Tring-Based #SBS Winners Contribute to Theo Paphitis’ Birthday Surprise

Tring based business, Pieces of Art, clubbed together with hundreds of other Small Business Sunday winners and gifted the best birthday present ever in a secret initiative! Enter the Dragon …

As Theo Paphitis, King of the high street, self-described shopkeeper and Dragons Den star celebrates his 60th birthday, a group of over 160 winners of Theo’s twitter initiative #SBS, have come together to say happy birthday and thank him in a rather unique way.

This group of businesses have contributed towards sponsoring 70 bespoke sharing hampers for the staff at Royal Manchester Children’s hospital. The RMCH is a hospital that Theo has supported over the last 10 years and is a cause close to his heart.

Nigel Richardson of Secret Hamper, who has organised the #NHS70 campaign, of which the RMCH project is a part, said: ‘Theo has given so much to small businesses over the years through SBS, some of which have had life-changing opportunities. When I realised that this year saw his 60th Birthday I knew we had to do something special, but what do you get a multimillionaire?’

The aim of the #NHS70 project is to invite businesses, celebrities and individuals throughout the UK to recognise and celebrate 70 years of the NHS. Recognising the wonderful care given by the unsung heroes working at all levels within the organisation by sponsoring bespoke hampers to say a big Thank You for dedicating their lives to caring for others.

Once the hampers are delivered, the contents are shared out and can reach 1000s of staff, giving the morale in the hospital and wards a real boost.

As Theo is patron of the RMCH and they are celebrating their 10th birthday this year, Nigel thought a fitting way to express the group’s gratitude would be to deliver 70 hampers filled with unique products sponsored by just SBS winners.

Having won #SBS in 2018 Emma and Maddi, from Pieces of Art, were eligible to contribute to the hampers and wanted to create a bespoke papercut for the occasion. They designed a ‘Worker Bee’ greetings card to capture the vibrancy of Manchester and the spirit of positivity that the city embodies. These were donated to be included in the hampers alongside their sponsorship of the project. Emma said: ‘Having lived and worked in Manchester for many years, I was thrilled to be able to support such a wonderful hospital in a very special city.’

Small Business Sunday is a weekly Twitter initiative set up by Theo in 2010 to support independent businesses in the UK and now has over 2200 winners. Both SBS and the ThankyouNHS initiatives are passionate about giving something back to the community and with this project the two have combined to do just that, with the added bonus of wishing Theo a very Happy Birthday!

For more information about Pieces of Art please visit www.paperartist.co.uk.

For more information about Theo Paphitis’ #SBS initiative, please visit www.theopaphitissbs.com.