Crane Building Services & Utilities in Ipswich has hosted its annual charitable giving events supporting charities close to the hearts of its staff.

Cheques from the company’s Crane Fund for Women & Children totalling £27,450 were presented to Macmillan Cancer Support in Suffolk – in memory of friend and colleague Julie Collis and to Suffolk Mind ‘Waves’, Memory Lane Café, St Elizabeth Hospice, Fresh Start-New Beginnings, and to EACH.

A further £31,350 has been donated to charities at charitable giving events in Hitchin where Crane BS&U retains a manufacturing site.

Richard Tuck, president for Crane BS&U, said: “It has been a privilege to spend time with some of the volunteers and representatives of these charities to hear first-hand of the important work that they do in our local community. They really do make a difference, often in the most difficult of circumstances; it has been a humbling experience to be able to support them in this small way.”

Crane is a famous Ipswich engineering firm, and it still has a presence in the town, though manufacturing ended here with its factory closure in 2010.

Crane had a foundry in Ipswich for 83 years.

Much of the factory site in Ipswich east has been redeveloped for retail and the motor trade.