A FIRM of Basingstoke-based solicitors has been honoured for its community work.

Clarke & Son Solicitors, based in Winchester Road, won the Business and the Community Award for its work in the community and organising fundraising events.

Marketing manager at Clarke & Son, Darren Lovegrove, said: “It was brilliant to win the award, but it was very unexpected.”

The firm is a champion of local causes, including the Ark Cancer Centre Charity, for which it has organised several events and raised thousands of pounds.

Partner Claire Redhead said: “We are big Ark supporters, from organising golf days, come into work in casual clothes days, and other fundraising activities, we have ramped up the amount that we do for charity.”

Collectively over the past three years, the company has raised around £68,000, and has been averaging around £30,000 a year for the past two years.

Claire added: “We all think that it is hugely important to give back. We all have our own individual reasons why, and we all think differently. We want to show and give back to the community.

“We are making it an activity that the whole firm is involved in, and making it very much a part of our business culture.

“Our staff want to show up and have fun, as well as help out who we can, and this is clear in the fact that many of the staff routinely give up their weekends to help out. We try to make it all about having fun and doing good.”

Business and the Community Award, sponsored Gazette Newspapers.

Winners: Clarke & Son Solicitors

Nominees: Sovereign, Unum and Jim Hill Classic Race Simulators