A Massive Thank You!

For those of you who don't know, we were joined last week by a fantastic group of volunteers from Mercer Financial Planning, so we just wanted to take a moment to say thanks on behalf of Abbotswood. 

We were initially approached a few months ago by the lovely Helen, asking if there was any possibility of having a volunteer work day in the area. The poor woman had been asking around several groups before us who were all more than willing to help, on the condition that Mercer pay for the privilege. We don't know about you, but charging people for volunteering was news to us! Anyway, being the heroic obliging group that we are, we happily welcomed them on board. 

What started as a few emails between Helen and Alex, very quickly developed into a cuppa while taking a stroll around Abbotswood with Ruth. This gave us a few ideas of some areas that could use a little TLC. We asked around the local community groups to see if there were any jobs that could be added to the day's itinerary, and all of a sudden Mercer were the exciting new toy in town! People came out of the woodwork with suggestions from the Abbotswood Action Group committee, St. Nicholas Family Centre, Dodington Parish Council and Mercer themselves. Even Barnwood Buddies threw a surprise task in at the last minute...

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So the big day arrived, and Mercer started the day right with a rather scrumptious looking team breakfast (not that we're jealous in anyway), and it was off to work. The team arrived on mass and jumped straight in. Much fun was had trying to tick off everything on the day's to do list:

We hope you shared that... Didn't bring any back for us though!

TO DO:

​Weeding
Hedge Cutting
Lawn Mowing
Tidying The Flower Beds
Removing Graffiti From The Underpass
Washing Down The Public Staircases
Replacing Ceiling Tiles In The Family Centre
Litter Picking

AND AS A BONUS:
Saving All The Toys From The High Ledges In The Sports Hall!!!

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We think the children from Barnwood particularly enjoyed supervising that last one... Mercer must have saved at least 20 lost toys that day. Who knew ceiling turtles were a thing? The various teams outside did a fantastic job with the other tasks. It's been a long time since we've seen the staircases looking so pristine! We also owe a thank you to Kemp's Garden Centre, who kindly donated some plants to give Abbotswood a fresh look, when they were approached by Mercer. It looks brilliant out there, beautifully bright and vibrant!

​We were kindly joined by Dodington Parish Council in the afternoon, to help guide the volunteers around the area for a good litter picking session. OK, so there may have been a few grumbles to start with when the litter picking equipment (borrowed from South Glos. Council) made an appearance... But, in the end, we lost a large group of the volunteers. It seems that a gentle stroll with friends, having a gossip, while doing something good for the community is actually quite a nice way to spend an afternoon. We suspect they may have deviated from the map and just kept walking, so if parts of Yate are suddenly much tidier than they were a few days ago, thank Mercer! Eventually they reappeared after one of the rubbish bags starting smelling particularly, umm, ripe...

WELL DONE TEAM!!

We hope you enjoyed the well earned trip to the pub, and that you weren't too stiff and sore the next day. If all goes to plan, see you again next year... We're already in cahoots, aren't we Helen?

Thank you to everyone who made the day a success, you have all been fabulous!

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Photographs supplied by Mercer Financial Planning.