As we look back over the past year, one theme is very clear: this has truly been a year when we have picked up the ‘do good’ baton and run with it. One of our core tenets is that of giving back to the world around us. We actively encourage our people to develop and harness their skills to add value to the many voluntary and community organisations who rely on volunteers to achieve their objectives and this year’s efforts have been many and varied.
Raising Money for St Mungo’s
Our chosen charity of 2025 has been St Mungo’s, who support the homeless in both Bristol and London. Throughout the year, we have held monthly fundraising activities in the office, whereby teams are encouraged to find exciting and fun ways to raise money. The team did not disappoint! The event that captured everyone’s imagination and raised the most money was a virtual horse-racing night, held in February for both offices via Teams.
Coming in second – by a nose – in terms of money raised was offering everyone in-office mini-massages at £1 per minute. This was only possible with the support of BCMB Massage College who kindly donated their services for free.
One of the most popular ways of raising money was to hold a bake sale, with various teams coming up with an expansive selection of foodie ideas, from afternoon teas to mid-morning elevenses, from cake-and-bake sales to traditional dishes from participants’ home countries.
Other teams have hosted tombolas; a ‘guess the person from their baby photo’ and various quizzes – testing everyone’s general knowledge to the maximum!
Volunteering our time for St Mungo’s
We have not only been raising money for St Mungo’s over the year, but have also taken the opportunity to volunteer our time with them as well. In October, we joined the charity at Victoria Railway Station on World Homeless Day; and in late December, we donated Christmas presents and spent the morning in their offices gift wrapping.
Supporting Save The Children
In other charitable fundraising, we also supported Save the Children, with their annual ‘Christmas Jumper Day’ event held, naturally, in December. Our team were encouraged to come in to work in our finest Christmas-themed jumpers and we’re proud to say people in both offices into the spirit and helped make us to make a difference – even many of those who came in everyday office wear still donated. It’s always a highlight to see the creativity (and occasional questionable taste) on display each year, all in support of a charity doing incredible work.
Giving back to the community at Avon Riding for the Disabled
We have not only donated money, but also time and physical labour. August saw a group of us volunteering a day at the Avon Riding Centre for the Disabled, where they helped transform an outdoor area into a sensory woodland walk.
Beach Clean Up with Surfers Against Sewage
In September, we headed out to Weston-Super-Mare on Friday, holding a beach cleanup. Together, we collected several bags of rubbish, helping to protect local wildlife and keep the beach looking its best.
Volunteering our Gardening Services in London
In November, five of our Property & Asset Management team recently undertook a Social Value Day at the Octopus Community Plant Nursery in Islington, in association with The Co-operative Group. Our volunteers spent the day painting fences, creating a wood-chip path, building a bug hotel, clearing waste, and generally sprucing up the community space, helping to maintain and improve this fantastic local resource.
Our Beehives
And finally, we have greatly enjoyed the sweet fruits of our partnership with Knight’s Bees, which gave us the very welcome opportunity of summertime visits to the country to visit our beehives, and of course, the delivery of pure honey to us in the autumn. As the long nights and cold weather draw in, our honey has nursed many of us through our seasonal colds and flu.
