Hello from London!

On 17th November, 9 of us signed up to take part in corporate volunteering at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park.

This is our first year of doing corporate volunteering. When we were planning the activities for this, we decided we’d like to give back to the community of Tower Hamlets which is just a stone’s throw away from our office, and the most dense and deprived borough of the country.

The Cemetery Park was introduced by the Volunteer Centre of Tower Hamlets. It is managed by a charity called the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and provides much needed green and biodiverse space in the central area of London.

The day was clear, autumn day with crisp air!

The day began with carrying wheelbarrows full of gardening tools. We were not quite sure how to navigate this and get to the direction we wanted! We all got used to it in the end though.

We were well looked after by Richard, Ken and other volunteer staff from the charity.

The day was filled with hard work of pulling widely spread and stubborn ivies, pruning trees, planting snowdrops and daffodils and pizza lunch.

The Cemetery Park has a nature education centre on site and hosts visits by approx. 3,000 school children annually. It is a home to many kinds of birds, insects and plants. It is the only nature reserve in central London where hedgehogs are seen. We enjoyed its fresh air and admired the beauty of nature around us, playing with a ladybird and doing woodpecker spotting. We also learned the history of the park, the role it plays in local communities and environment and symbolism about the old gravestones.

We finished the day with a deep sense of satisfaction. We said to each other we would go back to the Park to see the ground covered with snowdrops and daffodils we planted together – hopefully not the ivies!!

It was such a worthwhile day. We felt a connection to nature, connection to the local community, and connection to our colleagues.

We are very grateful to Richard, Ken and the Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park for creating an opportunity for us to give back to the community and a safe environment for our volunteering day-out

Charities, Wellbeing and Social Working Group