August 2010

A donation to the Lufutuko School has enabled them to buy text books for grades 2,3,5,and 6 who had been without books for some time. You can follow the school’s progress, and that of the Bana Besu Feeding Project on their website.

June 2010
HAL staff were treated to a tour of Hackney City Farm  and a delicious lunch provided by their café.  Later this month HAL volunteers will be helping out on the farm.

May 2010
Each year HAL will choose two charities, nominated by staff, for company fundraising.  For 2010 HAL will be supporting Kids Company and Bana Besu Feeding Project and Lufutuko School.

February 2010
HAL joined the Fairtrade Foundation’s Big Swap, promoting Fairtrade Fortnight and celebrating a year of Fairtrade in the office with a Fairtrade Breakfast for staff. As well as the usual Fairtrade hot drinks, staff sampled Fairtrade juice, muesli, cereal bars, jams, fruit, nuts, chocolate, cookies, brownies, and some home-baked goodies made with recipes from the Fairtrade website and Fairtrade ingredients.

January 2010
In January 2010 HAL, for a second time, HAL ran an office collection of Christmas cards received by staff, in support of the Woodland Trust’s Christmas Card Recycling Scheme.

Recycling cards with the Woodland Trust:

• Reduces the number of trees felled for paper production;
• Reduces landfill and greenhouse gas emissions;
• Generates money from recycling credits which the Trust spends on planting more woodland. The more cards recycled, the more money they receive and the more trees are planted.

For more information about the Woodland Trust and the Christmas Card Recycling Scheme please visit their website.

Lloyd’s Christmas Collection

November 2009
Reading and Numbers at Bigland Primary School
HAL is delighted to have joined the Reading and Number Partners programme run by Lloyd’s Community Programme in conjunction with local educational partnerships, helping primary school pupils to improve their literacy and numeracy. HAL volunteers are working with children at Bigland Green Primary in Tower Hamlets.  As well as providing much-needed support for teachers, this as an opportunity for the children to meet people from outside their normal environment and develop their awareness of the world beyond home and school.

September 2009
Mentoring at Clapton Girls Technology College
HAL volunteers have begun a year-long programme, mentoring pupils from Clapton Girls Technology College. The programme aims to support the girls as they start their GCSEs, helping them to think about education and career choices, introducing them to the City, and building confidence and self-awareness.

August 2009
Stepping Stones City Farm
On 20 August a team of twelve volunteers went to Stepping Stones City Farm to rebuild a stable for their two donkeys, George and Dunstan. Volunteers also constructed a ‘planter’ for the community growing project, painted fences, and helped maintain the paddocks. The volunteers were very enthusiastic about the farm and HAL hopes to support Stepping Stones in future and become more involved in their work. Read more on our Community Engagement page.


August 2009
Trees for Cities
HAL is now a member of Trees for Cities, as part of a scheme with our recycling contractors, Paper Round. Trees for Cities, which aims to protect and promote trees in inner city areas, will be planting three trees for HAL this year.


July 2009
Recycling
HAL is delighted to announce that it has appointed Paper Round to collect office waste for recycling. In addition to batteries, toner cartridges, electrical equipment and paper, HAL is now recycling cardboard, plastic bottles and vending cups, and cans. This is part of HAL’s environmental action plan which aims to reduce waste, reduce consumption, increase recycling, and improve procurement.

July 2009
Lloyd’s 20 for 20
HAL is taking part in the Lloyd’s Community Programme’s “20 for 20” initiative to celebrate its 20^th birthday. This summer, 20 companies in the Lloyd’s community will be offering high -achieving A level students from the local area a chance to learn about Lloyd’s and gain valuable work experience through the City of London Business Traineeship Programme. HAL’s intern will be working with the Research team


March 2009
HAL joins the Lloyd’s Community Programme
HAL is pleased to announce that it has joined the award-winning Lloyd’s Community Programme which gives people working at Lloyd’s and in the Lloyd’s Market the opportunity to ‘put something back’ into the community on their doorstep through volunteering. It is run by the Community Affairs team at Lloyd’s and involves over 60 companies in the Lloyd’s Market.

Last year, over 940 volunteers from the Lloyd’s Market took part in volunteering opportunities in East London through Lloyd’s Community Programme. Volunteering ranged from supporting children in Tower Hamlets and Hackney schools with literacy and numeracy skills, to helping regenerate the local community through team challenges such as renovating local parks.

HAL supported the Lloyd’s 2008 Christmas gift collection for deprived children in London and looks forward to becoming more involved in the community programme.


February 2009
Fairtrade Fortnight
This year’s annual Fairtrade Fortnight provided HAL with the perfect opportunity to introduce Fairtrade products into our office. Tea, coffee, sugar, hot chocolate, bananas, nuts and a variety of chocolates went on trial in the HAL kitchen, prompting a very positive response from staff.

The Fairtrade Foundation supplied colourful and informative posters and leaflets about the Fairtrade movement. These have helped to raise awareness, not only of the benefits of Fairtrade, but of the variety of products available (over 3000 now carry the Fairtrade logo) and the many shops which now stock these.

HAL will be buying Fairtrade in future and is delighted to be joining the growing number of businesses making responsible consumer choices to create positive change for people and the planet.

For more information about the Fairtrade Foundation click here.

January 2009
Woodland Trust Christmas Card Recycling Scheme
In January 2009, HAL ran an office collection of Christmas cards received by staff, in support of the Woodland Trust’s Christmas Card Recycling Scheme.

Recycling cards with the Woodland Trust:

• Reduces the number of trees felled for paper production;
• Reduces landfill and greenhouse gas emissions;
• Generates money from recycling credits which the Trust spends on planting more woodland. The more cards recycled, the more money they receive and the more trees are planted.

Defra estimates that a billion Christmas cards are thrown away after Christmas, ending up as landfill and releasing greenhouse gasses. In the 12 years that the scheme has been running, 600 million cards have been recycled; 141,000 trees have been planted; and 12,000 tonnes of paper have escaped landfill, preventing 16,000 tonnes of CO2 from being released.

In 2008, 73.6 million cards were recycled, raising £80,000 in recycling credits and donations for the Woodland Trust.

For more information about the Woodland Trust and the Christmas Card Recycling Scheme please visit their website.

December 2008
Lloyd’s Christmas Gift Collection
In December 2008, HAL supported the Lloyd’s Community Programme’s Christmas Gift Collection. The presents were then distributed to deprived children in London through the Coram children’s charity and the community projects of the East London Business Alliance. Lloyd’s collected over 300 presents, of which HAL donated nearly 60.

HAL was proud to be involved with this collection, which is a simple, direct way of making a real difference to a child’s Christmas.

“These toys went to children in real need in the local community here and helped in a small way to make Christmas a more joyful experience for these children who live within one of the most deprived communities in East London.”

St Luke’s Canning Town (Rev Wade)


October 2008
Macmillan Cancer Support
HAL staff held an office cake sale as part of The World’s Biggest Coffee Morning. With coffee, cakes, and raffle tickets the morning raised nearly £900 for Macmillan Cancer Support.


July 2008
Breakthrough Breast Cancer
Seven members of staff competed against 6,400 runners in the Standard Chartered Race in aid of Breakthrough Breast Cancer, raising over £1200 in sponsorship.


June 2008
Supporting the local area – staff secondment
As part of its support for the local community, HAL is seconding a member of staff to work pro bono for Bishopsgate Institute, a cultural and educational foundation in the City. To maintain its facilities and meet the needs of 21^st century users, Bishopsgate Institute is preparing for a major refurbishment programme. This will preserve the fabric of the listed building and expand the learning facilities. HAL’s Communications Executive will be working with Bishopsgate Institute’s staff to strengthen the organisation’s profile within the City and raise awareness of its resources.