A group of nine Lloyds Banking Group employees swapped their business suits in favour of gardening clothes to help transform Bield’s Craighall Care Home as part of the Group’s ‘Day to Make a Difference’ initiative.

Day to Make a Difference is Lloyds Banking Group’s volunteering programme, where colleagues are invited to use at least one working day a year helping support their local community.

On this occasion volunteers stepped in to work with the Edinburgh based development on its specially-funded garden refurbishment project, helping to ensure it was ready in time for its official launch in a few weeks time.

The volunteers’ day consisted of painting the garden shed, pruning the garden hedges, pulling away any weeds and re-planting flowers.

Ashleigh Dickson said on behalf of the team: “As part of the Group’s ambition to Help Britain Prosper, we were thrilled to use our Day to Make a Difference to support local people and help our community thrive.

“We really enjoyed our day at Craighall Care Home, It was great to have the sun shining and to meet the residents who stay at the home.

“It was an absolute pleasure to meet everyone at Craighall and to assist them with their gardening project.”

Lloyds Banking Group have a strong connection with Bield as they officially fund the post of its Volunteer Development Worker, Donna Dickson, who works across Edinburgh and Lothian.

Donna said: “It was wonderful to see all the enthusiastic employees of Lloyds come in and volunteer to help out with our garden.

“Their contribution to the project is great and their hard work has really helped to get the garden looking brilliant on the run up to our official launch.

“It’s a thrill to see the garden getting a little bit of TLC. We are always looking for ways enrich the lives of our residents at Craighall and a well-kept outside space such as this gives them the chance to get fresh air and enjoy being outside.

“We would like to thank Lloyds Banking Group and in particular the nine employees who volunteered their time to give back something to their local community.”