On Thursday 16th September, 26 employees from The Co-Operative Bank visited Lisieux Trust to get stuck into some volunteering, giving our garden a much-needed revamp.

The volunteers very kindly gifted the Trust with a greenhouse, ensuring that even with the colder, damper weather, our residents and tenants can continue to partake in gardening club.

The new addition will aid in enabling residents and tenants to obtain new gardening skills, and strengthen relationships with others along the way.

With excitement about the garden project growing throughout Lisieux Trust,  interest in the Gardening Club has soared, with new tenants keen to join.

On top of the greenhouse, the volunteers put in some hard graft to improve our garden in a plethora of ways, including fences being creosoted, our pergola and hand rails receiving a lick of paint, and bushes being pruned. With the pergola area having had a base coat of paint, it is now up to the Gardening Club to decide which colour the area is to receive its final coat in.

All being well, the pergola area will be used as a nice spot to relax and take in the view and summer rays, come the better weather.

At the heart of Lisieux Trust’s Gardening Club is our very own Gardener/Groundsman, Keith Latham, who said: “The hard work of the volunteers has helped us to make so much progress in just one day. It’s very much appreciated, and it really means a lot to us all.”

The volunteering day came about as a result of our strong relationship with The Co-operative Bank, which has lasted for over a decade. As a part of The Co-Op Bank’s commitment to CSR, each year, a Co-op Bank Relationship Manager will nominate a client to benefit from a volunteering day.

This isn’t the first time that we have greatly benefitted from being selected as part of the initiative. In 2012, we had a team of 12 who kindly decorated one of our supported living properties.

Lisiuex Trust was again nominated in 2020 but was delayed because of the pandemic.

It was our Head of Finance, Carole Aston, who organised the event and was very pleased with how the event panned out.

She said: “The Improvements that have been made are beyond what we had hoped for. All the volunteers really enjoyed supporting Lisieux Trust, and are always eager to return.

“We’d like to say a huge thank you to all The Co-Operative Bank volunteers for their time and effort. We really appreciate being chosen for another volunteering day.

“I’d like to say a special thank you to Adam Burke for twice nominating Lisieux Trust, and Gill Berry for organising the day.”

To ensure you’re always up to date on our garden, follow us on our social media pages and look out for #LisieuxTrustGardenProject for weekly updates on the progress we are making.