By Jamie White – Head of Communications

A charity Dress Down Day is taking place at the Head Office of mystery shopping and performance improvement company, Douglas Stafford today (Friday), as a another busy week draws to a close.

Team members at the Lakeside North Harbour HQ in Portsmouth, all make a monetary contribution for the privilege of donning their own clothes for the day in work, with all proceeds raised donated to Douglas Stafford’s 2015 charity The Rowans Hospice.

A team member from Douglas Stafford is raising money for charity by taking part in this year’s Morrison’s Great South Run.

Poppy Dugan, who works in the Scheduling Department, is running the 10-mile event with her father, in memory of her late grandmother, Sheila.

Poppy is raising money for the Moving Forward charity, which provided vital care and support for her grandmother before she passed away. You can read more and sponsor Poppy, here.

Also this week, many shoppers in England will now have to pay 5p for plastic carrier bags.

The new rule has been introduced by the Government, which expects the scheme to cut the use of plastic carrier bags by up to 80% in supermarkets and by 50% on the High Street.

Retailers with 250 or more employees must charge at least 5p for the bags they provide for shopping in stores and for deliveries, but smaller shops and paper bags are exempt. Read more here.

Bristol Street Motors – one of the UK’s best-known automotive retailers – has opened its second new Renault and Dacia dealership in the space of six months.

The new franchise in Mansfield is Bristol Street’s sixth Renault and Dacia outlet and further strengthens the long-standing partnership between Renault Group UK and the dealer group’s parent company, Vertu Motors. You can read more here.