Media Release June, 2012 Santander staff aim to make tills ring for Marie Curie Santander employees will be putting their retail skills to the test as they take on the running of the Marie Curie Shop, Worcester Park, next Friday 6 July.

Marie Curie Cancer Care is Santander’s Charity of the Year for 2012 and the partnership aims to raise £750,000 to provide free Marie Curie Nursing care for people with terminal cancer and other illnesses in their own homes.

Staff in London are joining 10 Santander teams across the UK to take on the task of running a Marie Curie Shop for a day and competing to raise the most funds for the charity. The teams will be challenged to generate extra stock, help raise the profile of the shop locally, recruit new volunteers, attract more customers and ultimately create the greatest increase in the shop’s takings on the day.

This Santander team have already had a successful cake sale in their offices to raise money for Marie Curie and will be running the shop with a summer holiday theme.

Rachel White at Santander said: “We’re really looking forward to putting our plans into practice when we become Marie Curie Shop volunteers for the day. Knowing the money we raise will help fund Marie Curie Nurses will spur us on, as will a bit of healthy competition against our colleagues.”

Mariaon Warnock, Marie Curie Cancer Care Area Shop Manager said, “It’s great that Santander staff are taking a day out of the office to help run our Worcester Park Marie Curie Shop. We wish them the best of luck and hope that people will come down and meet our new team for the day and show their support by shopping with us or donating any unwanted good quality items. Every purchase made or item donated will help Marie Curie Nurses care for more people with terminal cancer and other illnesses.”

Most people want to spend their final days at home or in a hospice – but the majority do so in hospital. Marie Curie Cancer Care provides end of life care to people in their own homes and in the charity’s hospices. For more information visit www.mariecurie.org.uk - ENDS - For more information please contact Annette Cloherty, Public Relations Manager on 020 7599 7292, 07815 863 361 or email annette.cloherty@mariecurie.org.uk Notes to editors Santander and Marie Curie Cancer Care Marie Curie Cancer Care is Santander UK’s Charity of the Year for 2012, with a fundraising target of £750,000. This will help fund 37,500 hours of free Marie Curie Nursing care for people with terminal cancer and other illnesses in their own homes. If each of Santander UK’s 25,000 staff raise just £30 each – which would provide 90 minutes of nursing care – this target will be met.

Marie Curie works in communities all across the UK, in areas where Santander staff live and work, and was chosen in a vote by Santander’s 25,000 UK employees.

Most people want to spend their final days at home or in a hospice – but the majority do so in hospital. Marie Curie Cancer Care provides end of life care to people in their own homes and in the charity’s hospices - this partnership will raise awareness and funds for the care and support the charity provides to patients and families.

About Santander Santander is a retail and commercial bank present in 10 main markets; it is the largest financial group in Spain and Latin America. Founded in 1857, Santander has 95 million customers, over 14,000 branches – more than any other international bank – and 179,000 employees. In the UK, Santander (formed out of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and the Bradford & Bingley retail network) has over 1,400 branches, around 4,500 cash machines and provides a full range of retail and corporate banking services to 24 million customers.

Santander Community Santander’s Community activities feature employee fundraising campaigns which provide support to local and national charities. At the company’s main office sites employees are involved in volunteering through initiatives such as the Community Days team challenge events and the Santander in Schools programme. The Santander Foundation provides donations to projects that support disadvantaged people through education and training, and financial advice projects. This year the Community programme will contribute over £6 million to good causes around the UK.

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