CBD, Author at Howard Civil Engineering

Ho-ho-Howard Civil Engineering! For Day 9 of #12DaysOfHCE Santa Claus paid a visit to primary school pupils in Bradford this Christmas, at the special request of the Howard Civil Engineering elves!

Santa Claus surprised pupils at Greengates Primary Academy last week and asked them for a very special favour – to scatter eco-friendly and biodegradable reindeer food in their gardens on Christmas Eve to help his reindeer find their homes and keep them fit and flying.

*(Left) Santa’s sleigh looks a little different this year… (Right) Calverley C of E Primary School Year 2 pupils Jonah and Darcy loved their reindeer food*

Unfortunately, Santa was unable to visit children at Calverley C of E Primary School due to COVID restrictions, but he kindly asked his elves to leave lots of reindeer food with the school’s teachers.

“It was wonderful to be able to spread a little festive cheer to school children in Bradford last week,” said Howard Civil Engineering’s community liaison officer Sophie Henderson. “The children were absolutely enamoured by Santa Claus and loved the fact that his reindeer food was eco-friendly, as they have been learning about plastic pollutants and the importance of caring for their environment.”

*Pupils at Greengates Primary Academy were very excited to meet Santa Claus*

“Howard Civil Engineering wholeheartedly share this eco-conscious awareness and it was fantastic to help the future generation be more conscious about their impact on the environment.”

Andrew Gaunt, headmaster at Greengates Primary Academy, said: “Thank you to Howards for the Secret Santa visit today – the children were so excited to see him in their classrooms. The children loved their reindeer food and most certainly will sprinkle it on Christmas Eve. It was a lovely surprise way to end the term. “

*The Howard Civil Engineering team individually wrapped 700 bags of eco-friendly reindeer food for Greengates children*

“Merry Christmas and a huge thank you for the support, communication and help over the last year from Howards, enabling us to maintain a school with the minimum of fuss during the [Greengates junction] road works and make huge progress in developing our school grounds.”

Throughout December, Howard Civil Engineering is spreading festive cheer by donating £5,000 to a variety of charities and community groups across Yorkshire! We have chosen 12 different causes to help this festive period and we will be documenting these throughout the month using the hashtag #12DaysOfHCE.

Congratulations to procurement manager James Derry on becoming a qualified Mental Health First Aider!

James is now qualified to provide support and signpost his colleagues to appropriate help if required.

Having long been a vocal advocate for mental wellbeing both within the construction industry and in everyday life, we are confident that James will approach this new responsibility with his signature robust energy.

“Hopefully I can offer assistance and direction to my colleagues who are experiencing difficulties with their mental wellbeing,” he said. “Life can be pretty tough at times, so if I can offer support in any way then it is better than someone suffering in silence.”

In 2020 Howard Civil Engineering donated over £300 worth of presents to the Mission Christmas appeal in West Yorkshire, and this year we wanted to make it even bigger!

Earlier this week, we helped Cash for Kids spread Christmas cheer across South Yorkshire with a donation of gifts for their Hallam FM Mission Christmas appeal including footballs, construction toys, speakers, bathing sets and backpacks.

The Hallam FM Mission Christmas appeal will ensure 22,000 children across South Yorkshire receive at least one present this Christmas, including those local to our Olive Lane site in Rotherham.

Inside Hallam FM’s Cash for Kids Mission Christmas warehouse

In a regular year, Hallam FM’s Mission Christmas appeal relies on up to 500 volunteers, but due to COVID restrictions the operation is dependent upon only 190 volunteers.

Allan Ogle, charity manager for Cash for Kids, who deliver Mission Christmas, said: “We are anticipating a huge increase in applications we fulfil this year and it’s not possible to do it without the support of the general public and in particular our business community. The donation and support from Howard Civil Engineering has proved valuable to this years operation and I’m incredibly grateful to all the team for their support.”

We are honoured to be able to support the charity with their efforts this December and we hope the recipients are able to have a very merry Christmas as a result of these donations!

Now we’re over halfway through #12DaysOfHCE, we thought we’d mix it up a little and spread our festive cheer in South Yorkshire!

Rotherham Food Bank, which is less than 5 miles from our Olive Lane site in Waverley, is supporting families across the Rotherham area this Christmas and is in desperate need of supplies to meet increased demand over the festive period.

Howard Civil Engineering reached out to ask how we could help the food bank provide for those most vulnerable in our Rotherham community this Christmas and worked with the food bank to determine which products were most essential. Earlier this week we dropped off bags full of toiletries and food, and a £200 cheque to help them with fuel and delivery costs over winter!

If you would like to support Rotherham Food Bank with their Christmas appeal this year, you can get in touch here.

For day four of #12DaysOfHCE we donated to Bradford Food Bank – so it seems only fair that we share the spirit of giving in our hometown of Leeds, too!

In addition to a monetary donation to help Leeds South and East Food Bank with fuel for their delivery vans, Howard Civil Engineering has also donated much-needed food, toiletries, and even Christmas presents for the children of food bank users.

Leeds South and East Food Bank serves over 9,000 children and adults in South and East Leeds, including Seacroft where Howard Civil Engineering’s head office is located, and Christmas is a notoriously busy period for food banks.

If you would like to help families in South and East Leeds this Christmas, take a look at ways you can get involved here.

Simon on the Streets is a wonderful Leeds-based charity that offers emotional and practical support for people experiencing homelessness in Leeds, Bradford, and Kirklees.

As an independent charity, Simon on the Streets is entirely dependent on donations and the work carried out by its team of volunteers.

Christmas and wintertime can be particularly difficult for those experiencing homelessness, but this year Simon on the Streets spread festive cheer by putting on a Christmas dinner for 60 of their clients – with a little help from yours truly!

Howard Civil Engineering supplied the Christmas puddings, table decorations and bingo prizes for this year’s Christmas dinner, meaning 60 people experiencing homelessness in Leeds were able to enjoy a fun-filled day of festivities at St Anne’s Resource Centre last Friday.

Fiona Hobson, Admin and Communications Coordinator at Simon on the Street, said: “Thank you so much to Howard Civil Engineering for their support at our Christmas dinner for our clients experiencing homelessness.”

“You went above and beyond to provide everything we could possibly need for the day, including beautiful decorations, prizes for our games and all the desserts we could need. Your support made sure the day ran smoothly and our clients had a fantastic time.”

We are thrilled that Simon on the Street’s clients had such a wonderful day – Merry Christmas, everyone!

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