VolkerRailStory JV (VRSJV) have carried out their first volunteering hours on the Hope Valley Capacity Scheme.
The project, which is being delivered as a Joint Venture between Story Contracting and VolkerRail, will remove several bottlenecks along the Hope Valley railway line between Manchester and Sheffield, making the route more reliable and improving passenger and freight journeys.
In a bid to invest in the community local to the project, VRSJV has committed to delivering a large number of volunteering hours while carrying out the capacity upgrades.
The first step towards meeting this target saw members of the Environment and Consents team help St Luke’s Hospice sort through clothes donated at their Crookes charity shop in Sheffield. The hospice had received a large volume of donations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and needed support to sort through the items.
Pete Broomhead, Environment and Consents Lead from VRSJV, said: “We were delighted to volunteer for St Luke’s Hospice and support their mission in delivering the best palliative care possible in Sheffield. It was great to spend the day helping to sort through donations at the hospice’s Crookes charity shop, as part of our work to support local communities while we deliver the Hope Valley capacity Scheme.”
Francesca Bradshaw, Volunteer Development Manager from St Luke’s said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to the VolkerRailStory team for their support. Group volunteering days with St Luke’s are not only a fun way to spend the day with colleagues, but they really do help contribute to our patient care. The day with us spent sorting donations could help to raise over £800 in our shop.”
More recently, the project’s Engineering team have undertaken a community day with the Peak District National Park, helping to restore a section of the Pennine Way public footpath that had suffered with erosion over the winter.
Dave Cramp, the park’s Conservation Volunteers Office, said: “Thank you to all the team from Volker Rail Story JV for their help and hard work on the recent conservation volunteering day.
“The Pennine Way is an iconic trail through the Peak District National Park and beyond, and the work that the team undertook will help preserve the trail and protect the wildlife and habitat that surrounds it. A massive thank you to all the members of the team for a thoroughly pleasant day and we look forward to working with VolkerRailStory JV again soon.”
Along with community projects, VRSJV have engaged with local schools in the area and, between April-June, helped students from Sheffield High School for Girls through the Industrial Cadets Bronze Award project.
Pete Broomhead, Environment and Consents Lead, and Charlotte Hattrell, Community Engagement Officer, mentored a group of year nine students through the award, whose task, ‘My School is an Island’, was to think about creating a sustainable school on a fully functioning island.
Read more about the Hope Valley project here
