Just an hour - Essex
October 2006
Harvest for the Hungry is an Essex based charity which supports eastern European communities with humanitarian aid. Every year they collect food boxes, clothing etc from Essex businesses, schools, shopping centres and transports these goods to eastern Europe for distribution to the elderly and the orphanages. Our team of 13 volunteers for the third year running, over a one week period collected hundreds of food boxes from schools around the county and delivered them to a warehouse in Chelmsford for onward transportation. 81hours donated.
October 2006
A team of 5 carried out a pond clearance project at Crowsheath near Essex Wildlife Trust at Downham. A substantial amount of reed mace was cleared and they also assembled two insect nest boxes. 25 hours donated.
October 2006
Hanningfield Water Treatment Works held a Macmillan Coffee morning fundraiser on site. 7 volunteers co-ordinated the morning, making tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits, selling raffle tickets, and ‘guess how many bottles of water in the car’ competition. Circa £700 was raised. 28hours donated.
August 2006
Buddies Children’s Centre is a pre-school group which accommodates special needs children. 6 volunteers over two days carried out diy skills to erect shelving, paint walls, pull up old flooring and generally refurbish the new extension and existing building. 45hours donated.
July 2006
Pitsea Horse Sanctuary at Vange, nr Basildon needed their water supply to the turnout fields overhauled, most of the quite old pipework was leaking and in much need of repair. The Sanctuary is a registered charity with few funds, the summer this year was again in the high 90’s. Our Distribution Manager assembled his 6 team leaders and secretary and worked for a day with our contractors to repair the supply system to the fields and lay some new pipework. 65hours donated.
June 2006
Nearly 100 volunteers took part in the Race for Business which takes place in Chelmsford High Street over a 5km course. This race is an increasingly popular well-attended event supported by many local businesses raising money for local charities. 85hours donated.
June 2006
5 volunteers spent a day clearing pennywort from the River Chelmer in Chelmsford Pennywort is an invasive fast growing weed which forms a thick carpet on the river, causing problems for both the fishes and the wildlife on and around the river. 32hours donated.
May 2006
6 volunteers worked for a morning at Crowsheath, nr Billericay installing dormice housing to encourage dormice to inhabit the tubes and increase the population. The tubes are then checked on a regular basis to see how successful they are. 15hours donated.
March 2006
The scout hut in Writtle village was in need of a water supply to their new building. 3 volunteers spent a day digging a trench and laying pipework to the scout hut for drinking water purposes. 21hours donated.
February 2006
A neglected pond at St Lukes Hospice in Basildon was in need of renovation. A team of 7 volunteers spent a day clearing debris and rubbish from the pond and clearing overhanging shrubs and branches from trees to help prevent the pond becoming clogged again. 46hours donated.
January & February 2006
Essex Wildlife Trust at Abberton worked with a volunteer party of 15 people planting tree saplings and staking them to create new woodland close as part of the plans to enlarge Abberton reservoir. Over the past three years, volunteers have planted in excess of 20 thousand trees. 113hours.
February, June & July 2006
4 Industry Days were carried out in schools in Chelmsford, Writtle, Ingatestone and Westcliff on sea. This is an educational one day project for year 9, each class is mentored by a volunteer who leads students through several tasks which includes maths, English, science, design and presentation skills. 105hours donated.