Merlin has marked one of its most active years to date for charitable and community support, backing organisations across Perthshire with donations, fundraising, and hands-on volunteering. During 2025, the company contributed to a wide range of causes including Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA), Perth & Kinross Foodbank, Perth High School, Viewlands Primary School, Sprint Squad Perth, CHAS, Dunning Golf Club, Crieff & Strathearn Rugby Club, and Riverside Primary School.
Managing Director Ron Ramage
“I am incredibly proud of the generosity shown by the Merlin team throughout 2025. Their willingness to offer time, energy and resources to a wide variety of causes has made a genuine difference. It speaks volumes about the values we hold as a company.”
The Scottish-based business remains committed to ensuring that the company’s success positively impacts stakeholders within its local community. In total, more than £10,000 worth of donations, sponsorships and fundraising efforts were fulfilled throughout the year.
Starting early in the year, Merlin launched a campaign to support Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. Together, staff completed more than 1,600 miles during the ‘100 Miles in May’ challenge. Augmented by bake sales, raffles, and participation in the Perth 10K, these efforts raised £3,000 for this lifesaving service. A visit to SCAA’s base at Scone airport provided colleagues with a direct insight into the critical work the charity undertakes daily.
Spring and summer saw Merlin support local education. At Perth High School, the team supported the annual Careers Festival and donated STEM equipment, including wind turbines for Physics, professional-grade music technology kit, and a laptop charging caddy for pupils with additional support needs. Merlin also funded barista training and equipment for the school’s new pupil-run café and committed to sponsoring a regional Enterprise Maths Competition.
Viewlands Primary School pupils continued to use Merlin’s gardens for part of their biodiversity studies. Merlin also enhanced their STEM lab, established with the company support last year, with the provision of fifteen programmable, drivable and extensible Sphero Robots.
Local sport also benefitted, with the company providing £2,500 of new training kit for Sprint Squad Perth, supporting a group of promising young sprinters including two athletes working towards the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Additional support was provided to Dunning Golf Club, Crieff & Strathearn Rugby Club, Blairgowrie over 35’s football team and Riverside Primary School.
Merlin’s commitment to the North Muirton community extended further with support for several local initiatives. In August, as a committee member for North Muirton community work, Craig Allardyce assisted with the “Your North Muirton’s Afternoon Tea” event, which provides free afternoon tea for around fifty pensioners or individuals who may otherwise struggle to get out and socialise. Later the same month, Craig contributed to maintenance and improvement work at the North Muirton Community Allotments, a volunteer-led growing space for residents, schools, and local groups.
In autumn, fundraising continued with Callum Stewart’s charity abseil of the Kelpies, raising more than £240 for CHAS, and following an informative and thought-provoking “Learning Lunch” from the Perth & Kinross Foodbank, Merlin staff volunteered at the Tesco foodbank drives, helping generate hundreds of pounds’ worth of extra donations.
In October, Kirstene MacCorquodale supported the Blythswood Shoebox Appeal 2025. Nearly 100 shoeboxes were wrapped during a dedicated box-wrapping morning, ready for filling in early November. A total of 225 completed boxes were subsequently sent to Ukraine from Aberfeldy and the surrounding area in time for Christmas, providing meaningful support to communities in need.
Merlin additionally provided a £250 donation to support the Your North Muirton’s Christmas Fun Day, helping deliver a valued seasonal event for families in the area.
As this year concludes, Merlin has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting and encouraging community work. As in previous years, every employee will have access to two half-days of volunteering, ensuring continued support for local projects. Much of this success is driven by Merlin’s Culture Committee, whose coordination, planning and enthusiasm have been central to the year’s achievements. Without their efforts, the company would not be able to contribute as it does, and we thank them for their resourcefulness.
Merlin looks forward to building on this momentum in the year ahead.
