10 September 2008 15:15
E.ON volunteers pull together to help out Nottinghamshire disabled gardening group

A group of 19 apprentice technicians from energy company E.ON got their hands dirty when they spent a week transforming allotments sites for a Nottinghamshire charity group for profoundly blind and deaf people.

Meristems gardening group is based in Stanton Hill, Skegby, and the group's volunteers had been working hard to set up three allotment sites for its members to use, and E.ON volunteers were only too happy to step in to help them finish the job.

Up to seven volunteers were on site each day during the week-long team challenge, and they got stuck into a variety of activities including building a new shed, making new paths, and creating raised garden beds.

Jim Cooper, who organised the team challenge, said: "To be able to combine a team building exercise for our new technician apprentices with supporting such a dynamic self-help group was a real pleasure.  

"Our guys responded magnificently. Despite initially being daunted by the size of the project and by having to start by shifting over 30 tonnes of raw materials in bad weather, they all threw themselves into the job and produced a final result which exceeded their own expectations.

"It was great fun, there was much humour and a great sense of satisfaction. Hopefully, we can do something similar next year."

Virginia Wicks, one of the founders of the Meristems group, said: "There has already been over a year of backbreaking hard work from a lot of dedicated people to the group in improving the allotments, and having the E.ON volunteers on site for a whole week to help finish the job really was the icing on the cake.

"It's great to see the new building is finally finished, and new members will definitely be attracted to join the group now that we have new, safe, paths for them to use."

Alison Gibson, Employee Involvement Executive at E.ON, said: "We're proud of E.ON's volunteering initiatives, having already had over 1,000 employees take part in similar projects this year.

"This project has been a great opportunity for the team to make a real difference to a community group that really needed the help."

E.ON finds and supports volunteering opportunities which provide a rewarding challenge for employees as part of its wider community relations programme. In 2007, staff spent 11,445 hours volunteering on projects in their local communities.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• In 2007, 3,269 E.ON UK employees (representing nearly one in five employees) took part in at least one energy in the community volunteering programme, raising a total of £476,368 for good causes and volunteering a total of 45,866 hours;
• E.ON is one of the UK's leading power and gas companies - generating and distributing electricity, and retailing power and gas - and is part of the E.ON group, the world's largest investor-owned power and gas company. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK.

For further information contact:

Deanna Mooney on 024 7618 3678