Employees at Friends Life, have been helping out in the local community, assisting with DIY and manual jobs as part of the company’s annual Community Challenge initiative, which helps a large number of local charities, schools and community groups.

Friends Life is one of Bristol’s largest employers. Between 13-24 June, its employees took a day out of the office to complete various tasks. St Michaels School in Stoke Gifford had help with numerous jobs including the painting of a courtyard and the construction and planting of flower beds.

Also, at The Avon Riding Centre for the Disabled, Friends Life employees cleaned the stables and helped with the gardens.

Nick Woodfield, stable manager, said: “I would like to say a special thank you to the teams from Friends Life for the sterling effort they put in. The Stables now look brilliant and the flower bed so much better after all the hard work. This has made so much difference to the Centre.””