EMPLOYEES at a Swindon renewable energy company have raised a total of more than £18,000 in the past year for various causes.

Charitable workers at RWE Innogy UK, a wind-farm developer based in Auckland House, got involved in a diverse range of fundraising activities for different causes.

These included male workers growing their facial hair for cancer charity fundraiser Movember, ice-bucket challenges for the Motor Neurone Disease charity ALS and a cycle ride from London to Paris for Christian Aid.

RWE runs two charitable incentives which allows its workers to decide when and where the cash is donated – one where the company matches every pound raised by employees and a £500 donation made as a ‘Community Volunteer Award’ (CVA) to any cause an employee volunteers for outside of work.

Paul Cowling, managing director for the company, said: “Encouraging our staff and management to get involved in causes that really matter to them is very important to us here.

“Not only does it instil a greater work-life balance but it also allows us to reach causes both large and small that we wouldn’t normally be exposed to.”

Caenhill Countryside Centre has benefited from the money raised.

The Devizes-based company works with communities to get children involved in agriculture and horticulture, and provides courses which are set on a farm.

Kara Franklin, who works in the centre of expertise at RWE, Swindon, spends a lot of her spare time helping out at the centre.

She said: “It’s a fantastic initiative and you really get a sense that children are learning a great deal by getting to be so close to the animals.

“I help with general maintenance duties such as painting hutches and also by feeding the animals. The donation that my company has made is wonderful as it helps to keep the centre available for the immediate community.”

Employees embarking upon the £4£ scheme raised more than £4,300 in 2014 which grew to £8,600 when matched by the company.

The CVA programme also saw a total of 19 staff members receive one-off donations of £500 for their time spent helping out local charitable causes.