"I love talking to people on the phone and meeting all the different people"

Tell us a bit about yourself Although past the state pension age I still work part-time in IT and I volunteer at Countryside Management Service (CMS). What do you do within your volunteering role? I help people access the countryside in a number of ways. This could be by clearing rights of way, installing kissing gates and building boardwalks. I also encourage biodiversity by, among others, clearing scrub, opening up areas of woodland, coppicing and tree planting. How long have you been a volunteer? 12 years Why did you decide to start volunteering? Changes in my desk-based job meant I had some spare time and I was looking for an outside role which would involve physical exercise, doing something useful for the community and have a social aspect. Why would you recommend volunteering to others? You can get a lot of satisfaction from helping other people and making a small difference to their lives at no cost to themselves. It’s also good for your physical and mental health.

At the beginning of June, we celebrated Volunteers' Week and many organisations chose to mark the occasion in different ways. In June, DLRC Ltd used their annual team building days for good and volunteered their time to support a local not-for-profit, Church Farm Ardeley . Over 90 employees took part in the volunteering days and worked together to complete a variety of different tasks that were associated with their theme - sustainability. Some of these tasks included: Painting the Rural Care shed (a shed dedicated to hosting schools that visit the farm for children with learning disabilities) Sowing 500 butternut squash and protecting them with netting Weeding leek beds and an enormous bed of onions Feeding 350 chickens Sorting, grading and boxing 5 days of eggs And that’s only a few of their achievements, DLRC Ltd managed to accomplish ten weeks of volunteer's tasks in just one day! On their second day of their team-building activities, DLRC enjoyed a talk by Tony Juniper from Natural England on the topic of sustainability including how DLRC can contribute as organisation and how individuals can take action. Whilst The Little Recreations and Tentshare teams explained that their camping equipment used at Church Farm, would be upcycled and reused at festivals/ campsites all over the country. The Jolly Waggoner pub across the road from Church Farm, kindly treated the team to some amazing and delicious meals. And despite the rain, the team camped overnight around a warm and cosy fire. They described their time as a “very fun and rewarding couple of days”. Another employee added “it felt incredibly good to be helping the local community and spending our precious time doing something worthwhile outdoors”. Dianne Lee, Managing Director of DLRC Ltd thanked the Church Farm and MotivAction teams immensely for making DLRC Ltd feel welcome during their days as volunteers and for helping them to make a difference. Dianne also thanked all employees that took part for putting in the effort to make their partnership with Church Farm a big success. DLRC's experience of Corporate Volunteering is testament to the immense benefit that giving back has on employees wellbeing. Volunteering programmes can also act as a powerful engagement and retention tool, read more here . If you would like more information on Corporate Volunteering, contact us today . Find out more about DLRC Ltd here . Interested in supporting Church Farm Ardeley? Explore their volunteering opportunities on GoVolHerts here

In May 2022, Jarvis Contracting held a company-wide event to help communities across Hertfordshire. The Jarvis Community Day is held around the 19th May (1905 – the year Jarvis was formed) and is an annual event that creates mutual benefit for the local community, Jarvis and the individual volunteers. This new programme has a list of goals that volunteers taking part would work towards, these were to: Genuinely make a difference to someone else’s life Engage with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainable efforts first-hand Forge positive connections with colleagues and learn new skills in a different context Connect with the community or nature and enhance wellbeing Transform green spaces for residents and communities to enjoy Create a lasting legacy for future generations Over the course of the week, small teams of volunteers took part in various community based activities across Hertfordshire including gardening, planting and painting for several local charities and community groups. In addition, foodbanks were placed across our sites and at Head Offices in support of local charity DENS. Getting Rooted CIC in Hitchin were one of the organisations fortunate to receive support from Jarvis Contracting who kindly helped out with many tasks on Tuesday 17th May. The team of volunteers assisted with things like building new compost bays and a trellis frame with salvaged materials to support runner beans, path mulching with woodchip, and path weeding. Aletheia, the founder of Getting Rooted CIC spoke very positively about the event, saying: “It was a lovely day and the Jarvis team were very obliging with some of my requests... What a great team, I would welcome them back any day. Thank you so much.” Chris Baxter, a Jarvis Contracting team member talked about much he enjoyed the day by saying: “I really enjoyed the day and thank you for everyone’s company, all worked really hard…I think we made a real difference.” The Jarvis team noted how the volunteering events were 'a positive contributor to mental wellbeing, with the satisfaction of being part of something that has a positive impact on others' and went on to add: 'Whilst supporting those in our communities, we have also increased our skills and competencies, and had a lot of fun!' If your company would like to find out about Corporate Volunteering opportunities across Hertfordshire, contact #TeamHerts Volunteering via email: [email protected] or call us on 01462 689409. If you would like more information about Jarvis Contracting, please visit their website: www.jarvisbuild.co.uk Interested in volunteering with Getting Rooted CIC? Find them on GoVolHerts HERE