A new volunteer week has kicked off at UK Power Networks inviting staff to get involved in local community challenges.
Projects are lined up in Bedfordshire, Kent and Norfolk to mark the company’s inaugural employee volunteering week from September 22 to 26.
The electricity company gives staff two paid days a year to get involved in voluntary work across London, the South East and East of England, the three regions where it owns, maintains and operates the electricity network for 8.1 million homes and businesses.
• Scrub clearance at Totternhoe Nature Reserve, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, on Wednesday (24). Volunteers will be helping Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust by removing scrub to encourage rare insects, flowers and plants to thrive which would otherwise be smothered by coarser vegetation.
• Fen raking for Norfolk Wildlife Trust at NWT Upton Broad and Marshes, South Walsham, Norfolk, on Wednesday (24).
• Conservation of pingos at NWT Thompson Common, Thetford, Norfolk, on Thursday (25) for Norfolk Wildlife Trust. The team will be cutting and clearing scrub and small trees from the pingos. These are glacial ponds which are home to rare invertebrates that would not survive without regular management of their habitat.
Phil Spiby, sustainability adviser at UK Power Networks, said: “We have seen significant increase in staff taking up the opportunity to get involved in volunteering across our workforce this year. This is our first employee volunteering week and we have set the foundations to build something much bigger next year.
With 5,600 staff located at offices which include London, Crawley, Ipswich, Maidstone, Potters Bar and Bury St Edmunds, a range of volunteering events take place throughout the year.