AkzoNobel has supported one of its UK customers with a charity fund raising effort to take 100 sick children on a trip of a lifetime to Lapland to meet Santa.

As part of its 90th anniversary celebrations, Leicester bodyshop Parkers Motor Services is raising £90,000 for ‘When You Wish Upon a Star’ a charity that grants the wishes of children suffering from life-threatening diseases.

As well as donating to the fund, AkzoNobel has helped promote various fund raising events, including a Santa fun run. Parkers Accident Repair Centre is a longstanding Sikkens customer and a partner in its Acoat network.

Andy Parker, the company’s Bodyshop and Workshop Director, said: “As part of our celebrations it seemed appropriate to mark our anniversary by giving something back to the local area. It was a very special feeling seeing the children fly out of East Midlands Airport earlier this month. We still have a little way to go to hit our £90,000 target so we are urging all our contacts to make donations of any size via justgiving.”

Robbie Murphy, Services Consultant for AkzoNobel, said, “Using the anniversary to raise money for such a great cause was an inspired idea and we are delighted to be able to help. We would also like to join in celebrating the long success of Parkers, which is richly deserved. Parkers is a forward-looking company that always quickly embraces new approaches and technologies, like Sikkens’ latest Autowave and Autoclear 2.0 paint products. We have enjoyed working with the team and wish them all the best with their future business and charity ventures.”

Donations to the fund can be made at www.justgiving.com/Parkers-The-Parts-People/