A rewarding day at The Ripple Retreat as told by Tangram’s MD, Sarah Ramsay

Last week the Tangram team took a day out of the office to travel up to the Trossachs and spend the day Volunteering for our Charity Partner, It’s Good 2 Give at The Ripple Retreat.

The weather wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for, however it didn’t stop us getting stuck into clearing dead bracken to make way for Bluebells to spring into life and add glorious colour.  Other tasks included cleaning leather sofas, stone sorting (which turned out to be most therapeutic) and general tidying.

Whilst we completed many useful tasks and had a good day out as a team, the most grounding and emotional part of the day was hearing from co-founder Lynne McNicoll as she told us more about the charity’s successes and spoke about some individual children and their families who It’s Good 2 Give have helped so much.

One of Ripple’s bedrooms with the most amazing library

Beautiful poem’s and messages from some of the children are inscribed on the walls at Ripple

What we learnt

As an employee-owned company, everyone within Tangram is passionate about what we do and in particular satisfying our clients, both residential and commercial.  Our day to day world can at times be rather fraught as we battle with manufacturers lead-times, shipping companies, customs, world events and even traffic jams whilst striving to meet deadlines and ensure that all our products make it to their final destination on time. In a fast-paced world, it is easy to become emerged and lose sight of the bigger picture and today certainly helped remind us of the importance of life and living life, and helped put our world back in perspective. We deal with beautiful items all day every day, but there is nothing as beautiful as a child’s life and nothing as brutal as losing a child.

It’s Good 2 Give is there for families across Scotland providing so much help on both an emotional and practical level to help them navigate their way through such a traumatic process.  From small things like provision of a toothbrush when sent to hospital at short notice, to much bigger things like funding child psychologists for hospitals in both Glasgow and Edinburgh, the team today were truly inspirational in all they have achieved and all they strive to do.

The Tangram team have come back more passionate and determined than ever to bang the drum as loudly as we can to ensure far more people hear about It’s Good 2 Give and just what an amazing difference they can make.

Every team member was in some way inspired by our day volunteering – here is what they had to say:

“An emotional but highly rewarding day! Ripple Retreat is a truly inspirational place and Lynne and the team are so wonderful for all they do for these children and their families. It was a real privilege to spend the day volunteering for such an incredible charity.” Pippa – Marketing and Business Development Executive

“The Ripple Retreat is an amazing tranquil place, reading the comments in the visitor book really helped us understand just how important it is to the families who visit and how much they value the support they receive from Lynne and her wonderful team.” Joanne – Interior Designer

“A day that helps put life into perspective.  Such a wonderful charity that supports children and families in so many ways at what is probably the lowest point in their lives.  A wonderful team of the most caring and thoughtful volunteers, led by such a charismatic leader in Lynne.” Julian – Director

“Spending my afternoon kneeling on the ground tidying the stones on the path in beautiful surroundings feels like a very small contribution compared to what the It’s Good 2 Give team have achieved. But they have succeeded in inspiring me, to tell their story to others and carry on helping in any way I can.” Jenny – Interior Designer

“My everlasting thought from my time at the Ripple is the amazing volunteers and their tenacity, empathy and selflessness determination to support the families that are affected by a cruel and unforgiving disease.  To see young volunteers at the heart of the charity being championed by an amazing lady, Lynne McNicoll, really took my breath way!  As I left, I visualised the families arriving, their smile as they see The Ripple Retreat and all the amazing experiences it can offer and thought, thank goodness for Lynne McNicoll and the volunteers!” Tracy – Finance and Operations Manager

“The day at Ripple Retreat was a fantastic team outing but more importantly to remember that there are other things in life/work that are so much more important. It’s Good 2 Give is an amazing charity and I love what they do for all those families that are in need of that very welcome help and peace of mind during difficult times.” Wouter – Interior Designer

“When I was young I experienced my dad passing away from Cancer. From what I can remember we didn’t receive any professional support and relied a lot on family at the time, so hearing about all the professional support ‘It’s Good 2 Give’ is organising and funding for these children and their families is amazing.” Maggie – Design Assistant

To read more about the charity and all the amazing things they do, please visit the It’s Good 2 Give website

We as a team look forward to supporting It’s Good 2 Give in the future and in any way we can!