Sarah’s Team Beach Clean

Earlier this year, a team of volunteers from Novanta Technologies braved the cold to enjoy a day of tree planting at local charity, The Geranium Trust . The Novanta Technologies team was delighted to spend the day helping fellow volunteers from Able2Achieve , a charity which supports people with learning disabilities to develop their skills and confidence through learning, living and working. The Geranium Trust, a charity which offers support and friendship to people in their community, are currently planting 600 metres of new hedgerow to encourage local wildlife and this provided a wonderful project for the Novanta team to get involved in! Charlotte Fursdon, Operations Administrator at Novanta Technologies, told us about the day: “Our team went along to help plant trees, which involved a lot of digging, planting and lots of work pushing the wheelbarrow about! The team loved being outdoors and helping with such a worthwhile project. The group who organised it were from all backgrounds, and it was such a good chance to all muck in together.  “Aside from helping the community, the volunteering team day gave us such a sense of wellbeing, working together, team building and a good dose of reality. “It was such a wonderful experience, and everyone was welcoming and brilliant from the outset. I have forged strong links with other groups, so we are all able to work together on future projects. “We are very lucky to work for a company that encourages community volunteering and Spark a Change is now our go-to platform for organising future activities." Joe Knights, Able2achieve’s Learning Facilitator said: “With the help of the volunteers, we have been able to plant hundreds of trees hedges, which has helped speed up our timescales, and that’s fantastic. “Our project is aimed at our community, and it is a great morale boost to the project team when we receive interest and help from organisations, like Novanta. “By working alongside other groups of volunteers, we are also able to increase awareness of our work, learn about the work of others and create lasting relationships that will benefit everyone going forward. “We’d like to say a huge thankyou to the team from Novanta for being a fantastic tree planting workforce and helping our community and wildlife!” Terence Palfrey, Founder of the Geranium Trust said: "Volunteer team days are so valuable in helping The Geranium Trust to thrive. Volunteering is good for the charity that you are helping, but better still, it's really good for you and your team. You can make friends, learn new skills and it may lead you on to something that you never dreamed would ever happen."

Lendology is a not for profit organisation working in partnership with local councils to provide affordable loans to homeowners in Somerset. The Lendology team approached us as they were looking for a volunteering activity that would offer a meaningful team building experience and the chance to make a lasting impact in one day. So, we put them in touch with ARK at Egwood , a land-based day service which offers a safe, outdoor place where people of all ages and abilities can relax, engage with others and improve their health and wellbeing. We caught up with Lendology’s Operations Director, Ellie Lister, to find out what they got up to and how the day went. “With the pandemic having hit many social events over the last two years, we wanted our team to have time out from the day-to-day and enjoy connecting with each other in a different format, seeing as we have all spent so long in our homes. “At Lendology, many of us love being outdoors and so we were clear that our volunteer day should be somewhere really special. We were also inspired by the ethos of ARK and were very lucky that their CEO, Nigel, gave us a tour of the site before we set to work. “The day involved lots of coffee and cake, we felt very spoilt! The team at ARK had formulated a clear plan of action – to clear an area of woodland and relay a path with woodchip. The best thing was that we could see the project through in the day, so we left with a real sense of achievement. “We were very fortunate that the sun was shining, and just being in nature as a team, everyone picking out the roles they wanted to play and delivering the project outcome in a day. It was a great way to end the week together and wind down! “We all left feeling relaxed and closer as a team, and it was great to see everyone working together in a new way. “I am not sure any of us knew what to expect as it’s the first time we have completed a volunteer day and none of us had ever been to ARK. I think we were a bit worried about having lots of heavy lifting or starting something that we wouldn’t get to see finished, so as it turned out, the day was perfect! “We are already thinking of when we can get over to ARK again and have asked Nigel to let us know when they have a specific project that we can help with.” Nigel Bell, ARK's CEO and Director of Business Development said: “The volunteering team from Lendology were an amazing asset to ARK for the day. Having a group of energised people supporting with practical tasks means we can undertake the larger jobs on site that have a tendency to keep getting put off due to the other priorities. These groups also enjoy working alongside people that attend ARK, who in return enjoy working alongside them. So it’s a win all round!” To find out more about volunteering with ARK, or hosting a team volunteering activity, click on the link below.

“We contacted Spark Somerset as we were looking for a volunteering opportunity that would help us get outside together as a team and meet our aim of limiting our environmental impact. They suggested tree planting at Carymoor, which was perfect for us and the project."