Occasionally it is nice to just get out of the office and do something different as a team. That is exactly what members of the Data-sharing, Fraud and Decision-making team at DWP Legal Advisers did recently. Putting on their wellies they took part in a volunteering event at Morden Hall Park (National Trust) organised by CS Local. On what was a very sunny (but rather chilly) November day they were asked to prepare trenches for various rose bushes arriving that afternoon.
This proved to be a rather competitive task, with the organiser declaring the winning trench before lunch! After lunch work continued in the rose garden, clearing and preparing beds for the rose bushes that were eventually due to be planted there.
It was a fun day out of the office and I would certainly recommend other teams taking part in similar volunteering events in the future. (Olivia Pearson).
Volunteering can be very rewarding and give you new challenges. It's an opportunity to build new skills and experiences, meet new people, whilst making a difference to those around you. Obviously some of the skills required for this exercise were not what we would normally need in the office but others such as working as a team, organising and communication are skills we need every day!