27 October 2009 16:23
E.ON volunteers dig deep to help Nottingham Mencap

A group of willing volunteers, including board members from E.ON's Retail business, recently spent a day transforming Mencap's Wilford Roots Garden project at Emmanuel School in West Bridgford.

Armed with trowels, spades and wheelbarrows, the team spent the day working with Mencap support staff and people with learning difficulties to create a new outdoor garden for users to enjoy. Fresh bushes and shrubs were planted around the pond area and memorial garden, a special place for regular users.

Graham Bartlett, Managing Director of E.ON's Retail business, said: "It was a very successful day, and we were able to not only do some good for such a worthwhile cause but also to grow as a team.

"I was particularly pleased at how well the gardening group integrated with us and there was definitely a huge sense of achievement when we'd finished."

Sue Morecroft, one of Mencap's support staff, said: "I was so impressed with what was happening in the garden that day, not only did the team work really hard and get so much done, the way in which the service users interacted with them was incredible.

"There is one particular person who we didn't think would speak at all but then went on to chat to two of the team for most of the day."

Wilford Root Gardens is part of a wider project running in Nottingham by Mencap with the aim of supporting their service users to be a part of the local community. Through providing a realistic working environment at the gardens, they hope to improve the social and practical skills of their service users to increase their self esteem and confidence and encourage them to integrate with mainstream society

E.ON finds volunteering opportunities for employees across the UK, working with schools, older people and other vulnerable groups as part of its wider community relations programme. In 2008, E.ON employees spent over 13,000 hours volunteering in their local communities.

Ends

Notes to editors:

• 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, one of the world's largest investor-owned power and gas companies. We employ around 17,000 people in the UK and over 92,000 worldwide;
• We're one of the leading green generators in the UK, with 20 wind farms located from Cornwall to Northern Ireland. We also burn biomass material mixed with coal in two of our power stations and have completed one of the UK's largest dedicated biomass power stations at Lockerbie. Combined, our renewable portfolio generates enough green energy to power the homes in a city the size of Manchester.

For more information contact:

Victoria Blake on 02476 181304