Over the past few months Our Future Beeston (OFB) has been busy within different community areas identifying and supporting climate action based work within Beeston. Here is a roundup of what has been going on in your area.
Trentham Park Hanging Basket Event
OFB supported St Luke’s and St Luke’s CARES’ Hanging Basket event at Trentham Park on 13 June where people from the local Trentham Park area were invited to come and plant a hanging basket or pot with beautiful flowers to put on their doorstep for free. Despite the wind and rain, all baskets and pots were planted, with some flowers left over for Beeston Festival. People even went around the park collecting litter. In exchange for a basket or pot people had to make a litter promise, whether that be joining a litter pick, using their green recycling bins or picking up litter when they see it on the floor. A demonstration recycling bin was at the site alongside lots of paper resource to visualise and articulate what can and cannot be recycled.
A huge thank you to Sue Kaye, Tania Carlisle and all the volunteers for putting on a brilliant event to help tidy up the local area, help develop people’s understanding of recycling and to help create a more biodiverse and greener space.
Beeston Festival
Beeston Festival, as we all know, was a huge success. Thousands of people from near and far descended on Cross Flatts Park for a day of sunshine, fun and food. Our Future Beeston, with help from St Luke’s CARES and St Lukes church, had a wonderful day sowing seeds and potting flowers with members of the community, stimulating wonderful discussions around horticulture, recycling and climate action.
People could also make a Climate Pledge on the stall to help them to think about the little, or large, everyday actions they could do to help the planet. Examples include cutting down use of cars in favour of walking or public transport, and eating a more plant based diet. There are many things we can do to help the environment and become more sustainable and it was clear that many locals already care about environmental and climate issues.
Clarksfield Allotment Day
Although the allotment day may not have gone according to plan, due to how overgrown the plot had gotten, we are still in the process of getting it under control and are on the lookout for gardeners to help us with the project. Thank you to the volunteers from the Lychee Red group and Hong Kongers group that came down to help with the clearing of the allotment. Hopefully the space will be up and sorted soon for community groups to come and enjoy the outdoors whilst improving their physical and mental health.
More news will be coming as and when we get it in regard to the plot and when it can start being used!
Green Futures Trip to Bedford Fields
More recently, Green Futures made a trip to Bedford Fields – a Community Forest Garden located in Woodhouse. Here, the group learned all about the sustainable practices of forest gardening as well as the history of the plants and their origin, tasting some of the edible plants and flowers as they went along. We enjoyed a lovely open fire lunch, adding some of the plants we harvested on our tour, finishing off the session with some reflection of the day. The forest garden provides a space for people to come and immerse themselves in a new environment, learn about nature and the world around them, whilst fostering a sense of community, social cohesion and wellbeing.
Other events have been going on in tandem with the above mentioned. For example the uniform swap afternoon in front of Beeston Village Community Centre allowed some people to donate items of school uniform for them to be reused. More like this will happen throughout the summer with the uniform exchange being held at Breeze in the Park on 31 July at Cross Flatts Park.
If you have any ideas you would like to propose or would like to discuss any support your group may need in regards climate action please contact me, Abi Paterson at ourfuturebeestonhub@gmail.com
Our Future Beeston is part of a citywide movement of climate activity under the banner of Climate Action Leeds. To receive bi-monthly e-news from Climate Action Leeds, please sign up to the mailing list here: www.climateactionleeds.org.uk/newsletter
This post was written by Abi Paterson
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