A team of volunteersfrom Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) swopped their day jobs and went back to school recently and installed new interactive wall boards, fencing and an awning as well as carrying out some painting and general maintenance tasks at Acorns Community Preschool in Totton.
All of this was possible due to parent company SSE's 'Be The Difference' initiative, which gives every employee a day off work to help a local charity, good cause or community group.
Steve Morgan, one of SSEN's Safety Trainers, explains how he and his colleagues got involved: "The Acorns Community Preschool is a facility that a lot of local people in and around Totton have used over the years, and it does a lot of good work with kids and families in their early formative years. I was chatting with one of the staff there recently and she explained that as this has been a low birth year, the intake has dropped and that has had an impact on their affordability of maintenance, which in turn meant that they were having to delay the installation of some new equipment they'd purchased."
"I realised that this was something I could help with, and so put the word out amongst colleagues to see if anyone else was able to lend a hand. I was really chuffed that I had such a positive response, and in the end I was able to put together a team of five highly skilled and enthusiastic colleagues from our Portsmouth, New Forest, Poole and Southampton Depots. Although I knew all of the team before they came along, not everyone had met before and so as well as doing some great work for an important feature in the local community, everyone came away from the day with a whole new group of workmates too."
Liz Gaida from Acorns is delighted with the work carried out by SSEN and explained how it will make a difference to everyone at the preschool: "Some of our children don't have access to a garden, which makes our outside areas very important to all of the children who attend our community preschool. The children love playing in the shingle area, and it is now safe from trip hazards. Our walled areas around the setting were not being used, and ano we have dedicated areas for sensory, water play, blackboards and signs, all created in a way that we can add to, redesign and develop further. The team from SSEN were innovative with the materials we had at hand, including creating a totem pole and a sink for the mud play area which allows the children to extend their play, development and knowledge."
If you would like to learn more about how "Be The Difference" could help in your local community, please visit
www.sse.com/beingresponsible/responsiblecommunitymember/bethedifference/.