Social Impact Report for 2026 So Far

Social Impact Report – 2026 So Far

At Sunnyside Guest House, we believe that being a responsible business is about more than simply reducing our environmental impact. While sustainability is an important part of what we do, we also believe that a successful local business has a responsibility to contribute positively to the community around it.

As a small, independent family-run business, we are fortunate to be part of the Southport community, and we want to give something back whenever we can. This means supporting charities and good causes, helping community projects and improving our local environment, as well as offering practical support to people and organisations that are making a difference.

We don’t have a huge budget or the resources of a large company, but we believe that small businesses can still have a meaningful social impact. Sometimes that means donating a room night or providing breakfast, while on other occasions it might be sponsoring a local fundraiser, helping to clean up the street, planting trees or simply giving our time to support a community initiative.

Supporting Charitable Causes

Gift of a room for people living with cancer

 We have donated 9 room nights so far ths year (as of August 2026) to support charitable causes, including our ongoing support for Something To Look Forward To. The UK registered charity provides gifts, experiences and short breaks for people living with cancer and their families. Some of the people benefiting from these experiences are living with terminal or life limiting cancer, making the opportunity to spend precious time together, away from the pressures of treatment and everyday life, particularly meaningful.

We are proud to be able to donate accommodation at Sunnyside Guest House and play a small part in helping families create happy memories together during what can be an incredibly difficult time. For some families, a short break may provide a rare opportunity to relax, spend quality time together and make memories that they can treasure.

Walk for Leon

We were proud to sponsor the Walk for Leon, a fundraising event organised to support 36 year old Southport man Leon, his 3 young boys and wife following his diagnosis with an aggressive form of kidney cancer.

Gifted Accommodation for Walkers Fundraising

We provided accommodation to walkers from outside the area to take part in the Walk for Leon. The walkers included Mick Cullen MBE aka Speedo Mick who travelled from London to stay the night at the Sunnyside in preperation for the walk. We also hoasted guests from Newport in Wales.

We provided 15 free breakfasts to support the Walk for Leon participants and volunteers. The walk rasied over £13,000 for Leon to help fund treatment and support is family.

The Big Green Lunch

We were pleased to support the Big Green Lunch, a national event bringing people together through local community lunches to celebrate the positive things we can do for our environment and communities. The Southport event was held at Southport Market on 7 June 2026, bringing local people and organisations together for food, conversation and community.

To support the event, we made 60 homemade cupcakes for attendees to enjoy. It was a small contribution, but one that allowed us to participate in somthing we enjoy, homemade food and hospitality, to support a local community event and help make the day a little more special.

Southport Soup Kitchen

Supporting the Environment

Tree planting

Since 2023, we have supported tree planting through our Book Direct, Plant a Tree campaign. For every direct booking made with Sunnyside Guest House, we support the planting of a tree through our charity partner, Ripple Africa. So far, our guests have helped us contribute to the planting of 1,490 trees in Malawi. In 2026 alone, we have supported the planting of 390 trees, including 140 fruit trees. Ripple Africa’s fruit tree project helps communities grow mango, papaya, guava, avocado and citrus trees, providing families with a sustainable source of nutritious food while also creating opportunities to earn an income from selling surplus fruit. Community groups are also encouraged to share seedlings with local schools and vulnerable people, helping the benefits reach across the wider community.

 

Helping out our Community

Lord Street in Bloom

We were pleased to support the Lord Street in Bloom volunteers during working sessions to help clear and prepare the flower beds in Southport town centre ready for new planting. The volunteers give their time throughout the year to help keep Lord Street looking its best, and it was great to be able to lend a hand with the preparation work.

Their hard work and dedication have made a real difference to the appearance of Southport, helping to create a welcoming and colourful town centre for residents and visitors alike. The volunteers also played a significant part in Southport being awarded Gold in this year’s Britain in Bloom awards, recognising the tremendous effort that goes into improving and maintaining the town’s green spaces.

Mulch delivery

We were also pleased to support the work taking place to improve Southport’s town-centre flower beds by contributing towards the supply of 20 tonnes of composted mulch.

The mulch was funded through a collective donation from members of the Southport Hoteliers Association, with each participating hotelier contributing £50, raising a total of £600. The Pumpkin Patch Farm then delivered the 20 tonnes of composted mulch, which was used to help improve the soil and support new planting.

Volunteers worked together to spread the mulch across the front flower beds and the large side bed, helping to prepare these areas for planting and giving the flowers and plants the best possible start.

Local ecosystems

We have been beekeepers for the past five years, giving us the opportunity to support local pollinators while also taking an active interest in bee and insect conservation.

As part of this, we send samples from our hives to the National Honey Monitoring Scheme, contributing data that helps researchers monitor the health and diversity of honey bees across the UK. We also take part in Yellow-legged Hornet monitoring, helping to identify and monitor this invasive species, which can pose a significant threat to honey bees and other pollinators.

We also help by collecting swarms of bees and giving them a new home in our apiary, rather than allowing them to be unnecessarily destroyed. On one recent occasion, we collected a swarm late at night after it had settled close to a local school. By safely removing the swarm that evening, we helped ensure that the children wouldn’t have to walk past it when they arrived at school the following morning.

Maintaining the community defibrillator

We continue to maintain the defibrillator located in the porch at Sunnyside, helping to ensure it is available and ready to use should it ever be needed. The defibrillator is registered on The Circuit, the national defibrillator network, so its location can be identified by people nearby who may need access to one in an emergency.

If someone nearby calls 999 because a person is suffering a cardiac arrest, the emergency call handler can identify the nearest available registered defibrillator and, where appropriate, provide the access code and instructions for retrieving it. This means our defibrillator can be made available not only to our guests, but also to local residents, businesses and visitors who may need it in a life-threatening emergency.

Community skips

I organise community skips for our local neighbourhood through the council’s Neighbourhoods Team. I arrange the skips and communicate the dates and locations to local residents through our community WhatsApp group, helping people know when and where they will be available.

 

The skips are particularly valuable for older residents and people who are vulnerable or don’t have access to a car, who can otherwise find it difficult to dispose of larger items or accumulated household waste. Where someone is unable to take their rubbish to the skip themselves, I will also collect it from local residents and take it to the skip on their behalf. Other residents use the skips themselves, helping to keep the neighbourhood cleaner and reducing the amount of waste that can otherwise end up being left on the street.

I attend the Southport Operations Group, where I represent the interests and concerns of our local community and help raise issues that affect residents. I also run our local Neighbourhood Watch, helping to keep residents informed and connected and encouraging people to look out for one another

Carbon Offset 

Supporting Rehabilitation Through Employment

We use a local laundry company that works with HMP Wymott in Leyland, providing employment opportunities for prisoners who process our laundry.

By choosing this service, we are helping to create meaningful work opportunities for people in custody. Work provides prisoners with the opportunity to develop practical skills, establish a work routine, build confidence and gain experience that can be valuable when they return to the community.

HMP Wymott provides prisoners with access to work, training and qualifications designed to improve their prospects of employment and help them make a positive contribution to society upon release.

Working With Other Local Businesses

Over the past year, we have continued to share our experience and support businesses in Southport that are looking to improve their environmental practices.

We run Southport Plastic Free Community, with the support of Surfers Against Sewage, helping local businesses take practical steps to reduce unnecessary single-use plastic and improve their sustainability. The initiative now has 12 Southport businesses signed up, including two of the town’s largest hotels.

This year, we have also shared our experience and the work being done in Southport through a podcast put together by the local destination partnership, helping to raise awareness of sustainability within the local business community. We recently completed a case study with Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority.

We have supported individual businesses with their own sustainability journeys. In 2025, we helped Strawberry Fields and The Beatles Story with their Green Tourism applications, sharing some of the knowledge and experience we have gained through our own work towards more sustainable tourism.

We see this as an important part of social impact work. Rather than keeping what we have learned to ourselves, we’re happy to share our experience with other businesses and help Southport’s visitor economy become more sustainable as a whole.

Our Commitment

We know that a small business cannot solve every problem, but we believe that small actions can add up to make a meaningful difference. We will continue to look for practical ways to support local charities, community projects, environmental initiatives and the wider Southport community.