We may not be together right now, and our community may not be operating in the way we’re used to, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but we hope you’re all enjoying our virtual events? It’s been fantastic to see all the amazing things you’ve been doing to support not only colleagues but also the wider city of Leeds. Here’s just a few great stories from our community which we hope will inspire you. They’ve certainly cheered us up!
Brewin Dolphin
Team fun has remained top of the agenda for Brewin Dolphin who have taken over Editors Draft’s weekly pub quiz for their staff, giving them a chance to catch up in a social environment and take a break from their everyday tasks whilst they’re working from home.
The Terrace / Ashdown Phillips
Tara, Venue Manager at The Terrace has been supporting the wider community having started volunteering through Voluntary Action Leeds. She was assigned to work with CATCH, a community hub to help with collecting prescriptions, food shopping and other support needs. Here she is delivering food parcels (made by the Hamara centre in Harehills), to families in need around the local area.
Ward Hadaway
Ward Hadaway hasn’t let lockdown slow them down; celebrating six new appointments to the Leeds office, further building on its strong position in the region.
They are also supporting the business community by helping everyone to “get back to business” during the Covid-19 outbreak, having built a freely available legal FAQ resource to assist navigating the ‘new normal’.
Equifax
The Equifax team has been keeping busy during lockdown supporting older students who have had their education cut short and may be facing an uncertain future, offering the expertise of its talent acquisition team and managers to run a series of workshops on CV writing and interview skills.
In support of its own community, the company launched a ‘wellbeing hub’ containing links to help its staff with everything from homeschooling to finances and managing teams remotely. The business has also launched a menopause podcast series and held webinars on body mechanics, sleep and stress awareness.
Mazars
The team at Mazars have donned their aprons and flexed their kitchen creativity with an office-wide baking competition.
With a theme of lockdown, the staff were asked to present their show-stopping sponge cakes, which were then voted on by their colleagues.
Here’s the winning entry – it looks deserving of a Hollywood Handshake to us!
Willis Towers Watson
As part of its ‘Milk Matters’ work, Willis Towers Watson has been donating 80 pints of milk each week to St Vincent’s, a charity based just off York Road in Leeds. St Vincent’s is a vibrant community hub which welcomes anybody in need, offering emergency food parcels, migrant support, free learning, debt advice, counselling and much more.
Though the centre is officially closed during the COVID-19 crisis, everyday staff and volunteers are providing takeaway breakfast boxes and hot lunches for those in need. Last week they provided 1,446 meals alone.
The Willis Towers Watson team in Leeds have also continued to donate to local causes during the pandemic, having raised a total of £2110 for Wheatfields Hospice.
Veeno
Veeno have been treating our frontline workers in their time of need, having given away almost £50,000 of wine and vouchers to NHS staff, all to mark International Nurses Day.
The Leeds team have also been busy during lockdown, with Veeno Leeds having undergone some renovations, which we can’t wait for you to see! You’ll now have access to ‘privatised’ areas for future events, a wider choice of drinks available and more hot food will be added to the menu.
Wellington Place
63 people from across the region took part in the Wellington Place Leeds in Colour colouring competition for a chance to win a £100 donation for their chosen charity and a £100 Amazon e-Gift Voucher.
The competition was judged by the artist of the illustrations, Janice Leung. She had the difficult task of selecting a winner from all of the fantastic entries we received.
Louisa Wirtz was our winner and she selected The Snappy Trust as her charity of choice for the donation. Louisa had previously worked with and volunteered for the children’s charity. Well done Louisa!
