Nurture Landscapes supports cricket club with community project

Nurture Landscapes, the Hyndburn-based landscaping specialists, has completed an exciting new garden project at Oswaldtwistle Immanuel Church Cricket Club (OICCC).

The initiative has seen the entrance to the cricket club transformed with an eye-catching new garden area, including gravel, a fence which runs around the front of the garden and a fantastic range of plants.

Nurture Landscapes regional director, Will Pettit, and key account manager, Stuart Jones, were recently invited to the club by OICCC chairman, Gerard Metcalf, as a special thank you for all their work.

Nurture Landscapes, based in Rishton, is part of The Nurture Group which employs over 2,500 people nationwide, specialising in grounds maintenance, winter gritting and interior and exterior plant display services, mainly to the corporate sector. Over 30 gardeners are employed from its Rishton depot, as well as 45 office staff.

Funded by its ESG fund of £25,000 per year, Nurture regularly works on projects in the local area to give back to the local communities which they operate in.

Nurture is encouraging other local businesses, sports clubs or schools to get in touch for their outdoor space to be renovated.

Will Pettit, regional director for Nurture Landscapes in the North West, said: “I would like to say a massive thank you to the cricket club for coming to us with this project, we really do enjoy projects like this. It is something we want to do more of in the area and hopefully we can get involved with other local clubs too.

“If anyone is in need of support or has a project for us, please do get in touch.”

Stuart Jones, key account manager at Nurture Landscapes in the North West, said: “As part of our ESG fund, we have £25,000 a year set aside for projects like this. We had the funding approved last week and got to work straight away.

“We are very keen as a company to give back to the communities which we operate in, and projects like this are the perfect way to do that.”

Gerard Metcalf, chairman of Oswaldtwistle Immanuel Church Cricket Club, commented: “It has been great to welcome Will and Stuart to the cricket club to officially thank them for their efforts in supporting a community club.

“It has made a massive improvement to the entrance of the ground. This really makes it a lot more welcoming, as people approach and come into the ground. Hopefully it will attract more visitors, attract more young people who want to get involved in the club and come and play cricket here.”

Nurture Landscapes is also heading up a recruitment push for more gardeners and landscapers to join the industry.

They are teaming up with #AmazingAccrington to attend their events and local schools to inform students about the career opportunities available.

Will Pettit, said: “We want to try and give examples of what we do to the kids, because it is a really good job. You get to be outside all your life and there is a lot of people that love this job, and we just want to pass that on to the younger generation, which will then hopefully try and help us with our recruitment in the future.”

Across the North West, Nurture Landscapes currently looks after £12m - £15m worth of work, with grounds maintenance on hotels, retail parks, business parks, industrial estates and much more. They are also now one of the largest gritting companies in the UK.

For more info about Nurture Landscapes, visit their website: https://nurturelandscapes.co.uk/

OICCC are members of the North West Cricket League and were Ribblesdale League Champions in 2018. They pride themselves on being a friendly, sociable and inclusive cricket club, with a number of teams at both youth and senior level.