RRG Toyota shifts into high gear to help Whitworth High students

Students James, Aimee and Teagan with Daryl Thornhill and Gavin Barry from RRG Toyota, and Spanish teacher Mrs Allen

When a Whitworth Community High School trip to Spain faced a financial hurdle to transport students to the airport, RRG Toyota stepped in to foot the bill.

Unbeknown to Spanish teacher Emily Allen, when she discussed the dilemma with Gavin Barry, centre principal at Toyota Rochdale, it turned out he was a parent of past, present and future students.

She said: “I was looking for sponsorship for the coach to take the students from school to the airport and then to collect us after the holiday and the costs just kept escalating.

“I was doing everything to try to keep it under £900 and was even thinking we were going to have to have parents dropping their children off.

“I started researching motor dealerships and found that Citroen offer sponsorship, but there wasn’t one locally – but RRG Toyota was the first one that came up.”

As luck would have it, when Mrs Allen called the company, she was put in contact with Gavin.

He said: “The way we see things, a lot of our staff live in the community and a lot are from Whitworth. We are big on community; it is our passion. We are not just about selling cars.”

Mrs Allen said: “We are so grateful to Gavin and RRG Toyota for supporting our school.

“The trip to Spain will be for 40 students from Years 8 to 10 and they will be in a language immersion experience. They will be met by Spanish reps who will speak to the students in Spanish the whole time and the students will be responding in Spanish.

“They will have lessons in the morning when they will learn specific vocabulary for the afternoon’s activities including water sports, trips into town, dancing and tapas.

“It is really important that the trip is immersive so they embrace the culture and I am hoping it brings the language to life and makes it more relevant.”

As RRG also backed St Joseph’s RC Primary School entry in the Bacup and Stacksteads Carnival, the Mayor’s Ball and other community events in Whitworth, Gavin added he hoped it would be only just the start of a supportive working relationship between the company and Whitworth Community High.