A community farm and young people in the arts have benefited from a share of donations totalling £5,000 thanks to the efforts of award-winning law firm Blanchards Bailey LLP.

The Dorset-based firm increased its help for good causes during the pandemic – in contrast to standard industry practice over the last 18 months.

The £5,000 the firm raised has been split between three charities: Longmead Community Farm, Dorchester Youth Theatre and Movember, which champions mens’ health.

Blanchards Bailey Finance Partner Alan Horne said: “Faced with the impossible decision of choosing to support just one ‘charity of the year’ we decided to break with tradition and raise funds for several.

“Longmead Community Farm is central to the idea of the integrity of the family and how being close to nature can be a great positive.

“Equally, Dorchester Youth Theatre is a champion of the performing arts in the younger generation and Blanchards Bailey is a keen supporter of the arts through initiatives like Artsreach.

“Both charities are local to our offices so it made perfect sense to help two causes with very different but equally noble goals.”

Each charity was presented with a cheque for £1,000.

The money was raised through social events including a quiz, bingo and summer barbecue.

This year Blandford-headquartered Blanchards Bailey tried a new initiative, Grow £20, where each department started with £20 which they had to use to grow a mini in-house business to see who could increase the initial stake the most.

Winners were the firm’s litigation team who bought penny sweets and opened a tuck shop, satisfying colleagues’ sweet cravings at the same time as raising cash.

Jo Simons, artistic director of Dorchester Youth Theatre, said: “We are so, so grateful for Blanchards Bailey’s donation. It’s a phenomenal boost in what has been a very tricky year for us.

“But we’re surviving and thriving with Zoom sessions for our amazing, resilient young people. Our hope is to put on a summer production this year – our Summer MT, a musical Play in a Week – and some of the money could be used for venue hire. We’d also love to offer free workshops after this difficult year and the funding would help pay for those.”

Sarah Cooper, general manager at Longmead Community Farm, said: “Everyone involved in Longmead feels so touched by the support they have received from Blanchards Bailey.

“This donation will allow us to continue to fund our work providing support to families and young people at the farm. More and more people are seeking our assistance and it is really only with the help of such generous donations that we can carry on our work.”

Staff also continued their annual fundraising drive in aid of prostate cancer awareness, in memory of friend and colleague Mark Bellman, a former partner of the firm who had been one of the founders of Blanchards Bailey in its current form, and who passed away after a long battle with prostate cancer.

Through a combination of the annual Movember moustache-growing drive and pledging to walk or run 60km in a month, the team raised £2,330 which the firm raised to £3,000 for the charity.

Blanchards Bailey has also kept up its corporate sponsorship of Artsreach, which brings performing arts to rural Dorset communities.

The firm has now pledged to partner the Gap Project until at least March 2022. The Gap Project is an ecotherapy group based at Louds Mill allotment plots in Dorchester, providing practical support to people with mental health problems while helping them to build self-esteem whilst connecting with nature.

Eighty-strong Blanchards Bailey is a Legal 500 firm – making it one of the top firms in the South West – and is based in Blandford with offices in Poundbury, Shaftesbury and Weymouth.

The firm received extensive recognition in the UK's leading law sector directory, the Legal 500. The annual publication, The Legal 500 2020/21, mentions the firm in six categories with seven individual lawyers recommended.

Blanchards Bailey also won a hat-trick of titles at the 2019 Dorset Legal Awards: Law Firm of the Year (up to 99 employees), Company Commercial Team of the Year and Private Client Team of the Year.