Another 4,000 trees planted for the Young People’s Forest

Premier and their guests once again joined forces with the Woodland Trust to create new native woodland in the Derbyshire countryside as part of the Carbon Capture® programme

On Thursday 25^th November, Premier teamed up with some of their customers, Sylvamo, Link Publishing, the Outdoor Guide and CBBC presenter Gemma Hunt to brave the cold and plant saplings with the Woodland Trust, at the Young People’s Forest in Mead, Derbyshire. Guests from around the UK, from Southampton to Glasgow, travelled to take part in the day and help with this amazing project.

Guests were welcomed with hot breakfasts, teas and coffees; and after introductions from Premier’s marketing director, Dave Jones and the Woodland Trust’s Ollie Cannon, promptly took to the fields to begin planting. The target for the day was to plant at least 3,000 trees that are native to the area including holly, silver birch, alder and oak. By the end of the day an incredible total of 4,000 indigenous saplings were planted, despite a few cold hands.

Hussein Ismail, marketing manager at Premier comments: “It was great to finally get together with so many of our customers and suppliers again, to plant trees with the Woodland Trust. It might have been a cold day but everyone was smiling throughout! It was great to meet up with our friends from the Woodland Trust and the Outdoor Guide, as well as meeting Gemma Hunt.”

Young People’s Forest Mead is located just south of Heanor and Smalley in the heart of the Derbyshire countryside, the 162-hectare site is steeped in history with ties stretching back to the Norman conquest and the Vikings, over 1,000 years ago. Coal mining began in the area during 16^th century and the land was used as an open cast mining site. In 2015 however, mining ceased and the Woodland Trust plan to plant 250,000 trees, helping to create a safe and educational outdoor space for generations to come; as well as bountiful habitats for endless species of insects, foxes, deer, hare, owls, sky larks and badgers.

Hussein continues: “The Young People’s Forest Mead is a special place with incredible ambitions. It’s amazing to think that we have played a small part in helping to the build their legacy. We’re thankful to everybody who attended, planted trees and helping to create a fantastic day.”

Premier’s work with the Woodland Trust began ten years ago. What started off as a simple idea to give a few businesses the choice to mitigate the CO₂ emissions from the materials that they buy has truly blossomed into something very special. Premier’s Carbon Capture® programme has grown to become the industry’s leading environmental initiative with well over 600 customers fully signed up and committed to the cause; from printers to sign makers, local authorities to banks and other corporate organisations, all directly supporting the creation and maintenance of local native woodland throughout the UK. To date Premier and their customers have raised in excess of £1.3m for the Woodland Trust, planting over 330,000 trees and capturing over 80,000 tonnes of CO₂; and the best part is 100% of all money raised through the Carbon Capture® programme, goes directly to the Woodland trust!   

Another of Premier’s long standing key partners who helped to plant trees at the Young People’s Forest is The Outdoor Guide (TOG). In the United Kingdom in 2018-19 there were 4.2m children living below the poverty line (the equivalent of 9 children in every class of 30). TOG, with the help of CBeebies television presenter Gemma Hunt, have launched a campaign to deliver 10 waterproof suits and wellies to 20,000 schools throughout the UK to help ensure that school children receive the health, educational and social benefits from being able to play and learn outside safely.

If you are interested in supporting the work of The Outdoor Guide visit www.theoutdoorguide.co.uk, for more information about the Woodland Trust and the Young People’s Forest Mead check out www.woodlandtrust.org.uk. If you would like to discover more about Carbon Capture® contact your local Premier branch or visit www.paper.co.uk.