MAD Midsummer

Midsummer really made a difference to the communities in which they live and work when they embarked on their very own Make a Difference (MAD) day on Monday 29 October.

As an alternative to holding a formal staff conference where they might have carried out some team-building exercises, Midsummer divided staff into eight teams, to work on eight different projects in Milton Keynes, High Wycombe, Bedford, Aylesbury Vale and Towcester.

With just one day to complete their project and a budget of only £100, each team had to plan carefully, use their initiative and call upon all their business and personal contacts to get extra help, funding and materials. Connaught Partnerships, Midsummer’s partnering contractor, proved to be a massive help in the planning for the event and on the actual day.

The projects included creating a sensory garden at a private pre-school for children with learning difficulties, creating an interactive playground at a primary school in Milton Keynes, re-painting the St John’s Ambulance hall in Towcester, breathing new life into the garden of the National Children’s Home in Aylesbury, creating a patio area at Griffiths House for Wycombe Friendship, clearing a massive ditch, as well as other gardening, landscaping, decorating and painting projects across the region.

Following just two days after the national Make a Difference Day, Midsummer thought this was a great opportunity to invest time in allowing staff to take the hands on approach to help the communities in which we work. It was also a great team building exercise, as well as an opportunity for staff to take on roles that they would not normally do.

Overall, it was a very successful, if a little tiring, day!