A new project was launched in 2019 by 21st Century Thame – #ThameTrees – with an objective to plant 500 trees in 2020 in and around Thame.
We had no idea where to plant, what to plant, where the money would come from and who would help – but you have to set goals in order to achieve.
Laura and I were looking for sponsors to help support this project and we approached Lucy Electric.
We met with the lovely Cristiana who had just been tasked with planting trees by the leaders of Lucy Electric as part of the organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.
Cristiana was at a bit of a loss to know where to start – and our meeting was serendipitous. Our paths merged for a while and we planted more than 2,000 trees that year.
Since then 21st Century Thame has introduced Lucy Electric to the full power of the communities in and around Thame. They have built bug hotels in three schools, installed bird boxes in John Hampden Primary School and now have a great relationship there, which we hope to see blossoming further over the next few years.
Their funding has allowed 21st Century Thame to progress many environmental projects, including purchasing spades for tree planting at Lord Williams’s school and donating more bird and bat boxes to St Joseph’s and Barley Hill Primary Schools and for Lord Williams’s Senior School. The funding has supported the planting of more than 7,000 trees in the last four years and made such a difference to the volunteers.
Cristiana is working with Thomley Hall, Thame Carnival, Taste of Thame, Thame Town Council as well as supporting many more community initiatives throughout the year, every year. Many of these links have been created through 21st Century Thame.
Cristiana said: ”21st Century Thame has helped us to reach out to our community to improve the local environment in a way that we wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise. In our business world we had little idea where to start to understand what is needed on the ground. Linking with 21st Century Thame has enabled us to get involved in meaningful projects in the community and make them happen, using both our people and monetary resources effectively.”
The community involvement that Lucy Electric has with 21st Century Thame and other organisations is just the tip of the iceberg of their commitment to the environment. You can read more about our ‘local’ international business on their website at https://www.lucyelectric.com/sustainability/.
The Thame Business Initiative is a 21st Century Thame project started January 2023).
It’s aim is to engage businesses in the sustainability discussion in 3 ways :
- to showcase what they are already doing and what they are aiming to do,
- to encourage their employees to be involved in local sustainability initiatives and
- to encourage the business to help fund projects being run by the community.
The project has initially been funded by SODC via a South Oxfordshire District Council Councillor Grant 2023.
Lightfoots Solicitors have kindly supported this project to enable us to continue the work further into 2023.
