More than 130 employees from Axa Insurance in Colchester will be taking part in two days of community work as part of a global initiative involving staff from 40 countries.

Axa 2000 takes place on June 16 and 17, with more than 4,000 employees across England and Ireland embarking on more than a dozen local challenges.

Some of the challenges being undertaken by Axa Colchester include repainting Shrub End paediatric clinic, putting up a pagoda in the playground at St Andrews Infant School in Hickory Avenue, Colchester, running a NSPCC stand at the Essex Show and painting the exterior of the Scope centre.

All staff who take place in the two-day initiative will be given Friday off as paid leave.

Mark Wood, group chief executive for Axa, said: "On the two days I'll be travelling around the country to help on as many of the challenges as possible. Let's all hope for some dry weather so that our staff can make a real difference on those outside projects."

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