An entrepreneurial team have been rewarded for raising a bumper sum for a children's charity

Young entrepreneurs from across Scotland have raised thousands of pounds for charity.

More than £71,000 has been raised to help prevent and protect children from harm and to support them to recover from abuse through Children 1st’s Dragons’ Glen competition.

A team of employees from Aviva in Perth were announced as winners of the contest at a ceremony in Edinburgh’s Playfair library on Wednesday night (24 April). Lyn Macdonald, Gail Mill, Jane McGovern, Jennifer Elworthy, Julia Park, Katherine Brooks, Kyle Brian, Lee-Ann Taylor, Nick Masterson and Stacey Burns raised £15,572 for Children 1st with a cookbook inspired by the mix of cultures within their team.

As well as writing and selling the recipe book of traditional UK, Indian and Italian food, the team worked with their Aviva colleagues and the local community in Perth to set up a pop-up charity shop, hosted multiple workplace raffles, took part in a Santa Run and organised a sponsored slim.

Team captain Lyn Macdonald said “Our Aviva Team, Samudaay (Hindi for community) have had a fantastic time working with our dragon Colin Woodward and raising money for a great cause. We have all learned more about ourselves and really built on our community. It was a great initiative and I would encourage others to get involved in future Children 1st Dragons’ Glen challenges.”

Between October and March, teams from businesses in Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Perth have been competing to turn £500 in to as much money as possible to support children and their families through Children 1st.

A team from Aberdeen company Simmons & Co won the runners up award, raising £13,742 by hosting a fashion show and creating a range of luxury hand-poured scented candles and diffusers. SSE’s team won an award for future promise for producing a sustainability pack to replace every day plastics with environmentally friendly alternatives and the University of Edinburgh Business School won the most innovative award for selling scratch maps showing key streets and iconic locations across the city. EY also received a Special Commendation for entering two teams in the competition, based in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

In total, nine teams took part in this year’s challenge, collectively raising over £71,000 to help Children 1st work alongside children and families through its local and Scotland-wide services including ParentLine, which offers any family in Scotland support at the touch of a button.

Mary Glasgow, chief executive of Children 1st, said: “We want to say a huge thanks to every one of our fantastic Children 1st Dragons’ Glen teams for showing such determination and commitment to helping children and families across Scotland. Together they’ve raised over 50% more than last year, all of which will go towards preventing and protecting children from harm and supporting children to recover from trauma.

“Thank you also to all of the companies and dragons who make the challenge possible. At Children 1st we are bold and innovative in achieving our ambition of making sure every child in Scotland gets the support they need to thrive. It is fabulous to work with so many creative and ambitious young entrepreneurs through Dragon’s Glen to achieve that goal.”