Pure, the professional recruitment specialists for the East of England, has presented West Suffolk cardiac support group Upbeat Heart with a cheque for £645, raised through ticket sales to its Best Employers Eastern Region events.

Upbeat Heart is an independent charity run by volunteers  to provide exercise and support sessions in Bury St Edmunds and Sudbury. It is completely self-funded and aims to help those who have had heart attacks or other heart related problems and to provide support for their partners and carers.

The support group was nominated to benefit from money raised at the Best Employers Eastern Region events by guest speaker Daemmon Reeve, Group CEO at Treatt plc. Treatt, the global flavour and fragrance ingredients organisation based in Bury St Edmunds, is a long-standing supporter of the local charity.

Daemmon Reeve, who was appointed a patron of UpBeat in December, and Jodie Woodrow, Senior Manager of Pure, visited Upbeat Heart at its premises in Bury St Edmunds on Wednesday 22 February to present the cheque to the charity’s chair Sylvia Baker.

Sylvia Baker, Chairman of Upbeat Heart Support commented, “Upbeat is a self- help organisation which receives no official financial help.  Support like this from local businesses is essential for us to be able to continue to help those who have had heart attacks, or who suffer from other heart related problems as well as their partners or carers in the future.”

Jodie Woodrow, Senior Manager at Pure, said: “Daemmon willingly donated his time to be a fantastic guest speaker at our Best Employers Eastern Region seminar and we wanted to give something back in return. As both our organisations are keen supporters of the communities that surround us, we asked Daemmon to nominate a local charity. He put us in touch with Upbeat Heart and we’re extremely proud to have been able to help support such a fantastic community initiative.”

Pure, which has offices in Ipswich, Cambridge, Norwich and Chelmsford, founded The Best Employers Eastern Region initiative in conjunction with people development and psychometrics experts eras ltd. The initiative includes innovative seminars designed to support local organisations to create inspiring, innovative and engaging places to work. A proportion of the ticket sales from recent seminars have been split between Upbeat Heart and Brightstars, a support group for children with additional needs in Bury St Edmunds.