Volunteers do their bit for the community
Two teams of ambitious employees carried out charity projects over the summer as part of a training programme aimed at creating engaging managers. The first was to refurbish a potholed access road to the Leicestershire Wildlife Hospital at Kibworth near Leicester. The second entailed widening and restoring a path for a wheelchairfriendly picnic area at a nature reserve in mid-Wales.
The two-day project in Leicestershire involved preparing the surface of the 300 metre long driveway then spreading 100 tonnes of golden gravel from Needingworth quarry with help from a local digger driver. The team also demolished an old animal pen.
“It was hard work but really satisfying,” said Syston-based internal sales manager Matthew Allard, who was joined by customer agent team leader Lauren Blagg and cement allocations controllers Alan Doughty and Sam Hands from One MC, along with Runcorn-based technical production manager Gareth Lloyd and Teesside Regen electrical engineer Scott Leather.
The group supported their physical efforts by raising more than £300 for the hospital through a dress down day at the customer service centre, along with 50 tins of dog food donated by colleagues to help feed the variety of animals cared for at the hospital, which range from hedgehogs and badgers to swans, geese and ducks.
The second group spent two days at Radnorshire Wildlife Trusts’ Gilfach Farm nature reserve improving wheelchair access to a popular picnic area.
Chipping Sodbury-based employee services manager Sophie Felsinger and cash office manager Nichola Hicks were joined by aggregates unit manager Aurelien Colas and concrete district operations managers Lee Taylor and Nick Kingston. They were assisted by supervisor Dave Burton from nearby Builth Wells quarry, who operated the mini-digger needed for the work.
Some of the team later took part in the Bristol 10k run with Vicky Lemon, who is culture and change manager at the shared service centre and was the team’s project sponsor. “With matched funding from Heidelberg Materials we raised £1,290 for the trust,” said Sophie.
