Across a week in November, nine employees from one of Thomas Miller's managed mutuals UK P&I Club volunteered with Queen Victoria Seamen’s Rest (QVSR), a charity which provides accommodation for seafarers, both active and retired, ex-servicemen and other adults in need. QVSR is also committed to providing first class support to seafarers visiting their centres at London Tilbury, DP World London Gateway, Felixstowe, Immingham and Bristol. Volunteering across three days, the team made use of the Thomas Miller global Volunteering Scheme, which allows all employees up to three days paid leave per year to undertake civic duties and community projects.

The Volunteering

The volunteers visited the London Port of Tilbury, co-ordinated by the Port Chaplain for QVSR (Ruth Campbell), where they helped to renovate some of the old meeting rooms at the Tilbury Docks Cruise Terminal. The project aims to create a safe and inviting space for around 300 crew members, allowing for a dedicated area for them to leave the ships when taking shore leave, for rest and recreation. QVSR aim to kit out the rooms with a kitchenette, a pool room and a general room for relaxation.

The team worked with Ruth to clear some rubbish from the rooms, move furniture around and paint the room that will be home to the pool table for the crew members to enjoy. They found the days very enjoyable, and learnt how important QVSR's efforts are to provide much needed welfare services to seafarers. Having a place that they can go to have a cup of tea, access free Wi-Fi and chat with colleagues is vital, and links very closely to crew mental wellbeing.
You can learn more about how to support the work of QVSR here.

Thomas Miller and UK P&I Club would like to thank The Seafarers Charity for working to introduce us to this volunteer opportunity. They are supporting QVSR's renovation by contributing to some of the furniture and the new kitchenette for tea and coffee making.

UK P&I Club volunteers: Leah Wallace, William Wilson, Luke Judge, Luke Stone, Laura Grant, Chloe Mayo, Alisha Evans, Sean Lima and Lauren Parker