Not All Heroes Wear Capes

Some Pick Up Spades!

Sometimes the impact of corporate volunteering is difficult to quantify.

This one isn’t.

Across two days in September, teams from Centrica (Scottish Gas) joined us on campus at Eskmills and rolled up their sleeves for some seriously hard graft in Edge Woods. By the time they finished, they had moved the project forward by several months - and that genuinely isn’t an exaggeration.

No machinery. Plenty of spades.

The location and layout of Edge Woods are part of what make the space so special, but they also present a few practical challenges.

Getting machinery onto the site simply isn’t an option. If something needs dug, shifted, cleared or levelled, it comes down to people, spades, shovels and a willingness to get stuck in.

Thankfully, the Centrica teams brought plenty of that.

One of our priorities has been creating new raised growing areas within the Woods. These will give our programme groups significantly more space to grow fruit, vegetables and plants while also making the growing area much more accessible and practical to use.

Before the planters could go in, however, the ground needed prepared. And there was quite a lot of ground.

The teams dug out the new areas, shifted huge amounts of soil and worked their way through considerably more tree roots than anyone had bargained for. What could easily have taken our programme groups and staff weeks and weeks to complete alongside normal programme delivery was tackled at an incredible pace.

When the second Centrica team returned the following week, they picked up where the first had left off and put in another full day of hard physical work.

The difference across the two days was enormous.

Moving Edge Woods forward by months

Our programme groups and staff have quite literally moved mountains in Edge Woods since the project began, gradually transforming the site through practical work, problem-solving, teamwork and a great deal of determination.

But there are only so many hours in a programme day.

Having teams come in who are willing to dedicate an entire day to one major piece of work can completely change the pace of a project.

That is exactly what happened here.

The work completed by the Centrica volunteers has moved the development of Edge Woods forward by several months. Alongside preparing the ground and building the new raised planters, the teams also created steps to improve access into the growing area, helping make the space much more practical and accessible for our programme groups. The planters are now built and ready to be filled with compost and topsoil ahead of the next growing season.

Soon, the areas that were being dug out by hand in September will be spaces where the young adults we support can plant, grow, maintain and harvest produce. That is where the real impact sits.

More than simply getting a job done

Edge Woods is not being developed for the sake of having a nicer outdoor space.

Everything within it connects back to the outcomes we work towards with the young adults who attend Edge Group Scotland.

It creates opportunities to develop practical skills, confidence, independence, teamwork, problem-solving and responsibility. It gives programme groups the chance to see long-term projects develop through their own contribution and to experience the satisfaction of creating something tangible that can be used again and again.

The raised growing areas will add another important element to that work. Making them more accessible means more of our young adults can be actively involved in growing, maintaining and harvesting produce, with the space supporting activities across our programmes for years to come. For our groups, seeing Edge Woods continue to take shape matters. They have invested an enormous amount of effort in it themselves, and every new structure, growing area and completed piece of work is another visible reminder of just how far the site has come.

Corporate volunteering with a very visible impact

For us, this is a brilliant example of what meaningful corporate volunteering can achieve.

The Centrica teams didn’t arrive for a token volunteering exercise. They arrived ready to work, brought ideas and solutions when challenges appeared and threw themselves into the task from the moment they started. And the results are there to see. Two days of volunteering have accelerated a project that will provide ongoing opportunities for the young adults we support long after the last shovel has been put away.

End of Day 1 - Not all “Heroes” wear capes!

End of Day 2 - Planters and steps completed!

The community growing around Edge Woods

Perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the Edge Woods project has been seeing the community around it grow too.

The transformation of the site is being driven by our programme groups and staff, but increasingly they are being joined by businesses, organisations and individuals who can see what we are trying to create and want to play a part in making it happen.

Each contribution adds something different; time, skills, materials, expertise or simply a few extra pairs of hands when we really need them.

Centrica's teams have now very firmly added their mark to the Woods.

We are hugely grateful to everyone who gave their corporate volunteering time, energy and considerable muscle across both days. The amount you achieved was remarkable, and the impact of that work will continue to be felt throughout the next stages of the project.

Now we just need a couple of tonnes of compost and topsoil…

Then comes the really exciting bit: getting things growing.