Category: Jersey

Island golfers clubbed together to raise £40,000 smashing last year’s record amount at the annual Autism Jersey Golf Day.

The event, which is sponsored by JT, is growing in popularity with 24 teams teeing off at La Moye Golf Club last month. In 2020, the event raised £35,000 to support the work of Autism Jersey. An additional six teams played this year, helping to boost the amount raised.

Due to COVID-19 restrictions last year, the event lunch was hosted across two venues and linked using the latest audio-visual technology powered through JT’s full-fibre network. This year golfers all got together afterwards in the La Moye Clubhouse for the lunch and prize giving which was attended by the Lieutenant Governor.

Nick Winsor, Chairman of Autism Jersey, said: ““We are delighted that JT continues to support our charity and this very popular annual event. The golf day raises awareness of Autism in our community and valuable funding for our services. It has been amazing to watch the Autism Jersey JT Golf Day grow from strength to strength each year. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone involved.”

Daragh McDermott, JT’s Managing Director, added: “It is great to see the continued level of support for the charity and the friendly rivalry among the teams who try to beat each other each time we hold this event. The charity does amazing work in our community, helping to support people who are leading lives that are fully included in our society. Our long-term link with Autism Jersey is confirmed by this event and we at JT are immensely proud to be involved. We had some challenges holding it last year, but I am pleased to say that we were all able to gather in one place this time to swap stories and celebrate with those who have won prizes.”

Despite fewer team members being in the office brought about by COVID-19 restrictions and JT’s flexible working policy, JT people have continued to support Durrell’s Cans for Corridors project that ensures pockets of Brazilian rainforest are linked to help black lion tamarins.

Durrell uses money raised from recycling cans to create tree corridors, and for every fifty drinks cans collected and recycled, Durrell plants a tree. The Cans for Corridors project supports a nursery where local people, who lost their livelihoods when the rainforest they depended on was cleared, grow the saplings which are then planted. In the last decade, more than 80,000 trees have been planted and JT has been playing its part.

Martin de la Haye, Procurement Officer, leads the can collection at JT: “I’ve been working and volunteering at Durrell for many years and it was through another volunteer who works directly with the tamarins at Jersey Zoo that I found out about the Cans for Corridors recycling project. I thought that with such a large number of people working for JT, this was something that we could very easily get involved in, recycling every can, from every JT building and  delivering them to Durrell every month.

In 2019 we collected 131 bags which was the equivalent of 85 trees, but as you can imagine, the number fell quite significantly last year. I’m pleased to say that it’s increasing again and so far this year we’ve collected enough cans to plant a further 20 trees.’’

This project is  part of Durrell’s reforestation efforts which are all about restoring, expanding, and linking previously destroyed habitats as well empowering locals with the tools and knowledge to build better and brighter futures for themselves and their envronment. Last month, JT became one of the first large sized companies in Jersey to support Durrell’s Rewild Carbon project which aims to create tree corridors in the Atlantic

Forest linking isolated forest fragments, and thereby creating lifelines for the wildlife including highly threatened populations of black lion tamarins, jaguars, tapirs and giant anteaters.

Tom Noel, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said: “At JT we encourage our people to suggest ideas where we can make a difference and we are 100% behind Martin’s efforts to support Durrell by recycling what we used to throw away. Planet and People make up two of the pillars supporting our company-wide Sustainability Strategy, and this project squarely fits into our ambitions to have a circular business model where we encourage our teams and our customers to recycle and reuse as much as possible. I hope that more people will consider taking their cans to Durrell to support this project which is providing a vital lifeline to many species in the Brazilian rainforest.”

JT is one of the first large sized companies in Jersey to support a local scheme that helps revive ecosystems and communities around the world, while also reducing the effect of carbon emissions.

The telecoms company, which launched its 10-year Sustainability Strategy earlier this year, has signed up to Durrell’s Rewild Carbon scheme, which is taking a different approach to the more traditional carbon off-set projects by increasing the benefits to both investors and benefactors. With the support of JT, Durrell will work with our local community and communities around the world to create sustainable livelihoods while also repairing some of the damage that has been caused to nature. Their mission is to rewild species, people and places.

Carbon offsetting provides companies, organisations and individuals the opportunity to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and where this is not possible to offset what they cannot reduce. Durrell’s Rewild Carbon goes further, the scheme addresses the need to solve both the climate and biodiversity crisis by recovering ecosystems, rewilding species, reducing carbon and rebuilding livelihoods. Durrell is guaranteeing 95% of the money invested by its partners in its offset scheme will go straight to nature, with no intermediaries and profiteering.

Tom Noel, Director of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, said: “When we launched our Sustainability Strategy, we specifically researched carbon offsetting schemes that would fit with our own values. It’s important for us and our people to be part of something today that makes tomorrow better for everyone. When we saw the enormous scope and potential that Durrell has with their Rewild Carbon project, we knew this was where our support belonged. By investing in the Rewild Carbon scheme we’re supporting local people as well as protecting endangered species, highlighting social problems whilst educating and reminding us that this is our world, and we are all responsible for it.

As a local business we support the Government’s Carbon Neutral goals. Each month we are making changes to help reach those goals. For example, we continue to reduce the number of vehicles we use on Jersey roads and by converting the remaining fleet to all electric, we are making a significant and tangible difference towards reducing our carbon emissions. Further by joining this scheme we are now taking another proactive step by offsetting the carbon emissions of our remaining on-going fleet and that of our properties. Jersey’s Climate Conversation is well underway, but with conversation comes actions, so for JT committing to being part of this important scheme and working with a brand built on transparency and integrity, we are taking another step towards carbon neutrality. I look forward to a lasting and building relationship with Durrell supporting this fantastic initiative in the years to come.’’

 Dr Lesley Dickie, Chief Executive Officer of Durrell, said: “There are so many reasons why businesses should get involved in Rewild Carbon, not just because it will help in the global effort to fight climate change, but they will be seen by their customers and partners as businesses that are doing the right thing. Our first project will be in the Atlantic rainforest, an incredibly lush and diverse forest in Brazil which is home to black lion tamarins, jaguars and giant anteaters. It has shrunk to a tiny fraction of what it once was due to intensive clearance for farming, and only 6% of the interior rainforest remains in isolated fragments. With JT’s help, we are planning to plant corridors of native trees which will trap millions of tonnes of carbon and help local species thrive.”

JT are donating smartphone accessories to Macmillan Jersey to help towards their fund raising for a cancer support space at The Lounge charity book café in Burrard Street later this year. Macmillan Jersey was chosen by JT for a second year of support following the enormous impact the successful partnership had on both the telecoms group and the cancer charity in 2020.
The accessories, which are currently on sale in The Lounge, include covers and screen protectors for iPhone and Samsung smartphones. These are for phone models no longer sold in the JT shop but still widely used in the community, giving islanders the chance to purchase at a heavy discount with 100% of the proceeds going to the charity.

Graeme Millar, JT Group CEO, said: “Providing critical cancer support services for our community is so important and we’re really pleased to be able to continue to help towards these vital services, that connect people living with or effected by cancer to information and support from the very heart of our high street.

Our teams have worked together for the past eighteen months, embracing change, overcoming personal challenges and creating innovative ways to generate awareness and raise funds. To be able to recycle, repurpose and reuse while supporting our chosen charity who work tirelessly for our community is at the very core of JT’s values. The stock items we are donating we no longer sell the phones they are designed for, and we want both Macmillan Jersey and islanders to be able to benefit from that. We hope that the sale of these items will mean the charity will be able to pay for the improvements needed to bring their vision of a town centre support hub to life.”

Steph Gibaut, from Macmillan Jersey, said: “At Macmillan Jersey, our vision is that everybody affected by cancer in Jersey has access to emotional, practical and wellbeing support, through whatever their preferred route of contact is.

Later this year, we’d like to refurbish the upper floor of our town hub, The Lounge Charity Book Café, to transform it into a much more flexible space for cancer support activities. This would create a new cancer support suite in a central location for people to drop in on their lunch breaks and after work or school to speak to one of our cancer support team. It would be in addition to our Cancer Support Centre, The Oasis at The Lido Medical Centre. In order to do this, we need to raise around £15,000 to renovate our current office and we’re delighted that our partners JT continue to help us find new ways of raising the money needed to reach our target.