Author: ecoadmin

Thank you to everyone who attended our Zoom meeting on Thursday night. Simon, Heather, Sophie and Anthony, Judy, Karen, Marion and Jonathan had a very productive session.

We agreed to formally form a separate group from XR Wellingborough after talking about the reasons for doing so. We have also agreed to draw up a constitution, which may include having a committee, but must focus on the group being run collectively by all members. Heather will look at constitutions and share something we can use as a basis for our group.

We talked in detail about the One Wellingborough Plus project, agreed to jointly manage One Wellingborough Plus’s Community Resilience Actions, and to accept funding for our new projects. These will include our community allotment, swap shops, a repair club (to work alongside our Repair Cafes) and a volunteer timebank. Jonathan has agreed to draw up an action plan for these activities.

Judy agreed (weather permitting) to join Jonathan, hopefully Anthony Loukes and anyone else who is interested, at our community allotment plot on Sunday at 11am to see what we can do there. We discussed who would be able to use it, how we could use it to share skills, and what we should grow there. Using the plot to grow flowers for local community centres and community gardens, plus produce to feed animals at Animals in Need were very popular ideas…

Heather offered to host Repair Cafes at Glamis Hall separately from their indoor car boot sales. Simon (who is also one of our repairers) missed this conversation but was keen to start the repair Cafes again. I will contact our other repairers to organise this.

We talked about how we can operate the Repair Cafes and the Repair Club, we looked at how to share how the items are fixed and came up with two solutions. One could be to have a socially distanced audience for one or two repairers, the other option could be recording the repair and sharing via YouTube and social media. Simon thought that we/he can do this, and this idea of sharing by video was also suggested for other demonstrations, for example willow weaving, activities at the community allotment and Judy showing us how to make eco cleaning products.

We discussed our social media groups on Facebook and Nextdoor, our blog and other forums, including our Slack channel*, agreeing that these are easy to use and manage. We decided that with the addition of a YouTube channel, what we have is enough for what we need, and that the logo doesn’t need changing.

Simon  has agreed to host future Zoom meetings with his subscription so that meetings aren’t interrupted by the 40 minute time limit. We agreed to have monthly meetings with this.

We also discussed our current activities, including our litter pick, and talked about how well they are received by local people. Our next litter pick is on Saturday 31st October 10-12, on the Hemmingwell. I will update the group about this in more detail over the weekend…

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* Our Slack channel is at wellingborough.slack.com and anyone can join us to discuss our activities. For an invite please email info@wellingboroughecogroup.org.uk

This month our two hour tidy up will be litter picking the Hemmingwell on Saturday 31st October. It takes place between 10am-12 midday. Halloween costumes can be worn. All welcome!

We are going to be meeting at our recycling station which will be set up from 9:30 in the Nest Farm Crescent car park, where the Well Cafe and other local shops and services are.

We will be litter picking between 10am-12 midday, with so many different areas to tidy up this time, you can decide if you want to tidy up the housing estate or pick litter in the family friendly parks.

Everyone (without Covid-19 symptoms) is welcome, equipment is provided, due to government restrictions, groups of litter pickers are limited to 4 people each. Here are some photos of the area:

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After much debate, we are separating Wellingborough Eco Group and Extinction Rebellion Wellingborough. The overwhelming feeling was that this is the logical thing to do, for three reasons:

1. So that both groups can be more effective by focusing on their own activities.
2. To allow the Eco Group to accept donations.
3. To grow membership of both groups.

Moving forward, we want to ensure Wellingborough Eco Group is a group that is run collectively, we want everyone to join in. Your ideas are and skills are important to us, every member counts!

The focus of the group will continue to be based around sustainability and the environment. Our events are still about helping and encouraging people to become more sustainable whilst improving the environment locally. But what do is up to you…

On Thursday night we are holding a virtual Wellingborough Eco Group General Meeting. This will start at 7:30, on Zoom and is due to last 40 minutes.

Join us via
https://zoom.us/j/91678279718?pwd=d08zZE1uSnRUSDdsejRlN04ybU4zdz09

Meeting ID: 916 7827 9718
Password: Eco

Anyone can get involved, any member can propose an event and we welcome everyone’s ideas. With your involvement, events like these could be coming soon:-

♻️ Clothes Swap
🌍 Sustainability Advice Sessions
🧶 Crotchet Eco Make-Up Wipes
🦔 Introduction to Hedgehogs
🧼 Green Cleaning
🌱 Plant Swap
🌲 Tree Planting
🌳 Willow Weaving Workshop
🍸 Green Drinks
♻ Litter Picking
🔧 Repair Cafe
🌻 Community Allotment

Thank you to everyone involved for making this possible. See you on Thursday 💚

Thank you to our 25 Litter Heroes today who did an amazing tidy up at Croyland Gardens. We collected over 50 bags of litter, half a green bin full of recycling, 25 needles, 6 shopping trolleys and 3 bicycles! Our two magnet fishers also found an array of items including a frying pan and a horse shoe! In total, we had to have two van loads of rubbish taken away, weighing in at over 500kg!

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Thank you to Alice and Stephanie, Alan and Owen, Sabina, Artur and Ignas; Justyna, Judy, Magdalena and Adrian, Niall, John and Tricia, Brian, Bob and Gill, Sam, Inese and Julian, David and Alex; Jonathan, Emma and Billy. Lovely to see lots of children with their families.

Our monthly two hour tidy up this month was to litter pick Croyland Gardens, the site of Wellingborough Zoo! Wellingborough Norse kindly supplied the litter pickers and collected the rubbish we picked. Our recycling station was set up from 9:30 in Morrisons car park, to carry out litter picking between 10am-12 midday. 

SATURDAY 26TH SEPTEMBER 2020

As part of Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British September Clean 2020, this month our two hour tidy up will be litter picking Croyland Gardens on Saturday 26th September.

It takes place between 10am-12 midday. Our recycling station will be set up from 9:30 in Morrison’s Public Car Park.

Everyone is welcome, equipment is provided, groups of litter pickers are limited to 4 people each due to Covid-19 restrictions.

For more details see https://www.facebook.com/events/136998207651885

Join us online for a Extinction Rebellion Wellingborough / Wellingborough Eco Group General Meeting on Tuesday September 1st from 7:30pm. We are going to be on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/91678279718?pwd=d08zZE1uSnRUSDdsejRlN04ybU4zdz09 and use the password Eco

Do join us for networking, news, chat and new friends; and be part of a growing global network where local people push for and build a sustainable future. The meeting will follow an agenda, which will be published before the start.

We have plenty to talk about, including a report from the first day of the rebellion in London, our Keep Britain Tidy litter pick to plan for and progress on the environment by the borough council. Everyone is invited!

Great job done by our 20 Litter Heroes today at Glamis Meadow and Wood. We collected 15 bags of litter, a green bin full of recycling, a car stereo and a bike! Lovely to see lots of children with their families. Thank you to Sabina, Artur and Ignas, Justyna, Dominic and Roxanne, Chris, Rachel, Andy, Anthony, Suzanne, Karen and Jenna, Niall, John and Tricia, Jane, Jonathan, Emma and Billy.

Our monthly two hour tidy up this month was to litter pick the Glamis Meadow and Wood, Wellingborough’s nature reserve! Wellingborough Norse kindly supplied the litter pickers and collected the rubbish we picked. Our recycling station was set up from 9:30 on the footpath from The Promenade (see aerial view) to carry out litter picking between 10am-12 midday.

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Our monthly two hour tidy up this month takes place on Saturday 18th July and is to litter pick the Glamis Meadow and Wood, Wellingborough’s nature reserve! Wellingborough Norse have kindly offered to supply the litter pickers and to collect the rubbish we pick. All welcome!

Our recycling station will be setting up from 9:30 on the footpath from The Promenade (see last couple of photos) to carry out litter picking between 10am-12 midday. With so many different areas to tidy up this time, you can decide if you want to combat the mess in the woods or pick litter in the more family meadow.

We will be asking everyone who takes part to strictly adhere to social distancing of two metres, and for all to take their bags of litter to a collection point for Wellingborough Norse. This is an outdoor activity, gloves and hi-vis vests are to be worn, but face masks are not mandatory.

Here are a few photos of the meadow and wood, see you on Saturday:

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Join Wellingborough’s inaugural Critical Mass on Friday 31st July. Everyone is welcome, including families with children, it is not a race, the idea is to stay in a big group. The route will not be too hilly or too long. Councillor Valerie Anslow will be at the back to make sure that everyone is safe and that no one is left behind.

Critical Mass happens in towns and cities all over the world on the last Friday of every month. It’s a cycling event in which everyone rides together as one big group. It is an opportunity to celebrate cycling but also to protest for change. Cycling needs to be elevated up in terms of its importance. For decades it has been ignored.

This is an event to celebrate cycling and to protest against the lack of action by the councils in terms of the emergency measures for active travel which should have been put in place. This include pop-up cycle lanes with wands. We shall be cycling around as a group reclaiming the street.

Meet at 6.30pm outside Castello Lounge and opposite The Hind Hotel. The cycle ride starts at 7pm. For further details see the event on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1131050487280529/

We are looking to work with partners across the borough to deliver a range of activities that help people and groups build personal and community resilience in response to economic, health and wellbeing pressures.  These Community Resilience Activities will be initially part of the One Wellingborough project, potentially funded by the Borough Council of Wellingborough (subject to approval) and led by the Victoria Centre and Wellingborough Eco Group. Activities will include:

1. Set up a Timebank to support people and help make volunteering sustainable for people and organisations.
2. Establish Community Swap / Sharing Clubs, sharing tools and resources more around people and organisations – helping people and reducing waste.
3. Set up a Community Food Growing project – showing how to grow our own food.
4. Clear up our communities and convert ‘grot spots’ to ‘Love Lots’, growing food, flowers and inspiring people, led by Wellingborough Eco Group and Castle Fields Streetwatch.
5. Getting to Know You – helping people to get to know each other through our ‘talking library’ and helping many people coping with grief know there are people on hand to ‘Listen and Help’

These ideas are all project proposals from members of Wellingborough Eco Group. The listed activities have been included in a grant application by One Wellingborough (Glamis Hall/Victoria Centre) to the Borough Council of Wellingborough. This is of course subject to support from members of the group and other partners from the borough. Wellingborough Eco Group will continue to work on other projects with other partners, including existing and new projects with Glamis Hall. If you want to support any of these activities, please comment here or on our Facebook Group.