As with many of the best employers, Thatchers have an ethos of encouraging staff to develop skills in other aspects of their lives, so when a member of their management team mentioned that he was looking to do some volunteering with young people and would need to take a couple of days off to complete the training it was given the green light without hesitation.

Not only that, but Martin Thatcher passed on some information that he had received from a business contact about a Somerset based charity called PROMISEworks.

The member of staff applied, and was accepted to take part in the PROMISEworks 4-day mentor training programme, where on Day 1 it was explained that the charity faces two limiting factors;

• Recruiting sufficient volunteer mentors
• Attracting enough funding to support each mentoring relationship

After completion of his training the volunteer, confirmed he was still keen to go on to become a mentor and was able to share the fantastic news with PROMISEworks staff that his employer would sponsor him to complete his first 2 years of mentoring by a donation of £4,000 through the Thatchers Foundation.