Allianz volunteers 'shine' on hottest day of the year

Guildford based Insurance firm Allianz, sent a team of employee volunteers to SeeAbility's residential centre, Denecroft in Guildford recently. The staff were there as part of their commitment to community development which encourages employees to take two days each year to volunteer.

The challenge set for the team was to remove a 9 metre long shrub border which had become wild and overgrown. The plan was to replace the border with a gravel bed and then plant pots of herbs and fragrant plants on it.

The gravel was provided free of charge by local aggregate supplier Grabtrucks, who delivered the tonne of gravel by crane direct into the garden.

Tim Partridge, SeeAbility's National Volunteer Manager said:

" We had help from Grabtrucks last year, so I was delighted that they agreed to help out again. Their kind gesture to deliver the gravel and waive the cost made a real difference."

The Allianz team worked extremely hard on the hottest day of the year to complete the job on time. Louise Tuson the team leader said afterwards:

"We thoroughly enjoyed the day and felt that we had achieved something worthwhile for those less able than ourselves.  It was great to spend the day with our colleagues in a completely different environment to our usual day jobs, to work together in a challenge and to have a great laugh while doing so.  I would recommend the experience to any team leader and would hope that we have the opportunity to take part in another challenge one day.

We were all impressed by the facilities and level of care shown to the residents by their carers at Denecroft, an organisation that we had not heard of before.  It was great to see the appreciation shown by the staff and the residents at what we had achieved and this made the day all the more worth while.  We are thankful that Allianz gave us the opportunity to take part in this challenge, it shows their commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility, allowing 13 of us to take the day out of work would have had quite a financial implication for the Company."