Ian Williams was delighted to be part of an amazing Social Value Community Event with our customer, East Devon District Council (EDDC). It was a day purely dedicated to the residents and wider community of Lymbourne in Sidmouth. Tenants, the Ian Williams’ team including a Handy Person, EDDC elected members, officers and councillors came together to take part in a big spruce up of the grounds, building planters, putting in new plants, painting benches and offering skips for residents to use for free. It was also fantastic to see teams from Sidmouth in Bloom and the Probation Service rolling up their sleeves to help out in the sunshine.
Arron Kelly from Ian Williams commented: “It was fantastic to be part of this inaugural Community event, giving us the opportunity to introduce our teams face to face in a social setting to EDDC tenants and stakeholders. We were especially excited to be able to relaunch our Handy Person service, a resource to help tenants with all those small jobs they need help doing. We look forward to being involved in the upcoming events across the region.”
Lynette Talbot from Sidmouth in Bloom said: “Sidmouth in Bloom enjoyed assisting at the Lymbourne Community Day to help improve its surrounding environment. The benefits of gardening and pleasant landscapes benefits residents who, we hope, will take on more voluntary work within their own community.”
The South West Probation Service commented: “Community Payback schemes are a valuable resource for local communities and the East Devon Community Clean up in Lymebourne is another excellent example of this. While giving back to the community as part of their court ordered sentence, the people on probation have also developed their skills through this meaningful work.”
Councillor Dan Ledger, East Devon District Council’s portfolio holder for Strategic Development said: “It was fantastic to see our tenants, Ian Williams, EDDC members and officers as well as the wider community of Sidmouth come together to help improve the Lymebourne area. Thanks really needs to
go to all who contributed and to those who made the day possible. I am looking forward to seeing events like this replicated across the district.”
Councillor Jake Bonetta added: “Community engagement and grassroots work is at the core of Council life, and I want to thank all the staff, local community stakeholders and tenants who got stuck in and involved. The development of East Devon’s service to their tenants is especially important to myself and many other Councillors, and I look forward to supporting our wonderful staff and tenants in making these happen in every town and every community.”
We’ll leave the final words to John Golding, Strategic Lead – Housing, Health & Environment at EDDC: “Thank you for a brilliant day and coordinating all the efforts to smarten up our estate for the benefit of or tenants. A great deal of work was undertaken by various individuals and organisations, in glorious sunshine and the result is a great improvement in the communal areas and some of our tenants’ homes. The social interaction between colleagues, tenants and visitors was really beneficial on several levels.”
