Category: News
On Friday 20th August 2021 17 members of the Whiting team were faced with the challenge of improving Broadheath’s outdoor space by turning the school’s environmental area into their very own Peace Garden.
The children are now able to use this area to explore the nature it provides, giving them the potential to develop their creativity, problem-solving, independence, and more.
Despite the clouds, everyone involved was raring to go and get stuck in. We were given a brief to focus on the garden and pond area and reintroduce the raised flower beds.
Pathways were created for safer access to the Peace Garden. The Pond was cleared of organic debris to revitalize the area. New fencing was constructed and installed to ensure the children remain safely away from the pond but can also be close enough to enjoy its benefits. The raised flower bed areas were stripped and refreshed with new soil ready for the Teachers and children to plant their own shrubs. Turf was laid down and grass seed sown to revive the extra space for future seating possibilities.
Whiting enjoyed transforming this outdoor space for the local community.
It’s the time to start thinking about your Winter Maintenance requirements now that Autumn has arrived. We offer gritting and snow clearance services and the Whiting team monitor Met Office weather reports every day from October 1st to March 31st to keep abreast of time frames where conditions are expected to deteriorate. This information includes predicted ground temperatures and the probability of ice and snow – including the time of snow fall and anticipated depth.
Please contact Jon Murphy on 07805 159403 or jmurphy@whitinglandscape.co.uk for more information.
Congratulations to Ian Fletcher on achieving an amazing 40 years’ service at Whiting Landscape.
Joining the company in 1980 as a trainee, Ian has worked his way up to be a Maintenance Foreman! Whiting Landscape thank you for your continued hard work, commitment and loyal service and also to you and your family’s contribution in the building of Whiting Landscape.
Congratulations Ian!
A huge well done to our intrepid cycling team who took part in the “Gazeley Tour 19” on Wednesday, September 25th in aid of Dementia UK.
Their 60 mile Challenge commenced at Magna Park in Lutterworth, taking them on a tour around the countryside and market towns of Leicestershire.
Richard Keay, one of our Directors said: “Organisation on the day was fab, incredible buffet waiting for us at the finish line, scenic route and we were quite lucky with the weather apart from a few showers throughout the morning – it could have been much worse!”
A phenomenal £10,300 was raised for Dementia UK which will help to provide specialist Admiral Nurses to support families affected by this condition. Admiral nurses work alongside families to give them the one-to-one support, expert guidance and practical solutions they need to face dementia with more confidence and less fear.
Congratulations Team Whiting and everyone else who took part in this gruelling challenge ……. what’s next?!
For the fourth year running now our team have taken part in the Prologis 100K cycle. This year it was in and around the beautiful Malvern Hills, as you can imagine they had quite a task ahead of them!
On Thursday 12th September the usual troops from the Whiting team set off on their route, which began at the foot of the hills. 135 other challengers joined them and after 5 hours in the saddle our lads had completed the circuit.
Over £37,000 has been collected in sponsorship from all those who participated, to raise funds for Mind, Cure Leukaemia and Land Aid.
Richard Keay, one of our Directors said: “Prologis 100 Challenge time again, toughest one I have done so far. A clear crisp start to the day and then the hard slog up to the top of the Malvern Hills. 35 miles of climbing then a nice run to Tewkesbury, couple of pub stops in Upton and Callow, then back in time to watch the end of the cricket!! A brilliantly organised day and route.
On Wednesday 4th September two team members from Whiting and two of our clients from Prologis teamed up for the annual golf tournament at Droitwich Golf Club to help raise funds for St Richard’s Hospice.
The event started at 12 noon and each team played 18 holes before an informal two-course evening meal to finish with an awards presentation.
Jon Murphy, FM Commercial Manager at Whiting said: “Great day out, competition was fierce and to top it off we lifted the trophy, winners of the 2019 ‘Graham Robertson Memorial Cup Champions’. It was a well organised event and makes it all worthwhile to help support St Richard’s Hospice”.
The funds raised will help provide care to patients with serious progressive illnesses, their families and bereaved people in Worcestershire.
St Richard’s hospice is a local charity to us so we like to be able to help, donate and support whenever we can, roll on next year!
We recently invited landscape architects from across the Midlands and beyond to our tree and shrub nurseries at Wildmoor Lane, Bromsgrove, for an Open Afternoon.
On Thursday, July 11th over 40 architects attended two informative presentations made by Peter Flugge of Hamburg growers Von Ehren Nurseries, and Andrew Richardson from Johnsons Nurseries of Whixley, near York. Peter spoke about semi-mature tree production and supply and Andrew gave an explanation relating to the production of shrubs for the amenity market.
Both speakers faced questions and expanded on the challenges that the Landscape Industry currently faces, among them climate change, pests and diseases and the impact that this is having on stock. The presentations were followed by a tour of our extensive tree and shrub nurseries where the guests were able to view in excess of 1500 semi-mature trees and 20,000 specimen shrubs.
Architects were given a practical demonstration of underground guying and an explanation of tree sizing where they were able to view and compare the range of tree sizes from 16 – 18cm to 45 -50 cm.
A mobile, wood fired pizza truck provided a variety of delicious homemade pizzas and salads throughout the afternoon and drinks were available from a converted horse box which served as a bar.
The event was rounded off with the arrival of Dean’s Traditional Ice Cream Van and a queue soon formed for a selection of gorgeous salted caramel, mint and vanilla with raspberry 99’s – not forgetting the chocolate flakes!!
On Sunday June 23rd, team members from Whiting Landscape took part in an all day ” Paddle, Plod and Pedal ” challenge to raise funds for St Richard’s Hospice, Worcester.
Following a 7am start from Pershore Youth Centre, the team began their day by rowing down the River Avon to Tewkesbury (Paddle), followed by a cross country walk on to Severn Stoke at Kempsey (Plod).
Finally, to finish the challenge, they cycled back to Pershore (Pedal) for refreshments and a well deserved hog roast!
Each task spanned between 13 – 15 miles, covering 45 miles overall through the Worcestershire countryside.
Spirits were high, with lots of team work involved and some competitiveness, but all in all they had a lot of fun. The team thought it was a really well organised event and that it was good to have the different variety of challenges. Some even said they would do it again!
Whitings managed to raise a whopping £3,793.94 for St Richard’s Hospice, smashing their target!
Until next year …………
On Friday 17th May volunteers from our client Prologis and Whiting teamed up together to help improve the facilities at Crick Primary School.
Crick Primary School is a mainstream school based in Northamptonshire and houses 193 children.
Our Operations Director Wayne Bridges gave a detailed brief for the day, so everyone knew what they were doing in order to complete in time.
Our brief was to rebuild, install and improve existing and new features at the school to make it a more pleasant and welcoming place for the school children to spend their play times.
The task in hand was fairly complex. A new outdoor classroom was assembled for the children and the outdoor activity area was also enlarged. New seating areas were installed and painted around the trees in the playground, so that the children had somewhere shaded to sit.
The completed improvements have benefited the School in many ways making it a more enjoyable space for the children to spend their breaks.
Wayne commented that ‘the end result is fantastic. The amount of effort and hard work that has gone into the day from each and every person is overwhelming. The appreciation from the School children was so touching it makes it all worthwhile’.
The day was a great success and the works will provide benefits and enjoyment for years to come!
