Trees and shrubs planted in twin centenary celebration
VOLUNTEERS have planted 100 trees and shrubs in the Millennium Walk at St Saviour’s Reservoir to mark 100 years of the Channel Islands Co-operative Society.
‘Though the Co-op started in Jersey, we wanted to do something that would impact in both islands,’ said Co-op senior marketing officer, Emily Smith. ‘For that reason we teamed up with Guernsey Water, which is celebrating its centenary this year.’
Guernsey Water biodiversity team member and water quality scientist, Jason Jehan, said they were working in partnership with Environment Guernsey, which manages the Millennium Walk.
‘The Millennium Walk is one of Guernsey Water’s most successful and used sites,’ he said. ‘It is loved by the community and gets visited not only by islanders but by visitors too.’
The Co-op had contacted Guernsey Water to see if it could help in what was a community initiative.
The trees and shrubs were planted in an area next to La Rue des Annevilles.
Volunteers armed with forks and spades planted silver birch, hawthorn, English oak, and crab apple among others.
‘Our aim is to enhance the native flora and fauna on the site,’ said Mr Jehan.
‘This native species will support and abundance of wildlife.’
Samantha Saunders was one of the volunteers, along with daughters Chloe, 12, and Georgia, 10.
‘We like to do our bit for the environment whenever we can,’ said Mrs Saunders.
‘We particularly like beach cleans but we thought that this would be something different.’
Having teamed up with Jersey Trees for Life, the Co-op planted 100 trees and shrubs in the Grouville area in January.
Miss Smith said the majority of the CI Co-op’s centenary celebrations had been in 2019, which was the 100th year.
‘We did colleague parties [for staff] in both islands,’ she said.
‘We also had a 100-day challenge in which we gave £1,000 each to five organisations and they had to complete a project in 100 days.’
