At Cosy we have a big heart for supporting causes local and global. Alongside our partnerships with Derby Kids Club, we also love giving back to our local community with our annual Big Help Out. On this fantastic day in the Cosy Calendar, Cosy HQ closes and our 100 strong Cosy Team set out to transform school and community projects across the county.

From restoring allotments to a lick of paint, each year the causes vary, but every year we love to see our efforts make a difference. This year we’ve had over 100 people involved, 800 hours volunteered, and more than 1000 children supported.

Read on to find out the amazing things our different teams got up to in 2024…

The team got their hands plenty dirty with gardening and landscaping over at Central Community Nursery, Derby, creating a full make-over! They cleared a pond area and made a lovely path around for pond-dipping. The team uncovered a gravel area and set up a story area for the children, as well as restoring a beautiful sensory garden. The mud kitchen was mended and revived. What a transformation! 

Over at Harrington Nursery School the Cosy team helped break ground on a big garden project the nursery have been waiting to start. Lots of sanding and painting of outdoor furniture, play equipment, planters and the fence as well as some gardening to create a welcoming, safe and beautiful area for the children.

The team made a big difference at Bridge the Gap Child Mental Health C.I.C. They did a complete overhaul of the outdoor area with lots of weeding (waist high and jungle thick!), laying soil, creating beds for planting, clearing space around the trees to make a shady area and laying a gravel path. This will be used by children of all ages who need support with their mental health.

The team did a fantastic job over at Umbrella charity, Mackworth, helping sort out their storage problems and organisation. From a space filled to the brim to an organised spot with easy access to resources, their help made a huge difference to the staff and service users, as well as to local charity shops who received a big donation from the clear out.

The Cosy team helped the fantastic crew at St George’s CE Primary School, cleaning out and upgrading their wildlife pond as well as doing some much needed landscaping and deweeding to the outdoors spaces. The pond was much loved but needed some TLC and is now ready to captivate and inspire learners again! Reception are particularly excited to go pond dipping for newts, 30 of which were rescued as part of the process!

The crew at Aboretum Primary School did a wonderful job cleaning up, tidying up and putting up furniture, as well as creating a dinosaur world with tyres, soil and bark, and lots of toy dinosaurs.  They also sanded and painted outdoor furniture for 650 children at the school. Great work team!

The team at Tutbury Pre School and Scouts did a great deal of gardening and tidying, a mammoth effort! The front of the building had a full overhaul of weeds and litter. The preschool area was cleared fully of brambles, weeds and grass, creating a more appealing and safe environment for the children. They also fully tidied and organised the scout kitchen - lots of washing up and tidying! 

Over at St Mary’s First School, the Cosy crew put great efforts into updating the outdoor space, including putting up sheds and storage for the school, and painting some picnic benches that needed a little love! They also gave the forest school field a new lease of life with new learning areas and some familiar Cosy furniture such as mushroom seats. They also added bunting to the trees.

Could you benefit from The Big Help Out?

We are all ears to expand our reach for 2025. Are you a Derby based school, charity or community project that could do with a bunch of helping hands? We’d love to add you to our list! Get in touch and we’ll do our best!