughout December, we set our sights on helping ROCKFM's charity Cash4Kids #MissionChristmas which helps makes Christmas special for children living under difficult circumstances. Over the month we held a Christmas Shopping Event, operated a toy collection and much more, eventually donating £500 worth of toys and an extra £350 in cash! We ended the month with a Community Day in which Amanda, Lesley, Niel and Graham took part on the final Friday before Christmas, organising some of the donations before they went out to the recipients! We had a brilliant time helping #MissionChristmas and hope we made it a great festive period for those involved! Merry Christmas!
Wrap Up London Community Day
Karen, Leon and Maureen used their Community Day volunteering at Wrap Up London's largest sorting office in Chiswick! Wrap Up London collect coats from Londoners on their way to work, setting up collection stations at six main London Underground stations. The coats are then sent to safestores ready to be sorted by volunteers and distributed to over 100 charities, with the aim of keeping vulnerable individuals and families warm over the winter period. Last year they collected around 24,000 coats and this year has already surpassed that figure (5th December 2018)!
Manchester Dogs Home Community Day
Declan, Steve, Richard, Katie and Uzo used their Community Day at Manchester Dogs Home on 4th December. They went for walkies, tidied and cleaned and helped with general maintenance of the home. They had a fantastic day, met loads of lovely pooches and carried out some fantastic volunteer work!
Litter Pick and Football Tournament Community Day
Craig, Joe, Nick, John and Dave took part in their Community Day on Friday 16th November. In the morning, they carried out a litter pick in the area local to the ROQ Test Lab in Euxton, and in the afternoon they played in a charity football tournament at Trafford Soccerdome which raised funds for a charity that supplies children's medical equipment.
Movember
Niel, James and Joe took part in Movember and grew fluff on their upper lips throughout the eleventh month! They endured a month of itching and funny looks to raise awareness and funds for a series of men's health charities. In total, once ROQ Charity Matching was applied, they raised a brilliant £322!
Sober October
Three very brave ROQ employees, Kara, Sarah Jane and Niel, went the whole month of October without a single drop of alcohol! This selfless sacrifice helped them on their way to raising a huge £760 for Macmillan, including ROQ Charity Matching!
Byte Night 2018
On Friday 5th October, Andrew, Stephen and Ian took part in Byte Night 2018 and spent the night on the streets of Manchester, raising money for Action for Children! The aim was simple, equipped with sleeping bag and plenty thermals, sleep rough on Coronation Street's cold cobbles... and we are very pleased to say that all three completed the challenge and raised a fantastic amount of cash for a very worthy cause!
Toilet Twinning 2018
We've twinned our toilets for the second time! From 17th - 21st September, we raised £240 for Toilet Twinning (enough to fund the construction of a school toilet block)! We wore white, challenged ourselves with a topical music quiz, had a game of toilet roll tin can alley and had a great time as we put the FUN in fundraiser and smashed our target!
Cuerden Valley Community Day
Dave, James and Mike recently used their 2018 Community Day to help improve the surrounding areas of the newly built Cuerden Valley visitor centre. Luckily, the weather was on their side and they had a wonderful day; digging, planting, grafting and giving something back to our local community!
Game Heroes 2018
Our gamers are at it again! The ROQ Game Heroes have taken part in another annual 24 hour gaming challenge for Macmillan, right here in The Test Lab! They battled their way through 24 hours of gaming and ran a series of tournaments and competitions to get them through, only stopping for fuel in the form of pizza! They managed to raise over £500 for charity once ROQ charity matching was applied. Well done guys, can't wait until next year!
ROQ Supports Cancer Central
We recently held a charity day for Cancer Central, wearing blue/green to raise awareness and holding a raffle and cake sale to raise a target of £500. We had a fantastic day as we welcomed founder of Cancer Central, Avril Chester to The Lab. Thanks to the generosity of our colleagues and our suppliers who donated some fantastic raffle prizes, we hit our target, raising £502, which was then matched by ROQ!
World Cup Fundraiser
During The World Cup we ran a number of initiatives in attempt to raise £1000 for Teenage Cancer Trust. We took part in sweepstakes, desk decorating, quizzes and more all edging us closer to that grand total! The main attraction during the four week long fundraiser was the charity BBQ that we hosted for the business park! We invited our neighbours along for burgers, cake and fun and thanks to to everyone's generosity raised £385 towards the £1009.50 we raised overall!
Community Day at The Dogs Home
The most recent ROQ Community Day took part at Manchester Dogs Home, where Grace, Andrew, Graham and Steve spent their day taking care of the pooches, carrying out work in the grounds, and generally making a difference to the lives of the many dogs that live there. It was clear to see that the day made a lasting impression on the volunteers from ROQ too as they really enjoyed the experience and loved getting to meet some of the dogs!
ROQ Colleagues Take on 72 holes
Richard, James and Andrew recently took part in Macmillan's Longest Day Golf Challenge, when they completed 72 holes, that's four rounds of golf in a single day! They started at 5am at Leyland Golf Club and completed two rounds there before setting off to Haigh Hall for the final two rounds, finishing up at around 9pm. Though weary at the end, they raised a huge £540 for Macmillan, all of which was matched by ROQ!
Superhero Day 2018
For Superhero Day 2018 we asked our colleagues to dress as superheroes! We had it all, from Spider-Man masks, to Superman slippers and questionable Scooby Doo onesies! For every ROQ employee dressed in superhero attire, we donated £10 to Cash4Kids, raising a fantastic £130!
RED January
ROQ's newest fitbit initiative saw us raise over a grand for Lancashire Mind! We took part in RED January, adding our own ROQ-y twist... for every ROQ employee that achieved 10,000 steps every day in January, we donated £100 to charity and for everyone who achieved a 10,000 step average across the month, we donated £50! Thanks to our fantastic fitbit fanatics we raised a whopping £1200 for Lancashire Mind.
Community Day at The Foxton Centre
Following on from our Christmas donation to The Foxton Centre, Amanda, Julian and Sarah Jane decided to utilise their Community Days by delivering CV writing and IT skills sessions for the homeless, helping them get back in to work.
ROQ Gives To The Homeless
ROQ recently chose The Foxton Centre as it's Christmas cause of 2017 and donated an abundance of sleeping bags, socks and underwear to the homeless people of Preston. We delivered the supplies to The Foxton Centre as our annual Christmas donation and we were more than happy to help out!
Macmillan Game Heroes 2017
Our brave Game Heroes took on Macmillan's annual 24 hour gaming challenge for the third year in a row! They slogged through a full 24 hours of video games, only stopping for pizza breaks along the way!
The group of ROQ colleagues managed to raise a fantastic £420 for Macmillan, which was then matched by ROQ's charity matching initiative.
Community Day at Ronald McDonald House, Alder Hey
The first ROQ Community Day took place at RMH Alder Hey, where Joe, Rob and Andy painted bedrooms for the families staying there. During their visit they also accepted a plaque for all of ROQ's support over the years and placed it on the RMH thank you tree.
ROQ Donning Double Denim
We donned our double denim (and triple in some cases) for Jeans for Genes, raising awareness and a bit of cash to support children affected by genetic disorders. Wearing jeans, changing lives!
Summer Splash FUNdraiser
During August, we ran our Summer Splash FUNdraiser for Penny Appeal, funding the construction of a well in India. Three children die every minute from drinking dirty water and all it took was £300 from the generosity of ROQ colleagues to help out! We had a great time doing so, with a BBQ, beach ball volleyball and more... We even managed to get Stephen and Mark in the stocks for a soaking!
Sweet Success for Alzheimer's Society Fundraiser
The ROQ team held a cupcake sale in the Test Lab to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society. We're committed to supporting local, regional and national charities - especially when there's cake involved!
ROQ Lends a Hand to Domestic Violence Refuge
Our team recently collected food, clothing and household items for the Domestic Violence Refuge in Bolton. The organisation supports families in times of need, and we were delighted to help them out.
Team ROQ Steps Up to Charity Challenge
During March we set ourselves the challenge of walking 10,000 steps every day, or an average of 10,000 steps per day over the month. The steps quickly added up through a series of lunchtime walks, weekend challenges, fitness classes and daily competitions between colleagues. For the walkers who racked up more than 31,000 steps, ROQ gave £100 to the charity pot, and for those who reached the average, £50.
The month ended with an impressive £1300 being donated through ROQ's charity matching scheme, and participants have voted to split this amount between three good causes: East Lancs Hospice, Rosemere Cancer Foundation, and the North West Air Ambulance.
Baking Bonanza in aid of Comic Relief
ROQ marked this year's Comic Relief fundraiser with a cake sale, raising £110 for the charity.
ROQ Returns to Refresh Ronald McDonald House
A huge 'Thank You' goes to the team of nine volunteers who descended on the Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey to do a spot of decorating - between them they transformed a family apartment as well as a corridor throughout the apartment block.
Ronald McDonald House offers accommodation free of charge to the parents of critically sick children in Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. The House does not receive any grants or funding and is run purely off the donations they receive. The charity also received a donation from ROQ of £590 to match the time of those ROQ employees who volunteered.
No Choc for ROQ in aid of British Heart Foundation!
Six ROQ team members went without chocolate for the whole of March 2017 to raise money for the British Heart Foundation, through the DECHOX fundraising drive. Considering the (un)healthy levels of chocolate always available in the office, this was a pretty mean feat, raising an impressive £320 (including charity matching) for the good cause. Well done to everyone who took part!
ROQ Spreads Christmas Cheer with Donations to Chorley Women’s Refuge, and Chorley Food Bank
ROQ, the software testing provider, chose Chorley Women’s Refuge as its 2016 Christmas cause, to support the vital work the organisation does in assisting families in need. Chorley-based ROQ linked with the charity and donated pyjamas, slippers and dressing gowns to the value of £500, for the women and children staying at the facilities during the festive period.
ROQ colleagues also gave a helping hand to Chorley Foodbank with festive donations for the charity’s Christmas hampers. The team delivered bags full of delicious treats to Living Waters Church, ready to be packed into parcels and distributed across the area. Dozens of mince pies, chocolates, gingerbread, puddings and cakes were donated.
ROQ Brushes Up Its DIY Skills for Children’s Charity
A group of seven volunteers from Chorley-based software testing consultancy ROQ teamed up with Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, to makeover a family apartment.
The ROQ employees rolled up their sleeves and picked up a brush to freshen up the space used by families of the most critically ill children being treated at Alder Hey.
This was the second time ROQ has offered its DIY services to Ronald McDonald House at Alder Hey, as part of its ongoing commitment to supporting good causes. The company has in place an initiative to donate money to charities supported by its team, and because of this, Ronald McDonald House will receive a donation from ROQ of £600.
We Help Shape the Future at Cuerden Valley Park
A group of five employees from ROQ spent a day building straw bale walls at the country park, where a £400,000 project is underway to create a unique visitor centre and café with eco-credentials. The visitor centre is being constructed using recycled materials such as tyres and timber, has straw bale walls insulated with sheep’s wool, solar panels and a ground-source heat pump to provide underfloor heating.
ROQ became part of the volunteer programme at the beginning of the build and is delighted to continue to support this great community facility, which is due to open soon.
ROQ Returns to the Classroom to Raise Money for Charity
We timetabled three weeks of fundraising activities at the start of the new academic year to generate funds for the charity Toilet Twinning. Poor sanitation is one of the world’s biggest killers and every day, about 1,400 children under the age of five die of illnesses linked to unclean water and poor sanitation; that’s more than half a million a year – or about one a minute.
We aimed to raise enough money to fund a toilet block at a school in Chad, Africa, where poverty is rife and poor health and social conditions are the norm. We smashed our target and will reveal the grand total raised very soon!
ROQ Runners Return to Race For Life
A trio of dedicated ROQ runners took time out of their weekend to run a challenging 10k course in aid of Cancer Research. Jen Antrobus, Kate Taylor and Sarah Riggott trained hard and finished strong at the Haydock Park Race for Life on July 12th 2016.
The ROQ team is committed to supporting good causes and this is just one event that allows the company to give something back; ROQ has in place a charity matching scheme that boosts the fundraising efforts made by groups of three employees or more. This means that the Race for Life team raised an impressive £650 for Cancer Research.
Sarah said: “We really enjoyed taking part in the 10k, it was a great atmosphere on the day and the weather was perfect, as it wasn’t raining, or too hot. Everyone at ROQ supported us and we’re delighted to have raised so much money for Cancer Research."
DECHOX
Throughout the whole of March, five members of the ROQ team decided to say balls to chocolate! It was part of the British Heart Foundation’s nationwide sponsored challenge and all funds raised will go towards lifesaving research, materials, equipment and support networks. The month was particularly challenging, given that the Easter weekend fell in March, but the whole team managed to stay strong, and in doing so, raised a total of £180 for this great cause.
Moonlight & Memories Walk
On Saturday 4th June, five ROQ ladies joined the Moonlight & Memories Walk in aid of St Catherine’s Hospice. The 10-mile walk through the night started in the grounds of the hospice and took a big loop around the local area of Preston.
The team managed to raise over £440, including the ROQ donation from our charity matching scheme. The funds will go towards this great local charity that helps people in the community affected by serious illness enjoy quality of life and have dignity in death.
Sport Relief
On Friday 18th March ROQ staff got active in the office for Sports Relief! Everyone donated to come into work in their sporty clothes as well as playing table tennis, foosball, golf and indoor badminton. ROQ also agreed to donate 5,000p if every active Fitbit wearer in the company achieved 5,000 steps in one day. Everyone got involved and we raised an impressive £90 for Sport Relief who transform lives across the world's poorest communities as well as right here in the UK and we had some great sporty fun doing it!
Game Changers for Macmillan
Starting at 10am on Saturday 18th December, 5 eager ROQ Testers gave up their weekend and created the ultimate gaming station in the Test Lab to endure a 24 hour gaming marathon. Supported by other staff members throughout their epic undertaking they succeeded in becoming Game Changers for Macmillan Cancer Support and including our charity matching scheme they managed to raise an impressive £440 for the charity – Well Done Guys!
Christmas Toy Donation
Throughout December 2015 ROQ staff donated Christmas presents for Alder Hey Children’s Charity, to be used for patients at the hospital. Our staff were very generous and we amassed a collection of items including; DVD’s, books and games to be delivered to the hospital in time for Christmas. These gifts are then personally delivered by Father Christmas to these very ill children on Christmas morning, putting lots of smiles on little faces.
BBC Children in Need
On Friday 13th November ROQ staff helped to raise money for BBC Children in Need with a raffle and cake sale. Our raffle prizes included free gym passes, a round of FootGolf for 4 people and an extra day’s holiday for 2016 amongst many others things which local businesses had donated for the cause. The holiday seemed to be the biggest draw, even though we all love working here(!) and the cakes where yummy too. Altogether we managed to raise over £240 towards the many projects funded by BBC Children in Need.
Dames On The Run
On Sunday 11th October Derian House organised a 'men only' event in support of all the Derian Dads who do so much to hold their family together in the face of their child’s devastating illness, and against overwhelming odds. 6 ROQ employees took part in the 5k run around Astley Park. With makeup artists on hand to make them all look pretty, a brilliant warm up routine, music from the Bee Radio and Bouncy Castles for the kids, everyone who took part (and the spectators!) had a fantastic time. Including the ROQ charity matching scheme contribution our employees managed to raise an impressive £781 for Derian House Childrens Hospice.
Stand Up To Cancer
Yet again this year ROQ decided to raise some money for Stand Up To Cancer by holding a cake sale in their Test Lab in Chorley. As it was also World Egg Day on Friday 9th October, we decided to encourage some more donations with a few fun egg related activities including an egg roll and an egg and spoon race. Together ROQ employees managed to raise £47 towards the fight against cancer and we had an eggcellent time doing it!
Cuerden Valley Park Volunteering
ROQ's first volunteer day of the year took place on Saturday 18th July, when 5 keen employees spent the day working on the tyre foundations for the new eco-visitors centre currently being built in Cuerden Valley Park.
The second volunteer day, which took place on Saturday 15th August with the ROQ Directors joining another enthusiastic group of employees who continued the hard work on the tyre foundations and assisted with the joinery for the structure.
On Sunday 20th September we had our third volunteer day with another 5 strong employees taking on the job of measuring, cutting and fitting about 20 2.5m planks to the external wall base to support the huge glass bi-fold doors and windows that will frame the impressive view. All employees again left with a huge sense of achievement
The visitor centre will be a unique ecological building for the community to enjoy into the future. ROQ's charity matching scheme means that, not only does the build benefit from the time and effort volunteering, ROQ has also donated a massive £1255 towards the build so far.
Jeans for Genes Day
On Friday 18th September everyone in the ROQ Test Lab took part in Jeans for Genes day, wearing as much denim as possible! We also played blue bingo and enjoyed some blue cakes. Everyone had fun and we managed to raise a total of £58.60 which will go towards improving the quality of life of children and families affected by genetic disorders.
Race For Life 10K
On Sunday 24th May after months of training, some of the ladies from the ROQ head office stepped up to the challenge of Cancer Research UK's 10K Race For Life. The weather held off and all the women managed to complete the race with very respectable times! Together they managed to raise an impressive £810, including our charity matching scheme towards research into all 200 types of cancer - Well Done Ladies!
British Heart Foundation - Red Friday
At the ROQ head office in Chorley, the team recently took part in 'Red Friday Wear It. Beat It.' event, everyone wore red and we played a game of red bingo (similar to normal bingo, except instead of numbers we used things that are red!). Much fun was had by all and we managed to raise £34.20 for the British Heart Foundation to support their fight against heart and circulatory disease.
Red Nose Day
Friday 13th March saw Red Nose day come to the ROQ offices. The company provided red noses to all the employees which were worn throughout the day. Everyone donated a few pounds to wear their slippers in the office, we saw a variety of house shoes from huge Homer Simpson heads to very sleek leather ones. ROQ put on a weight guessing game for everyone were we had to ‘Guess how much ROQ Rock was in the ROQ Tuck Box’. It was a pound to enter and the winner was promised a delicious Easter egg! We are so happy that we raised £45 for Comic Relief.
Lancashire Day
Hot Pot, Red Cabbage, Brown Sauce and Flat Caps (well maybe not the Flat Caps) were all to be found in the ROQ offices to celebrate Lancashire Day. Everyone donated a few pounds each to eat the tasty grub which was supplied by our local food jobber, Jamie’s Wild Café. We are very proud to say that all the money raised went towards purchasing toys for Derian House, a local hospice for terminally ill children. The food was delicious and those in the office that aren’t from Lancashire even enjoyed it after it was explained to them!
Stand Up to Cancer Cake Sale
ROQ held its very own cake sale at their head offices in Chorley, forStand Up To Cancer . We had a large array of cakes brought in by everyone and clearly have some very talented home bakers – we’ll keep an eye out on BBC 1 in the summer! We had a wide variety of cakes ranging from Carrot Cake to Banana Bread. The company raised a tidy little sum for Derian House - a local charity close to ROQ's heart.
Sponsoring a Local Football Team
Here at ROQ, we are proud to be a part of our local community. This year we demonstrated this by sponsoring local under-13’s football club, the Tarleton Corinthians. We’re proud to be associated with such a great team of enthusiastic, hard-working young people, who learn the value of teamwork and have a healthy lifestyle. Their efforts have paid off too, last season they won the league in which they were competing and also the Fair Play award in their division, showing respect and admiration for other teams and individuals.
Movember 2014
November brings us the month-long charity event Movember! The male employees of ROQ went back in time to an era when the moustache was incredibly fashionable. The men grew moustaches throughout the month and took periodic pictures to track the growth. There have been varying levels of success but all had groomed their moustaches with pride. The men of ROQ raised a total of £356 for a great cause.
Tough Mudder
On Sunday 14th September 2014 ROQ sponsored employees to take part in one of the UKs toughest assault courses. The company paid 50% of the entrance fee for those involved and agreed to donate £50 for each individual who completed the challenge to the local children’s hospice –Derian House. The team was made up of Steven Nattrass, Richard Williams, Alison Walker, James Smith, Steve Fairclough and Richard Cottrell. It's fair to say that everyone who took part had a fantastic time; it wasn't the easiest way to spend a Sunday but certainly one of the most rewarding. It truly was a fantastic team effort to overcome the various obstacles in their way, and Team ROQ rose to the challenge! Read More here.