A Bradford-based garden centre group is reflecting on the thousands of pounds it has donated to community groups and charities.

The Yorkshire Garden Centres (YGC) initiative, known as the Kindness Pot, was set up in 2022 to support causes nominated by team members across West Yorkshire.

Since its inception, it has supported more than 200 such causes and donated more than £11,000.

As part of the initiative, in the last year, Otley Garden Centre donated more than 500 spring flower bulbs to Ashlands Primary School in Otley.

The bulbs were used for planting and lesson plans were created around the bulbs to aid the pupils' writing, numeracy, and art skills.

The Kindness Pot also gifted a selection of gardening equipment to support Maggies Yorkshire with their garden maintenance, on behalf of Joyce Ho, house plants and giftware assistant at Tong Garden Centre.

Ms Ho, a cancer patient, wanted to give back to the charity.

Earlier this year, Bingley Garden Centre gifted summer bedding plants to Manorfields Hospice to brighten the garden ahead of the hospice's summer garden party.

Support for Manorfields was pledged by several team members at Bingley who have benefited from the hospice's support.

Team members at Tingley Garden Centre volunteered their time as part of the Kindness Pot to help plant the Rob Burrow Memorial Garden at Headingley, designed by group commercial plant manager, Marc Salama, after the centre was approached by Leeds Rhinos to create a floral memorial for the former player.

Neil Barwise-Carr, head of people and culture, said: "With our roots in Yorkshire, we believe in giving back, whether to our group-wide charity of the year or local causes that matter to our growing team. 

"We want to support the causes that mean something to our team, and anyone can make a Kindness Pot request for support. 

"Our sense of community has really been reinforced by being able to support so many worthy causes, and we're looking forward to launching the Kindness Pot to the teams at the two new Yorkshire Garden Centres family members, Dean's York and Scarborough, next year."

This year's beneficiary of the Charity of the Year fundraising pot is Yorkshire Children's Charity.

Through a series of fundraising events and collection boxes at the tills, the teams at Yorkshire Garden Centres hope to raise £20,000 for the charity, which works to improve the lives of disadvantaged children in Yorkshire.

To contribute to Yorkshire Garden Centres' fundraising, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/page/ygcs-yorkshire-childrens-chairty-2024-2025