A VETERINARY organisation has donated more than 380 hours to support a number of charities.

Colleagues from Vets4Pets Support Office on Tuesday lent 64 pairs of helping hands to seven good causes, including Swindon Women’s Aid and Uplands Educational Trust, for the first of the group’s special ‘community days’.

Today’s event was to mark one year since they moved to Swindon.

The volunteers worked hard all day, helping with a variety of tasks to support organisations, from landscaping and paving slabs, to helping with Halloween activities and painting.

They helped out at the Hop, Skip and Jump Centre in Shaw and lent a hand at Swindon Women’s Aid and Buckhurst Park Community Centre.

Dr Huw Stacey, vet and director of clinical services at Vets4Pets, said: “We’ve all absolutely loved our first year in our new offices in Swindon.

“To celebrate our one-year anniversary, we wanted to immerse ourselves into the community and couldn’t think of a better way to do that, than by offering our support and time to some brilliant local causes.

“We are thrilled so many colleagues have stepped forward to get involved and hopefully our 384 hours of volunteered time will help make a positive change in the community.”

Ten of the group’s colleagues visited UET’s Community Enterprise Centre in Penhill, to replace the uneven slabs in the centre’s outdoor garden.

Sarah Gillam (nee Howes), head of charitable services at UET, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Vets4Pets colleagues for repaving our garden. Their time is invaluable to us and we couldn’t have done it without their support.”

Around ten more volunteers will be helping out at the Swindon Food Bank at the end of November.