'Giving something back' - Family-run Crawley business help elderly residents with free minor electrical work

For the past few months, Core Electrical, who work across Crawley, Coulsdon, Croydon, and Brighton has been quietly supporting some of its elderly clients by offering free help with small electrical jobs, safety checks, and light repairs.

The business has been serving the local area for just over four years and currently have a team of three electricians.

And now they have started The Core Community Hour and owner Robert Chalkey said it has been a rewarding experience.

"It started out as a simple gesture of goodwill,” he said, “but the response has been so positive that we decided to open it up to everyone in the community.

"We now dedicate a couple of hours every other Sunday to helping elderly residents with minor electrical work free of charge — no fees, no catch, just a way to give something back and stay connected to the people who’ve supported us.

"It’s been such a rewarding experience that we’ve now decided to open it up to the wider community.

"We call it The Core Community Hour — every other Sunday, our team dedicates a couple of hours to helping elderly residents in the area with minor electrical work, completely free of charge.”

"As I like to say ‘It’s not about the size of the job — it’s about the difference a small bit of help can make to someone’s day’.”

Examples of work they have done include replacing a broken pendant light for a customer who couldn’t safely reach it, checking sockets and switches for a local couple after they experienced flickering lights and fitting an extra light in a hallway for an elderly resident who was struggling with visibility.