Newark-based Saint-Gobain Formula join Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust in conservation work

Twenty years after donating a site to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, Saint-Gobain Formula returned to help cultivate the area.

A work party consisting of employees from British Gypsum and Saint-Gobain Formula joined volunteers from the wildlife trust to carry out conservation work at the Beacon Hill Conservation Park, Newark.

They repaired footpaths and cut hedges as part of the tidy up of the nature reserve, and the company also donated and installed three new benches.

Richard Batley, a director at Saint-Gobain, said: “It’s been a pleasure to come and experience the reserve 20 years on since British Gypsum gifted the site to Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust.

“We are pleased to continue to support this important and proactive wildlife charity, both through our corporate partnership and through our teams getting involved in many volunteering days of action like today.

“We look forward to seeing Beacon Hill Reserve continue to evolve and be an attractive place for both wildlife and local residents to visit.”

The Beacon Hill land was previously mined by British Gypsum and was also used by councils for landfill.

The company donated the land to the trust in 2001, after discussions plans to create the Beacon Hill Conservation Park were agreed.

Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust’s business partnerships officer Emily Patrick said: “It’s wonderful to see how far the site has come in the last 20 years and fantastic that Saint-Gobain and British Gypsum continue to support the reserve and our trust by getting involved through employee activities to help improve it for both wildlife and the local community to thrive.”

Beacon Hill Conservation Park now consists of 45 acres of scrub, woodland, hedgerows and grassland and is home to a wide range of animals, such as foxes, buzzards and kestrels.

There is also a diverse range of trees, including ash, field maple, hawthorn and oak.