BLOG: On the right lines for vital car park mission
Kind-hearted line painting company JHB were quick to come to the rescue when we needed urgent help to mark out parking spaces for patients’ visitors at our specialist unit.
It’s crucial that visitors coming to see our patients can park easily at our Turnchapel site, especially when time to spend with their loved one is running short. But the original lines were old and worn, making it hard for people to see where the reserved spaces were.
After deciding to relocate the visitor spaces to a safer, more obvious and convenient place, we appealed to Devon firm JHB to complete the job for us. We were thrilled when they jumped at the chance to provide their skills and services free of charge for their local hospice.
“The thought of someone panicking, wanting to get to the hospice quickly and park without a problem really made me think,” said Tom Brooks, JHB’s senior estimator. “We understand that something important like this can pop up when there isn’t the budget for it, so we were delighted to help ease the situation.
“We are quite an open company, always willing to do our bit. There was such a good reason for having this area lined fast. It was a no-brainer for us to be honest.”
Head of Facilicites Louisa Duggan-Smith said: “At St Luke’s our care extends beyond the wards to make sure your experience of our services is positive, friendly and free of unnecessary stresses.
“It’s a priority for visitors coming to see our patients – sometimes urgently – to be able to park easily, close to the main entrance of our specialist unit. That’s been made so much easier with the generosity of this good-hearted local company, and we are so grateful to them.”
JHB is a family firm run by James Hodge-Brooks and his wife, Beth, and Tom is their nephew. Based at South Brent but covering the whole of the UK and into Europe, they paint lines and lettering for major clients, including national highways and large corporate car parks, as well as providing special surfaces for sports grounds and playgrounds.
Tom arranged for one of JHB’s teams to take time out of their busy schedule last week to spend a morning at our Turnchapel site getting the job done urgently and to the highest standards, and he was delighted to come down with them to find out more about the hospice.
“I’d heard about St Luke’s work through family and friends, but on a personal level it was great to come and hear what the organisation does and why it is so important,” he said.
“We had a two-man team – Dave and Adrian – on the job. They had to clean away everything that was there already, and sweep any lose stones away. All the bays had to be set out with a chalk line, then they marked out all the lettering before making the final thermoplastic markings.
“I have to say it does look fantastic with the white parking bays, the lettering and the red walkway lines. Because we did the parking bays, it made the disabled bays on the other side of them look a little bit sad so we refreshed them as well and did the pedestrian symbol too. It’s the small details that count!”
