Staff from Bourne Leisure’s head office visited Todmorden in West Yorkshire last month to transform a local office of charity Age UK.
The team was joined by Althams Travel agent Carole Hallows, who volunteers at the office and nominated the charity for this year’s Bourne Community Champions initiative.
Community Champions runs every year in association with Travel Weekly, and sees one nominated project supported in person and with £1,000 towards costs.
This year, the Bourne team gave the Age UK office a total overhaul, including new paint, office furniture, display units and lighting, plus a new layout to provide a private area for consultations with elderly clients. A new carpet is due to be fitted.
Carole Hallows, who is manager of Althams’ branch in Littleborough, six miles from Todmorden, said: “I thoroughly enjoyed my day working with the crew from Bourne Leisure and Travel Weekly and I know that the new office layout will make the day-to-day running of the charity so much easier for the volunteers and our elderly patrons in Todmorden.
“I never knew I could build furniture until that day but I’m now back in retirement and will leave it to the professionals.
“I think the Community Champs initiative is such a great thing – thank you once again to Bourne Leisure and Travel Weekly.”
Alexandra Boyle, service manager for Age UK Todmorden, added: “We were amazed and delighted by how hard Bourne Leisure staff worked to redecorate and refurbish our office. There was so much help from the staff, who mucked in willingly and worked incredibly hard to get the project completed. The office is now completely transformed, from being dark, cluttered and unwelcoming to somewhere bright and professional.
“This will make such a difference to how we deliver our service, and show older people they are valued and respected. We are hugely grateful to Bourne Leisure and Althams.”
Travel Weekly managing editor Robin Searle, who also took part in the project, said: “Bourne Community Champions is one of the most rewarding initiatives of the year. To see senior members of the Bourne Leisure team giving up their time to work on such a worthy project is testament to the commitment they have to supporting local communities, and it was great to see their efforts rewarded with a much‑improved space to support the great work being done by Age UK in Todmorden.”
In addition to the day of community support, Althams Travel will also have its efforts honoured at the Travel Weekly Agent Achievement Awards in July.
Runners-up
Two runners-up also received £100 from the Bourne Community Team towards their projects. They were:
Louise Renyard of Central England Co-operative – for Pathways Care Farm, Suffolk.
Joanne Farrell of Holidaze – for a guide dogs charity.