Volunteers from 100% renewable energy firm Good Energy swapped the office for the outdoors to help with a canal restoration scheme, including creating a new woodland and wildflower meadow.
The staff from the Chippenham-headquartered firm got stuck in on a section of the Wilts & Berks Canal near the town to support the ongoing work of the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust.
Tasks undertaken by the Good Energy team included protecting hedgerows and sowing seeds at Pewsham Locks, south of Chippenham, as well as planting trees at Naish Hill, near Lacock.
The Trust’s Melksham, Chippenham & Calne branch, which arranged the visit, aims to create a new wildlife corridor alongside a stretch of the canal that is steadily being restored between Chippenham and Lacock.
Branch wildlife officer Howard Yardy said: “We were delighted to welcome such an enthusiastic team and are grateful for their support.
“They threw themselves into their work and completed in a few hours what would otherwise have taken us several days without the extra pairs of helping hands.
“We hope it will encourage other local businesses to get involved, quickening the pace of restoration and providing an even more attractive amenity for the local community.”
Good Energy sustainability and facilities manager Cherish Jackson added: “We want to power a cleaner and greener future, so we were keen to support a local project which is boosting biodiversity.
“We were joined by colleagues from sales, finance and customer operations and they all enjoyed the experience.
“It was fascinating to learn more about the history of the canal and how it’s being restored, and to play our own small part in bringing it back to life. Everyone’s eager to return.”
The Wilts & Berks Canal Trust aims is to restore the waterway from the Kennet & Avon Canal near Melksham to the Thames & Severn Canal near Cricklade and the River Thames near Abingdon, with branches that connect Chippenham, Calne, Royal Wootton Bassett and Swindon.
Good Energy was launched more than 20 years ago near Chippenham with a mission to power a cleaner, greener world and make it simple to generate, share, store, use and travel by clean power. Today it has more than 200,000 customers.
As well as supplying 100% renewable electricity from independent green generators in Britain, it also installs heat pumps, solar panels and batteries and part owns electric vehicle charge point mapping app Zap-Map.
Pictured, top: Wilts & Berks Canal Trust volunteers Howard Yardy (left) and Martin Palmer (right) with the Good Energy team at Pewsham Locks
Pictured, above: Good Energy volunteers Johanna Pettipher and Cherish Jackson laying mulch along the hedgerow with Canal Trust work party organiser Martin Palmer. Photos by Justin Guy
