The Argus’ 125 Appeal has taken the region by storm as people come up with fun and innovative ideas to celebrate our anniversary.

We are recruiting 125 fundraising teams to join in and raise money for St David’s Hospice Care. This money will help fund the vital work that they carry out in our community.

The first team to sign up is The Gym in Newport.

All staff working at the The Cambrian Centre-based business will be taking part in a special challenge to complete 125 miles on a stationary bike in five days.

Assistant general manager David Smith said: “The team are really excited about the event and are counting down the days until we start.”

“All the team members have received a progressive training programme to ensure that we hit the all-important 125 mile target.”

The Gym has officially partnered with St David’s Hospice Care and plan to raise awareness of the charity and its work.

“We wanted to raise money to help with all the different work that the St David’s Hospice Care does within our community and feel that this partnership is vitally important to enable money to be spent on improving people’s lives,” added Mr Smith.

General manager Simon Pope said: “It’s a pleasure to be affiliated with St David’s Hospice Care supporting them to celebrate the Argus’ 125 year anniversary. We may be a business, but we are a business that cares.”

The news about our first fundraising team has delighted staff at the hospice.

Gemma Carter, community and events fundraiser for Newport and Monmouthshire at St David’s Hospice Care said: “It’s great to have The Gym on board this year. They came to us with some really good ideas of how they would like to support us and raise vital funds to support the work of the charity. As well as agreeing to support us throughout 2017 they are the first team to take on the challenge of the 125 Appeal.”

The celebration of 125 years of publication is the perfect opportunity to raise money for the vital work that the St David’s Hospice Care does.

Not only do they provide palliative and hospice care, they offer a range of services including complementary therapies, support for children, family support as well as welfare rights advisors who help people access financial benefits they are entitled to.

There are lots of ways you can get involved. We need people to be part of the fundraising fun by organising a fundraising event. You can also put yourself forward for a 125 themed challenge.

We are looking for fun, innovative and quirky ways you can incorporate the 125 theme into your fundraising.

Some fun ideas include a 125 goalie challenge, a 125 minute joke-athon, and a 125 minute dance class. You could also set yourself a challenge of completing 125 miles of walking in a month.

You can text to donate £5 to the 125 Appeal by texting ARGUS 125 to 70500 or donations can be made online on our special Just Giving page: www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/sdf/SWArgus125

Even donating £1.25 means St David’s Hospice Care can pay for a cup of tea, a sandwich and a slice of homemade cake for a patient.

You can find out more about the 125 Appeal and register your event at http://stdavidshospicecare.org/event-details/125-appeal/

We also encourage people to use the #125Appeal to show your support on social media.