A team of our people recently spent a day at Ardoch Estate in Loch Lomond, helping to transform the area into a biodiverse woodland.
Five colleagues from our Scotland West region carried out a range of tasks on the site as part of the company Community Action Programme (CAP). The CAP scheme gives our employees a day of company time each year to volunteer and help an organisation or charity of their choice.
Ardoch Estate sits on the banks of Loch Lomond and is an exclusive venue providing ‘profit with purpose’. All profits are donated to Children’s Hospices across Scotland (CHAS), which support children with life-shortening conditions and their families across Scotland.
The charity is making the Ardoch Estate even more special by converting the site from a low-diversity grazing pasture, into a biodiverse broadleaf woodland maximising carbon capture and providing vital habitat for native wildlife.
Derek Winton, Bryan Robertson, Chris Major, William Corrance and David Rodgers
When CHAS pitched the volunteering opportunity to our Engineering Manager Bryan Robertson, he immediately pulled a team together. While their day jobs involve maintaining key gas network infrastructure across the west of Scotland, the volunteers threw themselves into the project by helping to plant over 1000 native trees and shrubs, which will flourish in the months and years ahead.
Bryan said: “For thirty years CHAS has been offering a support service for babies, children and young people with a life-shortening condition and their families, and we were delighted to be able to help with their venture at Ardoch Estate.
“Giving back to the local communities we work in every day is really important to us, and it’s great to know the help we’ve given to CHAS will make a difference to so many struggling families. The sun was shining for us during our CAP day which made it even more enjoyable.”
Lara MacDonald, Senior Corporate Partnerships Executive for CHAS said: “It was a pleasure to welcome the SGN team to Ardoch Estate. We were so grateful for their support in helping us to plant over 1,000 trees as part of a wider plan to convert the site into a biodiverse broadleaf woodland. We look forward to continuing working with SGN employees throughout this year and will be welcoming a team to Robin House in the summer where they will be lending a hand in our incredible six-acre gardens.”