News

Staff Volunteering Day June 2005

Following the success of the Grants Unit's staff volunteering day at the Wetland Centre in 2003, the team agreed that it was high time to repeat the experience. So on 17 June 2005, encouraged by the City of London's commitment to staff volunteering, the team spent the day helping out at Mudchute City Farm, a community project on the Isle of Dogs in east London.

The task facing the team for the day was to improve the living environment of the farm's two Tamworth pigs. This involved clearing an overgrown coppice area and replacing the fencing so that the pigs could have somewhere to forage. The team also made repairs to some of the World War Two artillery defences which are used as shelters for the animals and installed a water feature in which the pigs could wallow in hot weather.

Everyone worked extremely hard, had an enjoyable day and left with a better understanding of the nature of work within a community project. The team's sense of satisfaction was summed up by Clare Thomas, Chief Grants Officer, who said, "The feeling of going home at the end of the day, exhausted from physical work, was all the more pleasing for its rarity!".