Join us on Saturday, 26th April, for our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up, as we return in April again to litter pick The Embankment Park and up to Chester House, where we will also be joined by Nene Rivers Trust, who will be starting from Chester House and working their way to The Embankment.
Join us for our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up this Saturday.
We have litter picked this park before a number of time, including for our very first litter pick in 2020 and last April (see header image) but it needs doing again, and many of the areas around are heavily littered. We have litter pickers and hoops to borrow, lots of bags, and tea, coffee and snacks, all we need is you. Please bring your own gloves.
Our Recycling Station which will be set up at 9:30 for litter picking 10am-12pm, on the car park just off The Embankment road. Do join us to make Wellingborough cleaner, safer and greener. Everyone is welcome, see you on Saturday Morning!
We are hosting special EARTH DAY Tuesday Tidy Ups on April 22. Do join us in with local companies who have been invited to a clear up of either their local area, or with us at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall, to litter pick on the Queensway, focusing on the Shelley Road area and its paths. Litter pickers, hoops and bags are available.
Our group picks will start from 10am and continue till noon. We hope that you will then join us for a social gathering to meet like minded individuals, meet new friends and exchange ideas at ECO HUB and the rear of Glamis Hall where a covered area will be erected where refreshments will be available. Litter pickers and hoops will also be available for individuals 10am to 6pm, so anyone can join in.
We are also hosting a special EARTH DAY Wellingborough Swap Shop with bargain buckets to save great pre-loved items, plus Food Sharers and Happy Cafe will also be open all day too (10am-6pm). Come for bargains or to litter pick for EARTH DAY this Tuesday, and stay for refreshments and much more; see you at ECO HUB this Tuesday!
The kids are off, so what do you do? Why not come meet the Easter Bunny with Wellingborough Eco Group this Good Friday, 18th April, and have some eggciting Easter fun with us.
We have a cracking day planned with stalls full of games, drinks and snacks, Easter Bonnet making for £2, and our annual Easter Egg Hunt for just £2! We will have lot’s of things like crafts and drinks in ECO HUB and outside we will have a few gazebos up with games and food.
The Easter Bunny will be leading the Easter Egg Hunt outside too around Glamis Hall, so everyone will be safe and be fun for all! And perhaps best of all, you’re invited! Come and join in the fun with our Eco Club for Kids and Noughts and Crosses groups, see you and the Easter Bunny this Friday 11am-1pm!
Join us on Saturday, 22nd February, for our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up to litter pick Ladywell Park and the surrounding streets.
We litter picked this park last February it and we have been asked by the residents association to return because the park needs it, plus many of the streets around are also heavily littered.
Join us and Wellie Wombles for our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up this Saturday.
Bring the kids, whole families welcome. We have litter pickers and hoops to borrow, lots of bags, and tea, coffee and snacks, all we need is you. Please bring your own gloves.
Our Recycling Station which will be set up at 9:30 for litter picking 10am-12pm, on the Park just off Neptune Road. Do join us to make Wellingborough cleaner, safer and greener.
Join our FREE course on Tuesday 4th and 11th March, both sessions 7pm-8:30pm, for an introduction to growing sustainable and healthy food.
Retired teacher and keen allotmenteer, John Gilyead, will be leading this course, ably assisted by Jonathan Hornett (who led our Allotments for Beginners course) for the second session.
The course is part of Wellingborough Climate Action Project’s Sustainable Skills programme of courses. These are lead and facilitated by Glamis Hall and funded by North Northamptonshire Council with money from the UK Government.
All courses are free and tools etc. are provided. On completion of this How to Grow Sustainable and Healthy Food course, learners will be able to:
Describe the basic skills to grow various kinds of food in the UK, and what works best where
Describe the different types of food growing such as conventional and organic, and about various weather conditions and pests that can affect food growing
Describe how to prepare the ground, planted seeds etc. and cared for plants as they grow
Understand how to protect plants, harvest them and prepare the ground for next time
Describe next steps and learner progression opportunities
The course will be at The Friends Meeting House (Quaker Society of Friends) St John’s Street, Wellingborough, NN8 4LG, where there is parking and facilities, including free tea and coffee.
This Month’s Two Hour Tidy Up takes place on Saturday 25th January at Shelley Park, and this month we will also be joined by Places for People. We will be setting up our Recycling Station on the Owen Close Play Park from 9:30, for litter picking between 10 and 12. We will be tidying up the estate and the surrounding parks area.
Join us for our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up!
This location has been chosen because Places for People want to improve the area, and because there’s a lot to do, we have been asked to help. The area that we are litter picking is a mixture of a housing estate and open spaces, so there will be something for everyone. It could be cold, so free refreshments including tea and coffee will be available.
To help us and keep us safe at this and future litter picks, Wellingborough Eco Group have purchased some litter pickers, hi-vis vests and safety equipment including road signs, so everything is provided but please bring your own gloves if you can. Join in, bring your friends and family, ALL WELCOME!
Join our FREE course on Saturday 1st February and 1st March 10am-4pm, to find out how to set up an allotment. This time of year is perfect for clearing an allotment and transforming into a usable space to grow in; and that’s exactly what we are going to do.
We are taking an unused allotment and making it into micro plots, which involves planning how to do it (we will have free tea and coffee, and a warm cabin to do that in) and then making it happen. Jonathan Hornett, your RHS trained course leader, will have already cut everything back, so will have a blank canvas to work on.
The plot will be at Ladywell Allotments, Wellingborough, NN8 4AP, and the courses will be on Saturday 1st February and Saturday 1st March 10am-4pm. The courses are part of Wellingborough Climate Action Projects Sustainable Skills programme of courses. These are lead and facilitated by Glamis Hall and funded by North Northamptonshire Council with money from the UK Government.
All courses are free and tools are provided. We will also provide hot and cold drinks, you will have to bring your own lunch. On completion of this How to Allotments for Beginners course, learners will be able to:
Describe essential allotment planning and layout techniques, including crop rotation and seasonal planting
Describe key terminology in vegetable growing, such as sowing, transplanting, companion planting, and succession planting
Demonstrate foundational skills in soil preparation, watering, pest control, and organic fertilisation to support healthy plant growth
Produce a basic allotment plan
On Saturday 1st February we will be about planning and setting up an allotment, including establishing beds and looking at installing a shed, water-butts and a compost bin. On Saturday 1st March (ie when it starts getting a bit warmer) we will teach you about preparing the beds and then start sewing and growing.
Wellingborough Repair Café textile, electrical and all other repairs will be in the main hall at Glamis Hall. We still have spaces for textile repairs but electrical items are fully booked this month.
There will not be a Glamis Hall Indoor Boot Sale, but we will have hot drinks available and there are lots of second hand items in our Swap Shop for you to grab a bargain at.
Bring your swaps in too, we have a large selection of new and nearly new items in the hall, plus loads of pre-loved items including clothes, books, toys, electrical items, DVDs, and our School Uniform Bank in ECO HUB, everything is available for a swap or a donation (any new items will be priced)
Did you know that volunteers from Wellingborough Eco Group Nature Rangers with North Northamptonshire Council, planted over a thousand trees in Wellingborough last year? Well, we are going to be planting another thousand trees this year too, do join us!
After successful planting sessions in December 2023 (as featured on our Advent Calendar, see also video below and the header image) and again last March, we are returning to Kilborn park, and to two other locations, to plant lots more trees! We will have tea and coffee available, plus hand washing facilities. Meet at our Tree Planting Stations from 10am.
We will be planting whips again with North Northamptonshire Council and everything will be fully funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. We plan to plant a mixture of native woodland species. We have selected the following three sites for possible planting: (Please also see maps below with planting areas highlighted in red):
Kilborn Park : It would be great to continue with the planting we did last year in this park. There’s still plenty of space and we plan to plant another 500 whips here.
Gainsborough Drive: Planting along the right-side edge of the greenspace alongside the existing trees. This would include around 300 trees.
Brickhill Road: Planting along the line of existing trees to create a graded woodland edge habitat. This would include approximately 200 trees.
Kilborn ParkGainsborough DriveBrickhill Road
We are looking to plant the trees in the New Year on the third Saturday of each month, please join us at our planting trees events from 10am till 1pm on the following dates:
Kilborn Park (500 trees) – Saturday 18th January
Gainsborough Drive (300 trees) – Saturday 15th February
Brickhill Road (200 trees) – Saturday 15th March
Come and plant a tree – The trees will be a mixture of hawthorn, dogwood, wild cherry, silver birch, rowan and hazel, bring your spades and join in from 10am! All welcome, we would like everyone like to come and plant trees!
Wow, what an amazing year for Wellingborough Eco Group! We have been very busy every month doing loads of good things for you and for the environment; and we have had some fabulous events and moments. Here we look back at some of the highlights from each Month:
January
The year kicked off at ECO HUB with our New Year’s Eve Party, where lots of food and fun were had, including a very popular karaoke! It was an action packed month with frosty days at our Community Allotment, a busy Repair Cafe and a huge stall at Glamis Hall’s Indoor Car Boot Sale.
Our services resumed at ECO HUB too, including our popular Tuesday Tidy Ups, Food Sharers, Happy Cafes and Swap Shops. We were inundated with food to share after the festive period, and we had a Unwanted Christmas Present Swap Shop to kick it all off again…
And we had a By-election, where we featured four times on national and local TV and in the newspapers too! Here is a video of when the BBC visited ECO HUB and when they joined our Wellie Wombles on Queensway Park:
Evening activities restarted too, including our new Sew Socials on a Monday, Green Drinks on the first Tuesday, Noughts and Crosses Polish Community Group on Wednesdays and Replay Fun Fridays too. To finish the month off we had a Bingo Night for the Save Our Trees campaign, and litter picked Bassetts Close Park and the surrounding area.
February
It was Time to Talk Day to start February off the Co-op at ECO HUB, with Eco Club for Kids having a Fun Day, with Brightways coming to do a survey and fix bicyles, plus our weekly activities and more by-election coverage, ECO HUB was the place to be.
We had another huge stall at the Indoor Car Boot Sale with a tombola to raise funds to take the Save Our Trees campaign to the High Court, and had a successful Repair Cafe which also took place at Glamis Hall. Our Nature Rangers Sapling Savers saved lots of little trees and brought them into ECO HUB, the Nature Rangers also had a Free Range ramble and joined in with one of our Community Allotment Working Parties too.
Wellie Wombles celebrated their third birthday and Wellingborough Walks Action Group marked the first anniversary of the loss of the first tree on The Walks. Our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up was at a new location, Ladywell Park, it was arranged with the local residents association and was great to see lots of new litter pickers out.
March
This month kicked off with a Beetle Drive for the Save Our Trees Campaign, much fun was had and we were all treated to some great songs by Malcolm from Co-op Wincanton.
We were busy bees at ECO HUB, with Swap Shops, Happy Cafes, Food Sharers and our School Uniform Reuse Project bringing in more that 70 people every Tuesday! Our Nature Rangers also had a great Free Range of Park Farm, litter picking the undergrowth before it started to grow again.
At our Repair Cafe, many more of your electrical, textile and bicycles were fixed. Meanwhile down at our Community Allotment, thanks to the hard work of our intrepid gardeners, things were starting to look great, and grow…
We had our first Big ECO Weekend, starting with a special Repair Cafe in the Swansgate Shopping Centre and a Careers and Wellness event at Glamis Hall on the Friday, then The Great British Spring Clean in Wellingborough Town Centre on Saturday, and then planting 720 trees in Kilborn Park on the Sunday!
To finish the month we held our annual Eco Club for Kids Easter Egg Hunt on Good Friday at ECO HUB, where lots of children joined in with the food and fun. On Saturday we had a stall at an Ester Fair at Wellingborough Museum, and on Easter Sunday we had a stall at Animals in Need’s Spring Fair.
April
Spring had apparently sprung daleks at our Community Allotment on 1st April, but we won the battle with them, and the weeds. We took part in the Community Clean Up of Hemmingwell, continued with busy sessions at ECO HUB and had another productive Repair Cafe.
Wellie Wombles continued with their CLEAN programme for schools and groups for under 16s to help them understand the impact litter has on all our lives and their futures. With two presenters they do a presntation, then go out litter picking with the children.
Our Nature Rangers went to FREE RANGE around Glamis Woods and Meadow, our monthly Two Hour Tidy Up was at The Embankment and on The Walks, and Wellingborough Walks Action Group had a Quiz Night fundraising event and then went to the High Court to Save Our Trees!
May
As the Save Our Trees High Court Judicial Review continued, ECO HUB had a live feed to court proceedings, but was too busy to hear much! Campaigners at the court protested outside and were delighted with how things went inside. Later in May we found out the that we had won the Judicial Review, which meant that no trees could be felled, but North Northamptonshire Council had already published planning documents to do this during the court case. Wellingborough Walks Action Group led objections to these plans, but as yet these have yet to be brought before the council.
At the allotment we had a great Free Range with our Nature Ranger, our Eco Club for Kids had a great session there, and our Community Allotment Working Parties were making it look great. With Ladywell Allotments, we hosted the Allotment Project, a performance outside the Cabin of interviews taken last year.
We took part in the Waendal Walk, Jonathan did the Town Council’s social media posts and we had a stall at the Castle during the weekend; and our Two Hour Tidy Up litter picked Stanwell Park.
At the Town Council’s Annual Meeting Jonathan was awarded with the Environmental Champion Citizen’s Award. This was accepted for everyone of you that helps to make Wellingborough Eco Group and in particular (as nominated) has made ECO HUB successful, thank you and well done all!
June
Summer was here and so was the Great Big Green Week! We had activities every day for the whole week to show everyone what we do:
Saturday 8th a Repair Cafe at Glamis Hall and a Swap Shop at Hemmingwell Skills and Community Centre’s Fun Day
Sunday Wellie Wombles tidied up the Gleneagles Estate and we had a Happy Cafe with Wellingborough Town Council at concert for D-Day in Castle Fields Park
Monday our Nature Rangers had a Free Range at our Community Allotment
Tuesday was Food Sharers, Swap Shop, Happy Cafe and Tuesday Tidy Ups, plus Co-op Sustainability LIVE at ECO HUB
Wednesday our Noughts and Crosses Polish Community Group did eco-crafts at ECO HUB
Thursday was Eco-Crafters, Swap Shop and Happy Cafe at ECO HUB
Friday Eco Club for Kids did more eco-crafts and in the evening we had a Replay Friday games night at ECO HUB
Saturday Noughts and Crosses had a Sports and Games event in Glamis Hall
And there was so much more in June, including Eco Club for Kids at our Community Allotment, a Free Range to look after trees we had planted on Kilborn Park, we hosted Wellingborough’s General Election Hustings and our Two Hour Tidy Up litter picked Brickhill Road and Queensway Park.
July
And July was epic too! This month’s highlights included Wellingborough Carnival, we we won for the second year running! And Party in the Park where we had a great stall.
Plus we had a stall at Wellingborough Library’s 50th Birthday Celebration, a Repair Cafe at ECO HUB, our Nature Rangers looked after the Queen’s Trees we planted with Wellingborough Town Council and we replaced the Kings Tree in Castlefields, and we had three stalls at Glamis Hall’s Family Fun Day plus a Two Hour Tidy Up before and a Tidy after the event too!
August
The sun was shining and everything was parched, including the trees we planted in Croyland Park, so our Nature Rangers cleared round them and gave them a drink, amazingly finding frogs in the long grass!
ECO HUB was open for all activities during the school holidays apart for the childrens groups, Happy Cafe served cold drinks as well as tea, coffee and hot food too. To round of the month we had a Two Hour Tidy Up of Croyland Gardens, even rescuing a litter bin out of the brook!
September
This was also the month for our Green Festival, where we offered fun activities, entertainment, food and lots of stalls. We were joined again by Brightwayz who serviced lots of bicycles and everyone had a great day.
At our Community Allotment we were harvesting lots of fruit and veg, enjoying lots of sunflowers and starting to prepare the area for our new workshop with help from Ian. We also started our How to… sessions off with How to Fix IT at ECO HUB, with many craft sessions hosted by our Eco-Crafter Emma and information sessions hosted by Marion with Gamis Hall and Wellingborough Climate Action Project.
This is our Birthday month, where we celebrated five great years of Wellingborough Eco Group and two busy years of ECO HUB for which we had a party on the 1st at ECO HUB. We also had stalls at The Umbrella Fair weekend in Northampton and another at The Family Bonanza on Glenvale Park; and had a Two Hour Tidy Up of Castlefields Park and The Embankment on the last Saturday of the month, near to where we held our first ever Two Hour Tidy Up!
October
Busy bees again in October, who were put to bed at our Community Allotment. At The Victoria Centre GLJ Thetre invited us to join in for their Eco Granny performance, and Co-op Wincanton did a Ride for the Roof at Glamis Hall, finishing outside ECO HUB.
Wellingborough Walks Action Group hosted a Bingo Night to raise funds for more court fees and they received an award from Wellingborough Civic Society for services to the town. Our Nature Rangers got stuck in at our Community Allotment, we had a spooky Two Hour Tidy Up of London Road Cemetery, and on Halloween we had a special Swap Shop and spooky Happy Cafe where we carved pumpkins with the local children.
November
This month we gave you three opportunities to get items fixed. We had two Repair Cafes, one at Wellingborough Library on Thursday 7th and one at Glamis Hall on the second Saturday as normal, plus a How to Fix IT session on the Thursday afterwards at ECO HUB.
At the Community Allotment our Working Parties continued clearing up, preparing the space for the new workshop and sowing seeds. Our ECO HUB was as busy as ever, with lots of new people taking advantage of our Happy Cafe Winter Warm Spaces. And on the last day of the month our Two Hour Tidy Up made Wellingborough Town Centre twinkle, for Wellingborough Twinkle where we and many others had stalls for the big Christmas lights switch on.
December
This month we had a Green Tips Advent Calendar, with a different Green Tip every day! Many of the windows also coincided with events in the town, including our How to Upcycle workshop where we made Christmas Trees out of old pallets.
At Glamis Hall’s Christmas Festival we brought back our famous Racing Reindeer, which were very popular, we also had a festive tombola too. Our Repair Cafe was at Tesco Community Room and Wellingborough Walks Action Group also had a tombola in the Swansgate Shopping centre to Save Our Trees.
ECO HUB had a month long special Christmas Swap Shop, with lots of toys and Christmas goodies, two Co-op Wincanton Christmas Hampers were given away during the week before Christmas and festive treats were served at our Happy Cafes all month too.
Emma entered an amazing tree made out of a pile of clothes to Wellingborough Christmas Tree Festival, our Eco Club for Kids had a Christmas Party just before the big day and we had a Two Hour TIdy Up of Croyland Park were we retrieved a record 21 shopping trollies from the brook!
2024 – The Busiest Year so far!
We really did have an amazing year, packed full of activities and events that included being featured on TV, hosting a hustings, winning an award and holding a Green Festival. Here are some stats from 2024:
ECO HUB looked after more than 6000 people
Food Sharers saved 800 crates of fresh food from being thrown away
Swap Shop saved thousands of items and saved local people hundreds of pounds
Repair Cafe repaired hundreds of your items
We ran several courses with Glamis Hall and Wellingborough Climate Action Project
Nature Rangers planted over 1200 trees in Wellingborough!
Wellie Wombles have picked up 10150 bags full of rubbish since they started nearly four years ago, including at our monthly Two Hour Tidy Ups and Tuesday Tidy Ups
And this year they have presented CLEAN to 1065 young people.
Happy New Year!
Wow, well done all, we would like to thank everyone who has volunteered or joined in with our activities. 2025 promises to be great too, with more trees to plant, courses planned and activities to do, we hope that the New Year is great for you and the environment in Wellingborough too. Happy New Year everyone!
