'No Planet B' - sustainability school visit to Gloucester Services

Last week GGT and Gloucester Services were delighted to welcome students from Moat Primary Academy onto the M5 site as part of a current school topic.  Students from Key Stage 2 have been learning all about sustainability as part of their 'No Planet B' topic, and contacted GGT's Community Support Manager Clare to arrange the visit.

Clare said: "Gloucester Services is well known for it's sustainability and environmental credentials, and we try to make it part of everything we do from encouraging biodiversity in our ponds and green roofs to the way we source our meat from local producers."

"We work closely with lots of local schools in our target communities so it was great to have classes of different age groups come in and see what we do, and how we try to do it sustainably. For example, we work with over 130 local producers to source the ingredients for our Kitchens and the products for our Farmshops, minimising the distance items travel to get to us as well as supporting local businesses."

Some of the children also visited the 'Growing Communities' green space managed by GGT on the northbound site of Gloucester Services, which has had hundreds of fruit trees planted to encourage biodiversity, as well as it's own herb garden.   Here's what some of the children thought about the experience:

"I liked the fresh bread and shortbread that was made on site by the bakers. It was delicious! The brownies and were great and the apple juice was sooooooo nice."
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 "I loved the view when we were in the growing gardens. It was really good that we could smell all the different types of herbs grown there and we learnt lots about the different plants that are grown there. It was really interesting!"​

"It was amazing how that there are lots of things sold at the services that are local and help the environment by being produced nearby or on site. The cooks did a fantastic job to produce great quality food."

Clare continued: "We talked a lot about connecting people to nature, how important it is to us and how it helps our wellbeing. The pond and grounds here at Gloucester Services are important to customers, as being able to view nature makes us feel calmer and reduces stress.

We also talked about the bus service we run for our colleagues who work here, which they can also use on their non-working days.  As an alternative, we also have a partnership we have with the bike project, encouraging people to think about alternative ways of travelling to work."

If your school or community group are interested in an educational visit to Gloucester Services, please contact us. 
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