Seasalt Volunteering Initiative- 2018 Round-up

Find out what our Seasalt Volunteers have been up to as we aim to complete over 900 hours by 2019.


Earlier this year we introduced our new Seasalt Volunteering Initiative. Today, on International Volunteering Day, we are celebrating by sharing some more of what we’ve been up to.

Employees from our head office and warehouse were given the opportunity to take a day of paid leave to spend volunteering, with a local charity of their choice. From January 2019, our retail teams will also be invited to take part.

Launch in July

Following the launch in July, when co-founders Neil and Sophie Chadwick, accompanied by their cockapoo Pepé, headed to Age UK in Falmouth, along with CEO Paul Hayes, HR Director John Govier and the People & Payroll team, there’s been no stopping us. You can read more about their day here.

So far we’ve supported 22 different charities and a range of projects – from renovation to conservation, dog walking to beach cleaning, life-guarding to garden building.

We are proud to have completed over 600 volunteering hours this year, with over 270 hours booked, between now and the end of 2018.

This is just the beginning. We can’t wait for the new year as we have lots of exciting plans in place to do more good in our communities

We love hearing about the good work our teams have done and the fun they had along the way. Here are just a handful of stories from our Seasalt Volunteers.

Michael and the Reporting & Budgeting team.

Michael in the middle and the rest of the Reporting & Budgeting team.

South West Lakes Trust

Michael from our Reporting & Budgeting team in Finance was so inspired after working with South West Lakes Trust, that he decided to write a poem about his volunteering experience (who said that you can’t be creative if you work with numbers!):

‘R & B’ went down to the woods today to find Rhododendron

An invasive beast, it was everywhere, a natural phenomenon

We made a plan & loppers in hand we charged… let’s ‘geddon’!

We chopped, we dug, we saved a toad… and suddenly it was gone! (Hurrah)

Sara and Maddie from our Buying team spent the day at Cats Protection. They donned gloves, aprons and even arm protectors as they cleaned the cattery and shifted palettes of litter. They were rewarded with plenty of time socialising with the cats with lots of cuddles and attention.

Some of the Wholesale team before the zip wire at BF Adventure.

Some of the Wholesale team before the zip wire at BF Adventure.

Our Wholesale team headed to local outdoor activity centre, BF Adventure to lend a hand. After painting, gardening and cleaning, they were rewarded with a pasty and a go on the zip wire to finish the day. A great day was had by all, spending time as a team out of the office, helping a great local charity.

Seasalt Volunteer Amy with Imogen from the Museum of Cornish Life.

Seasalt Volunteer Amy with Imogen from the Museum of Cornish Life.

Helston’s Museum of Cornish Life received the help of Amy from our MCR team. The museum has a special link to Amy as her great-grandmother’s ironing board was used to form part of a display. Amy assisted the museum’s volunteers for the day: “After donning white gloves Imogen showed me the careful process she goes through to take out and ‘read’ a piece of clothing, by looking at each stitch, scuff and stain as well as records in the museum archives to create a sense of its worn life. As she ‘read’ the piece, Imogen turned the dress to reveal a slight discolouration just to the left of its zip, where, she thought, a partner’s hand may have rested as its wearer danced. It was really special detail that brought the history of the dress to life,” Amy said.

Our Marketing team after their hard work transforming the Mermaid Centre's garden.

Our Marketing team after their hard work transforming the Mermaid Centre’s garden.

Mermaid Centre

Working together, our Marketing team transformed The Mermaid Centre’s family garden. You can read more about their beautiful work at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro here.

In November, Celia and Lucy spent the day with Falmouth Salvation Army, wrapping gifts for their Christmas Day lunch guests and for their Toy Appeal. The Salvation Army were very appreciative of their help and Lucy said: “It was great fun and we may have discovered a great local charitable and retail related cause that needs some more help from Seasalt in the New Year.”

We want to thank all of the charities who have invited us to be part of the amazing work they do, and give a huge thumbs up to all of the employees, who have given their time. Great work everyone!

We look forward to sharing lots more volunteering stories with you in 2019.

From the Sustainability Team

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