A team of Newcastle lawyers has been digging deep to help launch a new tree-planting project around its home city.
As part of its 75th anniversary celebrations last year, Hay & Kilner Law Firm set up a new partnership with environmental charity Urban Green Newcastle which will see 750 trees planted in parks and green spaces around the city over the next five years.
Trees will be planted in initial locations including Exhibition Park, Brandling Park and the City Stadium, with Leazes Park being chosen as the location for the first 150 trees due to its proximity to Hay & Kilner’s city centre headquarters.
Ten of the firm’s staff assisted members of Urban Green Newcastle’s parks & allotments team with planting the Leazes Park saplings, with beech trees being chosen for this first site to complement the landscape and the varieties that are already in place.
Urban Green Newcastle’s corporate partnership with Hay & Kilner is the first of its type and the charity is hoping that more city businesses will follow the firm’s example in supporting the improvement of the city’s green open spaces.
Hay & Kilner is one of North East England’s leading independent law firms and provides comprehensive legal advice across every aspect of the law, with a growing presence in the corporate and commercial sector and a particularly strong reputation for its private client work.
Jonathan Waters, managing partner at Hay & Kilner Law Firm, who took part in the Leazes Park planting, adds: “We wanted to mark our anniversary by creating a positive legacy for the city that will last for the next 75 years and beyond, and what better way than contributing to the well-being of Newcastle’s invaluable green spaces.
“Getting involved with the planting work ourselves gives us an even greater degree of ownership of the project and it’s exciting to think of what the impact of this first day’s work will be 50 years into the future.”
Founded in 2019, Urban Green Newcastle is responsible for managing and improving the 33 parks that sit within Newcastle City Council’s boundaries, as well as over 60 allotment sites, and is aiming to plant around 5,000 trees across the city by 2030.
John Gibbon, Fundraising Officer at Urban Green Newcastle, adds: “We’re delighted to help Hay & Kilner celebrate their 75th anniversary within our parks. This planting is not only a brilliant way to mark the occasion, but also contributes significantly towards our goals for tree planting in our green spaces.
“The partnership we’ve established with Hay & Kilner provides a great template for how we can work with city businesses to everyone’s benefit, and we’re very glad to be helping them celebrate their 75th anniversary in a way that will benefit Newcastle and its residents for decades to come.”