Fawley (5 January 2007) -- As part of a recent volunteering project entitled 'Day of Caring', Oak Lodge Special School is now benefiting from a conservation garden and revamped horticultural area, thanks to the hard work of 21 Esso and ExxonMobil Chemical employees from Fawley.

This is the second year that employees have been given the opportunity to take part in the 'Day of Caring' scheme, whereby they are given a day of the company's time to participate in voluntary work for a designated charity in the local community.

When contacted regarding 'Day of Caring, Oak Lodge proposed two projects that it had been unable to complete, due to lack of financial resources and manpower. The school wanted to turn a relatively large area of its land into a conservation garden, which could then be used as an outside classroom. A smaller project was the horticultural area, which needed ground clearance and a new path: it had been left virtually unusable due to earlier maintenance work.

On the day the team split into smaller groups in order to complete the various tasks, which included path building, installing benches, ground clearance, mounting bird boxes and planting various shrubs, flowers and bulbs. After beginning work at 8:30am, the willing volunteers managed to complete both projects by 5:00pm.

Oak Lodge is a secondary school for children with a range of special educational needs. The school is currently at its full capacity, with approximately 125 pupils, indicating the importance of the service it provides.

Tony Owen, a Lead Electrical Engineer from ExxonMobil, commented: "I must admit that I was slightly daunted by the scale of the two projects at first. However, with careful planning and organisation, it seemed possible. On the day I was amazed at the dedication of every team member to get the job done to the highest possible standard in the safest way. Without a doubt, the day was a huge success.”

Alan Hazelwood-Smith, Deputy Headteacher, said: “It was wonderful to see the interaction between the ExxonMobil team and the pupils. The pupils were so thrilled with what was happening and were keen to become involved. We are extremely grateful to all the ExxonMobil staff who worked so hard to provide us with a superb conservation area and a much improved working horticulture base. We thank everyone who was involved.”