On Thursday 17th and Friday 18th August 23 Caxtons’ staff took part in a day volunteering at the Demelza Children’s Hospice in Sittingbourne Kent.
Work began at 9:30am and staff helped out with a variety of tasks including excavating landscaped areas, mixing and transporting cement for a new path in the sensory garden, laying new paving slabs, clearing out greenhouses in preparation for the winter months, landscaping and planting new shrubs and flowers.
Domino’s provided pizzas for lunch, which were followed by quantities of energy sustaining cakes, then it was back to ‘grafting’ again in the afternoon.
Work stopped around 4pm when staff were given a tour of the extensive gardens by head gardener, Alison, who said that our teams had been worth their weight in gold providing extra man-power to advance the tasks at hand.
The day finished with a tour of the hospice, visiting the lounge, dining room, art room, music room, soft play area and sensory room, amongst others.
The weather was mostly warm with some sunny intervals, so staff enjoyed being outside, getting some sun and fresh air as a complete change to dealing with residential property and commercial property in Kent, the office, and PC screen!
Overall the day was challenging but a truly rewarding experience for all who took part; giving them the opportunity to contribute to an extremely worthy cause and to experience first-hand the excellent work that Demelza does for children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses.
