Greenfield business turns festive gifts into financial boost for children’s charity

A Greenfield business has turned festive gifts from customers and suppliers into a late Christmas present for a children’s charity.

LTE Scientific, which specialises in manufacturing, supplying, servicing, and testing medical and laboratory equipment, raffled off 49 gifts, selling tickets to staff at its Greenfield Lane HQ, which raised £200 for the Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home.

Based at Nab Farm, Wardle, the home provides five-day breaks for deserving children referred by children’s social care, schools, and community groups.

John Lees, LTE Scientific’s Managing Director, said: “We arrange a number of charity events throughout the year as our way of putting something back into the community.

"This is the second time we’ve done a raffle using all the gifts we receive from suppliers at Christmas.

“We chose the Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home as Christmas is typically about children and we felt that the Moorland Home charity would be a good cause to support as it’s a respite facility for disadvantaged children.

“It provides them with a week away to enjoy their childhood, have homecooked meals, a comfortable bed for the week, and access to a range of fun activities and support.”

The array of goodies raffled off included multiple bottles of wine and spirits, beer, hampers, biscuits, and chocolates.

The Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home charity dates back to the 1890s, when it was launched amid the industrial revolution, to benefit children from poor families with an ethos of ‘fresh air, fresh food and good fun’ - which still holds today.

Extensive outdoor play areas feature a football pitch, climbing frame, swings, trampolines, play fort, and two wooded wildlife areas - one of which is used by many schools as a Forest School facility.

There is also a large wooden barn for inclement weather play.

LTE, meanwhile, was established in 1947 and has always been based in Greenfield.

Originally known as Laboratory Thermal Equipment, it specialised in the design and manufacture of ovens, incubators, and other temperature controlled products.

It started to manufacture autoclaves (steam sterilisers) for the life science sector in 1973, later acquiring a Northampton-based steriliser manufacturer called Autoclave Control and Engineering (ACE), whose operation included a large service business and the design and manufacture of larger capacity steam sterilisers, serving the laboratory, medical, and pharmaceutical markets.

LTE became part of the AIM listed SDI Group Plc (SDI) in 2022, during the firm’s 75th anniversary, becoming part of an established group with an outstanding record of growth following acquisitions and development of other businesses in similar sectors, including the life-science and medical markets.

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