Asda

Karly's beaming smile, positive outlook and friendly nature have made her a firm favourite with customers and colleagues alike at our Folkestone store.

Karly has autism and cerebral palsy and says her confidence has soared since she started working at the store 17 years ago. She said: "I always come to work with a smile on my face. I’m happy to see my lovely work colleagues and my regular customers who wait for me to serve them. I'm happy to have a little chat with them and help to pack their bags. I have worked at the Folkestone store since the store opened. I have special needs, but have always had full support from my family and friends. I have conquered a lot of anxieties through their support."

Customer service manager Dawn, who's known Karly for 15 years, said: "Karly is so lovely; she's happy to do anything. She just loves the customers and they like her."

If you've got it, haunt it – where do you rate on the spooky scale? ☕👻🧟‍♂️🕷️🔮⚰️ ​

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Customer service colleague Helen from our Spennymoor store helped to pay for one of our older customer's shopping as he was struggling to pay with his bank cards, didn't know his pin numbers and had very little cash on him.

Store manager Kim, pictured here with Helen, said: "Helen was patient, understanding and exceptionally kind. She counted the change he had and paid for the rest of his shopping out of her own money. The gentleman was confused and upset. Helen's patience put him at ease and meant he could take his shopping too."

Helen, who's worked at the store for 28 years, has now been nominated for an Asda service superstar award for her kind act. She politely declined to be reimbursed.

It's tiiiiime.... 🎄

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When a customer in her eighties told delivery driver Dave that she had a very bad sore throat and didn’t have any medication he went straight back to our Shoeburyness store to get her some.

Sixty-one-year-old Dave said: “I’d taken the lady’s shopping inside for her and she said she didn’t feel too well and was going to ask her neighbour to go to the shop to get some throat sweets and spray. Our store is only five minutes away so I said I’d happily go. The lady is about the same age as my mum so I’d like to think someone would help her in the same way.”

Isla, the store's online trading manager, has nominated Dave for an Asda service superstar award for his kindness. She said: "What Dave did was going above and beyond his driver duties to provide care for the elderly customer who was extremely grateful. We are all very proud of him.”

What does a wise bear always keep in his hat in case of emergencies... Answers below! 👇

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Claire from our Hinckley store has always supported our Tickled Pink campaign – and since going through her own breast cancer diagnosis she's even more determined to drive awareness with other people.

Claire, who started working for Asda 37 years ago, was told she had a grade 3 tumour after going for a routine mammogram in 2022. She said: "You can't encourage people enough to check themselves and go for their routine mammogram appointment. I am a self checker and make sure there's no lumps and bumps that shouldn't be there. If you do find anything out of the norm then please get it checked straight away. If you get an appointment letter about going for a mammogram then 100 per cent go. It may be a few moments of discomfort, but it could save your life. These tests are available to us and so important."

Home shopping driver Ronan from our Enniskillen store was out on his rounds when he spotted a regular customer’s dog, Ruá, running loose along a quiet country road a long way from home.

He stopped and, with gentle coaxing, he managed to get red setter Ruá into his van and then made a detour from his route to reunite her with her worried owner, who said she’d been missing for hours.

Ronan, who's worked at the store for four years, said: "When I saw Ruá I knew she was too far from home, and I couldn’t just leave her. It’s all about being a part of the community and looking out for one another, so I was delighted I was there. I’m just glad I was able to help."

Ruá’s owner Anne took to Facebook to thank Ronan saying: “I just want to thank the Asda driver who recognised my red setter Ruá who had done a runner this morning and coaxed her back home. I really appreciate his kindness.”

Christopher, the store's online trading manager, said: “We all love our pets dearly and no doubt the family were distressed at their missing pup. Ronan is always willing to lend a hand, so his kindness comes as no surprise to those who know him well."

Aria was just 16 when her mum Rani was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is sharing her story as part of our Tickled Pink campaign – telling us how she's been inspired by her mum's experience to spread awareness, challenge taboos and change attitudes.

Aria's mum saw a post on Facebook about breast cancer and checking, which encouraged her to check her own chest and subsequently find a lump in her armpit. After initially not wanting to make a fuss, she went to see her GP, was diagnosed with breast cancer and started her treatment soon after. Aria said: "I come from a South Asian background and learned from Mum’s experience that breast cancer is a taboo topic. Any mention of breasts was seen as something wrong, or that you didn't discuss, so although people were supportive it was difficult to share our experience. You'd tell someone to check themselves and they were like, 'what do you mean?'"

But Aria, who's from Glasgow and studying at university in Aberdeen, believes her generation is a lot more open to speaking about these topics, something her mum feels very proud of, knowing that sharing these experiences can help others in a similar position. She has continued to spread awareness of breast cancer by joining her university's CoppaFeel! Uni B**b Team where she has met others with similar experiences and heard breast cancer awareness spoken of positively.

Good luck to our wonderful colleague Jason, who has cerebral palsy, who's taking on a walking challenge around our Derby store throughout October in support of our Tickled Pink campaign.

Jason uses walking aids and each lap of the store takes him about an hour, but he says the support from customers and colleagues is making all the difference in his effort to raise money and awareness for our charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel!. He said: "There's always a crowd of customers and colleagues clapping me and taking photos. Community champions Rosie and Jason follow me around with the collection bucket and help me if I need it. There's always people around to lend a hand. I may occasionally have to stop, catch my breath and have a drink as it is very tiring."

Anyone who'd like to sponsor Jason should visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/jasons-walk-around-the-store-for-tickled-pink?qid=1b0d9576121d8feadcb8a03463c738ea

Security colleague Ben from our Gosport store saved the day when a customer who was out shopping with her granddaughter couldn't pay for her groceries because the payment app on her phone wouldn’t work and she'd left her purse at home.

Ben could see that the lady was getting upset, so paid for the groceries out of his own pocket before she called back later to pay him back. The lady was so grateful that she posted on the Gosport Aware Facebook group to thank him and let other people know how kind Ben is. She posted: "I was shocked and my faith in kindness and humanity has increased immensely. Just shows you that there are some really nice kind people out there." Dozens of customers said well done to Ben, with comments including: "Lovely.... restores your faith in humanity! 👍🏻", Well done that man! True gentleman" and "Lovely thing to do. What a kind person."

Ben said: “I could see the lady was very stressed out and I just wanted to help. When she realised that she’d left her purse at home I could see that she looked really defeated and so I just wanted to step in." The store's community champion Rachel said: "When I saw the customer's comment on Facebook I immediately knew who the customer was referring to. Ben is the type of person that people are drawn to and enjoy being around. It didn’t surprise me that he went above and beyond for the customer. It’s just in his nature to want to help."

When Caroline found a young homeless father close to hypothermia sleeping rough in our Barrhead store's underground car park she did all she could to help him.

She phoned an ambulance, brought him inside the store, wrapped him in a sleeping bag to raise his temperature, as well as making him something to eat and getting him a hot drink. Paramedics checked him over and called his support worker who moved him up to a priority case that day and found accommodation for him in Glasgow. Caroline got him some groceries, clothes and essentials as well as some change for his train journey to his new home. He contacted the store the next day to thank her.

Store manager Amanda said: “The man couldn’t thank Caroline enough. Thanks to her efforts and compassion the social worker prioritised his case and he now had somewhere to stay. A truly selfless act by an asset to our company."

Lindsay and her 18-year-old Billy son were the toast of our Swinton store for saving the day when a customer wanted 100 champagne flutes for an upcoming wedding.

Unfortunately the store didn't have enough in stock so Lindsay and Billy rang around a few local stores to check availability. They found two stores – Trafford Park and Harpurhey – which had 50 in each so they drove to them to collect the glasses on their day off and then delivered them to the wedding reception venue, Pendlebury Social Club. Lindsay said: "The lady had a lot on her plate trying to organise a wedding, so it was nice to be able to help out. Organising a wedding can be stressful and I promised her that we'd sort out the flutes for her and that's what we did. They wanted everyone at the reception to be able to toast the happy couple."

Our Cashpot for Schools initiative has so far raised £3 million for primary schools across the UK – and there's still another eight weeks left to further boost the total.

Community champion Diane from our Rhyl store has been visiting local schools to spread the word, including Ysgol Maes Owen at nearby Kinmel Bay, where headteacher Catrin said: "We think it's such a fantastic idea and everyone at the school is so positive about it. It's really bringing the community together and it's just so easy to do. School budgets have been hit so anything that brings in extra funding is brilliant. We plan to spend the money from Cashpot for Schools on books and learning aids plus anything to support wellbeing in the school."

Her views were echoed by John from Hawthorn Tree Primary School in Boston, who said: "We’ve already seen over £500 raised for our school so far, which we are so delighted with. We’re not stopping there; we are encouraging parents and the local community to sign up via our social media to try and raise as much as possible. It would be amazing to hit £1,000 by the end of the campaign! The money we raise will be used to help stock our incredibly new library that we fundraised for last year, as well as helping towards our next project: creating a much-needed community space in school for family learning sessions and other community projects.”

A massive thank you to all our customers, colleagues and volunteers who are supporting our Tickled Pink breast cancer charity campaign which raises money and awareness for Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel!.

Colleagues are taking part in a wide range of activities, including shaving their heads, waxing their legs, dressing up in wigs and tutus, sponsored silences, dying their hair pink, and joining in with cycling, running and walking challenges. Community champion Gemma, from our Harlow store, said: "Colleagues are 100% backing the importance of checking yourself. The store is awash with pink and it's great to see the amount of products supporting our Tickled Pink crusade too."

Our new Roast Potato Flavour Mayo is now available in stores and online. Customers are coming up with creative ideas for how to use it and getting excited about Christmas! 💚

Some are creating tasty sandwiches – “We could use this and make a Christmas dinner left overs sandwich at tea time🤭”, “in a ready salted crisp sandwich🥪, or with a stuffing sarnie. Oh my days🤣😍”. And others in salads – “Make a banging homemade potato salad” and “imagine homemade potato salad made with this saucy monkey🤤”.

Costs just £1.10 🛒💚 Available online and in stores: https://bit.ly/3zO4LaS

New Roast Potato Mayo spotted at Asda!! 😅

Home shopping driver Dan from our Melksham store knows his regular customers so well that when one of them didn’t answer their door he knew something was wrong.

It turned out that the lady, who's in her sixties, had passed out due to a bad reaction to her new medication. Dan called 999 and stayed until help arrived, before continuing with his deliveries. He called back at her home after he’d finished his round to see how she was.

Dan said: "I'd delivered to the lady quite a few times before and I knew she had some health issues. She normally opens the door very quickly but on this occasion she didn't. I knocked several times and when I peered through the window the kitchen light was on. This made me even more concerned. I thought she's got to be in there if the light is on. I climbed over the side gate to go round the back and looked through the window, but I couldn't see her. I phoned 101 at first for advice who told me to phone 999 which I did.

"I came back later on to check on her and she answered the door and said that she'd been knocked out by the medication that she'd been taking. She was very grateful that I'd called someone who could check up on her. I did what any other human being would have done."

Community champion Sam from our Dundee Kirkton store will be surrounded by friends and family this weekend as they join the hundreds of volunteers at Asda stores across the country raising money and awareness for our Tickled Pink breast cancer campaign.

It's all very personal to Sam, her husband Stephen and their children Dylan, Emma and Evie, as Sam rang the bell to celebrate being given the all-clear from breast cancer just last month. Now she's using her experience to help others, and her loved ones want to show how grateful they are for the care and support she received. Sam said: "I'm always willing to give advice. I talk about it all the time – even to men, as they need to know about it for themselves, and also for their wives and girlfriends, daughters and sisters. Everyone has been so kind, so amazing. Even when I was just in the store shopping customers would come up to me and ask how I was and when I was coming back to work as they missed my smiley face. It does make you feel wanted."

Sam had got into a regular routine of checking herself, and it was while doing her checks that she noticed her skin was dimpling – something she knew was a potential sign of breast cancer. She said: "When I first found the lump I knew not to totally panic and wasn't all that frightened because I'd read so much about it through Tickled Pink, Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel! – their websites are just amazing. Everyone is different, every side effect is different and bodies recover at a different speed."

Retired police officer Harry had never thought he was at risk of breast cancer until a chance discovery while out for a jog led to his diagnosis – now as part of our Tickled Pink campaign with Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel! he's joined our team of Real Self-Checkers to make sure more men are aware that breast cancer can happen to them.

Harry says it's so important for everyone to regularly check themselves, and to act quickly if something feels wrong. He believes men should be as vigilant about checking their breasts as they are with other parts of their health, as early detection can make all the difference. He said: "I jog a lot and was wearing one of these nylon jogging shirts and on one particular day it was rubbing against my ni**le, and I was suddenly in excruciating pain. I couldn't see anything untoward but thought I'd better get it checked.” Harry's GP fast-tracked him for an appointment at Halton Hospital in Runcorn, where he and his wife Val lived at the time, and after an ultrasound and biopsy he was told he had breast cancer. He had a mastectomy and 19 lymph nodes removed and underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

He said: "The reason I want to share my story is because I didn't consider breast cancer in my life. It's made me more aware now that when I feel something isn't right, I don't wait that extra month or two to see if it self-resolves; I call the doctor. And if you think it only happens to women, you open yourself up to it becoming more serious."

As part of our Tickled Pink campaign we're encouraging everyone to get into the habit of regularly checking their breasts – and to see a doctor if they spot anything unusual.

Our Straiton store's community champion Claire knows from personal experience just how important it is. It's thanks to her role raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of breast cancer that she started to regularly check herself – and knew to get help when she felt a lump one day in the shower. Claire's GP referred her to the breast cancer clinic at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh. An ultrasound scan and biopsy were both inconclusive, so she underwent surgery to have the lump removed. A few weeks later she got the good news that the lump wasn't cancerous.

Claire said: "I think it’s important to tell people my story because I think it's human nature to immediately fear the worst if you find a lump. But what I had was really common, a benign lump called fibroadenoma. Obviously I was relieved when I heard, but I was acutely aware that I was walking out of the hospital happy, knowing other people were in there having just been given bad news."

Claire says she's channelling her personal experience in support of Tickled Pink, which raises money and awareness for breast cancer charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel! – "I feel like it’s helped me in that I now know the practicalities and what people are going through. It’s made me a better community champion because I can tell people from my my experience that finding a lump doesn’t necessarily mean the worst. The most important thing is to check yourself and to get medical help if you find anything. The worst thing would be to not know, or to just ignore it."

When a couple told customer service host Kim from our Swindon Haydon store that they'd misplaced the medication they'd just picked up from the pharmacy she went out of her way to make sure they got it back – running to the bus stop where they were heading home to return it to them.

The couple had reported the loss to Kim while they were in the store. Kim told them that nothing had yet been handed in but that she'd let them know if there were any developments. Ten minutes later, after the customers had left the store, the medication was discovered in the customer toilets.

The store's community champion Jane said: "Kim had heard that the couple were catching the bus home so ran down to the bus stop to try and catch them. Luckily they were there so the much needed medication was returned. Amazing work, Kim."

The couple sent in a card to thank Kim saying: "To the kind and wonderful lady who went the extra mile to retrieve our misplaced medication, thank you very much."

We’re really excited to announce that we have partnered with Amy Dowden MBE to create this year’s official Tickled Pink T-shirt. All profits from the sale of the T-shirt will go to our charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel! to help fund better breast cancer treatments, vital education and life-changing support. You can buy the T-shirt online and in-store now.

Amy said: "I'm so happy to be working with Asda Tickled Pink on this year's campaign. Breast cancer awareness is something I feel so passionately about, especially after my own diagnosis. It's hugely important to know your own body and check your chest regularly from a young age, and I hope that being involved in this campaign can help to raise heaps of awareness and funds for the brilliant Tickled Pink charity partners Breast Cancer Now and CoppaFeel!."

Asda Tickled Pink has been running for 28 years and has raised over £92m for breast cancer charities. To find out more visit: https://bit.ly/3TDttl5