Many hands made light work for charity

Many hands made light work when Meriden Rotarians joined forces with others from across the Midlands for a special charity Impact Day.

Members from The Rotary Club of Meriden were among the 28 volunteers along with clubs in Lickey Hills, Handsworth, Mosely & Sparkbrook and Solihull St Alphege Clubs and HROC marketing agency’s own Rotary Club, who came together to complete a number of building and maintenance tasks at Birmingham Settlement Nature & Wellbeing Centre, in Edgbaston.

It marked a return visit to the charity site which works to tackle inequality by connecting and empowering people through action, support and shared learning.

The volunteers were divided into three groups, completing projects including clearing large patches of weeds that can now be turned into a planting area for spring flowers, painting the seats of the outdoor amphitheatre, emptying an overflowing wood store and installing shelving.

Organiser, Jonathan Wilding, said:

All three groups took a real pride in looking at what they had achieved over the day, they also thoroughly enjoyed the fellowship of meeting other Rotarians and swapping ideas of potential projects.

“We all had a most enjoyable day today: finding a resource that many of us didn’t know existed; working with people with a common goal; meeting new people and making a visible difference to the environment. It was a day were fellowship and service came together and we all left feeling that we’d made a difference.

Founded in 1899, Birmingham Settlement is one of the city’s oldest charities, which works hand in hand with communities to improve financial resilience, support health and wellbeing and build stronger more sustainable connected communities where people can thrive.

Eamon Reynolds, spokesperson for Birmingham Settlement, said: “A big thank you to the Rotary club. As a small team it is a brilliant help to have their energy and enthusiasm and allows us to keep the space well maintained and appealing to the public.”

Anyone with any ideas for the next Impact Day is invited to get in touch on jonathanwilding1958@gmail.com

More information about The Rotary Club of Meriden is available at: https://rotary-ribi.org/clubs/homepage.php?ClubID=374

More information about Birmingham Settlement is available at: https://www.birminghamsettlement.org.uk/