Added: 25 August 2017
Ipswich Building Society executive team give hands-on support to local charity, ActivLives, as part of executive volunteering programme
The executive team at Ipswich Building Society spent half a day volunteering for local charity ActivLives as part of its volunteering programme which aims to help support local third sector businesses across Suffolk.
The session included Ipswich Building Society’s CEO, Richard Norrington, Finance Director Kieron Blackburn, General Manager (Retail and Distribution) Jo Leah, General Manager (Risk and Compliance) Mark Nash and General Manager (Operations) Ian Brighton.
The team assisted with groundwork on site at the ActivLives ‘ActivGarden’ located at Halifax Road, Ipswich, where they helped plant new orchards, a willow tunnel and created new signage boards.
ActivLives operates in Ipswich and the wider Suffolk area providing support for people to improve their own health and well-being. It aims to keep people connected with their communities to reduce social isolation and loneliness and provides access to training and volunteering opportunities, including employment-related skills.
Beyond the executive volunteering session, the Society is further supporting the charity by selling its ActivLives Keep on Rockin’ “We Love to Sing” CDs in branches across Suffolk. The CDs cost £5 each and all monies raised will be used to help support Keep On Rockin’ and other community services delivered by ActivLives.
Commenting on the volunteering session, Danny Thorrington, Project Coordinator at ActivLives said, “We thoroughly enjoyed meeting the Ipswich Building Society executive team and were grateful to have them support us with some gardening at our site – their efforts are really appreciated. As well as having some hands on help, it was very useful to discuss our various projects and services and what we do to support individuals and the local community as a whole. We look forward to working with the Society to continue to support our local area in the near future.”
Richard Norrington, Ipswich Building Society CEO commented, “We had an enjoyable time helping ActivLives, and learning more about what they do. I am pleased we are able to continue to support them by stocking the Keep on Rockin’ “We Love to Sing” CDs in our branches. As a mutual, a key part of our business is the community links we maintain, and giving something back to our heartland area.”
Alongside the executive volunteering session, Ipswich Building Society encourages all staff to spend a half day per month helping at a charity or community organisation of their choice. This is part of the Society’s ambition to be a leading responsible business which also focuses on increasing financial literacy for students in primary and secondary schools as well as adults through sessions in MyGo and at Suffolk prisons. Alongside face to face sessions the Society has a free app aimed at primary school children, “My Puppy: Maths and Money”, available on Apple and Android.