What a fantastic morning! A band of enthusiastic Wishford staff from the central support office and Westonbirt School pulled on their wellies, grabbed their spades and pitched in to plant more than 800 tree saplings donated by the Woodland Trust

The initiative was part of our commitment to restore Westonbirt’s historic listed woodland. In the mid 1800s, Westonbirt’s wealthy owner Robert Holford funded expeditions to collect exotic tree specimens from around the world for his arboretum. By contrast, the trees we planted yesterday are indigenous and chosen to create a rich habitat for wildlife within Westonbirt’s glorious grounds.

When the call for help came, there was no shortage of volunteers. In a cheerful display of Wishford collaboration, staff from Estates, Operations, Finance, IT, Marketing, Admissions and Commercial were joined by A-level science students and children from Westonbirt Nursery, for whom the experience was a wonderful combination of messy play and biology lesson.

Like Robert Holford, most of us tree planters won’t see the full impact of our efforts. We plant for future generations and the world they live in, and that’s exactly as it should be. For us, that morning in breathtaking surroundings, combining physical effort with lots of chatter and laughter, was a wonderful opportunity to do something important and strengthen the relationships that make Wishford such a vibrant place to be.

A special thank you to R J Leighfield & Sons who volunteered a digger, dump truck and team to level off all the soil that had been moved during the development of the fabulous new sports campus ahead of the planting.