Hanover Dairies: Leading Doorstep Deliveries & Championing Charitable Initiatives

Milk money

In addition to being committed to bringing back doorstep milk deliveries to homes across Britain, Hanover Dairies has a proud reputation of being a dedicated contributor to charitable causes

On January 11th, 2018, in a key speech outlining her government’s environmental policies, Prime Minister Theresa May made the bold pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. “We must reduce the demand for plastic, reduce the number of plastics in circulation and improve our recycling rates,” she said. “To tackle it we will take action at every stage of the production and consumption of plastic.”

Given the wave of popular opinion surrounding the need to address the harm done to the environment through the disposal of avoidable plastic, particular in light of the warnings delivered by the ground-breaking, David Attenborough-fronted television event that was Blue Planet II, the Prime Minister’s announcement was generally well received. Indeed, in some instances, the reaction to her remarks produced a rapid, noticeable response from consumers.

One business to quickly reap benefits from this policy stance was North-East dairy company, Hanover Dairies. The Newcastle-based dairy, which boasts one of the UK’s largest networks of milkmen, saw a five per cent increase in customers switching to re-usable glass milk bottles, which can be used up to 20 times and are generally recyclable, and moving away from single-use plastic containers. Commenting at the time, Tony Baldwin, Managing Director of Hanover Dairies, said: “We’ve had a surge in glass milk bottle sales over the past month with an average increase of more than five per cent, however, in certain areas the increases have been as much as eight per cent or higher.

“With the scale of our operation, covering northern England and into Scotland, and with 120,000 door-step customers alone, we are ideally placed to gauge and assess consumer reaction. Consumer awareness continues to grow week-by-week and customers are phoning and contacting the website requesting milk deliveries in glass bottles, leading to a resurgence in the sale of milk in the traditional glass bottle as well as increasing door-step deliveries.”

Charitable giving

As has previously been documented within the pages of this magazine, Hanover Dairies was formed in 1976, beginning with a single milk round run by Trevor Hanover, and has since grown to incorporate 20 distribution centres supplying milkmen throughout the North East, as well as parts of the North West and Scotland. To this day, Trevor remains as passionate about superior doorstep deliveries as ever, and the belief of the company that bears his name in delivering the freshest possible products, and making the process as easy as possible, has never wavered.

A wide network of delivery vehicles allows for the company’s milkmen to provide services to homes, shops, businesses and schools. These milkmen have become very much part of the communities in which they operate, and it has always been seen as a duty of the company to give back much as it can to local charities and organisations that truly make a difference. These efforts have seen it proudly supporting the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity since 2008, raising funds by doing numerous challenges, such as walking the length of Glasgow to Inverness, resulting in the raising of close to £300,000 to date. The tireless work of Trevor and his company saw him named a ‘Point of Light’ award winner by former Prime Minister David Cameron.

Thousands raised

2018 has also been marked by several initiatives, such as the announcement in May that its charity fund-raising initiative would be sending eight families with terminally or severely ill children on an all-expenses paid summer holiday to Center Parcs, Whinfell Forest in Penrith. The week-long holiday experience is aimed at helping to alleviate the day-to-day difficulties that families encounter with terminally or severely ill children, who are rarely able to experience a normal family holiday environment.

“The children and families encounter immense concerns on a day-to day basis and having quality time together is very rewarding. It’s an extremely beneficial experience for the children as well as parents and family members,” Trevor noted back in May. “Every penny raised by Hanover Dairies and associate sponsors goes direct to funding the charitable initiative. Hanover Dairies pays for every family’s transportation to Center Parcs and their return journey home. Each individual family also receives £1,000 of spending money as part of the package.”

Not long after the above announcement, the company was 75then able to reveal the details of its bi-annual Charity Bike Ride, which this year saw the Hanover Dairies team of Trevor, Michael Hanover and Paul Doran joined by Eldon Robson, Owner of Fentimans Drinks, cycle the distance from Hanover Dairies head office in Blaydon to Rainbow’s head office in Surrey. Beginning on June 29th, 2018, the ride concluded on July 5th, 2018, without incident and to great fanfare with the holding of a party in celebration of a good well done, one which has to date raised just shy of £45,000.

Between the charitable efforts it has made, its contribution to the growing movement away from single-use plastic, and its ever-expanding list of satisfied customers, 2018 will no doubt go down as another successful year for Hanover Dairies, and one that sets it up very nicely indeed for 2019