Paralympic and Invictus Games hero visits our Hampshire Highways Depot
Paralympic weight lifter and Invictus Gold medal winner Micky Yule recently visited Hampshire Highways Bishops Waltham Depot to thank the Amey and Pavenet teams for their support of Help for Heroes.
On July 1st, 2010 Staff Sergeant Micky Yule was serving with The Royal Engineers in Afghanistan when he stepped on an IED. Micky immediately lost his left leg and received significant injuries to his right hand and right leg. Once safe at Camp Bastion, Micky’s right leg was removed. Micky thanked the organisations for working together to create a new driveway that allows easier access to his Hampshire home as well as their on-going support for the forces charity. As well as a tour of the depot Micky talked about his life and experiences and answered questions from the depot workforce.
Micky said “I am very grateful to the Amey and Pavenet teams for their hard work in enabling my home to become more accessible and so it was a privilege to spend time with them and express my gratitude in person.”
Paul Anderson , Amey’s Account Director in Hampshire said: “It was wonderful to welcome Micky to the depot . He is such an inspiration and I know we all appreciated him taking time out to meet our team. We were so pleased to work in partnership with Pavenet to assist Micky with his driveway”.
Malcolm Benham, Pavenet’s Operations Director, said: “It was a great honour to be part of the team that supported Help for Heroes on this community project. It is great news that the joint efforts of all involved has produced something beneficial for Micky and his family.”
Leading public service provider Amey, military charity Help for Heroes and civil engineering firm Pavenet decided to work together to support Micky as the former soldier was experiencing great difficulty in getting up his gravel driveway. After Mr Yule’s family approached Help for Heroes to see if they could help, a plan formed to make the driveway much more accessible, with the charity granting funds to pay for all materials and Amey and Pavenet offering their expertise and time for free. Following over 100 hours of labour, the gravel driveway was replaced with block paving, a dropped kerb was installed and a step that led to the front door was levelled. This now allows much easier access for Micky, who became a double amputee after he sustained serious injuries during a tour of Afghanistan in 2010 with The Royal Engineers.
Giles Woodhouse, Head of Recovery South, said: ““Thanks to the generosity of the Great British public, Help for Heroes was able to grant fund Micky to enable works to be done to improve access to his home. It is vital that we’re able to support our wounded whenever they might need it and we’re delighted that Amey and Pavenet went above and beyond and demonstrated their support for military heroes like Micky in spade loads.”
Amey in Hampshire have a wide ranging community engagement programme which has seen them recently win awards at the National CSR Awards 2016 (Outstanding Individual Corporate Leadership category – David Fawcett) and Solent Business Awards 2016 (CSR Category) . The Help for Heroes project is just one of the number of community days with organisations such as Naomi House and Jacksplace Hospice, Rainbow Centre , Swanwick Lakes,Motiv8 and Dove House School. The Highways team have also provided work opportunities for ex young offenders and those from hard to reach groups and worked with organisations such as Hampshire Futures to support young people into work placement opportunities. They have also worked with HMP Winchester on their prison rehabilitation programme by offering day release prisoners the opportunity to learn about the highways industry and develop new skills. Other activities have seen working on STEM events , Name the Gritter initiatives and supporting local sports teams.
David Fawcett , Customer Services Manager for Amey said “ We are very proud of our community engagement activities and the opportunity to support local charities , community groups and individuals. Our whole workforce have embraced our social value programme and enabled us to make a real difference to the lives of local people.”