A group of NatWest staff from West Wales have swapped their calculators for shovels to help the National Botanic Garden of Wales rebuild a forgotten culvert as part of a multi-million pound restoration project.
The team of seven bankers, who work in NatWest’ commercial banking team used special volunteering days to support the local project in Carmarthenshire, which involved rebuilding the stone face of the culvert at the Llyn Mawr Reservoir.
As part of its work supporting good causes, NatWest provides its staff with time off from their jobs to volunteer supporting projects in their local community and in 2017 it celebrated its staff contributing over 100,000 hours to helping others.
The National Botanic Garden of Wales’ Regency Restoration Project aims to restore an internationally important landscape built in the 19th century by Sir William Paxton. When completed in 2020, the garden will once more feature a necklace of seven lakes, cascades, falls and weirs replicating those created more than 200 years ago, as well as the regency planting scheme that formed the heart of its parkland.
The project is being supported by funding from the Heritage Lottery.
Tim Bridson, Director Commercial and Corporate, NatWest Cymru, said: “We were delighted to support the team at the National Botanic Garden of Wales with this project restoring an important ecological area back to its former glory. We really enjoyed working with the conservation team and learning about the different techniques used by a stone mason. It was hard-work, but very rewarding.”
Helen John, Project Manager of the Regency Restoration Project, said: “The hard working team from NatWest worked tirelessly all day on the dam of Llyn Mawr, our largest reservoir, with Selwyn Jones, our conservation stone mason, helping to select and sort through stones for rebuilding the stone facings, in less than ideal weather.
“It’s this sort of volunteering support which will help us achieve our goals and I would like to thank all the team for working so hard, in such muddy conditions. We are looking forward to seeing them next year, when we work on the next lake, Llyn Felin Gat.”
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