The enthusiasm and willingness to help was immediately demonstrated by the first group as they were given the complex and challenging job of putting up a 30 foot by 60 foot marquee – without instructions – ready one of the Charity’s major events. Ahead of all expectations, the frame was assembled and the tarpaulin covers had started to go on by the end of day one.

Day two saw a different group from the branch arrive on site and they were eager to pick up where their colleagues had left off the previous day. Much scratching of heads and discussion soon resulted in a cunning plan and before we knew it the roof was on and it was time for lunch. A breakaway group also worked tirelessly to assist with a big Information Day being held in main arena of the Southern Centre, showing people to their seats and providing teas and coffees for over 100 visitors. An exhausted but happy crew handed over the reins to the third and fourth groups who arrived bright eyed and ready for action on Wednesday and Thursday.

Once again, they threw themselves into their jobs. One group were faced with getting up close and personal with some creepy crawly countryside wildlife with a sort-out of one of the Charity’s large storage sheds. When they had finished, we had discovered a mannequin’s torso we didn’t know we had and space for a whole host of equipment that can now be stored in an orderly fashion, which will keep the Charity’s maintenance man Ken extremely happy!

On top of this, an enormous delivery of goods from another of our corporate supporters had just arrived so that was soon being counted and sorted into its respective stock piles while other volunteers helped with the mammoth job of painting three large storage sheds with weather-proofing. Another group had several hundred information updates to collate for a large mail-shot for our My Amazing Puppy sponsors.

The fourth and final group arrived on Thursday morning ready to tackle the task of painting our gatehouse. We use the gatehouse to train our dogs in a home environment and our trainers sometimes take it in turns to stay there overnight. Within minutes the lounge and bedrooms were cleared, dust sheets were laid and the brushes were put into action. Another group also started on giving the storage sheds a second coat.

Trusts and Corporate Manager Cat Harvey said: “The volunteers were an amazing group who took to every job with enthusiasm and a can-do approach, no matter how challenging the task was. It was an absolute pleasure to meet the staff from HSBC in Southampton and we are extremely grateful for the immense amount of help they have given us. Many of these tasks would have had to wait several months to be completed without the time these volunteers gave us.”

For further information about HSBC visit www.hsbc.co.uk.