South East Businesses Bring some Summer Sunshine to Local Communities

It may have been one of the UK’s coldest summers but that hasn’t stopped some of Business in the Community’s member businesses from transforming local communities as part of their commitment to responsible business. Take a look at some of this summers activity below.

Summer Sun Shines on Serco at YMCA Fairthorne

A team of 15 employee volunteers from Serco spent 3 days transforming part of YMCA Fairthorne Manors outdoor grounds into a sensual oasis. Fairthorne Manor is visited by over 15,000 children and young people each year providing a safe and stimulating environment. As part of its commitment to enhance and maintain the 111 acre grounds the organisation successfully secured funding to develop a new inclusive playground area for young people with disabilities.

As part of this new playground staff were keen to include a new sensory garden area allowing young people to take time out to relax and reflect away from all the other activities taking place on site. The team from Serco were keen to get stuck in from the start, incorporating the help of a local landscape designer. The colourful combination of plants, water features and sculptures will now help in stimulating the young people’s senses.

Jo Roberts, Group Company Secretary, Serco Group plc said, "It was great that the Serco team could be part of such a worthwhile project, we had a fantastic day delivering this community project which we are extremely proud of; the sense of achievement that was felt by the team was incredible."

Back to School for Groupama Insurances

It may have been an overcast July day at the end of another school term but that didn’t stop Groupama Insurances going back to school for the day. A team of 11 employee volunteers helped in bringing back to life an unused outdoor classroom within a local school grounds. Portsdown Primary School, located less than 2 miles from Groupama Insurances Portsmouth offices is located in one of the city’s most deprived neighbourhoods and faces a number of challenges. The outdoor environment is regularly used by teaching staff for curricular activities and when pupils are in need of release from the classroom environment. The revamp will now allow the schools staff and pupils to be able to use the grounds throughout the year.

The team quickly got stuck in clearing the classroom of unwanted goods and giving the area a good wash down. Recognising the roof required more than a quick dust down, to ensure the classroom could be used all year round, the team brought in a local contractor to ensure a leak proof structure was left for all to enjoy.

Weatherproofing was the key theme to the day as despite the constant threat of rain the team got underway re-varnishing the areas wooden benches and viewing platforms.

The area is now used every Friday afternoon for the schools ‘diggin and dirt sessions’.

A brighter offering at Lordshill Community Centre   

Building on their previous successes with employee volunteering projects, British American Tobacco once again brought some much needed summer cheer to their local community. Lordshill Community Centre in Southampton is a key hub of the local community with a number of local groups making use of the centre.

The centre’s main hall was in need of a fresh lick of paint to provide a more inviting environment for visitors on arrival. Now with a bright red facade the centre stands out from the adjoining main road and on entrance to the nearby supermarket. The centres surrounding grass verges were also enhanced with the creation of a new flower bed at the entrance and bark being laid in remaining areas that over wise quickly overgrow!

Keen to ensure the work undertaken by the team reflected the community spirit of the centre the team envisaged support from its design and graphics department to create a community mural on one of the centres internal walls.  The mural reflects the term community and some of the key activities undertaken by the local neighbourhood. 

Ensuring the materials sourced for the project helped support local enterprise British American Tobacco enlisted the help of local social enterprise Spark Fabrications. Picnic benches purchased and installed, will allow local residents and committee members to use the patio area during the summer months with maybe even the odd barbecue. Now all that’s needed is for an Indian summer and the community mural vision will be resembled outside and in!

Siemens Classroom challenge ensures pupils start a brighter new school term 

Monday 5th September marked the start of a new and exciting school term for the pupils of  Montacute School, Poole. The school serves children with severe, complex or profound and multiple learning difficulties. Providing a welcoming and relaxing environment for pupils’ is a key priority and with limited resources the school welcome support in enhancing the grounds.

Thirteen employee volunteers from Siemens got stuck in, transforming one of the school’s classrooms giving it a fresh lick of paint and adding a few surprises along the way! With the colour scheme chosen the team got creative with their interior design making good progress in transforming the room. Keen to ensure that a few finishing touches were also left the team arranged for a local blind company to install some new blinds.

Sarah of Montacute School said ‘Thank you so much for the fantastic job you did on Monday and all the time and work you put into planning it! The classroom looks brilliant and everyone is thrilled with it! I love your colour scheme and the little spots - it is such fun!’