We are delighted to have been chosen by British Sugar Topsoil as their next charity of the year. Big thanks to everyone involved.

The British Sugar TOPSOIL team has announced that the charity it will support in 2020/21 is HighGround, which strives to improve the wellbeing and employment prospects of serving military personnel and veterans, using the green environment.

Having recently presented the horticultural industry’s own charity Perennial with a cheque for £3,029, raised by donating £1 for every bulk bag of their TOPSOIL products sold between September 2019 and September 2020, British Sugar TOPSOIL will continue the scheme to help HighGround with its invaluable work.

Anna Baker Cresswell, executive director of HighGround, is very proud that the charity she founded in 2013 continues to provide the horticultural therapy service for injured serving personnel at DMRC Stanford Hall near Loughborough, Leicestershire, following the rehabilitation centre’s move north from Headley Court in 2018. The charity also helps those who have served to find jobs, careers and vocational opportunities in the land-based sector once their military careers are over, with Rural Weeks at the core of this service:

“When we first moved to Stanford Hall the greenhouse and therapeutic areas where we deliver horticultural therapy were still under construction. Thanks to a generous grant from the Army Central Fund we designed and built – with the help of several very enthusiastic patients – some fantastic raised beds to ‘grow on’ the seeds and cuttings we had started in the greenhouse. Thanks to an introduction, Andy Spetch and the TOPSOIL team generously donated all the topsoil needed to fill these raised beds, which have given and continue to give much pleasure and therapeutic benefit to patients and staff alike.

“Like all charities that depend solely on voluntary donations for their income, HighGround has been badly affected by the current pandemic at a time when its services are needed more than ever. It costs us £85 to deliver one 30 minute session of horticultural therapy and so the support of British Sugar TOPSOIL and its customers will directly help to provide this much-needed service, giving those who have served their country peace and meaningful occupation in a safe, therapeutic environment at DMRC Stanford Hall.”

Andy Spetch, National TOPSOIL Manager, said:

“I am particularly pleased that my team voted to extend our informal support for HighGround over the next 12 months, making it the beneficiary of the £1 per bulk bag sold scheme. The charity does amazing work in support of our armed forces and veterans and TOPSOIL is proud to be able to help them in this way.”

Note to editors: 

TOPSOIL

British Sugar TOPSOIL is the largest suppliers of quality TOPSOIL in the UK. Our products, SubSoil, Landscape20, HortLoam and Sports&Turf, are successfully used by the construction, landscaping and amenity industries. For further information on British Sugar TOPSOIL go to www.bstopsoil.co.uk

Twitter:  @Topsoil­_BS

British Sugar is the leading supplier of sugar to the British and Irish food and beverage markets.  We operate four advanced manufacturing plants across East Anglia and the East Midlands employing around 1,400 permanent and contract staff directly at our facilities and supporting up to 9,500 UK jobs in the wider economy.

Over 3,000 growers supply us with around 8 million tonnes of sugar beet each year, which we process into up to 1.4 million tonnes of sugar.

Sugar production is at the heart of our operations but using our highly integrated approach to manufacturing, we aim to transform all of our raw materials into sustainable products. We produce 500,000 tonnes of animal feed from sugar beet pulp. We recycle stones for building, lime for soil conditioning and soil for landscaping. Using our Combined Heat & Power plants, we export enough electricity for over 120,000 homes; we were also the first company to manufacture Bioethanol in the UK.

Over the past five years, we have invested over £250 million to improve efficiency and competitiveness; in addition, we invest over £2m every year in research, development and education.

For further information visit www.britishsugar.com  or find us on Twitter @BritishSugar