Team members at Principle Estate Management were involved in the hugely successful Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games which relied on thousands of volunteers to make it a success.
The property management specialists with offices in Birmingham and London has a vision to “positively impact the everyday lives of our communities”, and staff are actively encouraged to take part in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.
Operations director Stephanie Jobson said: “We offer an extra day of leave per year for our staff to support an organisation, charity or event of their choice. So it was no surprise when three of the Principle team expressed an interest in volunteering to help at the Games.”
Andy Cleverley and Kathryn Williams put their names forward and Catherine Ghaffoori sang at the Opening Ceremony.
Service charge accounts team leader Andy Cleverley said: “After seeing the volunteers for the London 2012 Olympics, I just thought it looks like such a fun experience. Being a real people person, I knew I’d enjoy being outdoors, chatting and welcoming spectators and generally ensuring people enjoyed their time in Birmingham.
“I signed up for updates from Birmingham 2022 and in June 2021 they opened applications to become a volunteer so I applied right away. I didn’t hear anything for a few months, until I got an invite to an interview around October time.
“Apparently over 45,000 applied and there were 15,000 spaces so I was delighted when I found out I’d been picked to be part of the ‘Commonwealth Collective’ in February. From there, I took part in Role Specific Training and Venue Specific Training onsite at the Arena, Birmingham – where the gymnastics were being held.”
Kathryn Williams from Principle also volunteered. She was first involved at the beginning of the year where she was part of the selection process, whittling 45,000 potential candidates down to the 15,000 required for the Games through a well structured interview process. She was then also a general volunteer undertaking a number of roles at Smithfield which hosted basketball, beach volleyball, and one of the Commonwealth Games festival sites.
Andy Cleverley added: “The whole event so enjoyable for us volunteers and so was feeling like a great ambassador for the Games and for Birmingham.
“While walking through the city in my uniform after my shifts, I still found myself talking to people and just trying to help where I could, and anytime I saw another volunteer, we would still stop to talk and find out what we were doing and how we were finding everything.
“Birmingham is an amazing city with a much-maligned reputation as a concrete jungle, yet in 2022 it couldn’t be further from the truth, and I really feel these Games showed the city off as a jewel in Midlands and made us Brummies truly proud of our crazy, colourful city!”
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