sewell foundation - giving back

November 2010 - Pocklington staff show their spots for Children in Need

Staff at Sewell Retail's Pocklington site got into the charity spirit to raise money for Children in Need.

Sue Daniells and Lyn Morris (both pictured) as well as Janet Anderson and manager Tom Massey set up a cake stall for the charity, as well as having a donation bucket next to the counter. The team raised £315, which was paid directly to Children in Need through the site's PayPoint machine.

Tom said: "We always like to do something for Children in Need. We had hoped to get Pudsey down to give us a hand, but unfortunately we couldn't get hold of a costume!"

BBC Children in Need took place on Friday 19 November 2010 and raised over £18m to make a positive change to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in the UK.

September 2010 - Big Bad Bike Ride

A team of eight cyclists from Sewell Group took part in a challenging 70 mile bike ride in Scotland to raise money for charity.

Paul Sewell, Paul Brooke, Rob Cawkwell, Patrick Sewell, John Hogg, Quentin Wilson, Richard Greaves and David Craven-Jones travelled to Pitlochry for the Big Bad Bike Ride, a two day cycle challenge in aid of Ataxia UK.

The charity funds research into finding treatments and a cure for Ataxia, a degenerative genetic disease usually prevalent in children, as well as supporting those who are directly affected.

At the time of writing, the team had raised almost £6,000, and there is still time to donate. To do so, visit: www.justgiving.com/sewellbigbadbikeride

September 2010 - Catzero Challenge

Sewell Group's Leadership Challenge Programme continued as 11 members of staff took to the North Sea for a once in a lifetime experience.

The team, made up of Ash Kordhaku, Dave Barley, Emma Batch, Lucy Wilson, Mike Hall, Robert Christopher, Stuart Aldus, Becky Wilburn, Bill Leigh, Kirsty Jones and Tom Massey, departed from Hull Marina for a 26 hour sailing challenge on the 72ft 'One Hull' yacht - the very same boat used in the Round the World Clipper Challenge.

Emma said: "The sailing challenge was a reward for finishing the first half of the Leadership Challenge, and it was really excellent to learn about the different parts of sailing a yacht, particularly for those of us, like myself, who had never been on a boat before."

Mike said: "It was nice to see how everyone pulled together and worked as a team, and we all agreed it was a once in a lifetime experience. I can't imagine any other organisations sending their staff out on a yacht in the North Sea, so it was a fantastic thing to be able to do."

September 2010 - Hull Animal Welfare Open Day

At the recent Hull Animal Welfare Trust Open Day at South Cave, a group of Sewell employees took time out of their weekend to help raise money for the Trust.

Those who lent their time had baked buns and cakes, selling out of their supplies to raise £600 towards the work that the Trust, based at Sunnydene Animal Shelter in South Cave, carries out for thousands of animals.

The Hull Animal Welfare Trust was established in 1982 and cares for dogs, cats, rabbits and other small animals, including hedgehogs in the Hull hedgehog Hospital.

With no formal funding, the Trust relies on a band of volunteers and donations for its vital work in the community, and the money raised by Sewell Group will go towards the work that the volunteers carry out 365 days a year.

July 2010 - Little Learners May 2010

Children from Little Learners Day Nursery played host to our heroic friends from the emergency services in May.

A full week was dedicated to the men and women who serve and protect us with members of the fire, ambulance and police services visiting the nursery to talk to the children. The aim of the week, which also involved a tour of vehicles, was to give the children the opportunity to meet their real life heroes as well as raising awareness about important safety matters that can affect the children's lives.

Little Learners Day Nursery has a long relationship with the combined emergency services working together in the development of educational talks - ensuring that key safety messages are communicated to the children and their parents.

June 2010 - York Can Cook

Sewell Group sponsored the very successful 'York Can Cook' cookbook, produced by the pupils and staff at St Barnabas CE Primary School.

The book, which completely sold out of the 500 copies that were originally produced, was published in December 2009. Sewell Group made a formal presentation of its financial contribution to the book to 'Save the Children', the schoolchildren's' chosen charity in June 2010.

June 2010 - Biz Ed Day

Rachel Corr, Sewell Group's Head of People, was one of 16 Hull business figures that took on the role of a mentor for a dragons' den style business week event, Business Education Day, advising young entrepreneurs. Business Education Day formed part of Humber Business Week.

Rachel mentored one of the 16 schools, at the event organised by Humber Economic Partnership and held at the Country Park Inn at Hessle on 09 June 2010, providing the pupils with guidance in their challenge to create a more advanced business idea from just a small tea light.

The school teams all participated enthusiastically in the event and were judged based on how well they had developed the product with the advice and guidance of their mentor. Rachel's team was the runner-up!

Rachel said: "Working with young people is definitely rewarding. Their natural curiosity, sense of wonder and enthusiasm for play and learning has a positive effect on business leaders who work with them. But equally young people need adults who can bring the same enthusiasm to these play and learning experiences. I feel that we really achieved this during Business Education Day."

June 2010 - Race for Life Team Raises £1,000

A team of runners from Sewell Group and Citycare took part in the Race for Life on Sunday 4th June in Hull to raise money for Cancer Research UK.

The team was made up of Jo Barnes, Adele Whitehead, Sue Turner, Sasha Fox, Elaine Simmonds, Jude Leonard and Kate Sleight. To date, they have raised over £1,000 for Cancer Research UK, which is the world's leading charity dedicated to beating cancer through research - the organisation's groundbreaking work has saved millions of lives.

Elaine Simmonds, said: "I had never really seen myself as a runner before starting our training, but before long I surprised myself with what is possible!"

Another of the runners, Kate Sleight, said that the team is planning to raise even more money for charity following their Race for Life adventure: "We had a great time raising money for such an important charity and we are so inspired that we are now thinking about our next challenge to raise more cash for good causes."

To donate, please visit www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/teamsewell. Donations can be made up until 21 July 2010.

May 2010 - Local People, Serving Local People...

Sewell Group has operated in and around the Hull area for more than 135 years. The company employs more than 300 local people across its estates and retail divisions. The business' directors believe in developing and engaging people with strong and effective internal communications at all levels. In March 2010, having achieved an 'extraordinary' Three Star rating by workplace engagement specialists, Best Companies, Sewell Group was ranked the UK's 8th best company to work for in a list published by the Sunday Times newspaper.

The company has a 'buy local' policy which is underlined by recent Construction projects delivered. An example can be seen on a 2009 Construction scheme finished on time and in budget for Citycare, NHS Hull's delivery partner under the city's Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT). Responsible for constructing eight of Citycare's nine projects delivered to date, Sewell Construction recruited more than 90 per cent of its direct and subcontracted workforce from the local area on the £14m Orchard Centre project.

This commitment has been extended to Citycare's 10th project now under construction in Hull's City Centre - the Wilberforce Centre. Sewell Group and Sewell Construction are aiming for similar levels of local supply chain engagement on this £16m assignment. Additionally, the company's apprenticeship programme has received high praise locally, regionally and nationally.

Also for the future, Sewell Group and Sewell Construction will be an important part of the multi-industry partnership known as Hull Esteem Consortium [alongside Morgan Sindall Investments and Robertsons Capital Investments], responsible for delivering £465m worth of new and redeveloped schools across Hull. Lessons learned from the company's experiences on Citycare will be rolled out on the projects it will be responsible for delivering - including an enormous recruitment drive for local people, active participation in the proposed apprenticeship scheme and buying materials and services from the local and regional supply chain. The projects are due for completion by the Autumn of 2014.

April 2010 - We really are considerate in all that we do...

In April, Sewell Group's construction team achieved a hat-trick of Considerate Constructors bronze awards for work undertaken on the £4.5m Bilton Grange Health Centre.

The team's latest award was presented at a prestigious ceremony at the Lowry Hotel in Manchester following the completion of the project in late 2009. The brand new health and community centre, the ninth that Sewell Group has delivered on behalf of Citycare, Hull's Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) organisation and NHS Hull, was handed over on time and within budget.

The scheme and its project management, constructed under the stewardship of Cavan Gray-Nicholson, construction manager alongside Dave Barley, assistant site manager, were described as 'superb' by independent assessors who reviewed, first-hand, the team's work at the site during the construction period.

Everyone associated with the project is justifiably proud of this achievement which takes into consideration the needs of employees and contractors, work with the local community and how the company planned and delivered the project from a health and safety point of view.

In recent years, other Sewell Group projects at Park Health Centre, St Oswalds School in York and the Freedom Centre on Preston Road, Hull have also received Considerate Constructors awards.

Steve Gibson, Sewell Group director responsible for construction matters, said: "The Sewell Group way of doing business is based on delighting people. We always try to do the big things right and the little things very well. We have built some great facilities and relationships in the local community, and the construction team and I are very proud of what we have delivered and achieved so far. I would like to congratulate Cavan, Dave and their teams on this great achievement."

April 2010 - Sharing our 'Story'

Sewell Construction is working in partnership with Hull College and Winifred Holtby School Technology College to support diploma students enrolled on a Construction and the Built Environment qualification. Students will visit the company's largest health centre scheme to date, the Wilberforce Centre, to learn about relevant aspects of the project and the roles of it's people in support of their studies.

Students from both Hull College and Winifred Holtby were the first to see the site at the demolition stage and the Wilberforce Centre project team was praised by college lecturer Brian Kerridge, who specialises in construction and the built environment, for, "an exceptionally well managed construction site."

Students will continue to visit the site throughout the academic year, and during its construction, enabling them to benefit from seeing a live project during demolition, through construction and eventually opened for operation. Sewell Construction's engagement with the local colleges has been nurtured through a developing relationship with Humber EBP, a service provider linking practical learning through work experience with local businesses across the Humber Sub Region, the East Riding of Yorkshire, Kingston Upon Hull and North East Lincolnshire. For more information on Humber EBP please visit: www.humberebp.co.uk.