A team from The Midcounties Co-operative swapped their office for the day when they took up the challenge of painting and sprucing up the community kitchen at St Martin's Church, Bradley in Bilston.

The 10-strong team including members of Midcounties Marketing department, IT and a graduate trainee were originally challenged to paint the fences surrounding the church but due to the bad weather Vicar, Rev Raphael Duckett, quickly found the group a new project to make use of their paintbrushes.

Rev Raphael said: “We are chuffed to bits, the team kept themselves busy all day, it has made a huge difference to St Martin's.

“Midcounties Co-op have been a tremendous help to the church, we were also recently given a £250 community grant for child safe tables for our mums and toddlers group which we are really grateful for.”

St Martin's is a hub for the local community. As well as regular church services, it hosts groups including ‘Hotch Potch', a drop in for coffee, soup and a chat, and a new weight loss advice programme with ‘Slim with Kim'.

Team leader Gareth Quinn, Studio Co-ordinator at Midcounties, said: “We really enjoyed getting out of the office and doing something for the community.

“The day went really well with everyone getting stuck in to painting the kitchen. We are already planning to go back to paint the fences as originally planned.”

Midcounties is committed to providing hands-on support for the community. It has an extensive colleague volunteer programme that takes on all types of challenges, which not only benefit local people and organisations but also help those involved to develop personally and as a team.

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