Hive Wood: Year 4

Our 4th annual Hive Wood volunteering day was incredibly sunny and warm, and it was brilliant to dedicate the day to something meaningful, rewarding and sustainable. 

With 32 volunteers coming together from across our network – customers, suppliers, partners, staff, family and friends – the focus was simple: dig, plant, restore, and rebuild.

Over the course of the day, we planted more than 400 trees and hedgerow saplings, carefully re-establishing a stretch of ancient hedgerow that had gradually been lost over time. The results of our work are not instantly seen but carry a real long-term impact, creating habitats, supporting biodiversity, and helping the land recover in a meaningful way.

This year, we planted several more native species, like oak, blackthorn and buckthorn. Senior Account Manager Lorna May Brown was impressed by how the oaks are grown: we planted them in clusters of approximately 20, with one of them in the middle. While the surrounding oaks support and feed the middle ‘Mother’ oak, they don’t live as long, but in 50 years' time, the central oak becomes the magnificent, huge ‘Mother’ it’s meant to be, supporting forest ecosystems.

Our volunteering day wasn’t just about planting. Part of the site includes a steep, uneven slope that made access difficult, so the team also worked on cutting in steps to make it safer and easier to navigate, led by our tireless Senior Account Manager Kirk Lawrence. While it was demanding, physical work, it will make a difference for years to come. It was the first visit for our area manager, Irina Toma, who says she won’t need to go to a gym for a month after all the exercise in the fresh air. She also enjoyed exploring the local village of Clovelly with colleagues, learning about the history of the area and seeing the donkeys that are still used on the steep hills. 

What stood out most, though, was the atmosphere. Volunteers from Epic, Talon, Navera Investments, Koba, 7 Stars, SoHo Estates, JTP, The Specialist Works, Sharpe Pritchard and Futures Supplies all got involved, working side by side in a way that doesn’t often happen in a normal working environment.

By the end of the day, everyone was tired, a bit muddy, and feeling like they’d contributed to something worthwhile. Sitting down together afterwards in the beautiful Red Lion hotel bar, sharing food and a drink, it was clear the impact went beyond the trees we planted. One of our good friends and customers, Christopher Griffin of Koba, summarised his experience beautifully: ''Society grows great when good people plant trees the shadow of which they will not feel''.

We are now back to work, energised and full of ideas, and planning not only the next year’s tree planting but also our other volunteering events, such as beekeeping experience and canal cleaning. We are grateful to everyone for their help, time, efforts and warm words of encouragement.