SWISS RE SUPPORTS NORWICH COMMUNITY

When Swiss Re opened its Norwich Office almost two years ago, we made a commitment to become part of and help to improve the local community by supporting local businesses, charities and organisations. I am delighted to be able to provide an update on just some of the projects we have been involved in to date.

Over the past 12 months we have built a strong relationship with the Theatre Royal which started with Swiss Re's Norwich office joining the theatre's corporate club. This relationship has since led to us sponsoring the theatre's education programme. The major player in this programme is the Norfolk School's Project.

This project is used to develop the skills of teachers and to enable the school children to work with professional musicians in a series of workshops which culminates in a performance of a well known opera on the theatre stage. The performance is put together by the children themselves and, as we have witnessed, has an extremely positive effect on all involved.

Staying with the theme of education, our Norwich office has also been a key supporter of Young Enterprise. In fact, for the 2008/9 school year we were recognised as the largest supporter of the Young Enterprise Company Programme both in Norfolk and the Eastern Region as a whole. Many of our staff have been involved in running both the Company and Primary Programmes across schools in the Norwich area during time donated by the business. We also sponsored two tables at the Eastern Region Finals in Cambridge where we were nominated a ‘Best Supporting Business Regional Finalist'.

Another key part of our community programme is supporting local charities. We have a charity of the year which is voted for by our staff in the Norwich office. For 2009, this is the East Anglian Air Ambulance. As part of our support for them during 2009, we made a one-off donation towards a new clinical tasking desk which is vital to coordinate emergency calls and critical transfers between regions. We have also raised funds through staff dress-down days and other events.

I am sure many of you will be aware of the press coverage late last year and early this year regarding the plight of the Inspire Discovery Centre. The centre, which provides hands-on learning, was confronted with the very real threat of closure. We are delighted that we could provide support to enable them to purchase new displays. We will be working closely with the centre to provide ongoing support and guidance.

Representatives from both the Air Ambulance and the Inspire Discovery Centre received our donations at a community presentation night held at the Theatre Royal back in January. We also presented donations to East Anglia's Children's Hospice, Break, Red Balloon Learner Centres, Nelson's Journey and Faith. All of these local charities received staff votes during the Charity of the Year election.

As demonstrated by our current community projects, we are entirely committed to our locality and are extremely proud to be able to support our community. I look forward to providing further updates in the future.