Staff at Thorntons were tasked with walking, jogging or running 8,000km in just four weeks to boost personal mental wellbeing and fundraise for a charity of their choice. The team smashed their target in January and their chosen charity SAMH received the funding boost.

In addition to SAMH, smaller donations were also pledged to CHAS, Women’s Aid, Trussell Trust and Social Bite, which are charities Thorntons has worked with in the past.

Craig Nicol, Thorntons’ managing partner, said: “Physical activity, even just a short 30 minute walk, can provide a real boost for our mental wellbeing so we continue to actively encourage our teams to take some time out of their day to get fresh air.

“For me personally, getting outside even for a short time has been extremely important. We have shared various challenges with our teams, particularly over the winter months, but added incentives like this charity donation are a great way for our people to aim for something together while working remotely.

Emma Gray, SAMH corporate partnerships fundraiser, said: “Our programme called ‘Living Life to the Full’ aims to help young people and the adults in their lives. Part of this involves a dedicated SAMH worker assigned to work across primary and secondary schools, training teachers to embed a cognitive behavioural approach into the curriculum that will support children and young people’s wellbeing. We hope to roll this out to many more schools in the future.

“Projects like this simply would not happen without the fundraising efforts of people and companies like Thorntons, so it is with huge thanks that we received this generous donation of £1,000.”