Lubrizol scientists put their backs into levelling up Florence Nightingale beauty spot
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 28 June 2025
UPDATED: 1 July 2025
A team from Derbyshire science company Lubrizol have been showing their community spirit by helping more people enjoy a beauty spot that was once the home of Florence Nightingale.
Scientists and other employees who work at the chemistry company’s UK Technical Centre at Hazelwood, near Belper, stepped out of work for two days in June to help out at pretty Aqueduct Cottage at Cromford and the neighbouring Lea Wood.
The team got a sweat on by moving boulders and levelling up areas of the garden above the cottage, creating a more gradual pathway for visitors to enjoy the tranquil area.
Once the home of Florence Nightingale and her family, Lea Wood is now owned by Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and a huge restoration project has taken place to restore and re-open the picturesque Aqueduct Cottage on the land.
Volunteers from Lubrizol – which have been corporate partners of Derbyshire Wildlife Trust for more than 20 years – have been helping out on volunteer trips for several years and have been helping create pathways there so that visitors can enjoy the area.
Claire Hollingshurst, who sits on Lubrizol’s charities and communities committee, was one of the scientists who turned out to help the project.
She said:
“Volunteers who regularly help out needed to bring in some machinery to support the renovation of the top garden area at the site, so we were tasked with improving access to an existing path there – which involved moving some large boulders!
“We cleared dead bracken from a dry stone wall which was estimated to be very old and may not have seen daylight in a long time!
“We also chopped wood and filled up the wood store, helped to level the activity area and remove boulders from this area too, one of which was so big it has actually been set at the side as a bench!“It was hard work but we always really enjoy working at Lea Wood and Aqueduct Cottage and it’s great to give back to such a great project right on our doorstep.
“Volunteering is great for team building and everybody got a lot out of our time there.”
Lubrizol’s team of helpers at Lea Wood and Aqueduct Cottage are part of the company’s global ‘Month of Impact’ which has seen nearly 500 employees volunteering their time in many projects across the world this June.
Volunteers from Lubrizol in Hazelwood also stepped up to the plate at YMCA Derbyshire this month, providing and dishing out one of the charity’s regular community meals to those it helps with its services.
The American-owned company, which has sites across the globe, is contributing thousands of hours of volunteering this month in many different projects.
In the UK, volunteers at Lubrizol’s site in Manchester have been working on a range of projects including creating wellness packs for children waiting for mental health support and helping in schools, while over at its site in Huddersfield, Lubrizol volunteers took a day out to help the River Holme Connections charity rid the area of the highly invasive Himalayan Balsam to allow native plants to thrive.
Over in America, 300 volunteers from Lubrizol’s operations in Ohio did a whole year’s work in just one day at the Achievement Centers for Children’s Camp Cheerful, which provides holistic and family-focused services for children and adults with disabilities.
