News

Employees of facilities management and building services provider EIC, have donated hundreds of pounds worth of toys and games to help create a better environment for children visiting Wolverhampton Combined Court. Staff at EIC’s Alcester headquarters brought bears, board games and building blocks to work over the last few months, collecting more than 25 boxes of toys for the court’s witness service, for use in the waiting rooms by child victims or those involved in criminal cases.

EIC is currently working on the electrical and mechanical upgrade of the Wolverhapmton Interchange, which neighbours the court, with main contractor BAM construction. The EIC team became involved with the toy donation following a recent visit to the court by contracts director, John Harris.

Together with EIC’s charity coordinator Abigail Marshall, John handed over the donations to representatives from the court. He said: “Our contracting team is currently working at the Wolverhampton Interchange right next door to the court. We met with staff during a recent visit, who showed us the waiting room and explained how donations would really help to make a difference to the vulnerable youngsters involved in court proceedings.

“As soon as I sent an email round to staff asking for donations, the response was fantastic. Everyone has been really generous and enjoyed collecting toys for this very worthwhile cause.”

Sharon Studholme, court manager at Wolverhampton Combined Court said the toys would not only be enjoyed but also played an important role in comforting children through, what could be, quite a stressful experience. She said: “It can be a difficult time for a lot of the children that come to court and many can be quite frightened by the formality of it all. These toys will really help to distract and entertain them and make our environment a more welcoming and less intimidating place.”

This is the latest fundraising drive from EIC which, as a company, has a strong CSR ethos raising money for individual charities and volunteering time and resources for pro-bono projects.

Engineers from Alcester-based building services contractor EIC helped smooth the way for last weekend’s festivities in celebration of the Royal Wedding.

The civil engineering team halted their four-month drain replacement project to make sure the party could go ahead without a hitch.

As the bunting was being strung across Alcester High Street, the EIC team was busy back filling all the holes and removing signs and barriers from around the works to make way for the trestle tables and stalls for the town’s huge street party, which was set to be covered by national newspapers and broadcasters.

Gordon Gibson, EIC’s civil engineering contracts manager, said the reinstatement of the carriageway – which was completed in record time - proved to be well worth the effort.

He said: “We’re coming to the end of this important drainage programme which has required excavation in the High Street itself. Although the party could still have gone on around the works, following discussions with the local councillors we decided it would be much better to pause the project and make the space available, so our team got to work immediately by carefully backfilling the holes to ensure it would be ready for Friday.

“We were all delighted to see how fantastic the High Street looked over the weekend for the party and Saturday’s street market, with many of our staff joining in the festivities themselves, and we are really glad that we were able to help out.

EIC, headquartered at the Arden Industrial Estate on the outskirts of Alcester, covered the cost of the extra work itself. Once all the festivities are over, the project will get back on track and is expected to be completed by the end of the month.

Local councillor Mike Gittus is also chair of the Alcester flood defence forum and has been liaising with EIC throughout the project. He added: “The Alcester Royal Wedding street party has already gone down in the town’s history as a fantastic event, and thanks go to everyone who helped to make it such an enormously successful day.

“We were really pleased that EIC agreed not only to halt the project for a few days, but also to put themselves out considerably, cover the costs and delay their schedule by backfilling the holes and removing all obstructions from the High Street in order that we might be able to make the most of this important weekend for the town. It was a great example of community spirit and the team did a great job.”