Producers join in Jubilee tree planting celebrations from Lakes Free Range Company

For the couple are celebrating their Silver Jubilee this year – which coincides with the Queen ‘ s Platinum anniversary, and to mark the occasion The Lakes has ordered an English Oak tree for each of their farmers who supply eggs, so they can plant it to commemorate both landmark celebrations and pin it on The Queens Green Canopy Map.

David and Helen also bought an additional 25 English Oaks to plant near their factory to mark their 25 years as a company. As a tribute to the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, the Brass family planted their trees in the shape of a 70.

The couple are leading edge in sustainability and environmental provenance and were the first in the poultry industry to start planting trees – twenty five years ago.

All their farmers are also on board with enhancing the environment for their hens and they have been supported by The Lakes team with bespoke biodiversity action plans that encourage indigenous wildlife and flora on their ranges.

Almost 250,000 trees have already been planted by The Lakes, and their farmers. They will be celebrating planting their 250,000th tree later this year.

Commenting on their anniversary David and Helen said “The last couple of years have been very tough for everyone. Our agricultural team, our farmer producers and everyone at the packing centre have worked tirelessly to keep up with demand for eggs by our retail and hospitality customers. We thought the project to ‘Plant a tree for the Queen’s Jubilee’ was a great way to mark the start of our own Silver Jubilee celebrations and say thank you for all their hard work.

“We wanted to plant a native species, so English Oak was chosen for all the farms with flocks that supply eggs and for our own ranges too. Native trees and shrubs are key to encourage native flora and fauna and we’ve seen the success of this with the return or rare wildlife like Red Squirrels on many of our ranges. Planting trees also provide great cover for our free range hens, it encourages them to range further and improves their welfare enormously.”

David, Helen and daughters Emily and Rachel, planted their 25 oak trees recently where the moment was also captured on camera by a drone. “When trees arrived the agricultural team organised the lorries to deliver them to our farmer producers when on their egg collection rounds.”

Further plans are underway to celebrate their Silver Anniversary this summer. To find out more about The Lakes visit www.lakesfreerange.co.uk

Meanwhile, To mark 50 years on the Penrith showfield, and to honour the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, Penrith Show has planted a commemorative oak tree on the field that has been their home for so long.

Mr and Mrs Helme kindly allowed Penrith Show to be held on their field for what will be 50 shows this summer. In the early days of the show, the Helme’s gave permission for trees to be planted in the centre of the field, highlighting the corners of the main ring. More recently, an oak tree was planted to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.