TO celebrate 50 years in the healthcare business a Worcestershire firm has raised £50,000 for a children's charity.

Kimal Plc, which has operations in Bromsgrove and Droitwich, presented the money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation during a visit to the company by Lord Cobham of Hagley Hall.

Steve Minett, project manager with Kimal, explained: "Lord Cobham was given full VIP treatment as he was shown around both facilities, beginning with Sherwood Road in Bromsgrove, which is the heart of our manufacturing capabilities, employing more than 130 staff in the stores and cleanrooms. Steve Eccles, our director of manufacture, took Lord Cobham on a whistle stop tour of all of the facilities in the factory including the three cleanrooms where products are manufactured.

"Once the tour at Bromsgrove was complete the party moved over to Droitwich, Kimal’s state of the art logistics facilities. Jonathan Thorneycroft, contracts Manager took over the hosting duties and proceeded to show Lord Cobham and the party where all the UK orders are shipped from."

Lord Cobham then unveiled a specially commissioned portrait of George Press, the founder of Kimal plc, who passed away in 2012.

Mr Minett added: "As part of Kimal's 50th Anniversary celebrations the company chose to support Make-A-Wish Foundation UK, which is a charity with a single purpose – to grant magical wishes to children and young people aged three to 17 fighting life-threatening conditions. The fantastic news was that Kimal employees, friends, colleagues, suppliers and distributors managed to reach their goal of £50,000. The company saw the visit of Lord Cobham as the ideal opportunity to present the cheque to Make-a-Wish and round off the year of fund raising which began in November 2013 and included events such as skydiving, five-a-side football, Ice-bucket challenges and the Three Peaks Challenge. The Kimal employees really rallied to the call to ensure the target was met to help such an important charity."