Black Horse - Time2Care
Black Horse (part of Lloyds Asset Finance) has a great tradition of giving back to local communities and they are committed to allowing employees to use work time to get involved and support local community groups and charities. Branded as Time2Care, their scheme gives each Lloyds Asset Finance employee up to 21 hours per year out of the business to participate in community volunteering activities. Their Time2Care commitment has already helped so many worth while causes and here are just a few examples that have benefited groups in and around the Cardiff area:
• The Green Valley Project is a long-term initiative to bring a neglected large area of land into community use, encouraging local disadvantaged and disabled people to get involved in horticulture, gardening and fishing, and at the same time improve the biodiversity of the riverside habitats. A team of volunteers helped to build a poly-tunnel as part of this project.
• One team based in Cardiff, Dealer Support, regularly organise teams of volunteers to help develop and maintain countryside initiatives and have so far given 112 hours of work to the community in this way.
Chris Partridge, Cardiff Project Officer for Keep Wales Tidy, nominated Dealer Support for the Tidy Wales Business Awards. Although not the winners, he was so impressed with the team and values of the Time2Care scheme that he personally came to St William House to present Bob Adwick and Michelle Chalmers-Lane with a framed certificate and a cheque for £50 for Save the Children.
Chris Partridge commented: “Time2Care is an extremely valuable scheme. The thing that has impressed me the most about Time2Care is the close team-working and problem solving skills demonstrated by all of the groups. None have really been afraid of getting their glowing white t-shirts really filthy for the greater good.
“Some corporate schemes are viewed as a day off and it doesn’t really matter but in my experience with Time2Care this could not be further from the truth. Furthermore, for some of the communities, this dedication helps greatly in breaking down the ‘them and us’ conception.”
• Ashgrove School near Cardiff benefited from some Time2Care when a team from Black Horse Systems spent a day cleaning and painting at the special school for children with Autistic Spectrum Disorder.
• On the 20 May 2011, Black Horse Dealer Support attempted to climb the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales in just two days. Despite not being able to climb the last peak due to 80mph winds, they still reached their target, raising over £2,000 for Lloyds Banking Group’s charity of the year ‘Save The Children’.
Give & Gain Day, the only national day of employee volunteering, took place on Friday 24th June. Nearly 300 colleagues across Lloyds Asset Finance, including the division’s MD, took a full day out of the business to take part – using their Time2Care allocation to benefit local community groups and schools across the UK.
