Just an hour - 2010
Radio Tyneside
A new era for an award-winning hospital radio station has kicked off, with football legend Alan Shearer doing the honours at an official opening. Radio Tyneside, which broadcasts to patients at many North East hospitals, including Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital, Royal Victoria Infirmary and Gateshead’s Queen Elizabeth, is now broadcasting from new premises at North Terrace, near Claremont Road, in Newcastle upon Tyne. Former Newcastle United and England centre-forward Shearer was asked to unveil a plaque to mark the official opening of the station’s £60,000 relocation. The local hero was specially chosen to honour Radio
Tyneside’s roots, which began in football commentary.
The service started at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary on October 6, 1951, when three enterprising men provided live coverage of a game between Newcastle and Wolverhampton for patients at the hospital. Nearly 60 years later, football commentary is still provided live from St James’ Park and the station now broadcasts music, news and features 24 hours a day, seven days a week through its dedicated team of volunteers. Station director for the hospital radio station, Dave Nicholson, said: “We thought it was only fitting that we got someone associated with football to officially open our studios and when Alan said he would do it we were delighted.” Presenters, and Newcastle United fans, Alistair Baker and Cara Hall from the Sunday Supplement show, scooped a 20-minute interview with the toon hero during his visit. The duo, who work in public relations for Northumbrian Water, volunteer at Radio Tyneside for more than 104 hours a year under the water company’s employee volunteering scheme, Just an hour.
Just an hour gives all Northumbrian Water employees the opportunity to spend at least 15 hours of paid, work time a year helping community projects in the company’s supply area. Volunteers have given more than 22,000 hours since the scheme was introduced in 2002. Alistair said: “It was fantastic that Alan gave his time to officially open the new premises of the station. It was kind of an endorsement from a local hero – it was very symbolic. “He also gave an in-depth interview in which he talked about his career, his charity work, this year’s World Cup, stories about Kevin Keegan and becoming a key supporter of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.” The new-look branding for Radio Tyneside, which features the iconic Millenium Bridge image, was also created under the scheme by Northumbrian Water marketing co-ordinator, Anne Roberts.
Northumbrian Water supported more than 500 organisations in 2009, smashing its original aim to help one organisation a day in its supply area, from Berwick down to North Yorkshire and across to the Pennines. A diverse range of support activities ranged from painting hospital accommodation for the Sick Children’s Trust at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary, to providing engineering expertise to students from Chester le Street’s Hermitage School who were preparing for a Formula One in Schools competition. Radio Tyneside has won a host of awards, including a ‘Highly Commended’ accolade in the Special Award for Outstanding Contribution category at the National Hospital Radio Awards 2008. A host of leading reporters began their career at the station, including BBC’s Kate Silverton. You can hear Radio Tyneside on hospital wards on Hospedia, also on 1575 AM, or by logging on to www.radiotyneside.co.uk.
Business Ambassadors
26 of our employees are Business Ambassadors through Education Business Partners and enjoy going out into local schools to share their wealth of skills and experience. The activities include career days, ‘what’s my line’, duck days, tetrahedron building, speed interviews and many more. They attend sessions throughout the year in all schools and colleges in our region.
Bone Marrow session - January
The Anthony Nolan Trust held a bone marrow session on Friday 22 January 2010 at Northumbrian Water’s head office at Abbey Road, Pity Me, Durham, DH1 5FJ from 10.00am to 12 noon. More than 35 employees from offices at Pity Me, Durham, Horsley, Tyne Valley, Howdon, Wallsend and Thornaby, Teesside, have signed up for the UK’s largest bone marrow register at the session, by giving a saliva sample. We would
encourage people to come forward and join the register.
The more people who are registered, the more chance there is of saving the lives of those who desperately need a transplant.” Nigel Gorvett, regional recruitment and partnerships manager for The Anthony Nolan Trust in the North East and Scotland, said: “70% of patients needing a transplant do not find a matching donor from within their families, so they rely on the generosity of strangers for survival. “Signing up to the register could save the life of one of 16,000 people currently in need of a transplant.” To join the register, potential bone marrow donors need to be aged between 18 and 40 years old, in good health and fully committed to undergo the donation procedure if required. Male donors are in very short supply and so are particularly welcome. More details on signing up for the bone marrow register can be found at www.anthonynolan.org.uk.
Dress down Monday’s – February
In February all our employees at our head office took part in ‘Dress Down Monday’s’ and were entered into a draw. We raised over £1,000.00 for PICU which helps fund life saving equipment at the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit at Newcastle Freeman Hospital. We have been involved with this charity since receiving a very humbling phone call from a grandfather who had first hand experience of what it was like to have a grandchild being nursed in the capable hands of the staff at the Freeman Hospital. He then began his campaign to raise £50,000 to purchase a Berlin Heart for use on patients in our region. With our help he is nearly, if not past his target which is a fantastic achievement.
Blood donors - February
When the Blood Service asked if their Bloodmobile could come to our office, we weren’t quite sure what to expect! Over 60 employees signed up and gave blood in February in their mobile donor unit. This saved time and fuel as employees only had to pop into the car park where the unit was parked, we will definitely be doing it again.
Sport Relief - March
Employees took part in various events over the week leading up to Sport Relief. Activities covered the John O'Groats to Lands End cycle ride which we reached on Friday morning. We actually covered 1293 miles over the five days and 65 employees volunteered across both sites at Pity Me. Through all of the blood, sweat and tears everyone managed to contribute to our overall total of £1820.18 so far with more Scientific Services at Howdon held a bake sale and raffle.
140 breakfasts were ordered and enjoyed thanks to Autograph caterers. Jenny Graham from Property Solutions did her sport relief mile at each of the following grounds, Durham County Cricket Club, Stadium of Light,
Gateshead International Stadium, Newcastle United and Metroradio Arena
with Newcastle Eagles, she has raised £190 so far.
Howdon Community Centre – March
A team of five employees from our Howdon STW spent the day removing the old vegetables and weeds from the vegetable garden and preparing the soil for new planting. They set up three composters and then some tiding up of the flower garden. The vegetable patch is used to grow organic vegetables which are sold and the money made goes back into funding various schemes in the local community. A total of 37 hours were spent on the project.
Dilston College (Northumberland) – April
Ten employees from our Northumberland and Tyne Health and Safety committee got together and improved the garden area for the students. Tasks involved rabbit proof fencing, trench digging, backfilling and covering the fence in chicken wire. This is part of an ongoing project we have with Dilston and we try to go back each year to help with different projects they perhaps can’t manage themselves.
Guides Camp House (Spennymoor) – April
Two employees from our Distribution team gave a helping hand to the Girl Guides and laid a path suitable for walking and driving in just one day! They laid road planings across the entire path using a JCB and roller.
The girls have spent years trying to fix the path themselves with little success and so are thrilled with the results. The guys are pictured below ready for action!
The Box Youth Project (Sunderland) – May
The box youth project is a charitable company that specialise in providing youth facilities in Doxford Park and surrounding area of Sunderland. Some of the facilities they offer are; out of work club, home work club, pre school club, young parents support group, drug and alcohol advice, coffee bar, drop in centre as well as offering support to Farringdon Community Sports College. The box youth project approach NWL to ask for assistance to improve the facilities’ they offer. The work they required assistance with fell into three distinct work packages. Improvements in the main hall central
heating system.
During the last cold winter classes and groups where cancelled because the main hall central heating was inadequate. Some extra radiators where needed to improve the area. Conversion of and existing room into an computer room, Sunderland City Council had offered the chance to become an electronic village with the use of 10 pc’s fully networked and access to the internet. To provide a safe and secure environment for the equipment and the users a classroom need to be installed with new computer benches, electrical system and a new data network. Alterations to the security fence and patio to make a secure car standage, the project has its own mini bus but no on site parking facility. The bus was current parked approximately 2 miles away. After an initial visit by Tony bell, Graeme Turner and Gordon Bradford, it was decided that the work on the central heating system and the class room conversion could be taken on by investment delivery acceptance management team c. Ideas discussed at the time within the team decided to ask for assistance from some of our main framework contractors. J.N. Bentley and Intelec readily agreed to offer assistance with the work on the fence and car standage.
While Dimewest agreed to provide the materials needed to do the classroom conversion. An all-round great team effort. All the work was finish in one day and while everyone worked extremely hard we all enjoyed the challenge and sense of satisfaction for a job well done. The box manager Lisa Wilson (niece of S&SSWCo’s very own Kenny Wilson for those with the elephant memories) said on behave of the staff and committee that all where overjoyed with the completed work, the excellent enhancements to the site facilities and the extra clients it will bring the project. As well as the secure parking for the mini bus which will save a lot of money currently been spent on transport.
Leonard Cheshire weekend (Northumberland) – May
If you have ever wondered what volunteering for a weekend with Leonard Cheshire at the Calvert Trust Kielder involves, here is a brief rundown from one of our employees who attended in May. The weekend starts with a getting to know everyone ice breaker session. This usually involves puzzle solving and making a fool of yourself in some way! It really helps though and puts everyone at ease. You are usually put in groups of three with one service user a carer and a volunteer. You then become part of a larger group usually of 10 – 15 for your activities.
After the ice breakers we are allocated our rooms and the fun begins trying to match bags to people and get them into the right rooms. Many of the rooms are en suite and all of them are very warm. Once the rooms are allocated it is time for the evening meal. This usually consists of two options for main and a dessert. As a volunteer you are expected to assist the service user with getting their food and drinks. This is also a really good time to chat and get to know people’s stories. Evening entertainment usually consists of quizzes, karaoke and a disco. This time we had a Halloween themed fancy dress and a game show. Everyone joins in and the guys make you feel like you are part of their family. During the next two days there are three different activities, this time we did King Swing which involves being strapped into a harness and being hoisted to the top of a pole and then having to pull a cord to release yourself. It is great to watch the faces of the people as they release the cord. We also went a nice way to view the lake. Lastly we did some abseiling and a zip wire across the river.
All these activities are geared up so that the service users can participate whatever their disability. They have special harnesses and winches so everything is possible. Some other activities that you can do are archery and going on a drive in a golf buggy. It is an amazing weekend and everyone who volunteers gets something out of it. The service users are amazing and to see the fun that the weekend brings to them is very humbling. When a guy with memory problems thanks you for a great weekend even though he can’t remember what he did but knows he had a good time then you know you have made a difference.
St Cuthbert’s Hospice (Durham) – May
We have been involved with St Cuthbert’s for several years now and visited our friends there again in the Spring to see if there was anything we could lend a hand with. We discovered while we were there that there were improvement works happening at the rear of the Hospice which was an ideal opportunity for our employees to get involved and help with tools that were already on site.
Three employees from Network Projects in the white hats, and one of our contractors got together and laid new path and cleared trees and shrubs to
make way for new parking bays, relaid paving and cleaned up paths. The
Hospice later rang to thank all of those on board as it would be a costly
project if they had to fund the work themselves.
Butterwick Hospice (Stockton) – May
A team from Project Delivery took part in Just an hour and went to Butterwick Hospice to help. The Hospice provides “home from home” care. Care is provided to families who face uncertainty over their child’s future because of their medical needs. The garden was constructed by GMTV several years ago and needs garden maintenance.
The private cul de sac access road and parking area also needed some attention. The tasks were within the grounds of the Butterwick Hospice and included weeding, cutting plants, moving plants, and digging soil in
the garden, staining garden furniture, weeding, paving blocks, weeding
along kerb on cul de sac private access road and tidying waterfall area.
The team involved are pictured below with Harvey the dog!
Garden spruce up (Crook) – July
Leonard Cheshire is a health and welfare charity in the United Kingdom, founded in 1948 by RAF pilot Leonard Cheshire VC. It provides support to disabled people through a variety of different services including care at home, residential care and training. Over the last few years we have visited its site in Crook several times and assisted with tending the gardens as part of the Just an hour scheme. On Friday 2 July, a team of eight volunteers from Information Services attended Bradbury House in Crook as part of Just an hour and helped tidy up the resident’s personal
garden areas and plant some donated plants.
As with previous visits, everyone was very grateful for our efforts and very
hospitable too (they laid on the tea and biscuits and even a buffet lunch).
Despite a hard days work there was much that could still have been done
and another visit is going to be organised in the next few weeks. Emma
Rose volunteer coordinator for Leonard Cheshire said "the team did a
fantastic job and their help was very much appreciated by the service users
and providers".
Sandcastle Challenge (Sandhaven Beach, South Shields) – July
On Friday 2 July 14 employees from head office at Pity Me helped Children North East for the second year with their annual Sandcastle Competition. The theme this year was famous landmarks. Brilliant sculptures were created including the Icelandic Volcano, the Sphinx and Pyramids and even Wembley Stadium.
The school we helped came runner up with their erupting Icelandic Volcano and were presented medals by Tim Healy and Denise Welsh for
their efforts. 97 hours were spent helping the children design their
sculptures, setting up the beach, stewarding the arrival of all schools taking
part and helping the children build their masterpieces. A great day out at the
seaside helping a worthy cause.
Westoe Crown Nursery (South Shields) – July
Six volunteers from across the business visited Westoe Crown Nursery to brighten up their outside play area. They spent two days there painting an underwater mural as shown below, a woodland scene on another part and the children’s favourite cartoon character Handy Manny on their toys cupboard. They are thrilled with the improvement and can’t wait for playtime! 90 hours were spent jazzing up their nursery.
East Howdon Community Fun Day – August
A bunch of scientists from Howdon swapped their lab coats for superhero costumes at Howdon Community Centre’s fun day.
Volunteers from Pity Me and Howdon went along to entertain the children and adults and help with serving food and drinks and handing out comics. A great community day.
CHUF ball set up – Hilton Hotel Gateshead – August
On Thursday 5 August a team pulled together last minute to help set up a ball in aid of CHUF (Children's Heart Unit Foundation) and Cystic Fibrosis. Volunteers helped pack over 400 goody bags, attach programmes, decorate and print off programmes and leaflets for the raffle and auction. The volunteers were overwhelmed when Ben Shepherd popped in to say thank you to the group personally for their hard work on the day.
The event was arranged by the parents of a special child who received life saving treatment from the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle and this is their way of saying thank you to them by raising lots of money. Volunteers are pictured here with Ben Shephard and Nadine on the far right who planned the whole event. A staggering £67,000 was raised on the Coast to Coast bike ride and the ball on the evening.
Gateshead Crossroads - September
Thursday 16 September saw nine members of the Group Finance team from Pity Me return to complete the second stage of a re-decoration project that had been started a year previously. Gateshead Crossroads Caring for Carers is a registered independent, incorporated charity, which provides support to carers and the people they care for throughout the Borough of Gateshead. It can provide help to carers in their own homes, information, advice and support with accessing other services. It is based at an old school near Rowlands Gill and we were asked to help them give the
building a brighter new look. The majority of the work involved re-decoration
of an internal corridor and adjacent areas.
As well as the corridor walls, a number of doors and windows opening off the corridor, plus noticeboards, radiators and other fittings, had to be cleaned, rubbed down and painted with two coats. Whilst this was done, three of the team worked outside cutting the grass and generally tidying up in the garden and around the building, though this work was interrupted by a couple of heavy downpours. The volunteers were well looked after by the charity’s staff with regular refreshments being provided, together with a welcome supply of sandwiches and cakes for lunch. All the work was successfully completed and the charity administrator was extremely appreciative of our efforts. The team was Chris Brown, Fiona Hardie (and son Steven), Nicky Jeffrey, Mike Kirkup, David Martin, Lynn O’Brien, Joanne Robson, Richard Taylor and Joanne Ward.
Macmillan fundraising week – September
Bake sales, market days and even a messy pie eating competition took place last week, with the aim of raising around £2,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support from the fundraising activities. Opposite is a picture from Gavin Wells contribution our Macmillan coffee morning held last week. We have raised around £130 so far, and still to include donations from the café. Last year's coffee morning hosts across the country raised an amazing £7.9 million for people living with cancer and colleagues around the business are hoping that their efforts this year will go towards smashing Macmillan's 2010 target of £8 million. Carolyn King, from the corporate responsibility team, said: “One in three people face being diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime – 15,000 people receive this devastating news every year in the north east. We’re delighted colleagues have come together to raise awareness and vital funds for such a worthy cause.”
Throughout September, colleagues have taken part in Dress down Mondays and last week has seen tombolas, market days selling homemade jams, chutneys, cupcakes and jewellery plus the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning event, which included a baking competition as well as the pie eating contest at Boldon House. Graham Watson, investment delivery project manager, was victorious in the pie eating competition. He managed to wolf down a whole mince pie in a winning time of one minute and 55 seconds, and added: “It was a very tasty, if rather messy, way to raise money but we’ve all had a great time and are pleased to be part of such a huge national event.” Runner up, Dave Bullin, who is on our graduate training scheme said: “Fair play to Graham, but I am genuinely disappointed to lose. I’ve been putting the practice in!” Tracey Forrest and Sophie Pickup both work in HR came first and second respectively in the cake making competition. The cakes were then sold and the takings also donated to Macmillan.
High Grange Village Trust Ltd - September
Four employees from our facilities and estates teams spent a day lining a huge pond in Crook. Luckily the fire brigade were on board to help them fill this huge pond up.
The team are going back to establish the pond and set up wildlife attracting plants ready for Spring. Over 30 hours were spent helping the community improve their garden and we will continue to help until the planting is finished.
Crimdon beach (North Hartlepool) - September
On 28 of September, a team of beach combers from Asset Information spent the day picking up litter at Crimdon Beach (North of Hartlepool). Together with the usual sanitary items and other plastics, bottle tops, crisp packets and ropes, there were more unusual items ‘discovered’ such as a garden table, a bike, some tyres, loads of socks and shoes (none matching), a pair of ladies’ briefs, and a bra! The beach is part of the Durham Heritage Coast and is also an important nesting site for terns. It is very popular with dog walkers and schools, even on a grim day! The team spent a total of 91 hours clearing Crimdon Beach.
The Wilson Centre (Aycliffe) – September
The Just an hour task involved 12 members of the major treatment teams travelling to The Wilson Centre in Long Newton armed with spades, spits, forks, shears and a few bags of compost. They cleared and turned over an area of overgrown border adjacent to the village hall car park and then planted the area with trees and shrubs according to a planting schedule supplied by a landscape gardener.
Everyone enjoyed the day we’re told a month on the plants are looking
really well. Brian from the Centre said ‘Please pass on to Ian and the
team our gratitude for the sterling work they did. Conditions were not ideal
but they worked hard, with good humour and very effectively’. Well done
everyone!
Tonnes of Tees force - October
A big thank you to the distribution team in the Tees area for volunteering to help the Tees Rivers Trust through the Just an hour scheme. The twenty-four volunteers manually moved tonnes of gravel to clear a blocked fish pass at Thorsgill Beck near Barnard Castle, and ‘dry-stone walled’ the river banks upstream to reduce erosion. The result is that salmon, trout and other native fish species are now able to migrate upstream to spawn; plus a healthy river profile will be maintained, resulting in significant ecological benefits. Ben Lamb, Tees Rivers Trust manager said: “A massive thanks to the team for a brilliant day!
You put in some serious graft, and we would never have been able to complete this project without your help.” Suzy was joined on the day by colleagues Dave Stockton, Steve West, Adam Wombwell, Stuart Murdoch, Barry Siddle, Malcolm Wombwell, Dave Breeze, Paul Welford, Darren Stoker, Justin Lawrence, Phil Dunkeld, Neil Russell, Steven Archer, Richard Albinson, Dave Nevison, Ken Pybus, Rob Johnson, Terry Connell, David Nevison (jnr), Andrew Christon, Ken Pearson, Nicola Hawes.
South Hylton care home (Sunderland) - October
A message of thanks came in to our IS team who spent a day helping the care home with tasks they simply couldn’t manage themselves. It read “I would like to convey our sincere gratitude for the dedication and commitment shown to us today from your Just an hour group, they worked relentlessly at our service users home.
The gardens look lovely, it has been a tremendous help to our garden budget which we can now use to purchase the items we need. I attach a group photograph which I will also send to our company magazine and will
forward NWL a copy in December, once again heartfelt thanks long may
your company continue to benefit people less fortunate than ourselves.
A BIG hug to you all.”