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

Some of the Christmas gifts raffled off by LTE Scientific

An Oldham business has turned festive gifts from customers and suppliers into a late Christmas present for Rochdale Children’s Moorland Home.

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 premises, which raised £200 for the children's charity.

Based at Nab Farm, Wardle, the home provides five-day breaks for deserving children referred by children’s social care, schools, and community groups in the Rochdale and Rossendale areas during school holidays and is used by local schools for day or overnight visits during term time between March and September.

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’.

The only charity of its kind in the north of England, its website states: “We do not encourage the use of electronic games, excessive TV, or mobile phones when at the home. Instead, we opt for more traditional play and team building activities.”

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.