Our past work in local communities:
Hedgerow planting - Bickley Hall Farm, March 2010
Again it was time for our annual visit to Bickley Hall Farm - this time to plant Blackthorn & Hawthorn hedgerows along the boundaries of fields. These are essential to reduce soil errosion and to segregate areas for cattle and sheep. The 15 volunteers worked very hard digging and planting but had a fun and productive day - again, all were made very welcome by the Bickley Team.
Christmas at St Margaret’s Drop in Centre, London, December 2009
St Margaret’s is a meeting place for older people, which is near to the Edenred UK headquarters in London. The centre is run by the charity RADICLE (Residential And Drop In Centre London) and offers lunch, tea and activities such as keep-fit and craft classes, along with general advice and information on welfare facilities and help with form filling for the over-50s, the retired, the unemployed and people with disabilities.
Every Christmas, Edenred employees buy and wrap gifts for the Centre’s members and then arrange a visit from Father Christmas, complete with Santa’s grotto, tea and coffee.
Talacre Beach Scrub, September 2009
This was a return visit to support Flintshire County Council in their Coastal Pathway Regeneration project, and the team of 13 voulnteers treked down the coast to Talacre (North Wales) to work on a conservation area near the beach. The task for the day was cutting back bushes and trees and then burn the excess vegetation. The area was used for evacuees during WWII, who planted small allotments and flower beds to brighten up their temporary accommodation and provide essential food. Over time, once everyone returned home after the war, the vegetation had grown wild and encroached onto onto the sand dunes. These dunes are a natural habitat for the Sand Lizards and various other wildlife and birds - so maintaining their natural habitat is essentaial to their survival. As a thank you, the team were also given a guided tour of Talacre Lighthouse, which is generally closed to the public.
Bickley Hall Farm, April 2009
It was back to Bickley Hall Farm again for this event, and the team of 15 volunteers again set to work replacing fences. The team at Bickley were so welcoming and grateful for the support, that it was a pleasure to go back there and help again and to have the opportunity to see how things had changed and developed over the past year since our last visit.
Tree planting in Gravesend, January 2009
16 volunteers from Edenred joined pupils of Ifield Special School in Gravesend for a tree planting event. The school owns nearby woodland, which it uses as an educational resource and a theraputic area for the children, with a pond, picnic area, story-telling amphitheatre, butterfly area and fitness trail. The woodlands manager advised us on 22 varieties of trees to plant, including aspens, beech, crab apples, cherry and yew.
During the day we were helped by children of various age groups and abilities, starting with 7 and 8-year-olds in the morning and finishing with teenagers in the afternoon. Everyone enjoyed the activity and benefitted from the social interaction of being with a group of new people. The school will be able the use the day for further education with talks about nature, wildlife, storytelling, drawing and painting. We have been invited back to view our efforts in the future.
Meadow Management on the River Dee, October 2008
Flintshire County Council Environmental Agency have taken on a huge project to rejuvenate the coastal path which runs from Chester to Anglesey, and includes Nature Trails and Cycle Paths. The entire coastal pathway is in need of considerable regeneration and management, but for the team of 14 the task was to clear mown grass and plant daffodil bulbs along a section of the pathway in Deeside, ready for the Spring. Unfortunately, our planting skills were not perfect, but the daffodils looked fantastic when they came through in March.
Bickley Hall Farm, April 2008
Our first Chester Volunteer Day was attended by 17 staff and proved a very successful and enjoyable day for all. Bickley Hall Farm is the headquarters of the Cheshire Wildlife Trust and incorporates over 200 acres of organic farmland, ponds, cattle, sheep and various wildlife. The group's task was to help replace fences around the farm.
Tree planting in Kent, February 2008
An employee’s child attends St Bartholomew’s Primary school in Swanley, Kent, which had a piece of land next to its playing field that could accommodate 100 saplings. 15 volunteers from Edenred and the International Tree Foundation (who provided the saplings) joined children in learning how to plant new ash, birch, crab apple and cherry trees.
A talk on trees and the environment allowed teachers to integrate this into the curriculum, and explore the connections between trees, their wildlife and wider issues such as climate change. The children will continue to care for the trees as part of their nature lessons and we plan to visit the school again next year to see what progress has been made.
Cleaning the River Wandle, August 2008
A small team of volunteers went to the River Wandle to clean a stretch of river where it joins the Thames at Wandsworth, assisted by Thames21.
After a safety brief we were kitted out with gloves and thigh-high boots, them, armed with litter pickers and collection sacks we climbed down to the water. We worked mainly in water depths of mid to upper thigh, making our way downstream and filling 25 sacks with debris.
Earth Guest Day, April 2008
20 volunteers from Edenred went to the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve in East London, an inner city area surrounded by flats with a diverse ethnicity, including a large Bangladeshi community. The reserve is a little oasis for local city children to learn about flora and fauna and have some experience of the countryside, helped by a volunteer from the Environment Trust.
We cleared several overgrown areas for planting wildflowers, composting and reusing the debris collected. We also made bird boxes for breeding birds and put up signs describing the various animals in the reserve, made by local school children.
Cleaning the Thames, November 2007
18 Accor Volunteers joined partners from Thames21on the foreshore of Battersea Heliport in removing all kinds of debris from the shoreline. This included heavy large items such as tyres, metal poles, ladders and sheet metal which required team work to lift, and small items like spoons, lollypop sticks, plastic bottles and broken crockery.
We filled three skips with about two tonnes of rubbish, had a great (although exhausting) time and plan to repeat the exercise on other sections of the Thames.
