BUPA staff take on local community challenge

15 November 2002

A team of BUPA volunteers from the company's Salford Quays offices has taken on a "Changing Rooms" style community challenge to transform an empty unused classroom into a library in just two days. The challenge commences on Friday 15 November at Summerville Primary School and is being kept secret from the children in order to surprise them.

BUPA Book Buddy volunteers who read with the children of Summerville Primary School on a weekly basis suggested the challenge. Head-teacher Joyce Flint said: "At present the library facilities are quite cramped and when I explained that we were planning to move the library to a bigger space the BUPA volunteers suggested that they take it on as a community challenge. The new library will be invaluable for our children, and we are extremely grateful that BUPA has turned it into a reality for us."

Leading the team of 15 volunteers is Ann Riley, project consultant at BUPA. She explained: "We're really excited about the challenge and saw this as the perfect opportunity for a team building exercise because we will be producing something that will be really worthwhile, as well as learning how to transfer our skills to a different kind of project."

Monica Owen, manager of BUPA Community Connections added: "The challenge is a good example of BUPA giving something back to the community within which it works. The library will be a lasting resource for the children of Summerville Primary School."

The room will be designed with the BUPA Book Buddy scheme in mind. There will be three different reading areas for the children. Sofas and soft up lighting will provide the perfect setting for book buddies, teachers and helpers to read with the pupils.

Monica Owen, Joyce Flint, members of the Parent Teachers Association, school governors and some of Summerville's pupils will join the BUPA volunteers at 5.00pm on Saturday 16 November for the official opening of the library. The remaining students will discover the new library, which will be a surprise, when they return to school on Monday.

BUPA has a long-standing relationship with Summerville Primary School. Not only do the book buddies visit the school on a weekly basis but the school also provided BUPA Community Connections with a choir for the BUPA Community Connections activities that took place during the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester city centre.