QA gave the opportunity for employees to spend two working days a year for worthwhile causes. Every year, our Central Team in Birmingham pool their available charity days and choose a local charity to support collectively as a team.

This year's chosen charity was Barnardo's Harris House project, which provides services for local families who have disabled children in need of intensive support, aiming to address specific and complex issues that significantly impact upon parenting capacity.

The Birmingham team decided to decorate the main public areas, training room and office, as well as renovating the outside garden are to create a pleasant environment for the staff and parents.

So how did the day go? We hear from Steve Waldron, one of the team members.

We arrived very excited but apprehensive about the job in hand. None of us were expert decorators or gardeners but we threw ourselves into the job in hand. Everyone worked extremely hard over the course of the four days, turning a dated and drab centre into a fresh, bright environment, whilst also providing a relaxing place to unwind.

By the end of each day, the team were tired, covered in paint but thrilled with the sense of achievement for what had been done.

QA were extremely generous in both allowing the time away from work for the Central Team and also funding raw materials to achieve the end goal. It was a great opportunity to give something back to the local community for a very worthwhile local project. We can't wait for next year's project!