East Midlands’ favourite Birds Bakery has announced that it is making brainstrust its “Charity of the Year”. Birds is an institution in the East Midlands with 62 bakeries across the region. The bakery was founded in 1919 by Reginald, Thomas and Frank Bird. It continues to be a family concern and  honours the founders’ commitment to freshness and making everything from scratch.

Being Charity of the Year means there will be brainstrust collecting tins in each of Birds’ bakeries plus a range of other fundraising activities planned.

Maxine, a member of the Birds Bakery team, shared why Braintrust was chosen:

“The charity was chosen because a colleague has a family member who is suffering with brain cancer, so we wanted to be able to show our support to them and the trust. By working with a small charity, we hope to raise awareness in the community so they can support them too.”

Lesley Bird, joint managing director at Birds Bakery, expressed her appreciation for customers and staff who contributed to the fundraising success:

“We are incredibly proud of the impact we’ve been able to make through our charity initiatives this past year. A heartfelt thank you goes to our loyal customers and dedicated team members, whose generosity allows us to support vital causes year after year. We are especially honoured to be supporting braintrust this year, as it is a cause very close to our hearts.”

Will Jones, CEO at Braintrust said:

“We’re delighted and honoured to have been selected at the Birds Charity of the Year for 2025. Around 40 people a day are given the devastating news that they have a brain tumour. Birds’ support for Braintrust will mean that more of these patients will have the support they need to feel less lonely and afraid.”