Advent Calendar – Page 3 – Wellingborough Eco Group

Christmas Appeal

Today our Advent Calendar window opens to support our wonderful friends at Animals In Need and their Christmas Appeal. Animals in Need are an organisation dedicated to rescuing sick, injured, trapped and distressed wild and domestic animals. They provide veterinary treatment where necessary, care for and rehabilitate animals until they can be released or re-homed. Animals In Need was set up in 1990, the aim of the organization is alleviate suffering in animals; and their Christmas Appeal is for gifts for the animals in their care this Christmas.

Every year they try to ensure every animal in their care at Christmas receives a gift. They are asking for a Christmas box or goodie bag containing food, treats, toys, a blanket or towel. All gifts can be dropped off at the shelter right up to Christmas Eve, 12-3 daily. They care for a wide variety of different animals & are truly grateful for all the support!

The animal Shelter is at Pine Tree Farm, London Road, Little Irchester, Northamptonshire, NN8 2EH and is open to the public between 12 midday and 3pm Tuesday to Sunday. It is run by 8 members of staff and a team of volunteers at Pine Tree Farm and out attending to both domestic and wild animals in the Northamptonshire area. They also work with Northamptonshire Police attending road traffic accidents and out of hours emergencies. Here founder of Animals in Need, Roy Marriott, tells us about the charity with a rescued pig, Ruby:

Feeding and caring for the injured animals they rescue is most important especially in cases of young orphaned birds, which need hand feeding every hour from dawn till dusk. Also young hedgehogs which haven’t reached the required weight to survive hibernation over the winter months, need to be kept warm and fed as do swans that have incurred injuries, many from fishing tackle that they have swallowed or become entangled in.

Volunteer Recruitment Day

SATURDAY, 14 JANUARY 2023 FROM 12:00-15:00

If your New Years resolution to make new friends, get more exercise & volunteer your time to a charity? This is the event for you! Animals in Need have lots of great opportunities, so why not come and meet their beautiful animals who can’t wait to meet you. Are you 16 or over, can do four or more hours, don’t mind getting your hands dirty and care for animals? If that’s you and you’re reliable they would love to see you at their Volunteer Day on Saturday 14th January 12-3.

Support Animals in Need

The shelter has a vegan cafe which will re-open on January 7th, 11:00 until 4:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. Pop in for some wonderful vegan food, breakfasts, toasty, shepherds pie, mac n cheese, or beyond burger with chips. There are incredible cakes from Motley bakes plus sweets and chocolate. All funds raised support the animals in there care.

They also have charity shop is at 89 Lea Red, Abington, Northampton. It is open 9am until 5pm Monday to Saturday but closed on Sundays. Why not pop in and grab a Christmas bargain whilst raising vital funds for the animals at the shelter. But if you don’t like shopping, and even worse leave everything to the last minute, why not surprise your friends and family with an animal sponsorship, details can be found and more at http://animals-in-need.org

Food for Thought

With today’s Advent Calendar, we are opening a new window for a fabulous shop, Food for Thought! We featured them on last year’s Advent Calendar for their first birthday and on our first Advent Calendar on their opening day, and we’re really excited to show you around again this year…

Pop in for loads of last minute Christmas gifts under £20!

Food for Thought have food, cleaning, personal hygiene products and accessories for sale. Kerry, the shop’s owner, gave us a tour of her emporium, and we videoed it for you. Here is Kerry telling us all about the products available at Food for Thought, including lots of new ones:

Kerry has opened her ‘zero-waste emporium’ in Nene Court, Wellingborough, to reduce plastic pollution & celebrate locally made. Their motto is more joy with less waste!

At Food for Thought, you can buy loose and eco friendly goods, such as food stuffs, self-care and cleaning products. You simply fill, weigh and pay for what you need. So save your jars and bottles. Wash them out and refill at Food for Thought!

Eco gifts, cards, refill cleaning products and food.

They will be open between Christmas and New Year. There won’t be veg or bread as they’re suppliers are closed for the whole period but there will be eggs & all their usual refill goodness, plus lots of eco-friendly gifts, hampers, snacks, drinks & if you’re looking for more of an experience to gift, consider their workshops & gift vouchers!

So if you’re looking for great food and cleaning products with zero waste, find Food for Thought at 21 Nene Court, Wellingborough, NN8 1LD

Opening Hours

Monday: Closed
Tuesday: 8.30am-12.30pm
Wednesday: 10am – 3pm
Thursday: 10am – 4:30pm or 11am – 7.30pm (1st/month)
Friday: 10am – 4:30pm
Saturday: 10am – 4:30pm
Sunday: Closed

+44 (0) 7912 696097

Find out more at https://www.foodforthought.shop/

Wellie Wombles

Today’s Advent Calendar window opens to say thank you to Wellie Wombles, the litter picking group from Wellingborough Eco Group, started on Facebook by Freddie Harris in February 2021, as a Wellingborough and East Northamptonshire group of Northants Litter Wombles, who including our Wombles and group picks have picked 50,000 bags so far! Both groups have been set up to encourage people to litter pick. Here’s Freddie talking about Wellie Wombles:

Wellie Wombles are individual litter pickers who, like the TV Characters, go Wombling free tidying up after the everyday people. We do suggest that Wombles start near where you live but can litter pick whenever they want to, and pretty much wherever they want to. As a group we simply offer help, supplies and guidance, plus give litter pickers the chance to share photos with each other of what has been picked on the Wellie Wombles Facebook group.

Wellie Wombles regularly litter pick 100+ bags a month just in Wellingborough! Maybe you have seen a Wellie Womble or two tidying up your local area, or have seen one of those red bags at the side of the road? Wellie Wombles also join in the Wellingborough Eco Group ‘Two Hour Tidy Up’ every month, tidying up local parks and public spaces.

Plus Freddie is busy working behind the scenes and has had some great success stories, including engaging with local schools and young people on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, by setting up local neighbourhood hubs where people can borrow our litter pickers and hoops; and with local business, to get them to take up litter picking. He is currently engaging with supporters over the festive period to see if they would like to do some picking too.

To help you, we are at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall every Tuesday afternoon 2-6 for Tuesday Tidy Ups, plus we’ve teamed up with Wellingborough Library Monday to Saturday and with many other community partners; to loan litter pickers, hi-vis and hoops, and to give away bags. We call these partners Hubs, here is a map of where they are:

Equipment and bags are to be collected from one of the above locations, equipment is to be returned on the same day; and bags left for North Northants Council by a public highway or at Glamis Hall on Tuesdays for collection. To get bags collected, simply report them on our website. You can also purchase a variety of pickers and hoops from us at our Tuesday Tidy Ups.

Come to Tuesday Tidy Ups this afternoon at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall from 2:00 until 6:00pm to meet Freddie and other Wellie Wombles for a tidy up or just a cup of tea and a chat. Find out more about Wellie Wombles on our webpage or join the Wellie Wombles Facebook group.

L.I.V.E. Team

Today’s Advent Calendar window opens for L.I.V.E. Team and all the wonderful things that they do including their free ‘Coats for Kids’. Here is a video of Debs from the team telling us about them:

L.I.V.E. stands for Learning Independence Volunteering Employment and they are a specialist team that exists to provide bespoke support to individuals (with learning disabilities and related barriers to employment) in four key areas – Learning, Independence, Volunteering and Employment.

Their aim is to provide meaningful opportunities, raise aspirations and provide support with an empowering ethos to enable individuals to fulfil their potential and exceed expectations. They teamed up with Greatwell Places to help clean up our communities during the summer, and to tidy up neglected gardens for their residents.

Since L.I.V.E. Team in Wellingborough launched ‘Coats for Kids’ on 25 October, they have handed out and helped many families in need, gifting 68 coats from their rails.

Their volunteers are currently stock-checking and washing new coat donations, to make sure they are in the best condition to be gifted out. They have a Coat for Kids rail at Swap Shop in ECO HUB Glamis Hall (NN8 3RU) on Tuesdays, Hemmingwell Community and Skills Centre (NN8 4TU) on Thursdays, and Irchester Library (NN29 7AA) six days a week.

They are still asking for donations for good condition kids coats. If you have any, please get in contact with them, and they could possibly arrange pick up or drop off. Call 07407800192 / 01604362197.

Co-op

Today we open our Advent Calendar window for the Co-op and for Jonathan, their Member Pioneer in Wellingborough. He is there to connect with the community and help support local causes via Wellingborough’s Co-op stores at Olympic Way and Redhill; and today he is hosting the Co-op Christmas Winter Warmer in our ECO HUB at Glamis Hall!

Join in with the Co-op to celebrate Christmas a week early!

Join us for a hot food swap. Jonathan, invites you to share food with us this Sunday lunchtime, 12:00-3:00. The Co-op will be supplying loads of party food and we will also be cooking up some tasty treats, plus there’s festive fun and games too, all welcome!

The Co-op employs Jonathan and other local Member Pioneers to continue to build stronger and more resilient communities by supporting projects offering: Fair access to food, fair access to mental wellbeing support and fair access to education and employment for young people. New for this year, the Co-op is also supporting sustainability and climate change projects, and we are one of this year’s causes!

Support local good causes with Co-op, choose a local cause today…

When you buy selected Co-op products and services, 2p for every £1 spent goes into your membership account, and they’ll split the same between like-minded organisations and local causes. The three causes in Wellingborough are Iris-May Butterfly Kisses, Teamwork Trust and Wellingborough Eco Group. You can select the local cause you would like to support on the Co-op App or at https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes

Working together to help everyone cope with the cost-of-living crisis…

Jonathan runs the Community Resilience Forum on the last Friday afternoon each month (except December) for local people, including businesses and community organisations, to work together to help everyone cope with the cost-of-living crisis. This forum also contributes and decides with Jonathan what is on the Wellingborough Organisations website and social media outlets, which also includes Wellingborough Forum on Facebook and Nextdoor.

We can all do our bit for our community. Together, we have raised £117m to support local communities across the UK sine 2016. Become a Co-op member and help support causes in your community. Download the app, join today and join in today to celebrate Christmas early or just to enjoy each others and Co-op food at this afternoon’s Co-op Christmas Winter Warmer. You will find us at ECO HUB Glamis Hall, Goldsmith Road, Wellingborough, NN8 3RU. See you there!

Toy Amnesty

We open today’s Advent Calendar for ‘We’re all in. Northants‘ and their Toy Amnesty, a toy and gift event that’s on this weekend. It takes place in the pavilion at Wilby playing fields, start time today is 12 and finishes at 3pm. Sunday start time is 11 and finishes at 2pm.

Not only will there be the gift event but there will be a tombola, refreshments, popcorn, cake, all sorts of items to buy and also an opportunity to pick up a free coat, hat and gloves. In this weather we all need these items and they are letting you choose one of each for free. (If you can afford to donate please do but not essential)

Here is a video tour of the Toy Amnesty uploaded as the event started!

We’re All In. Northants is a limited company and group run by Kat Neale, that promotes the local events going on in Northants and also sources items for members to purchase at cheaper prices than the shops. ALL money raised goes to her other groups Wilby Community Food Group, Wellingborough Baby Bank and their chosen monthly cause.

Kat decided to run a toy amnesty through December and January, so people could have a pre-Christmas clear out and give toys with life left in them to someone new. Any good/new/like new toys will be used for families struggling to afford presents at this time.

Toys in less than this condition but that could still make a child happy are being listed on her ‘Hand Me Downation‘ Facebook group for a small food or monetary donation, proceeds again going back into the food group, the causes and baby bank. Any unadoptable toys will be recycled or upcycled by being offered on a new craft/upcycling group Kat has just launched on Facebook called Procraftination.

Come and join Kat and all at Wilby playing fields pavilion, today 12-3pm or Sunday 11am-2pm, ask questions about We’re all in. Northants and her other groups, ask how you can support these or what projects are on the horizon! Wilby Community Food Group is also open at 124 Main Road, so do visit that too while you’re in the village.

Teamwork Trust

Today’s Advent Calendar window opens for Teamwork Trust who are a charity and social enterprise who are celebrating 40 years of supporting autistic adults, people with learning disabilities and individuals with mental health needs in North Northamptonshire.

The disabled community was particularly hard hit by the Covid lockdowns and Teamwork want to find a way to get this community to make new friends, stop people feeling lonely, but also to talk a lot, walk a lot or craft a lot. At Teamwork Trust, they want to learn and share ways to cope and to enjoy being together.

Here Kizzi, Mark and Michael tell you what they do in Wellingborough

Teamwork Trust helps vulnerable adults to achieve their goals. They care and are passionate about ensuring that everyone has access to the same chances, choices and opportunities. They embrace and celebrate individual needs and abilities. Service users help to steer and plan everything they do.

Their three centres, based in Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough, are friendly, safe and supportive places in which service users make new friends, access education and employment experiences, and take part in on and off-site activities and classes. They have a packed programme of living and learning projects, and activities, as well as wellbeing and counselling programmes.

They run ‘factory floor’ facilities from their three centres providing a range of assembling, reworking, finishing, labelling, packing and fulfilment services, to offer reliable commercial outsourcing service offers a cost-effective and efficient option for businesses, while giving adults with mental health needs, learning and physical disabilities valuable vocational experience at the same time.

In Wellingborough they do lots of assembly jobs, including making badges for companies, community groups and events. Customers include Wellie Wombles and events include the Waendel Walk! They are also making blankets for the homeless out of crisp packets, and you can donate your crisp packets either directly or at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall. The Wellingborough centre is based at:

Teamwork Trust
38A Oxford Street
Wellingborough
Northamptonshire
NN8 4JG

Tel 01933 442066

Want to help? Or need to join them? They need volunteers and want to help you if you are feeling lonely. Do join them!

Bee Buffet

We open today’s Advent Calendar window for bees and for North Northamptonshire Council’s ‘Pardon the Weeds’ campaign. They are looking to take the following actions in Wellingborough to improve conditions in their parks, open spaces and highway verges.

North Northamptonshire Council are currently working with internal and external partners to identify further areas of land for pollinator habitat improvement, notably in Wellingborough, with a phased plan for introduction. They are also focussing on Wellingborough to review use of pesticides, and will introduce new mowing regimes and ‘feed the bees’ signage in Wellingborough next spring.

The council’s country parks, woodlands and nature reserves have a long history of managing habitats to improve wildlife. Much of this is achieved through volunteer work programmes supported by the park and woodland Rangers. These parks contain some very valuable wildlife habitats and are the home to nationally scarce species, such as Black Hairstreak and Purple Emperor Butterflies at Fermyn Woods Country Park.

More recently, valuable work on improving pollinator habitats in urban areas has been trialled in the Kettering and Corby areas, including the use of ‘feed the bees’ information signage in verges and parks, to help people understand why their local landscape is changing. This work has been well received and demonstrated the potential for further improvements to our urban greenspaces.

#PardonTheWeeds is a campaign which has been running in parts of the county since 2020. Some high-speed roads and industrial estates are filled with wild-flowers and longer grass to enable bees to feed! Here is North Northamptonshire Council’s recently published plan:

1 – Increase forage resources for pollinator species

Leave more long grass or meadow areas in less formal parts of the parks and open spaces to allow flowers to bloom and seed. Prioritising areas that connect to each other and to existing wildlife habitats and corridors. Where practical they will work to improve the floral diversity of these areas and reduce the dominance of coarser grasses
As part of their ‘Pardon the Weeds’ campaign they will allow suitable verges to flower and become rich in early sources of pollen from March through to June.
Plant at least 1 tree for every one they remove
Plant and encourage a native understorey of flowering plants, such as hawthorn, blackthorn and honeysuckle, particularly in woodland and marginal areas.

2 – Improve habitats for nesting and overwintering pollinators

Keep some areas of long grass throughout the winter as a refuge for insects – cutting on a 3-year rotation to ensure that the areas do not become rank and lose floral diversity.
Acknowledge the importance of bare ground areas for ground-nesting species. Ensure that not all paths and desire lines are hard surfaced or re-turfed, as these are important nesting areas.
Leave patches of nettles and other larval food plants for breeding butterflies and moths.
Avoid planting new specimens of tree species which can be damaging to bumblebee species, such as Tilia petiolaris.
Where practical, support projects that create bee ‘hotels’ to encourage mining and leafcutter bees to nest.
Ensure suitable bio-security measures for new planting if plants are being imported.

3 – Reduce pesticide use

Wherever practicable, aim to reduce the use of pesticides and ensure that where any treatment application is required, that it is minimised by sensitive application techniques, such as spot spraying, using the most up to date technologies and products.

4 – Participate in pollinator projects and action

Engage with stakeholders in areas where significant change is likely, such as through our ‘Pardon the weeds, we are feeding the bees’ signage, etc.
Support or deliver projects aimed at increasing the diversity and abundance of pollinating insects, where practical.
Aim to involve people in improving their environment, such as through volunteering in parks etc.
Include learning about pollinators in their Education Ranger led Outdoor Learning activity programmes with schools and groups.

Our Special 24 – Advent Calendar

Today’s Advent Calendar window opens for a family in Irthlingborough, who, this year for the 8th year running, are turning December in to ’24 days of giving’. They call this ‘Our 24 Special Advent Days’ and on each day they go somewhere in Northamptonshire to spread some cheer and show people that they are appreciated.

This year they are visiting many of the new warm spaces that are popping up across the county. In Wellingborough they have chosen to visit St Marks Church and our Winter Warm Space at ECO HUB in Glamis Hall. They donated a lovely hamper of essentials, and lots of games for our warm space, plus lots of toys and fun items for Wellingborough Swap Shop.

They started this tradition in 2015, which has now become as much a part of their build up to Christmas as putting up a tree, eating too much and singing along to Fairytale of New York! What they give depends on who they visit and what they think they will appreciate receiving. They have 2 parts to how they do things…

Firstly they:-

Make up refreshments boxes for counselling services, support groups, voluntary organisations and hospices.
Go shopping to donate to the counties food banks.
Bake cakes and mince pies for the residents and staff in care homes and homeless shelters.
Take animal food, bedding and treats to animal sanctuaries and rescue shelters.
Donate toys, books, games and craft supplies to toddler groups, and after school and youth clubs.
Support The Samaritans, the domestic abuse services and refuge, and the Northamptonshire Health Charity each year.

Secondly they have what they call Heroes for Heroes. This is where they take Cadbury’s heroes to thank people/groups for being real life Heroes. For this Reece and Maddie make a list of who they think should get a thank you for being a Hero. So far they have included all of our emergency services, road sweepers, library staff, refuse collectors, NHS staff and many more.

For each day they take photos of what they are doing and aim to post them on their Facebook page between 7-8pm. They show you where they went in the county, who they visited and what they gave. If it’s a service, charity or an organisation that could be of help or interest to our followers they will include information about what they do and if appropriate their contact details too.

In the beginning they provided everything they gave themselves. They still buy most of what they give, but in the last couple of years they have received some help from local shops and friends, either by donating money to fund some Cadbury’s heroes, food for the food banks or gifts for us to pass on to others.

If you haven’t already, please like their Facebook page and follow them to see where they end up and who they meet. Maybe even share their posts if you think it might make someone smile, or invite others to like their page too. Thank you for our gifts and everything you do for others the Our Special 24 family!

Swap Shop

We open today’s Advent Calendar window for Wellingborough Swap Shop, our local exchange where you can get something you want by swapping things you no longer need or by making a small donation. It takes place this afternoon, 2-6, at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall.

Here, Jonathan shows you around the Swap Shop this afternoon.

You could describe it as a kind of bring-and-buy sale with the option to swap. Participants do not need to bring anything in order to take away goods, a pay as you feel donation to Wellingborough Eco Group works too.

Our ‘Swap Shop’ recognises that things no longer wanted by someone, might be another person’s treasure. By reusing things we cut down on the amount of waste that goes into landfill and reduce the amount of resources that we use in manufacturing of new products. And it saves money!

What you offer is entirely up to you, as long as it’s legal, not hazardous or not a pet. Examples include: clothes, books, DVDs and CDs, kitchenware, pictures, tools, gardening items, curtains and other soft furnishings, children’s toys and baby items. There is something for everyone.

Join in at ECO HUB, Glamis Hall, this and every Tuesday 2-6pm, this week we have lots of good quality clothes, toys, books, DVDs and household items in stock, all available for swaps or a small donation, plus all this:

Our Food Sharers are there with lots of saved food from supermarkets, including Co-op and from Redeem Funds and Glamis Hall.
Wellie Wombles have ‘Tuesday Tidy Ups’ every week where you can borrow pickers and take bags for litter picking.
The LIVE Team have a ‘free coats for kids’ rail, so don’t let your children go out and get cold.
We are a Winter Warm Space, pop in for a warm up, the kettle’s on if you fancy a coffee or tea.

See you there…