SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY
Having been resident in Tarleton for nearly 60 years the Vickers family are ardent supporters of  the local community. Both Eric and Margaret Vickers spent much of their working lives teaching in local schools and long after their retirement still give up their time to support the education of young people. Eric also spent several years as chairman of the local Parish Council and Margaret led the local Guide group. This community service ethic has been carried forward into their business and been taken up by the next generation. Over the past few years Dunscar has made donations large and small and raised thousands of pounds to support such causes as local schools, the Douglas Cardiac Trust, the North West Air Ambulance, Childwatch, Friends of All Saints Hesketh Bank, Macmillan Cancer Relief, the RNLI, the NSPCC, Derian House and Claire House Children's Hospice.
Could You Be a School Governor?
Both Hilary’s parents, Eric and Margaret Vickers, were teachers before taking over the running of Dunscar. To this day they continue to take a keen interest in education and involve themselves in helping young people make successes of their lives. This ethos has carried forward to the next generation and thus for the past few years the Company has been sponsoring the geography department of Penwortham Girls’ High School. Dunscar has also donated a trophy to the school to be awarded annually to the student with the best GCSE results in Geography. Last year the trophy was awarded to Rachel Wylie who achieved an A grade and is now studying AS Level Geography at college.
This connection was followed up last year when the school and board of governors asked our General Manager, Shaun, to become a community governor of the school and provide a business perspective to the management of the school. As well as serving on the main board of governors, Shaun is also a member of the Finance Committee. Shaun states that although the job can be quite time consuming if one is an active governor, it is very worthwhile and interesting. He recommends it to anyone willing to try to help young people get the best start in life. For more information on becoming a school governor visit: http://www3.lancashire.gov.uk/corporate/atoz/a_to_z/service.asp?u_id=419
Tips For Charity
At Dunscar we have a policy that our customer's good service should be expected and tips are not expected. Nevertheless, several of our customers are generous enough to insist on showing their appreciation for extraordinary service and as a result we donate all tips to the charities, the RNLI, the Douglas Cardiac Trust and Macmillan Cancer Support. Our customers’ generosity has thus enabled us to raise literally thousands of pounds for these worthy causes over the past few years.
Saving Lives Matters
For several years Shaun has been a volunteer Community First Responder for the North West  Ambulance Service. Two years ago he also became a trustee of the Douglas Cardiac Trust. The Trust exists to serve the medical needs of the local villages and for many years has provided funding for the local first responder group. In order to improve the chances of surviving a heart attack yet further amongst their workforces, the Trust recently loaned two defibrillators to the two largest employers in the Tarleton area, Huntapac and Golden Acres. If you would be willing to be a volunteer first responder in your own community then visit www.nwas-responders.nhs.uk or ring the ambulance service on 01772 903989.
Recycling Matters and Recycling Lives
As part of our commitment to the environment we have long been advocates of recycling. Throughout our history we have collected the rainwater from our greenhouse roofs and drains to store it for watering our plants. We recycle our compost and pots on the nursery and turn our cardboard packaging into trays for customers’ plant purchases. Our plastic carrier bags and boot liners are all bio-degradable and we recycle our printer ink cartridges for charity.
The two extensions built over the past three years have all been built to exceed the modern insulation standards and have low power lighting installed. Furthermore, the new cook shop has bern fitted with an Air Source Heat Pump to improve energy efficiency. As part of a continuous improvement programme we have now taken recycling one stage further and to the benefit of a local charity too. All our waste is now sorted and only food waste is sent to landfill. We have recently purchased a compacting machine to compact and bale paper, cardboard and plastic for recycling. We have also installed special skips for glass and scrap metal. As a result all this waste can now be recycled and we donate it to a local charity for the homeless, Recycling Lives. See www.recycling.org for details of this very worthy charity.
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