News related to: Community

Over the course of 32 years in business Gelder Group has raised a significant amount of money for charitable causes including £33,000 raised to celebrate the company’s 25 years in business, which was donated to St Barnabas and the Alzheimer’s Society.

More recently the Group has been focused on supporting its own staff and their endeavours in raising money for charities and following the sudden and sad passing of a member of staff the group has been supporting his family through a financially and emotionally difficult period. With this in mind the Group decided to set up a charitable fund which could be accessed by staff and families who were in need of financial support through bereavement or ill health. The trust has now been formally recognised by the Charity commission and a team will be established to run the charity.

Steve Gelder, Chief Executive Officer comments on the Trust:

A big part of our 20:20 Vision is to champion community initiatives and build strong communities, gaining official charity status will not only help us achieve our Vision, it will enable us to continue to contribute to support our local community going forward. I am absolutely delighted that we now have our own charitable trust.

As staff return to work we have been interested to learn what they have all been up to during furlough, and two staff have shared their remarkable stories.

Lisa Mumby, Accounts Assistant joined a Facebook group shortly after being furloughed called ‘For the Love of Scrubs’ which was set up by a Lincolnshire nurse and quickly became national. As we all know the national shortage of PPE was in the news often and thousands of sewists across the UK got together through this group and others to sew scrubs, face masks, laundry bags etc. for the NHS workers.  Lisa was assigned to the Nottinghamshire group and made scrubs and laundry bags which ended up in GP surgeries in Nottingham. Lisa also sewed an additional 60 masks for friends and family.

Philip Newborough, Web Developer lives in the small village of Swinderby where members club together to purchase heating oil, with the idea that they purchase in bulk and receive a cheaper rate. The person who managed this system (manually) wrote an article in the local parish magazine and asked villagers if they would collectively contribute a couple of thousand pounds to have a custom system developed to aid in the administration of the scheme.

Membership to the scheme is free and it’s a non-profit, so whilst Phillip was furloughed, he offered to undertake the work and develop the system for free, saving the villagers some money.

 Philip developed a custom website with a registration system and member accounts area. All members can login to the website and request an amount of oil. The system keeps track of the total amount of oil that has been requested by members and when the amount reaches 18,000 litres, a purchase order is raised with the cheapest supplier. All members are then automatically emailed with details of the oil delivery, supplier, date and price etc. The system has been running successfully for the last few months and the villagers have already benefited from the savings.

Arran Fullwood, Finance Director who manages both Lisa and Philip commented:

I was inspired and humbled when I spoke to Lisa and Philip and discovered what they had achieved during the period they were furloughed.  I’m equally overwhelmed by the staff who kept working during the entire period doing essential work at Lincoln hospital.  We have a fantastic team at Gelder Group and I’m very proud to be a part of it.

Pictured: Home made PPE

The Swinderby CHOPS website.

Linkage Students working in the Environmental Park

Gelder Group Community Vision launched in 2017 set out to ‘Build strong Communities’ has taken another big step towards that goal and is now working with Linkage College.

Linkage is a Lincolnshire based learning disability charity which provides a range of services including a further education college, care, day services, and employment support to help people with learning disabilities get into work. Students from the college have visited Gelder Group Head office over the course of the year and its students, who are studying City and Guilds Practical Horticulture/Skills for Working Life, have been working in the 16 acre environmental park to keep pathways clear, tending the planted areas, planting new bulbs and creating habitats for small mammals and insects.

Helen Spencer, (Horticulture Lecturer/Work Experience Team Leader) from the college commented about the initiative:

We are delighted to be working in partnership with Gelder Group and hope this relationship will continue and develop, I know our students love coming here.

If you would like more information about this collaboration, please get in touch.

In 2014, with the help of HRH Princess Anne we said we’d create a brand called ‘Gelder Living’ that would develop ‘High quality affordable homes that improved communities’.  This is now a reality with the first 9 bungalows hitting the market at Heynings Close, Knaith Park in Gainsborough.

The properties are low maintenance and come with generous garages, ample parking, PV electric solar panels, underfloor heating and fully fitted carpets. Pygott & Crone property agents are the marketing agent. For more details contact newhomes@pygott-crone.com

For more details contact newhomes@pygott-crone.com

The Gelder Golf Team

Our staff support many charities and as a company (and as part of our Vision 2020) we want to be able to support them to pursue their charitable endeavours. So, when Gary Rousseau (Contracts Manager) requested to enter a team in the Charity Golf Day at his local club ‘Blankney‘, the company was delighted to be able to support him and the charity Prostate Cancer UK. The formidable team led by Gary also included Joe Kendal (Surveyor), Paul Staines (Contracts Manager) and Arran Fullwood (Finance Director). On the day Gary commented:

We didn’t perform as well as I hoped on the day with new players Joe and Arran in the ranks, but it was a great day and I was just happy that the company supported us to attend and we were able to raise money for a great charity.

Gelder Group Badminton Team

The annual event organised by Nicholsons Accountants in aid of Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance is not only a worthwhile event to support but one that our team look forward to each year. The team this year consisted of Tom Potter (Apprentice Surveyor), Jo Miller (Claims Manager), Paul Staines (Contracts Manager) and Mathew Kane (IT Technician). While we didn’t manage to ‘place’ at the event the team had a fantastic evening and are looking forward to next year. Congratulations to all who took part in this worthwhile event.

Steve Gelder being presented with the EBP Award.

The EBP (Education Business Partnership) recently recognised businesses from across Lincolnshire for their exceptional work with schools and young people at its annual Investors in Education Awards, held at Belton Woods Hotel in Grantham on 28^th November.

Each year The EBP invites schools to nominate organisations to receive an Investors in Education award. Gelder Group was one of the employers that stood out and went the extra mile to help the young people it worked with.

According to judges’ comments:

Gelder Group received the award for their fantastic support in making sure students gained knowledge of the construction trade at Lincoln Construction Week – a three-day interactive event held in October, organised by the Lincoln Group Training Association and supported by The EBP.

CEO of Gelder Group, Steve Gelder, said:

It’s well known fact that there is a huge skills shortage in the construction industry and at Gelder Group we are committed to increasing the number of people within the industry and to training the next generation.

We are honoured to have received this award acknowledging our contribution to education in the region and look forward to continuing our work in 2018 with young people who have an interest in construction.

Steve Gelder was presented with a trophy and certificate at the awards by The EBP’s chief executive, Elaine Lilley, and James Pinchbeck, marketing partner at Streets Chartered Accountants.

Elaine Lilley, chief executive at the EBP, said:

Our work would not be possible without the support of the local business community. We thank all of the organisations who have supported The EBP this year and are pleased to celebrate those that have been recognised as making a significant difference to schools, young people and the community.

Gelder Group is a multi-award-winning construction company based in Lincoln which works across a range of sectors including education, health, retail, insurance, leisure, commercial and residential building projects. The firm, which employs 300 staff and is a founding member of the Gainsborough Career College, has trained 300 apprentices since its formation as a two-man building outfit in 1988, 37 of those in the last three years alone.

If you would like more information about our work with schools and young people, please get in touch.

Chris Kent (Branch Manager), Mrs Hewett and John Rowley (Insurance Surveyor) loading donations for Hull 4 Heroes.

As part of its work with insurance claims, Gelder Group volunteered to assist a home owner who wanted to donate goods to the charity Hull 4 Heroes.

When Mr and Mrs Hewett were unfortunate enough to have a leaking water pipe below the floor of their home, Gelder Group, which has a highly experienced insurance, repair and renovation division, were appointed to handle the couple’s insurance claim.

The firm replaced the flooring and redecorated and re-installed the kitchen units at the home in Woodhall Spa, Lincolnshire.

During the restorative works, Mr and Mrs Hewett decided to purchase a number of new items for their home and decided to donate the items they no longer needed, including a fridge freezer, microwave, television, curtains and blinds, to Hull 4 Heroes.

Hull 4 Heroes provides housing and lifelong support to military veterans who find themselves struggling after serving in the British Armed Forces. That help can come in the form of finding suitable accommodation and furnishings for a homeless veteran or a renovation to an existing property which isn’t fit for purpose. The charity will use Mr and Mrs Hewett’s donated goods for future Hull 4 Heroes projects.

The 154-strong insurance team at Gelder Group, which handles around 6,000 insurance claims a year, thought this was a fantastic idea and volunteered to assist Mr and Mrs Hewett with the transportation of the items to the Hull 4 Heroes storage unit.

Chris Kent, branch manager of the insurance department at Gelder Group, said:

When we heard that Mr and Mrs Hewett wanted to donate their goods to Hull 4 Heroes we thought it was such a lovely idea, especially as the couple already had a lot on their plate with the leak in their home, so we were keen to get involved and transport the items for them.

We’re proud to have successfully restored Mr and Mrs Hewett’s home to its former glory and to have been able to support them with the transportation of goods to this very worthy and important cause.

Mrs Smith, a neighbour of Mr and Mrs Hewett, also got involved and donated an oven, outdoor furniture and physio equipment, which Gelder Group also transported to the storage unit on her behalf.

Mrs Smith, said:

We were very grateful to Steve Gelder and his staff at Gelder Group for enabling us to donate our goods to charity. It has been a difficult time for Mr and Mrs Hewett due to Mr Hewett’s disabilities and we were pleased that good could result from the situation.

On the donation, Paul Matson from Hull 4 Heroes, commented:

We can’t do any of the good work we do without the amazing support of the lovely volunteers and the fantastic businesses we’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to.

We as a team can’t thank you all enough for the goods kindly donated and then transporting them to us, the items will go into future Hull 4 Heroes projects helping veterans in need. We are ‘looking after our own’ thank you for helping us help them.

If you would like more information about our Insurance, Repair and Renovation devision, or our charitable work, please feel free to get in touch.

Lincoln Knights’ Trail – The Gelder Knight

Gelder Group have sponsored the Lincoln Knights’ Trail commemorating the 800th anniversary of the battle of Lincoln. The Knights’ Trail will be raising much needed funds for the Nomad Trust, a local charity who provide accommodation for Lincoln’s homeless population.

The Gelder Knight has his own transport and from next week he will begin a three week tour of our sites and offices, our customer’s offices and several UK land marks, before spending the summer (30th May – 3rd September 2017) on a plinth outside Lincoln Castle. He’s going to create an enormous amount of positive conversations, raising a tremendous amount of money for charity, and you can follow his adventures on Twitter and Facebook.

If you’d like more information, or you’d like to arrange a visit, please get in touch!