Twelve staff members from the Castletown based Fiduciary and Pension Group Optimus Limited have volunteered at the Home of Rest for Old Horses with their annual Christmas Experience Event.

As part of the ‘Optimus in the Community’ initiative, the staff split into two teams of six over two nights and assisted with the Hook a Duck stall, Five Gold Rings stable, Disney Frozen merchandise stable, the Gift shop and Café.

‘This has been a great opportunity to give something back to the community whilst having fun and bringing festive spirit to everyone who came to the experience event,’ said Sophie Hancox, team leader at Optimus who co-ordinated Optimus’ volunteers,

‘The uptake from the staff has been great and we’re grateful for the directors who have allowed us to volunteer during work hours - we’ve all had such a great time.’

The Christmas Experience Event is open weekdays from 4pm to 7pm and 10am to 4pm on weekends up until the 23rd December. What has now become a beacon of light as you drive through Richmond Hill, the illuminations are back as well as games, entertainment, refreshments in the café and most importantly, Santa is in his Grotto accompanied by his elves and some animals from the centre.

‘We are grateful to Optimus and their staff for giving their time and effort in volunteering during the festive period’ said Jill Moore of the Horses Home,

‘A lot of work goes into putting on these experiences for the public and they simply couldn’t operate without the number of volunteers throughout the two weeks, so for Optimus to contribute with 12 staff members across two days was brilliant’.

Optimus In the Community continues to encourage staff to get involved and to give something back to the community through volunteering and raising money for charities. This year staff donated over £2,000 to charities as well as being involved in other local events.