» The aim
The aim was to break two world records:
- The number of trees planted by hand, by no more than 100 people, at a single site, within a single hour
- The number of trees planted by hand, by any number of people, at multiple locations, within a single hour.
Two Calor teams took part in the attempts along with Woodland Trust volunteers, at Hainault in Essex and Southam in Warwickshire. The Essex team were hoping to break the single site record which stood at 18,124 trees, whilst the Warwickshire team went for the multiple sites record along with 12 other locations across the UK. The record for this stood at an astonishing 653,143 trees!
The Hainault team smashed their record, planting 20,312 trees within the hour – which equates to more than 4 trees per person, per minute! Unfortunately a Northern Ireland team did even better, planting an unbelievable 26,422 trees in 60 minutes, snatching the record from the Hainault team.
Adding the Hainault team’s efforts to those across the UK, the verified total from all the Tree O'Clock teams was 230,000 trees - an amazing achievement – although it was unfortunately some way off becoming a new World Record.
Although the two teams could not claim any new world records, the significance of Tree O’Clock should not be under-estimated. The Woodland Trust’s chief executive Sue Holden said enough trees to cover 5,000 football pitches had been planted during the attempt. This will have lasting benefits for the UK's wildlife and its environment in forthcoming years. Ms Holden added: "If we can do all this in 60 minutes imagine what we can do together in the future."
The Woodland Trust’s Director of Fundraising, Karl Mitchell praised the efforts of the Calor teams, saying “I want to say a big thank you to Calor for your brilliant support for the World Record Tree Planting event. This couldn’t have happened without the commitment from excellent teams like Calor and your invaluable support and enthusiasm”.
