Essex law firm donates to charity gardening project

Birkett Long is celebrating its 200th anniversary in 2021. Throughout the year the firm is carrying out as many random acts of kindness in its local community as possible.

Their latest random act of kindness was making a donation to Headway Essex, that was used towards renovating the garden used by their clients and carers. Headway is a charity that supports those suffering a brain injury. In Essex, every 58 minutes, somebody is admitted to hospital with an acquired brain injury. As a charity, their mission is to ensure that everyone in Essex living with an acquired brain injury can live a fulfilling life and that families and carers are better able to cope within their caring roles.

Renovating the Headway Centre garden became a major piece of work and, as a result of the pandemic, having a safe outdoor space for their clients and carers to use was even more important. The project included new fencing, turf and garden furniture. They also purchased a large shed and lots of garden equipment including 3 wheelbarrows, 3 trugs that service users have been growing strawberries and herbs in, 4 tool sets, 4 kneeling pads and lots of compost seeds and plants. Birkett Long’s donation was used in conjunction with other donations the charity received for the project. It helped them to buy more equipment for their service users to use and enjoy the garden.

Tracy Wellsted, Headway Essex Fundraising Manager, said: “We were delighted when Birkett Long got in touch to say that they wanted to donate towards our garden project as part of their random act of kindness anniversary celebration. To our service users, it is more than just a garden, they really benefit from working outside, it gives them a real sense of purpose, teaches new skills and improves confidence – as well as keeping fit! A big thank you for helping us buy some of the equipment we needed to enable this project to go ahead.”

Katie Robertson, Marketing Coordinator at Birkett Long, said: “It was a pleasure to visit The Headway Centre, meet some of the staff and see how our random act of kindness has made a difference to our community.”