carole.short posted on February 22, 2012 15:04
The National Trust is giving more than 5,000 employees the chance to take this year’s Leap Day off work to volunteer in their local community.
The Trust, which has 62,000 volunteers, is using February 29th to celebrate the importance of voluntary work and to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of its founder, Octavia Hill, who died in August 1912 and who championed volunteering.
Employees, including the Director-General, Dame Fiona Reynolds, will be helping local charities, schools, and campaigns. Trust properties will retain enough staff to open to the public on Feb 29th.
Dame Fiona, who will spend the day mucking out at her local Riding for the Disabled stables said “The Trust knows first-hand how important volunteering is. We simple couldn’t function without our 62,000 volunteers. The sheer spread of the places we look after means we have close links with communities the length of the country. Through ‘Local Leap’ we want to get to know our local communities even better and build new relationships into the future.”