With the snow over the Easter weekend it was hard to believe that 21st March was technically the first day of spring. However, whilst the snow was falling, there were many of spring signs including some early bluebells popping up on our local nature reserves.
The season of spring is a great time for new beginnings and it is also at this time of year when many gardeners become more active and work on their gardens. One local company whose sole mission is to ‘revitalize the earth’ has also begun on a new journey this Spring by partnering up with the County’s leading conservation charity; Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.
The Worm that Turned is a successful retail business founded by husband and wife Stuart and Heather Isbister, who met when they worked at Boots as buyers. It was their passion for gardening and their skill for spotting high quality, creative gifts that led them to set up the company and their first shop in Nottingham. Nearly 5 years on, the company now also has an e-commerce website; worm.co.uk and a concession at Jimmy’s Farm in Suffolk.
Their latest adventure is partnering up with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust through the charity’s Wildlife Guardians Corporate Involvement Scheme in order to encourage and engage members of the public to join with them and revitalize the earth. The partnership will begin by advertising in the Wildlife Trusts ‘What’s On Guide’ that is sent to all its members. The latest issue of the ‘What’s on Guide’ (April-August?) is now out and copies will now be available to pick up from The Worm that Turned shop located on Derby Road in the City Centre.
In addition to advertising in the ‘What’s on Guide’, The Worm that Turned will also be getting involved with a range of other initiatives too, including organising special wildlife gardening events in its Derby Road Shop and promoting the Wildlife Trust and the charity’s events to its customers and staff.
Talking about the partnership Stuart Isbister of The Worm that Turned said:
“We are really excited about our new partnership with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Their aims and values closely match with ours. We are particularly interested in using the partnership to focus on people seeing their garden as a vital natural habitat for all manner of species. The work that the Trust carries out fits neatly with many of the wildlife products we sell and thus it is an excellent and relevant choice. We get asked by many local concerns to get involved with them and sadly have to turn most of them down because for a company of our size such activity has to be more than just philanthropic. Our staff are greatly looking forward to volunteering on some of the reserves too”
As a new Wildlife Guardian The Worm that Turned will be joining 42 other business organisations which support Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Wildlife Guardians range from small local companies such as Make Hay Ethical E-Media, medium sized companies such as Walter Harrison & Sons Bird Food to large international organisations such as HSBC Bank.
Talking about the Wildlife Guardians Scheme and their latest supporter Anna-Lisa Nagel Corporate Affairs Officer at the Wildlife Trust said:
“The Wildlife Trust is confident that by working in partnership with businesses organisations that we will be able to effectively work together to help protect Nottinghamshire’s wildlife. Our Wildlife Guardians support us in various ways including financial donations, in-kind support and providing us with their experience and expertise. We are delighted that The Worm that Turned has joined the Wildlife Guardians Scheme and we look forward to working with them on a range of creative projects so that together we can truly revitalize the earth!”
If your business organisation would like to help protect Nottinghamshire’s wildlife, then please contact Anna-Lisa Nagel on 0115 958 8242 for further information.