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Community
OCT 21, 2026
Toastie Tuesday for Herts Young Homeless
Toastie Tuesday was back on the menu on Tuesday 20th October. Our much-loved Toastie Tuesday made a welcome return, bringing colleagues together for great food and an even greater cause. Toastie Tuesday is one of our fundraising initiatives where different teams take turns serving up delicious toasties to colleagues, with all proceeds going to our Charity of the Year, Herts Young Homeless. This time, the challenge was taken on by our Social Secretary Gavin Mullen and CEO Tracie Pearce, who did a fantastic job keeping our hungry colleagues fed. On the menu included: Ham & Cheese Cheese Brie & Cranberry Tuna Melt This edition raised £156 for Herts Young Homeless. A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event. It's always fantastic to see colleagues coming together to raise money for such an important local charity.
Community
OCT 01, 2026
2026/27 Charitable Grants: Youth Talk
HBS grant: £3,738.29 Download article here Every young person deserves someone to talk to. Growing up has never been easy. But for many young people today, it can feel overwhelming. Alongside the usual pressures of school, friendships and growing up, they’re also navigating social media, worries about the future and a world that can often feel very uncertain. Earlier this year, Youth Talk asked more than 1,200 local young people about their lives through our Growing Up Survey. More than half told us that mental health is one of the biggest challenges facing young people today, while one in six said that life feels difficult right now. Perhaps what surprised us most wasn’t what young people were struggling with, but what they said would help. Despite growing up in an increasingly digital world, young people overwhelmingly told us they would choose face-to-face counselling with a real person over apps or online support. Someone who would simply listen. For almost 30 years, that’s exactly what Youth Talk has been doing. Every week, more than 120 local young people come through our doors looking for someone they can trust. Someone who won’t judge them. Someone who will help them make sense of what they’re going through One young person recently told us: “Waiting lists to see therapists can be so long. It just made everything feel even more impossible. Then I heard about Youth Talk. With their help and guidance, I was able to work through my problems and start to see a way forward again”. Stories like this remind us why our work matters so much. They also remind us why we need the support of our local community. This year is a particularly exciting one for Youth Talk. Alongside continuing to support young people from our counselling centre in London Road, St Albans, we’re planning to introduce a new one-to-one counselling service in Harpenden, helping even more local young people access support closer to home. As demand continues to grow, so does the importance of building a strong and sustainable future for the charity. That’s why we’ve launched 100 More. Before we celebrate our 30th anniversary next year, we’re inviting 100 local people to become regular monthly supporters. It isn’t about making a huge donation. It’s about lots of people doing something small, together. To help spread the word, our Head of Fundraising and Partnerships, Jim Lewis, has pledged to wear a specially designed 100 More T-shirt every single day until all 100 supporter spaces have been filled. The T-shirt features 100 speech bubbles, with each one being filled as another person signs up to support local young people. We’re delighted that the first speech bubbles have already been claimed by the Mayor of Harpenden, Councillor Kirsti Wrenn, and the Mayor of St Albans, Councillor Matt Fisher, together with their families, who were among the very first to join the campaign. Their support sends a powerful message that our whole community can play a part in ensuring young people never have to face life’s challenges alone. One person can’t solve the growing mental health challenges facing young people. But together, our community can. Regular monthly donations give us something incredibly valuable. They allow us to plan ahead with confidence, invest in our counselling service and continue saying “yes” when the next young person reaches out for help. As we look ahead to the next 30 years, we’re simply asking 100 more people to stand alongside local young people. Together, we can make sure every young person knows there is someone ready to listen. David Barker, Chief Executive - Youth Talk
Industry
JUL 31, 2026
Fixed Rate product update
FOR INTERMEDIARY/PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS ONLY. NOT FOR CONSUMER USE.
Community
JUL 20, 2026
St Albans & Harpenden Careers Fair 2026
On a glorious Friday in early July, four of our colleagues volunteered at the St Albans and Harpenden Careers Fair, held at Rothamsted Research Conference Centre. This annual event brings together students from local secondary schools, specialist education settings and colleges, creating valuable opportunities for young people to explore the wide range of pathways available after education. With a diverse mix of organisations in attendance, the fair helps connect students with employers, apprenticeship providers and training organisations from across the region. Throughout the day, students streamed into the venue, eager to speak directly with industry professionals, gain insights into different sectors, and learn more about the skills, qualifications and experiences that can help them succeed in the workplace. Our colleagues were delighted to represent the Society, sharing their career journeys and offering advice as students considered their next steps. There were plenty of engaging conversations with enthusiastic and curious attendees, many of whom were keen to learn more about who we are and what we do. Connecting with our local community and helping young people build confidence in their future aspirations is something we’re incredibly proud to support at Harpenden Building Society. Events like these provide a fantastic opportunity to make a positive and lasting impact, and we look forward to attending again next year.
Latest News
JUL 10, 2026
Harpenden wins ‘Best Local Building Society’ at the 2026 What Mortgage Awards
Harpenden Building Society wins ‘Best Local Building Society’ for the 12th year in a row, as well as being marked ‘Highly Commended’ in the ‘Best Specialist Lender’ and ‘Best Large Loan Lender’ categories.
Community
JUL 01, 2026
Harpenden Support – Mia Caruso
From a young age I have been fascinated by cars and have grown up as a Ferrari enthusiast. Watching the F1 from a tiny age was a normal part of my routine each race weekend. Towards the end of 2023, aged 13, I went to Teamsport Dunstable to try karting for fun. That one session resulted in me returning again and again – I was hooked! From then on, I joined their Race Academy and caught the racing bug. Still aged 13, I started testing cars, gained my racing licence and got my own kart for my 14th Birthday. From the summer of 2024 to the end of 2025, I spent nearly every weekend in my kart – racing 3 times each month across the country as well as completing testing in Italy, Belgium and Florida. While karting, I also tested cars at a number of legendary tracks including Silverstone, Paul Ricard, Donington and Snetterton. A highlight for me was attending the Winfield F4 School where I received excellent training in driving an FIA Formula 4 car, making my single-seater debut at the famous Formula 1 circuit - Paul Ricard in France. At the end of 2025, I was the youngest competitor to make it through to the world finals of an all-female racing competition. This enabled me to compete against a handful of women from all around the world in an ice-driving competition in Sweden, early 2026. Throughout 2026, I have transitioned fully into racing cars as it is my goal to make a career as a driver. A huge target of mine is to become a winner of the world’s oldest active endurance sports car race, the 24 hours of Le Mans. What’s next?Well, the future looks very exciting. Over the last few months, as well as completing my GCSEs, I have been testing in the incredible Radical SR3 XXR car. I was thrilled to test with current competitors at Silverstone recently and, on only my third drive in the car, my lap times put me in a competitive stance despite being the youngest to take part. Soon, I will be joining the Radical UK Cup grid for a full race season! Alongside this, I will be continuing to test in single-seaters to prepare me for the next stage. My upcoming plans involve preparing for the exclusive F1 Academy Rookie Test in 2027 with the hopes to secure a spot on the 2028 grid. This will enable me to race alongside Formula 1 and travel around the world doing what I love. I have already been invited to F1 Academy development workshops, and I have intensive day-to-day support from coaches who work with me and the F1 Academy to ensure I am ready to achieve this goal. Each week I train at iZone Driver Performance at Silverstone, where I work on my skills using their simulators and also receive motorsport-specific fitness training and mindfulness training. I also have daily calls with the team to ensure I am working as hard as I can to climb quickly up the motorsport ranks. I am thrilled that I also have been selected for a 2-year training course for young elite racing drivers. There were only 20 places available in the country, and I am over the moon to receive one of them! This course will allow me to gain qualifications whilst developing my driving skills on track as well as being prepared physically and mentally to compete at the top level, as well as giving me exposure to more opportunities in the motorsport world. It has been a busy few years, but I would always choose my racing life and am grateful to Harpenden Building Society for listening to my story and supporting my growing career. If my story has interested you and you would like to support me, you can follow my journey on Instagram: @miacarusoracing. I am also always open to welcoming partners who would like to support me further and work with me so please do get in touch if you would like to get involved: miapcaruso@gmail.com. I am delighted to partner with Harpenden Building Society as they support me on my exciting journey as a young racing driver. Mia Caruso,Racing Driver Harpenden Building Society are proud to be supporting Mia on her journey, we look forward to hearing about Mia’s future achievements.
Community
JUN 30, 2026
Herts Young Homeless – Volunteering
One of the most rewarding aspects of working for a building society is the opportunity to volunteer alongside colleagues. At Harpenden Building Society, every colleague is given two days each year to support causes and projects within the local community. In June 2026, the Harpenden Executive Team spent a day volunteering with our charity of the year, Herts Young Homeless, gardening, painting and transforming their Future Roots house. Future Roots is a 5-bedroom home in Welwyn Garden City, where Herts Young Homeless do fantastic work supporting young people from homelessness towards confident, independent living. We were hoping for a summer’s day, however in true British summertime, we had a day with torrential rain, hail and sunshine! Each member of the team was assigned to various duties; some of us picked up the task of working outside to tidy up and weed the patio and paved areas and carry out some much-needed pruning. This allowed one of the other members to utilise his pressure washer to give the paving a deep clean, after which the area looked amazing. Other members of the team planted fruit and vegetables in the raised beds, whilst others carried out re-decoration of the ground floor rooms after which these looked refreshed and bright. Our property and maintenance partners, Jardak Group and Brewers Decorator Centres, kindly donated the paint. We also had the opportunity to spend time with Maureen and Grace from Herts Young Homeless to understand more about the fantastic work they do. They kept us hydrated throughout the day. Despite the challenges of the weather, the team never complained and the enthusiasm to get the work done remained throughout the day. One day is never enough, more Harpenden colleagues are going to visit the Future Roots house in the coming weeks to complete the decorating, and we hope to go back later in the year to cut back the shrubs in the garden. The Executive Team