CMYK, a leading Business Technology provider, who recently opened a regional office in Newcastle, headed up by Directors Craig Pratt and Sarah Wharrier are helping clients go Green'.
Whilst establishing their operations in the North East earlier this year, CMYK wanted to offer a differentiator to their clients to make sure they were carrying out business sustainably and ethically whilst also helping their clients hit their CSR objectives.
After discussions with Ian and Lorna Adamson, owners of Woodlands Park Farm in Knitsley near Consett, they formed a partnership to launch the CMYK Community Tree Planting Project. The Tree Plantation Project is exclusively and freely available to all CMYK Clients. As part of CMYK’s drive to be socially responsible, to give back to the local community and to help create an Environmentally Sustainable future for their business and their clients, they automatically enroll all clients into the Tree Plantation Project. This means trees are planted for every one of CMYK’s new clients which helps to protect our environment for generations to come.
However, the great work doesn’t stop there… also occupying the same site at Woodlands Park Farm is Haystax Inclusive Farm Experience. After recently receiving planning approval, Haystax, designed by Lorna and Ian on their site at Woodlands Park Farm will be a specially designed complex to accommodate families who have a family member with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Farm experience centre will provide facilities such as animal therapy opportunities, sensory rooms, quiet rooms, arts and crafts facilities, a classroom for educational information sessions, an indoor play area, pedal tractor fun, woodland watch & walks, insect hotels, beehives and so many more exciting outdoor activities for the whole family to enjoy. The site will also provide much needed respite for parents and carers to socialise and enjoy a refreshment from the Café. As the site develops holiday lodges will be introduced to open up this amazing site to families who live further afield. With a commitment of over twelve thousand trees to plant at the site it would be impossible to achieve such a task without some additional help. Working alongside Lorna, Ian and the team from CMYK are the inspirational learners from Learning for Life, a specialist education provider for young individuals with special educational needs in our region.
Marie Matthewson, Principal of Learning for Life commented; “We are delighted and so excited to be a part of the Platinum Plantation and Haystax. This is a wonderful opportunity for our learners and staff to be involved in such a special event. I am confident this will certainly be an experience to remember!”
The idea of a dedicated plantation of 70 trees to mark The Queens Platinum jubilee was planned early this year to go ahead in the 2021/2022 planting season. What the team at Haystax and CMYK hadn’t realised is that The Royal Household were also planning their very own initiative to mark the Jubilee celebrations. The Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) a unique tree planting initiative created to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum ubilee in 2022 which invites people and organisations across the United Kingdom to Plant a Tree for the Jubilee’.
With a focus on planting sustainably, the QGC will encourage planting of trees to create a legacy in honour of The Queen’s leadership of the Nation, which will benefit future generations. As plans started to develop, the team involved recognised the similarities of the QGC with their very own Platinum Plantation which sparked conversations with the QGC and then contact with Mrs Sue Snowdon, Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant for County Durham to share their idea of the project at Haystax.
Mrs Snowdon was delighted to hear about the plans and a site visit was arranged for Sue to come to site. Sue spent a few hours onsite, taking time to speak with the team to understand the plans for the project, finding out more about Haystax, the Platinum Plantation and how it will positively impact the local community. Sue also walked around the site to see the trees that have already been planted, over 3000 so far and visited the planned location for the Platinum Plantation.
Sue commented after visiting the site; “I was delighted to visit Woodlands Farm and hear about their plans for tree planting and their involvement with the charity Learning for Life. They are going to Plant 70 Trees to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy Project, which is aimed at encouraging people from across the United Kingdom to “Plant a Tree for the Jubilee”. I am very much looking forward to helping with the planting with the young people from the charity.”
Lorna Adamson, owner of Woodlands Park Farm and Director of Haystax Inclusive Farm Experience also added; “Everyone at Haystax are delighted to be given the opportunity to be a part of the Queens Green Canopy. CMYK have kindly agreed to sponsor our Platinum Plantation of 70 trees to celebrate the Queens Platinum Jubilee. We also have a wonderful team of helpers from Learning for Life to assist with the actual tree planting which we plan to do in November.” Everyone involved at Haystax, CMYK and Learning for Life are very excited to see the site develop as building work commences and tree planting resumes later this month with plans to start the Platinum Plantation in November.
