A Birmingham café bar and its staff have been named as this week’s charity champions after engaging their customers and the community to raise £2,000 for Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity.

Since Allegro Lounge opened its doors in Northfield a year ago, the team there has been fundraising for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Birmingham Women’s Hospital. With the hospital being a local institution, providing care and treatment for much of the community, including Allegro Lounge staff members, it felt the right cause to champion.

Since then, Allegro Lounge has hosted a number of fundraisers, including charity quizzes on the last Sunday of the month and cake sales every six weeks, to raise the impressive amount. The team also supported the hospital and charity by providing an array of delicious cakes for its NHS Big Tea party to celebrate the NHS turning 71 last summer.

A couple of members of staff decided to take their fundraising further by tackling a very tiring 24-mile sponsored walk from its sister café bar, Faro Lounge, in Lichfield, all the way back to Northfield. Assistant Manager, Nadia Rogers and Supervisor, Louise Phillips began their journey, with pit-stops at further sister establishments long the way. Unfortunately, just a few miles in, Louise fell, tearing a tendon in her ankle and bringing her mission to a painful end, but Nadia managed to persevere to the finish line.

The £2,000 Allegro Lounge has raised for Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity will go straight to the hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which provides care to babies born prematurely, with low birth weight or who have a medical condition that requires specialist treatment.

Nadia said: “As a company, our community is at the heart of everything we do so it was important to choose a charity that means so much to so many people. We all know someone who has been cared for by Birmingham Women’s Hospital, and its Neonatal Unit does absolutely amazing work to give young babies the best start in life, so we’re really thankful to our customers for getting behind our fundraisers, taking part in our quizzes and sponsoring us to give something back.”

Miranda Williams, Public Fundraising Manager at Birmingham Women’s Hospital Charity, said: “It’s so lovely to see whole communities coming together to support a common cause. Our hospital is one of only two dedicated women’s hospitals in the UK, providing specialist services to more than 50,000 women, men and their families every year from our city, the wider region and beyond. We have one of the busiest single-site maternity units, delivering more than 8,200 babies a year, and unfortunately this in turn means we need an excellent Neonatal Unit to provide vital care for babies who may be struggling. The money raised by Allegro Lounge and its customers will ensure we can continue to offer the best care and support to our patients.”