Deborah Shortley, Private Banking Manager, tells us “as a bank giving back to the community is important to us. The bank supports this by providing us with an annual corporate and social responsibility day. We can use this day to help any local cause or organisation and this year we decided that we’d love to work with the SYNDI Centre.” 

The charity, founded in 1999, was created by locals to provide a welcoming environment, free from prejudice and celebrates diversity for everyone. The centre offers many facilities and activities for all ages and needs, providing everything from music therapy to vegetable bags. They are entirely reliant on the goodwill of people and organisations donating their time and money in support. 

Marcia Wallace, Assistant Banking Manager “Digging, weeding and clearing the overgrown vegetation was hard work, but we are so proud to have cleared a large area of the garden. SYDNI can now grow more fresh fruit and vegetables for their lovely café.” 

Dani Coe, Branch Manager,  “What a thoroughly enjoyable day! It’s great to have this time to support local initiatives here in Leamington Spa. A big thanks goes to my team for their efforts.” 

Helen Jones SYDNI centre manager said: “ We are so pleased with the hard work from the team from Handelsbanken. They have done such a good job to improve our garden which is there for the community to enjoy, including the vegetables and fruit we manage to grow. They were a pleasure to work with too. We would not be able to do the garden project were it not for the kind offer from Handelsbanken.”