Together and Landmark Group presents a new Sunshine Coach to Vantage Academies

Vantage Academies, which runs St Barnabas Primary School in Openshaw, has been presented with a new Variety Sunshine Coach, donated by Together and Landmark Group.

The 17-seater coach, equipped with a tail-lift, will provide essential transport to the 3,500 children who attend Vantage Academies’ ten schools across Manchester, Salford, Trafford, Bolton and Knowsley.

The new coach will help pupils access school trips, learning opportunities and experiences that might otherwise be out of reach because of affordability or complex SEND needs.

Together and Landmark Group agreed to donate this Sunshine Coach at the Variety North West PROPS Awards in November 2025, where almost £400,000 was raised for disabled and disadvantaged children by the North West’s property sector.

Jill Messham, Vantage Academies CEO, said: “A huge thank you to Together, Landmark Group and Variety, the Children’s Charity from all of us at Vantage Academies.

“Our values are aspiration, togetherness and service, and this new Sunshine Coach will bring those values to life.

“For some of our children, opportunities to see the world beyond their immediate communities are limited. This coach will make school trips possible, extend their experiences, broaden their horizons and help secure the happy, memorable childhoods every child deserves.”

Vantage Academies have 10 individual schools which deliver educational excellence to children and young people in the North West of England. Six of the nine primary schools in the academy are in the top 10% of the UK’s most deprived boroughs.

Vantage Academies will share the coach between the sites to support the children’s extra-curricular educations, provide new experiences, and ensure that the children at Vantage Academies are able to enjoy opportunities and activities to better their learning and school experience.

Marc Goldberg, Together CEO, Sales and Distribution and Variety North West PROPS board member, presented the coach to a group of very excited children at Gorton Primary School – one of Vantage Academies’ 10 schools.

He said: “Seeing the Sunshine Coach today at Gorton Primary School and meeting the children who will benefit from it makes it all worthwhile.

“You cannot help but feel proud when you see the children’s faces and see how appreciative they are.

“The North West PROPS has achieved so much, but there is still more to do and more children to help. We are going from strength-to-strength and I urge the property sector to again come together in 2026 to raise even more money for the children in our region who need it most.”

Mark Hawthorn, CEO of Landmark Group and a Variety North West PROPS board member, said: “This presentation of the Sunshine Coach to Vantage Academies is a wonderful example of what the North West property sector and Variety can achieve for disabled and disadvantaged children.

“The impact of Variety’s Sunshine coaches cannot ever be underestimated in helping children access opportunities and experiences that they would otherwise miss.

“I am delighted that Landmark and Together have been able to jointly provide this coach and hope it will benefit these children for years to come.”

Following the monumental success of previous years, the North West PROPS Awards will return to The Manchester Deansgate Hotel on Thursday, November 12, 2026, to celebrate the region’s thriving property sector.

Entering its fourth year in the North West, the PROPS Awards have become a staple in the property industry calendar. The event celebrates the outstanding achievements of individuals and companies in the property industry while raising vital funds for disabled and disadvantaged children and young people across the region.