A High Wycombe business has taken on a clean-up challenge in a bid to help the environment and protect local wildlife.
Employees from retailer Citygate Volkswagen donned waterproofs and wellington boots to help clean the River Wye near the London Road site.
Eight volunteers from all areas of the Citygate business worked alongside members of Revive the Wye, a partnership project set up in 2008 and headed up by Mike Overall of the Chiltern Society.
The river and its backstreams flow under and around Citygate’s High Wycombe dealership and around Citygate’s new Commercial Van dealership in Wooburn.
The project is supported by Wycombe District Council, which supplied equipment for the clean-up. During the course of six hours, a large skip was filled with rubbish and debris removed from the section of the river running parallel to the Volkswagen retailer.
The river Wye flows through High Wycombe, Wycombe Marsh, Loudwater, Wooburn and Bourne End before joining the River Thames. It is one of a number of important chalk streams in the Chilterns.
Mark Hudson, head of business at Citygate Volkswagen said: “As part of our immediate environment, we all felt it was of upmost importance to get involved with the maintenance and preservation of the river.
“Our intention is to carry out this work on a regular basis and keep the section of river around the dealership as clean as possible so that our staff and customers can enjoy the local surroundings.
“I was really impressed with the number of staff that expressed their interest in, and completed the event. It really goes to show how important environmental conservation is to all of us and we look forward to getting involved again in the near future.”
Mark Overall from Chalk added: “It was fantastic to see so many Citygate employees get involved, it really helped raise the profile of our efforts. We look forward to embarking on the next project with the Citygate team.”
Chalk streams are an internationally rare habitat and support a wide variety of wildlife, including some of the UK’s most endangered species.
The Chiltern Society aims to protect and improve the natural environment of the River Wye, making it a special place that people can enjoy and in which wildlife can flourish.
More information on the Revive the Wye project can be found at www.revivethewye.co.uk.