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Hand-crafted clock marks successful charity link up for law firm

Posted: 24th March 2015

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A large wooden clock made by residents at Rossie Young People’s Trust, a centre near Montrose which helps some of Scotland’s most challenged youngsters, will take pride of place in the reception area of Gillespie Macandrew’s Edinburgh office. It marks the on-going relationship between the two organisations, which, over the past 18 months, has seen teams from Gillespie Macandrew work alongside the Rossie youngsters and staff on a series of environmental improvement projects to develop the 150 acre site where the Trust is based.

Martin Brown, Estates Manager at Rossie, explains the background:

“We were asked by Gillespie Macandrew if we could make a clock for their reception area after some of their staff had seen the work which our CDT teacher, Ryan Ritchie, had been doing with our young people. In the workshop Ryan teaches our youngsters various skills of working with materials including using different types of wood to create their name, which then gets fixed to a wall as a reminder of their time with us.

They had never tackled anything like a clock before, but as much of the work the Gillespie Macandrew teams do here is working in our woodland, making a network of pathways and building bridges, we thought a clock made from Rossie wood was a great idea.”

Tom Murray, Chairman of Gillespie Macandrew comments:

“We are very pleased with the clock and proud to display it in our reception area. The relationship with Rossie is beneficial to both organisations. Martin tells us that the youngsters – and the staff – at Rossie really do look forward to our visits and the joint working parties, while our staff genuinely enjoy going there and it is a tremendous CSR programme from our point of view. The really good thing is it’s on-going and is evolving as we go forward.”

Donald Winskill, an Associate in the firm’s private client department who coordinates the Gillespie Macandrew work parties, adds:

“There is a very good forward plan developed by Rossie groundsman, Roy Balfour, and one of the Rossie volunteers which will see us carry out a series of environmental improvement projects. We’ve been working on the pathway network, which is enjoyed by locals who can now get much better access to enjoy the Rossie estate, and the next set of projects will improve various habitats to encourage the local flora and fauna.”

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