SURREY TRADESMAN SECURES NATIONAL AWARD

An electrician who works across Surrey and the south-east and has raised more than £14,000 for charity over the last decade has become our second Extra Mile Award winner.

Neil Wadsworth has been named one of the three UK winners of our competition to recognise kind-hearted tradespeople who have gone above and beyond to give back to their local community or charities.

Neil, 35 and of Worcester Park, has been staging charity football matches for the last 10 years to raise money for Cancer Research UK and St Raphael’s Hospice in Cheam.

Amongst the grounds to have hosted the charity matches have been Sutton United, Dorking Wanderers and Guildford City.

In addition, Neil also makes a financial donation to the charity of choice of one of his customers selected at random each month.

As one of the Extra Mile Award winners, Neil will receive £1,000 credit to spend on materials and products in our branches or online.

Neil, who owns Neale Wadsworth Electrical with his business partner Jack Neale, said: “We don’t do the fundraising for any type of honour so it was a real surprise to hear I’d been nominated for the Extra Mile Awards, let alone be one of the winners.

“The fundraising started when my best friend lost his mother to cancer a decade ago and I decided to arrange a charity football match to raise funds.

“It was initially open to friends but it’s grown to become a really inclusive event for anyone who wants to play and a great fundraiser.

“Originally all the funds went to Cancer Research UK but, when my dad passed away in 2019, we started splitting the funds with St Raphael’s Hospice as he spent a couple of weeks there.

“The monthly charity initiative we do with our customers means we are regularly giving to good causes.

“It’s completely down to our customer chosen at random to decide where the money goes but sometimes it’s small local charities and on other occasions it’s the big national organisations.

“We feel it’s important to give back to those less fortunate and we will continue to do everything we can to raise money for charities.”

Alison Wong, head of marketing communications and sustainability at Selco Builders Warehouse, said: “We received dozens of very strong entries highlighting the outstanding work tradespeople do over and above their day job and it was an extremely difficult task to select winners.

“Neil’s commitment to his fundraising efforts and giving back to charities is exceptional and there are so many good causes that have benefitted from his kind-heartedness.

“Neil is an extremely worthy winner and epitomises the fantastic work tradespeople do and the goodwill they show.”