Dennis Publishing goes tree planting

On Thursday 22nd March, a team of enthusiastic green-fingered Dennis employees headed up to Spernal, in Warwickshire, to spend the day planting trees for the Heart of England Forest charity.

The charity was set-up by Felix Dennis in 2003 with the aim of creating the largest native broadleaf forest in the heart of England. To date, it has planted over 2190 acres of woodland, and the Dennis team helped by planting a mixture of 160 English oaks and native broadleaves with their bare hands (and the help of some fancy digging machines!) in the Heart of England Project’s Feel Good Wood.

After an informative presentation, talk and a question & answer session with Carole Longden (Business Development Manager) and Stephen Coffey (Head Forester), the team headed over to Feel Good Wood, ready for action. They worked together for several hours under the bright sunshine, armed with wellington boots and gardening gloves, to dig holes, plant the saplings and protect them in spiral guard supported on a cane.

Spirits were high as the team posed for a final picture in front of their creation, and all headed back for some well-deserved lunch at the Spernal Events Centre. Lots of fresh air, beautiful scenery and a chance to get their hands dirty made for a fun but educational team building day out, all organised by the Dennis CSR team.

“It was a fascinating day, whether you hold strong interest in the outdoors or not,” says Julian Staples, International Account Director for The Week.

“Everyone got involved and made quite an impact in planting 160 new trees, very pleasant surroundings and a rare opportunity to meet other colleagues from different parts of the business,” he added.

Thanks goes out to Isabel Forbes, Beckie Jezzard, Carole Longden, and Stephen Coffey for setting up the day, and to Danny Bird for taking brilliant pictures of the event.

Here are some pictures so you can see how the team got on!