College staff across the Tees Valley have swapped laptops and meetings for bikes, litter pickers, gardening tools and sewing kits as part of a day devoted to local communities.
Education Training Collective’s annual Time for Tees gives colleagues time away from their usual jobs to volunteer with charities, community organisations and local projects.
This year added a sizeable new challenge. The Tour de Tees took riders on an 60-mile route linking colleges across the region, starting at Darlington College before heading to Stockton Riverside College, Hartlepool College of Further Education, Middlesbrough College and finally Redcar and Cleveland College.
The ride was led by Etc. chief operating officer Phil Hastie, joined by Middlesbrough College chief executive Zoe Lewis and staff from Stockton Riverside College and Bede Sixth Form College. A Middlesbrough College team repeated the ride the following day. Riders chose individual charities or good causes to support.
Elsewhere, colleagues carried out litter picks at the Tees Barrage and Low Grange in Billingham, volunteered at St Cuthbert’s Church, the Chris Cave Foundation and Fox Rush Farm Community Woodland, and helped create outdoor spaces at Stockton Riverside College and Bede Sixth Form.
Other teams helped with maintenance at Middlesbrough Rugby Club and repaired or upcycled donated clothing with Daisy Chain’s Mend It, Don’t Rag It and Neuthread. A staff dog walk at Errington Wood above New Marske raised money for dog rescue charity Maxi’s Mates.
At Millbeck care home in Norton, health and and early years teams from Stockton Riverside College worked on the outdoor space, supported by Foresters Financial and local business Roundhouse Fencing and Gardens. The project also offered a way for the college to thank the home for providing student work placements.
The mix of projects makes Time for Tees less about a single headline gesture and more about lots of practical jobs being done across the region. From a repaired garment to a cleared patch of woodland, each task leaves something useful behind.
The full account of this year’s volunteering day and Tour de Tees is available from Tees Business.