One of Rotary’s 7 core focuses is the ‘environment’, so we jumped at the opportunity to take part in the Treekly challenge, whose purpose is to plant trees to combat some of the excesses of climate change. In the context of this particular Rotary challenge, mangrove trees will be planted on the Kenyan coast near Mombasa. They are well known for their ability to absorb CO2 and improve general biodiversity.
The challenge ran for the whole month of March and required each team member to walk a minimum of 5,000 steps a day. Our Leicester Club entered four teams of five, which were known severally as Leicester Tigers, Team Amazon, Walk with Hope and Walk with Impact. The first of these consisted of Barry Davies, Ed Cufflin, Richard Power, Chris Saul and me. The other three all came from our Impact Group and were helpfully coordinated by Diana Esho.
In the event, all our Leicester Tigers team completed the minimum of 5,000 steps for every day in March and thereby guaranteed the planting of 155 mangroves, to which another 50 tees were added as part and parcel of our entry fee. So we achieved a maximum of 205 trees, and it is felt that the other three Impact teams more or less did the same. It is therefore a safe bet that our wider Club will have guaranteed the planting of over 800 trees!
Our Leicester Tigers team currently believes it is in second place overall out of the 22 teams that signed up for the challenge. First place is likely to go to Chichele Conservationists, who together have completed just under 3 million steps, which comfortably beat our circa 2.2 million (an average of 14,000+ per day) steps and thereby secure first prize. It would be fair to report that much fun was had along the way; that friendly banter ensued; and that we are each slightly fitter.
Rotarian Clive Smith.
