Since the Society launched its award-winning volunteering scheme in 2007, over 70,000 hours of colleague time has been donated to charities and good causes around the UK.

The building society is celebrating a decade of volunteering in Dartmouth as Volunteers’ Week, starting on 1st June, gets underway.

Volunteers’ Week is an annual event which takes place at the start of June. It celebrates the contribution made by millions of volunteers across the UK.

Colleagues at the Yorkshire Building Society branch in Dartmouth have donated more than 36 hours of their time to local community projects such as a beach clean and supporting elderly people through the Silver Line befriending service.

Charities, good causes and community groups that need voluntary support can call in to the branch, on South Embankment, to find out ways they might be able to benefit from the Society’s scheme.

Andy Allwood, manager of the Dartmouth branch of Yorkshire Building Society, said: “Volunteers’ Week is a great reminder of the contribution voluntary work can make across the UK and we know first-hand about the impact it has brought in Dartmouth.

“Over the past 10 years we have seen that time can be just as valuable a gift as money to charities and community groups. That’s why the Society’s programme gives us the opportunity to support projects and charities in our local community here in Dartmouth and we want to hear from more local groups that need support.”

Yorkshire Building Society’s volunteering scheme allows every colleague up to 31 hours’ paid leave a year to help out at a charity or good cause of their choice.

In 2016, the Yorkshire Building Society volunteering scheme won the Employee Engagement Initiative of the Year at the Third Sector Business Charity Awards.

Also last year as part of the scheme the Society launched Money Minds, a free financial education programme delivered by its colleagues, to help children aged five to 19 learn more about managing money.