KIND-HEARTED employees have spent 1,000 hours volunteering their time to help others.

More than 130 team members from the Shared Services Centre of Research Councils UK, based in North Star, reached the total by donating their time to charities, schools and organisations from March to December last year.

The Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal Trust as well as MIND mental health charity are just two of the places they have helped and chief executive Jonathan Preece said they will continue to help the community.

“As part of our engagement strategy we set out to support local charities, schools and organisations last year,” he said.

“In total, we contributed 1,000 hours, which we are really pleased about. It is great to give something back to the community. It is something which I am keen to do and I know a large proportion of people here are too.”

The team volunteered at Swindon 105.5, Lydiard Academy, The Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal Trust, Richard Jefferies Museum, and MIND mental health charity.

They also held fundraising events for their chosen charity, which was Prospect Hospice.

Mr Preece said: “We are going to carry on with our community work in the future. I am extremely proud of our people who work so hard to serve our local community.”

More than 100 volunteers from RCUK SSC Ltd will be taking donations over the phone on March 15 for Comic Relief.

They will take it in turns to take calls for six hours and will finish at midnight.

Karen Cook, people engagement manager, said: “We began our community work in March 2012. Our first project was gardening at the Wiltshire and Berkshire Canal.

“Since then, our people have enjoyed varying opportunities from painting to mock interviews for Year 10 students. The Comic Relief opportunity is the icing on the cake.”

RCUK Shared Services Centre Ltd provides a range of services including finance, payroll, grants information and IT and strategic procurement services through a single integrated system.

The company was initially established by the seven UK research councils and is now also part owned by the Department Of Business, Innovation and Skills.