Business Partner Stories

Affinity Water is the largest water-only supplier in the UK, and provides water to 3.8 million households in the South East of England, which includes parts of the Surrey area. 

Since 2018, when they first became a corporate member of the Trust, Affinity Water have been proactively working hard to protect the local environment in Surrey. They have supported on a range of our catchment management partnerships and river restoration projects, and staff from the organisation have volunteered their time to support these projects on the ground. They have also funded important monitoring equipment for rivers, including equipment to enable early detection of pollution incidents in the River Wey.

Fast forward to 2024, Affinity Water continues to support our vital work as a Silver Corporate Member and are committed  more than ever to support and protect nature across the county. Together, we will build on common objectives and share messages to inform and educate the local community about how they can protect nature through their water usage.  

Anna Jarmolinska, CSR manager at Affinity Water, said:

“Our partnership with Surrey Wildlife Trust enables us to deliver on great environmental and social values. We are a business with purpose, delivering an essential public service. As a clean water-supply only company, we are focused on providing a sustainable and reliable supply of water to our customers, while taking care of our local environment.

As part of our journey to become nature positive and leave more water in the environment, we are reducing leakage to the lowest levels we have ever had as a company, and we are helping customers to use less water through new initiatives.

When we work together on shared objectives, partnerships draw together resources, knowledge and understanding on what our local communities want and need”.

We’re supporting Affinity Water’s ‘Save Our Streams’ initiative

In 2020, Affinity Water launched the UK’s biggest ever water saving initiative, called ‘Save our Streams’, focused on protecting the local environment whilst helping customers save water and money off their bills. With over 250,000 customers already signed up, it is the biggest water-saving behavioural change campaign in the water industry.

Learn more about Save Our Streams

Albury Vineyard, near Guildford, have recently opened their own wildlife walk – visitors can enjoy a guided tour of the vineyard and take in the fascinating sights of the local wildlife, followed by a glass of the vineyard’s very own wine that has been produced sustainably.

The nature trail features wildlife-friendly spaces, including wildflower meadows and insect highways, attracting a diverse range of wildlife to the area.

Albury Vineyard puts the environment first in everything that they do and want wildlife to thrive. That is why for every ticket that is sold for their wildlife walk, Albury Vineyard have agreed to donate £5 to Surrey Wildlife Trust. These donations will help us to protect and support habitats like those found on Albury Vineyard, allowing wildlife to thrive across Surrey.  

Learn more about the wildlife walk  

Oander is helping us to protect ancient woodland in Surrey. The construction and property consultant whose services include Project & Commercial Management, Quantity Surveying, CDM and Multidisciplinary Design has donated towards one of the Trust’s ancient semi-natural woodlands known as Kitchen Copse.

Kitchen Copse is home to an abundance of wildlife and plant species, including primrose, enchanter’s nightshade and English oak. With Oander’s support, we are able to help protect and preserve the woodland so that nature can continue to thrive there.

Learn more about the partnership

We are honoured that Surrey Choices has chosen Surrey Wildlife Trust to be their Charity of the Year for 2023/2024.

Surrey Choices is a local organisation that is dedicated to improving the independence, confidence and life skills of disabled and autistic people.

During this one-year partnership, we hope to inspire their staff and customers to enjoy nature and to learn how to protect and support Surrey’s wildlife. We’ll provide a range of wildlife-friendly ways for them to manage their various sites across the county. So that staff and customers at Surrey Choices can monitor their impact, they’ll be able to use our online survey to map their activity. Surrey Choices will also be helping to raise important funds for our conservation work through raffles, skills auctions and sweepstakes.

This partnership will make a significant contribution towards our aim to restore 30% of Surrey’s land to nature by 2030, and it will support our mission to inspire at least one in every four people in our community to take action for nature.  

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We’ve partnered with Surrey Green Burials, a family-owned funeral director based in Dorking in Surrey offering environmentally friendly and organic burial services and cremations. The partnership will see Surrey Green Burials donate 10% of its professional fee to Surrey Wildlife Trust, for every funeral it conducts for a referred member or volunteer of the Trust.

This partnership will provide Surrey Green Burials’ clients an opportunity to make a lasting contribution to Surrey’s wildlife and will help us to continue our vital work in protecting and connecting wild spaces across the county, ensuring that Surrey’s wildlife can thrive.   

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Vestel UK are based in Slough and are one of the largest TV manufacturers in the world and a leading global producer of home appliances, EV chargers, professional display solutions and more. 

The team at Vestel UK are passionate about preserving Surrey’s wildlife and inspiring communities to get closer to nature. As well as becoming a member of Surrey Wildlife Trust, they have also donated two of their popular IFM interactive education screens to the Trust. These screens will enhance the learning experiences of local school children that are part of our Wilder Schools Programme, helping to inspire the next generation to care for nature.

Learn more about the partnership

As well as serving barista coffees and sweet treats at Norbury Park, Wild! About Coffee want to inform their customers about Surrey’s wildlife and inspire them to take action for nature.

Phil Corin, the owner of Wild! About Coffee, explains why it’s so important to him to protect and support nature in Surrey:

“I set up Wild! About Coffee because I wanted to create a community hub where people could enjoy being in the outdoors together, talk about nature, and drink good coffee. For many years, I ran through Norbury Park and was always fascinated by the abundance of wildlife that I saw – this sparked my passion to help support the wildlife found on the reserve.  

I want to share my passion for nature and raise awareness of local environmental issues and the need to take action. By raising money for Surrey Wildlife Trust, Wild! About Coffee and our customers can play a part in helping to support and protect Surrey’s nature for years to come”.  

Since 2017, the mobile coffee shop has been raising money for Surrey Wildlife Trust by promoting our work to their customers. In December 2023, Wild! About Coffee and their customers raised £2,000 for our Grazing Appeal via the Big Give!

You can find Wild! About Coffee at Norbury Park every Thursday – Sunday, 9am-3pm.

Wild! About Coffee - What3words location: teeth.grabs.town

Visit Wild! About Coffee’s Instagram HERE.