Posted on:

Last July, we set ourselves a target of raising £2,000 to support the Otley Food Bank. This is a cause that we believe is extremely important, and something we are continuing to try and help with here in our local community.

We’re delighted to say that we hit our £2,000 target with us raising £2,002.65 over the course of the year!

We’ve achieved this by donating £50 every time our clients and local businesses have recommended our services to someone they know. We’ve also added money when we’ve used local photographers’ images on our website, certifying documents, and from the funds raised at our Otley Winter Wonderland from December 2021!

The donations will have provided around 50 food parcels for those families who are struggling in our local community.

A big thank you

As a client of Christopher Little & Co you’ll know first-hand the benefits of working with us.

So, we wanted to update you on a few things here at Christopher Little & Co and tell you about some of the people we’ve helped recently.

We’d like to say as massive thank you to Howard Somers as well as all the other clients/professional connections that have referred us clients over the last few months. You have all helped us raise a significant amount of money for the Otley Food Bank, and for that we are extremely grateful.

Otley Food Bank has been running since 2013. They supply food parcels to people in crises; those who find themselves unable to buy enough food for themselves or their families.

To visualise how our donations can help, here’s a breakdown:

  • One food parcel equates to around £30 to £50 worth of groceries, depending on the size of the parcel.
  • Each food parcel supplies enough food for approximately five days, depending on the size of the family.

Otley Food Bank hands out around 100 food parcels a month. 50 to 60 of these parcels are repeat orders to the same families.

There are some emergency occasions where a family may receive three consecutive parcels in a short space of time. This may happen if their state benefits haven’t come through in time or there is a delay in processing their application which means they have no income to buy food.

Many families struggle over the course of the 6-week holidays. As the cost of living continues to go up, many families rely on the free school dinners, and sadly the school dinners are not provided over this period.

Without the help of food banks, many families would struggle over this period. For that, we are extremely grateful for the work everyone at Otley Food Bank does.

Here’s why you can recommend us in confidence

You already have first-hand experience of working with us. So, you know the tailored service we provide.

But did you also know:

  • Christopher Little & Co were awarded a VouchedFor Top Rated Firm Award in 2022, distributed by The Times to celebrate the UK’s best financial advice firms, based on clients feedback.
  • Thomas was awarded a VouchedFor Top Rated Planner Award in 2020 & 2021 & 2022, with a score of 4.9 out of 5, following 83 reviews.
  • Richard Marshall joined us in September 2021 and has been advising clients since January this year. This has allowed us to expand our offering to include Mortgage Advice too. Richard is well positioned to help with all of your Financial Planning needs as he is taking on new clients and has received 5 star VouchedFor rating from all of his clients to date!
  • We hold the prestigious Pension Transfer Gold Standard. That means we’ve been recognised as adhering to a strict voluntary code of good practice for providing advice on pension transfers
  • We’re also now up to 23 Google Reviews, with an average score of 5/5.

If you’ve left a Google Review, could we ask you to spare five minutes to leave us a VouchedFor review? If you’re happy to do that, please click here.

And, vice versa, if you’ve left us a VouchedFor review, please spare a few minutes to leave us a Google review; it’s an opportunity to share the experience you’ve had with Christopher Little & Co  If you’re happy to leave a Google Review, please click here.

Who we want to work with

You’ll know other people, including friends, relatives, and work colleagues who we can help. So, here’s a little more information on who we predominantly work with.

We will guide clients every step of the way to ensure the financial decisions they make will lead to a happy, stable and fulfilling future for them and their family.

With this in mind, we typically work with people who are in their:

20s and 30s: They may be taking their first few steps on the housing ladder, or just saving for a deposit. Maybe they want to travel and see the world. Whatever choices they make, they’ll want to be sure they’re on firm ground when it comes to their finances.

40s and 50s: It’s time they start thinking seriously about setting aside money for the future. But they’re also likely to have a great many financial responsibilities and plenty of ambitions they’re still eager to fulfil.

60s and 70s: Retirement should be all about living a lifestyle they’ve worked long and hard to enjoy. But it’s not uncommon to find that the transition from work gives rise to feelings of uncertainty and anxiety, particularly where finances are concerned.

80s and onwards: Nobody’s later years should be blighted by money worries, but anxiety over whether they can afford a “good” retirement and pay for care and support if it’s needed, can cause real worry. We’re here to help to make sense of their finances and understand how to maintain and protect a comfortable standard of living.

Looking for a mortgage: Whether they’re purchasing their first home, moving, remortgaging, or looking to buy-to-let, we offer high-quality and independent mortgage advice.

Here’s what to do if you want to recommend someone to us

Please pass on our contact details and suggest they contact us as we may be able to help (Tel: 01943 851080 or Email: advice@christopher-little.co.uk).

If they get in contact to arrange an initial discussion and we meet face-to-face or online, we’ll then arrange to donate £50.

Donation does not apply if they are already clients of ours, or have had discussions with us previously

If you wish to donate items yourself this can easily be done at the collection point located in the Otley Sainsbury’s supermarket. Here are a few that the Food Bank typically runs low on:

  • Dog & Cat food (Dry food)
  • Jam
  • Sugar
  • Rice
  • UHT Milk
  • Fruit Juice & Squash
  • Crisps
  • Biscuits & Sweets
  • Puddings
  • Jelly
  • Angel Delights
  • Chocolate
  • Gluten Free items

Look out for local photos on our blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages. Our local community in Otley is something we are proud to be a part of and we will continue to support it as much as we can during these uncertain times.

Please note: This email is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

The value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance.