Contributing to clearer rivers in Bath

Our OFR colleagues in Bath recently took time out of their days to support the Bristol Avon Rivers Trust (BART), an organisation dedicated to putting healthy rivers at the heart of community life. The team joined the scheme as part of our Better Days programme, an OFR initiative which enables all of our colleagues to support causes that are important to them – by providing an allocated day of paid leave each year. In this article our colleague Rhys Williams tells us more.

Better Days is a great initiative for all of us at OFR, giving us time away from the office to indulge in great causes and support local community organisations.

This week, 12 colleagues from the OFR Bath team headed out to support BART, an organisation committed to nurturing local streams and rivers back to health through restoration and environmental improvements.

We set off from the office on our bikes and cycled through the Bath Two Tunnel Circuit to Midford where the Cam Brook river is located. Once arrived, we rolled our sleeves and took on a range of tasks throughout the day. Our colleagues helped manage vegetation around young trees, by using bow saws, grass hooks and loppers, to help reduce vegetation density. This will allow the trees to grow and thrive; trees are vital in helping to keep rivers cool in the summer, while also providing an aquatic and terrestrial habitat which we learned lots about on the day.

At the end of the day, we all went to a nearby pub to have a well earned pint! It was a really rewarding day and one that we’ll remember for a long time! It’s testament to how hard our team works in protecting the environment – not just through our work in helping clients create safe and sustainable structures – but also by lending our time to initiatives like these. It also builds on other great causes like our support of the World Land Trust.

Find out more about our work here.