The Seasalt Volunteering Initiative
On 3rd July there was a mass exodus of the senior team from our design studios, thanks to the official launch of our new Seasalt Volunteering Initiative.
From now on, employees have the opportunity to take an additional day’s paid leave to volunteer with a local charity that is important to us. We can go alone, in a small group or as a full team!
The team in full swing
The initiative kicked off with our co-founders Neil and Sophie Chadwick (accompanied by cockapoo, Pepé) heading out to Age UK in Falmouth, along with Paul Hayes, John Govier (CEO and HR director) and the people & payroll team. They decorated the day room, spoke with residents and helped to clear the garden. Age UK’s vision is to make the UK a better place to grow older by inspiring, supporting and, most importantly, enabling in a variety of ways. It was the Seasalt team’s pleasure to be involved and they loved getting stuck in.
Seasalt co-founders Neil and Sophie Chadwick, painting boats with new learning & development recruit, Ellie
The makeover included hanging new curtains, which were beautifully made by Heather in the design team (we love a bit of departmental cross-pollination and skill sharing). Seamstress extraordinaire Joey, ably assisted by Jess, then ran up bespoke Seasalt cushion covers for the chairs. All the scrap fabric was supplied by our windows team.
Also donated by our windows team was a beautifully created display of flying paper seagulls, which the team suspended from the lounge ceiling. Meanwhile, a mural was hand-painted by Sophie and Ellie. The design was based on the Falmouth Briney Scenic Scarf.
Bright and colourful framed prints were supplied by Nicola and the graphics team. The whole room was painted in brilliant white to make it bright, light and feel more spacious. Jon, James and the properties team were also roped in to help with equipment and hanging pictures.
With the lounge transformed with a fresh, nautical Falmouth theme, hands were turned to the outside space. After some weeding and general reviving, a garden that had been suffering in the heatwave was suddenly looking fresh and tidy. Our team hugely appreciated being entertained by the clients at the Age UK day centre, who played board games and shared their fantastic life stories.
HR director, John Govier and CEO, Paul Hayes, pull up a seat
Deap Khambay, head of sustainability, said, “It is fantastic to see the Seasalt team are so excited about having a dedicated day every year to help a local charity of their choice. Spending time to connect and engage with charities who are dedicated to working hard at making our community better place to live is both powerful and rewarding.”
Executive support, Maddy, arranges the books
Tracey Roose, chief executive of Age UK Cornwall & The Isles of Scilly, added, “We are delighted to be working with Seasalt, supporting their employees with opportunities to volunteer in the community. We rely hugely on volunteers across our organisation and our Falmouth Day Centre team and clients were delighted to welcome the Seasalt volunteer team to their family.”
From 2019, Seasalt will be expanding the employee volunteering initiative to its retail teams across the country. If you work for a registered charity that is interested in getting involved, please email csr@seasaltcornwall.co.uk
Sophie puts the final touches to the new lounge