News UK has today donated £1,000 to Southwark Cathedral’s All Hallows community project as it held its annual carol service at the church ahead of its relocation to London Bridge Quarter next summer.

The midday service was News UK’s first event to be held in the Southwark community and was attended by 200 employees including its CEO Mike Darcey as well as editors from its famous Sun, Times and Sunday Times newspapers.

The All Hallows community project aims to bring back to life the site of an old parish church that fell victim to the bombing raids of The Second World War. News UK’s donation marks its intention to work closely with and support its new neighbours as it does with all the communities in which it operates throughout the UK and Ireland.

The News UK businesses, including its three newspapers are set to move to ‘The Place’ outside London Bridge Station in a phased relocation from Wapping beginning in the summer of 2014. Construction and fitting out of the new headquarters began in October 2013 and when complete will offer excellent workspace for 2,500 News UK employees currently based in Tower Hamlets. A further 1,000 employees from Dow Jones and Harper Collins, which like News UK are subsidiaries of Newscorp, will also be moving to The Place.

The Very Rev. Andrew Nunn, Dean of Southwark, who led the News UK service, said: “We are delighted to welcome the staff of News UK to Southwark Cathedral for their carol service.  2014 will be a big year for News UK as they move into their new headquarters alongside the Cathedral.  As their neighbours and we look forward to working together for the good of the whole community and Christmas is a great place to begin that.”

On News UK’s future relationship with the Southwark community, Mike Darcey, Chief Executive Officer at News UK, said: “We are a responsible company, rooted in the community in which we serve, and we look forward to building new links in Southwark.

“We are grateful to all in the area, including the Dean for already making us feel very welcome and we look forward to being part of this vibrant London community.”

Throughout News UK’s time in Tower Hamlets, the company has worked with charity partners to offer staff the opportunity to volunteer their time and skills within the local community. The Community programme has an emphasis on maintaining communal green areas and developing local young people.

Since its launch in 2011, a total of 2,200 News UK staff have volunteered through the Community Investment programme, planting 50,000 trees in deprived areas of east London. In 2013 alone, the News UK Community Investment programme also volunteered 807 hours to local young people and children e.g. running reading clubs at and photo competitions for local primary schools, offering a mentoring scheme to east London university graduates embarking on their careers and a conference to help local young people interested in becoming journalists to hone their skills and develop pathways to a career in news.

Once the relocation to London Bridge is complete, News UK will show the same commitment to Southwark with a phased transition of the Community Investment programme to focus on priorities identified with Southwark community leaders.