Celebrities Push The Envelope with Pitney Bowes

Howard Lake | 21 September 2006 | Newswire

Some of Britain’s top actors, writers, illustrators, musicians, sportspeople and personalities have been using their creativity to design envelopes for the 2006 Pitney Bowes ‘Pushing the Envelope’ charity auction.

Now in its third year, the Pitney Bowes ‘Pushing the Envelope’ campaign sees some of the nation’s favourite stars put pen to envelope in aid of the National Literacy Trust (NLT) – the only charity concerned with raising literacy standards across all age groups.
The designed envelopes will be auctioned on eBay.co.uk starting on 10th October at 11am and will run for 10 days. In the UK, all funds raised will be donated to the National Literacy Trust, with a simultaneous campaign in France benefiting a local literacy charity.
Contributors to ‘Pushing the Envelope’ so far include:
Presenter Noel Edmonds
Best-selling author Joanne Harris
Children’s book illustrator Rod Campbell
Illustrator and author Raymond Briggs
Actress Kate Winslet
Best-selling author Tracy Chevalier
Founder of Viz Magazine Chris Donald
Ashes Squad Captain Andrew Flintoff
Poet Laureate Andrew Motion
Artist Anita Klein
Television Personality Graham Norton
Children’s book illustrator Axel Scheffler
Graphic designer Milton Glaser
Paranormalist Uri Geller
Founder of the Rubik’s Cube Erno Rubik
Renowned Actress Prunella Scales
Legendary singer Dame Shirley Bassey
Author and Poet Margaret Atwood
Great Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave
Comedienne Jo Brand
Actress Zoë Wanamaker
Novelist Louis de Bernieres
British Spy Novelist John Le Carre
Cartoonist Kipper Williams
Artist David Bellamy
Children’s Laureate Jacqueline Wilson
Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton
Graphic Artist/Writer Simone Lia
With many more celebrities committed to the cause and lots of envelopes yet to be submitted, Pitney Bowes anticipates that a total in excess of 50 designs will be available for bidding in October.
David Denney, Vice President Human Resources, Pitney Bowes comments: For Pitney Bowes, the link to the NLT is an obvious one. The charity is concerned with raising literacy standards across all age groups and improved literacy will always mean improved communication. Our own solutions help to make communication simpler and more integrated. We are committed to engineering the flow of communication across the mailstream”.
The response so far has been fantastic and seems to have captured the imagination of some of the UK’s most well-known faces. We look forward to raising a substantial sum for the NLT”.
Richard Sved, Head of Fundraising, The National Literacy Trust comments: We are delighted that Pitney Bowes are continuing to support the NLT for a third year with the Pushing the Envelope campaign. Our successful partnership means we can continue to do valuable work, providing a supportive network throughout the UK”.
A full list of contributors and their envelopes can be viewed at www.pushingtheenvelope.info.

About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale. He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.