As part of our Saving Suffolk campaign, we’ve challenged staff in our nine branches across the county to be as sustainable and environmentally conscious as possible with their Christmas decorations. And the winners have been announced with the team at Woodbridge taking the ‘star’ prize.
Real potted Christmas trees have been locally sourced from Katie’s Garden Centre in Newbourne, Redhouse Christmas Barn near Saxmundham, Sturmer Nurseries in Haverhill and Woodside Farm near Halesworth.
Staff have been encouraged to reuse any decorations they already had, not to buy anything new that wasn’t bio-degradable, and to recycle any materials they had to hand. Staff have used pinecones and greenery to decorate counters, hand knitted baubles and made use of out-of-date advertising posters to form tree decorations. An entire Santa’s sleigh, complete with parcels, has been created from unwanted paper at the Woodbridge branch.
Judge Nathan Wade, Head of Membership said:
“The Society is ambitious with its community and environmental activity; we recently launched our Saving Suffolk campaign which has seen us partner with organisations such as Suffolk Wildlife Trust. We wanted our staff to still enjoy all the fun of decorating their branches – which they love – while doing all we can to protect our planet.
“The feedback from our members has been fantastic, with many commenting on how great it is to see real trees and natural or recyclable materials.
“I’m presenting the Woodbridge branch with a hamper from Suffolk Food Hall so they have some locally-sourced goodies to share as a thank you for getting into the festive spirit sustainably. Just before we close our doors for Christmas we’ll be donating all of the potted trees to either staff or Society members to take home and plant in their gardens. Who knows, we may even have one of the trees back next year!”
You can view pictures of the trees decorated by branches below.
