Community & Sponsorship News

We’re delighted to now be a Bronze Business Patron with Warrington Wolves Community Foundation, supporting their wonderful work delivering impactful programmes that promote inclusivity, health, and well-being across all age groups. The whole team at LWA are looking forward to reaching even more people through the Foundation's initiatives. See how you can get involved and #BeTheChange here.

We were honoured to sponsor and donate to the annual Warrington Wolves Christmas Collection to help keep homeless and vulnerable people warm, clean and fed this winter. Well done to all of our teams, clients and contacts that contributed to the provision which was gathered together by Warrington Wolves players and taken to Halliwell Jones Mini to be collated into 30 gift bags.

Our office Christmas countdown was started in sweet style following the very thoughtful delivery of an advent calendar from our legal friends, Aaron & Partners Solicitors. Our team were surprised and grateful to receive the delivery and added to the Christmas festivities at LWA!

Get ready for the Foundation Festival Day on Sunday 2nd July at Victoria Park where all generations of your family can get involved in healthy physical activity together. The event kicks off at 10am with the ever-popular Family Mile, followed by the festival over at the Asics Stadium pitch featuring headline acts. It costs just £5 to sign up your family to the event, and this includes a goody bag, a finishers medal and entrance into the Festival. Click here to find out more.

After mourning the tragic death of Nottingham Panthers player Adam Johnson earlier this month, the Elite Ice Hockey League is returning to games and this weekend will see our local team, Manchester Storm playing in the 'Scottish tripleheader'. We'd like to wish our sponsored player, Alex Oldale and all the team, the very best of luck and safe matches against Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers, and Glasgow Clan. Manchester Storm are currently running a competition to win a signed jersey, so if you'd like to enter, visit their website here.

On Saturday 17th June, five members of the LWA team took on intense fitness challenges of the Manchester Color Obstacle Rush Fun Run to raise money for two charities very close to all of our hearts - The Christie NHS Foundation Trust Charity and Alder Hey Children's Charity.  Together with the support of friends, family and our LWA clients, they have smashed the £500 target and raised a total of £845!! This will be split equally between the two charities.

We are keeping our Just Giving page open for one more week in case you want to make a donation, and once again - a HUGE thank you to all that have supported us so far! Here's one of the many photos from the event.

How amazing do these footballers look in their LWA sponsored training kits?! We are very proud to be associated with this fantastic team, currently second place in Division One of the Greater Manchester Women's Football League. Last Sunday, they won their match against Stalybridge Celtic FC Womens by 15-0! If you would like to follow their journey please click the link here: Greater Manchester Women's Football League

Congratulations to the LWA sponsored DJK Dülmen boys on another successful season. We have been supporting and following these lads from a young age through their grass roots football journey, and delighted that they have been promoted to play in the Bezirksliga league next season, which is the highest league for this age group!

On 30th September 2023 Teigan will be taking part in the 10k Twilight Walk to raise awareness and funds for Halton Haven Hospice. Halton Haven are an amazing hospice and have provided care for members of Teigan's family and lots of other families around Halton. Teigan has already managed to raise over 50% of her £500 target, however, if any of our clients and contacts are able to help donate additional funds, this would be greatly appreciated! Visit Teigan's Just Giving page here.

The Magic Weekend is such a special event for Rugby League supporters as it’s the only time they all get to be in the same place at the same time. This year as part of the event, cyclists will be setting off from the Halliwell Jones Stadium, home to the Warrington Wolves team, on Thursday 1st June, and hopefully arriving in time for the Wolves' game against Hull on the Sunday having covered over 300 miles. This is all to raise much needed funds for the Charitable Foundation, and you can help by supporting our sponsored rider, Nick Taylor, on his fundraising page here.

Learn more about the Magic Weekend here.

There were over 250 people in attendance at this year's Warrington Business Conference celebrating the theme: "Maximising Performance" to improve efficiency and develop people. In attendance from LWA were Les, Steve, Nickie and Teigan offering advice during the networking sessions at Cineworld and at The Botanist, as well as hearing talks from other business leaders speaking at the event.

Accountex 2023 took place last month and Steve Collings was invited to speak at the event by Croner-i - sponsors of the 'Emerging Practice' Theatre. Steve was there as an expert on how accountants and auditors can benefit from online training, and offered advice and answered queries from other practices.

If you have made a profit from selling a residential property in the UK (that is not your main home) you need to be aware of changes to rules that require you to declare and pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT) to HMRC as well as exemptions that have been reduced. LWA’s Tax Manager, Nickie Antley-Slater explains more in our Essential Guide article here.

in July, our Tax Manager, Nickie Antley-Slater attended a Mental Health First Aid course and is now a Mental Health First Aider (MHFAider®). This course teaches knowledge and skills for spotting the signs and providing first aid to support people who may be experiencing mental health issues. MHFA England is a social enterprise with a vision to improve the mental health of the nation. Through training, campaigning, and reinvesting, they equip people with the skills to support their own and others’ wellbeing. Find out more on their website here: mhfaengland.org

As co-sponsors of Ben Currie's Testimonial year, we're helping to spread awareness of events being held not only in celebration of Ben's career, but also to help raise money for the charities being supported through the Testimonial including: 

• The Down’s Syndrome Association
• Alder Hey Children’s Hospital
• Alzheimer’s Society
• Cancer Research UK

We’d like to take a moment to wish a very Happy 18th Birthday to the wonderful Warrington Wolves Foundation, a registered charity who specialise in changing lives through sport. On 17th March at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as part of a record Super League crowd, it was a pleasure to cheer on the Foundation and their projects, of which we’ve been Business Patron since 2019, and it was wonderful to see them receive such a warm reception from both home and away fans! For information about any of the Foundation’s work or for opportunities to get involved, please click here, and if you’re interested in becoming a Business Patron like us from as little as £50 per month, please email hello@warringtonwolvesfoundation.com.

LWA have had a strong partnership with local Elite Ice Hockey League team, Manchester Storm for a number of years, and we just had to share the fantastic news that Captain Cam Critchlow was recently selected to play for Team GB at the 2023 Euro Challenge. Team GB won all 3 games during the tournament picking up wins against Japan, Poland and Romania - which is great preparation for the World Championships later this year. Congratulations to Cam!

Photo credit: Dean Woolley

Congratulations to LWA-sponsored DJK Dülmen D1 team who have had success in the German Kreisliga (A) Ahaus-Coesfeld league table for the 2022-2023 season, receiving local newspaper coverage for their achievements so far this season. We are proud to say that the team includes 5 players (4 boys and 1 girl) that are signed to DFB Stützpunkt Selm team as they have all been identified as having special football talent and the potential to become professional footballers, and will be coached and mentored for the next 4 years. Watch this space!

We’re delighted to be supporting Brainwave again this year as our chosen charity. It’s important to all of us at LWA to give back to the community and we do this in a number of ways. If you are a charity or local community organisation and looking for support, we are happy to consider your request - send us an email to marketing@lwaltd.com with details of your organisation and the support you are looking for. In the meantime, please visit the Brainwave website here and make a donation if you can.

The Warrington Business Awards are back and LWA are delighted to be sponsoring the Innovation category. Les Leavitt will also be a judge for the awards. As a firm, LWA are dedicated to the innovation and development of our business. The Innovation award is open to any organisation irrespective of size or sector. The judges will be looking for evidence of the introduction within the last two years of an innovative product, process, service or business method. Read more in our announcement here.

LWA has taken part in the Hits Radio Cash for Kids campaign collecting Christmas gifts and donations for less privileged children across the UK. Organised by Jo from our administration team, we have raised £160, and would like to thank everyone that has contributed. Jo will be taking this wonderful stash of presents to the Cash for Kids depot today!

Our Tax Manager, Nickie Antley-Slater, together with her family and friends, completed a 20 mile walk around Manchester raising awareness of the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young following a diagnosis in one of Nickie's daughters' close friends a year ago of a rare condition he was not aware he had.

The group were set off from Edgeley Park by Steve Bellis, club president of Stockport County, who brought the National League Trophy with him which was won by Stockport in May. Nickie and the team have managed to raise over £2,000 so far and the Just Giving page is still open below if you are able to donate. Visit their JustGiving page here.

The Office of Tax Simplification has recommended that the Capital Gains Tax (CGT) rules on a divorce should be relaxed. The government has recently agreed to this, and draft legislation is to be included in the Finance Bill 2022-23, which will affect disposal taking place on or after 6th April 2023. Read the full article here.

LWA have renewed our sponsorship of the youth football team DJK Dülmen G-Juroren over in Germany this season, as we're determined to maintain friendly relationships with our European neighbours even if our politicians aren’t! We wish the boys all the best in their upcoming matches in 2020.

The LWA team are proud to have supported the Warrington Wolves Christmas Toy and Foodbank Appeal this year. Here are some of the first team players collecting LWA’s donations from Nickie Antley-Slater and Danielle Safhill in our Birchwood Park, Warrington office.

LWA are delighted to be co-sponsoring Stefan Ratchford's testimonial year in 2022, which kicks off in just over a week with the pre-season match against Wigan Warriors. Steve has also taken the role of Treasurer for Stefan and if you would like to get involved in any sponsorship opportunities for future events, please call 01925 248 888 or email steve@stefanratchford.co.uk. Stefan is raising awareness and money for the following charities throughout his testimonial.

Joining Jack | Team Ted | Three Wishes | The Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation

LWA's recent article on How UK Businesses Can Tackle the Energy Crisis through tax reliefs as well as utilising our partnership with award-winning Connected Purchasing platform, Reducer, has been featured in two leading business publications across the north west - Business Connect Magazine AND Warrington Chamber of Commerce's Insight Magazine.

LWA will once again be headline sponsors at AFG Law's annual charity night where there will be plenty of fun had, all to raise awareness and funds for three local charities: WHAG, Early Break, and Buddy Bag Foundation.

On Sunday 9th February, a team of staff from LWA will be joining The Rotary Club in St Helens to pack 60,000 meals in 4 hours, which will be distributed to vulnerable people across the world. You can find out more and / or donate to this cause here: https://www.riseagainsthunger.org/

We are are thrilled to announce our return as an official sponsor for the 20/21 Elite Series, sponsoring British forward, Ciaran Long, as he makes a return to Manchester Storm following a season with Belfast Giants. Les Leavitt, Managing Director at LWA comments “We’re thrilled to be supporting The Manchester Storm once again and looking forward to watching the team play, as we all get back to some normality. We wish Ciaran all the best for the upcoming series.”

LWA sponsored Sami Bowler as she competed in the UK Mini S Cooper Challenge last season. She achieved 4 podium finishes and just missed out on 3^rd place overall. Sami has recently been nominated for club racer of the year 2019 and British Women’s Racing Drivers Club GoldStar for 2020, and comments on the LWA sponsorship: "I've had an amazing year. Thank you for everything!"

We were absolutely delighted to sponsor the opening gala for the Warrington Wolves 2020 season on Tuesday 21st January. It was a great night meeting local businesses and fans at the event.

We are absolutely delighted to be continuing our sponsorship for the Merseyside Youth Association's 130th birthday celebrations that were due to take place in October 2020.
 
 Now in their 132nd year of changing young people’s lives, we are looking forward to attending the Gala Dinner this evening.

As a south Manchester established firm, it’s important for LWA to build relationships with local clients and organisations, and we're pleased to announce we have renewed our sponsorship with Manchester Storm Ice Hockey team for the 2019/20 season. This is the third consecutive season we've come on board as sponsors, this time backing Canadian, Cody Thompson who signed with the club in 2019, and we're delighted to continue supporting our client Mike Morin, the club’s assistant coach. 

LWA have been part of the South Manchester community for 25 years, and many of our staff have started their careers with us from a young age. We are looking forward to the reciprocal opportunities and relationships that will be formed following our sponsorship of Massey House, part of the House System at Altrincham Grammar School for Boys.

We’ve supported our client AFG LAW for a number of years, in their many charitable initiatives including annual Charity Nights raising awareness and funds for local charities. Our latest contribution was as main sponsors of the kit and equipment for a trio from the firm to complete a 50 mile cycle, a climb to the summit of Helvellyn, and a 3km row on Lake Thirlmere. This was all in aid of Action Medical Research – a charity that find cures and treatments for those that have been born prematurely. A whopping £2,300 was raised, with the team smashing the original target. You can read all about how Greg, Matt and Abbie accomplished the race in 9 hours 57 minutes as the fastest mixed male/female team by clicking here.

On Saturday 11th December, our Director, Steve Collings completed a half marathon alongside a team organised by Martyn Clarke inspired by former rugby player and legend Rob Burrow MBE (diagnosed with MND), and to raise funds for the South Lancashire & West Yorkshire Branches of the MND Association. Steve is pictured above left with Martyn Greaves who was also on the team.

It was our pleasure to co-sponsor the Brainwave Ruby Ball held at The Mere Golf Resort and Spa recently. A great time was had by our team and a fantastic £25,000 was raised on the night which will go towards a Speech and Language role for this wonderful local charity that LWA are proud to have supported for a number of years. If you would like to get involved with the charity, please email Brainwave's Fundraising Manager Joannefreeman@brainwave.org.uk.

We regularly write articles with vital information for the Greater Manchester Business community, in a widely recognised publication – GM Business Connect. You can find our latest article by clicking here:

We were proud to be one of the main sponsors at a special Women in Business event organised by Warrington Business Exchange in September 2019. Our Tax Manager, Nickie Antley-Slater represented the firm alongside Trainee Accountant, Teigan Risley. There was great food, strong debate and fantastic company catching up with well-known faces from the Warrington business community, as well as meeting some new contacts whom we will be working with in the future.

We were honoured to have had our branded stadium barrier banners present at the Halliwell Jones stadium recently, as the Warrington Wolves home ground welcomed the Papua New Guinea team. The PNG Kumuls will be based in Warrington for the 2021 RLWC (Rugby League World Cup) which will be held between October 15th and November 19th. We love this photo of the Papua New Guinea flag draped over one of our barriers!! Good luck to all the teams involved.

For tax issues affecting businesses and individuals, LWA write a column in The Essential Guide magazine, showing how you can save on your personal and/or corporate tax bill through reliefs and allowances. For the latest article, please click here.

Members of the LWA team were thrilled to be part of the 2022 World-Class Warrington Business Conference earlier this month, with keynote speeches from Bill Esterson, Shadow Minister, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS); Warrington Borough Council Leader, Cllr Russ Bowden; and heads from the region's businesses.
 
 Steve, Nickie and Teigan went along to represent our firm and to network with companies from across the North West, and Steve was interviewed on his thoughts about Warrington and the growth opportunities the town offers.

The Rugby Football League awarded Warrington Wolves and England international, Mike Cooper, a well-deserved testimonial in recognition of his illustrious career, good character and service to the community both within and around Rugby League, and we were honoured to be one of the sponsors for the team kit on Thursday 23rd January against Salford Red Devils!!

Pictured here is Jo from our office presenting a £100 voucher donation to Mark Bailey from Trafford Council which will go towards giving a little magic this Christmas to care leavers - young people who due to difficult childhoods have been unable to live with their biological families, growing up in children’s homes, residential schools and with foster carers. Trafford Leaving Care Services want to be able to offer these young people a small gift or a chocolate selection box to show them they are important and cared for.

We’ve teamed up with IRIS Software, and our very own Audit & Technical expert Steve Collings will presenting a series of CPD events across the country on the latest Financial Reporting Standards (FRS). Click here to book your place and to take advantage of the early bird offer of £159 if booking before 31st January: https://go2.iris.co.uk/frs-training.html

LWA co-sponsored the recent Warrington Business Awards (Innovation category) and would like to congratulate all the finalists including, Holiferm, HaulageHub and Quantum Science Ltd. Our client Siobhan McCarroll from Dunky's Day Nurseries was shortlisted for THREE awards - a fantastic achievement. Congratulations also to our very own Steve Collings, who was shortlisted as Business Man of the Year!! Steve has had an incredible 12 months (as part of an inspiring career so far!) including being treasurer for Stefan Ratchford’s testimonial, and having another book published by Bloomsbury Professional - all whilst doing an amazing job as Co-Director of LWA. We all enjoyed the awards evening, including Steve who got his picture taken with Sue Johnston OBE.

In 2019 we became official Business Patrons of Warrington Wolves Charitable Foundation having already supported the cause throughout 2018 with events such as inviting less able children who love rugby, to meet the 1^stteam players and watch the game as special hospitality guests.

On Boxing Day, our Client Digital & Accounts Support Bradley, along with his family members, handed out warm clothing, footwear, sleeping bags, food etc. to the homeless. Many LWA clients, contacts and staff members donated spare items for Bradley to take along dropping off at either our Sale or Birchwood Park offices.