In a small workshop in Haywards Heath, cricket bats are being restored to life. Barney Morris, better known as Barney Bats, repairs around 50 damaged bats each week. After a busy weekend of matches, his workbench can resemble a triage unit as bats arrive in need of care and attention. Morris, who runs the cricket […]
Once I figured out how to make refill work in my life, it’s become something beautifully simple. I’m lucky to have an organic shop nearby that stocks seasonal fruit and veg, refill options for pantry staples, toiletries and household cleaning, as well as kombucha on tap and fresh herbs. It’s a place I actually enjoy […]
By Keir Hartley Across West Sussex, more and more communities are finding simple ways to cut waste and make the most of what they already have. Whether it’s fixing broken items, passing on unwanted goods or switching to refillable options, people are discovering that small changes can make a big difference. At Sussex Green Living, […]
Sussex Green Living is excited to announce that a new dry-food refill service will be coming to Storrington this summer. The service will launch on Wednesday 23 July at Chanctonbury Leisure Centre and will run every fourth Wednesday from 9am to midday alongside the UK Harvest food hub. Local residents can bring their own containers […]
by Amanda Law, the Brighton Socks Company Having coffee with an old friend in Brighton’s North Laine recently, the conversation quickly, and inevitably, turned to the climate crisis. Many of my conversations do these days, especially when discussing my small business, the Brighton Socks Company. My friend and I agreed, without question, on the need […]
24 May – 1 June 2025 www.childrensgardeningweek.co.uk www.plantlife.org.uk/campaigns/nomowmay by Marianne Lindfield – Climate Action Engagement Officer, SGL Children’s Gardening Week arrives as May gives way to June, when the garden has found its stride and everything is stretching into summer. It often falls during half term, which makes it the perfect time to step outside […]
by Daisy Day, Master Beekeeper In Britain there are around 250 different species of bees. A few of these are social insects living in large organised communities such as bumblebees and of course honeybees. All bees feed on nectar for energy and feed their larvae on pollen for protein, both collected from flowers. Pollination is […]
by Elle Runton. Deputy Trustee Sussex Green Living. It would be fair to say I’m not yet a gardener. My grandfather had a smallholding, and my uncle just lays his thumb on a plant leaf and it blossoms at his touch, but I’m embarking on a learning journey—with some success. My local Sussex nursery-bought raspberry […]
Written by Marianne Lindfield Living with the land and recognising that even our gardens are part of it has been part of my thinking for a long time. As a permaculturalist observing patterns, valuing edges and letting nature lead is not new but each year the practice becomes more visible. This spring has brought […]
Festive Fun that doesn’t cost the Earth. Christmas doesn’t have to be a costly burden, with a little effort and imagination we can have a waste free festive season, save money and protect the planet for future generations.
Celebrating Local Apples: Sweet Success at Transition’s First Apple Day. On Saturday, 19th October, Transition Horsham held its first Apple Day at the Unitarian church hall and garden. It was a great success with over 150 people coming through the door. Visitors were treated to an amazing selection of apple varieties to admire and taste, […]
Dogs and Wolves: Saving nature in Lewes where dogs are behaving like wolves! In Lewes, dogs are on a mission to help the environment, and they’re doing it by acting like wolves! A long time ago, before wolves disappeared from the UK in the 1760s, they travelled across large areas every night, sometimes covering over […]
How Affordable are Affordable Homes? We’ve heard a lot recently about housebuilding. Horsham District Council’s new Local Plan is now with the Government appointed inspector. Meanwhile, central government is promising to double the number of new homes built each year, which could potentially mean a lot more building in our District
Preparing for Spring: Flowering Food for our Hungry Pollinators! As we head towards autumn, it’s time to think about spring planting and preparing our outside spaces and Pollination Education Stations (PES) for the coming year to give our pollinators the best chance of survival during the winter and provide them with rich, nutritious food sources […]
Enjoying ducks and protecting ponds: Horsham Town has two new family-friendly Wildways Trails thanks to Horsham Green Spaces, and these are a wonderful way to explore nature, with both routes beginning and ending at picturesque ponds. Ponds are often home to ducks, and we are fortunate to have a newly restored, wildlife-friendly pond in Horsham […]
Worthing’s new heat network brings in the community. Can we really find ways to ensure that everyone gets a benefit from Net Zero? Not just by doing the right thing, or far in the future, but here, now, in terms of tangible things like jobs and lower costs? According to Charlotte Owen, yes, we can. […]
Partnering for a Greener Future: At SGL we’re thrilled to be partnering with Greenwood, which is a great example of how a company can become ‘greener’.
Country Ways: Val volunteers with Transition Horsham which runs the community allotment. She has decades of experience, as since childhood, she worked alongside her father on his allotment. When she married, she and her husband grew everything: cabbages, turnips, swedes, cauliflower, runner beans, potatoes, radishes, gherkins, onions…and nothing was wasted. Even the swede and turnip leaf […]
Animal Friends: On Monday this week, I attended a wonderful open-air theatre performance in a hornbeam circle in a private woodland. The tree circle to create the ‘stage’ had been planted many years previously and the play wasn’t unique only in its setting- it had been crafted by the young children who performed it. They […]
Horsham’s Future: Sustainable Developments. Although we have had a change of government and Horsham has a Liberal-Democrat MP instead of a Conservative representative, the pressure to build new houses in our local area is not going to change.
Rainbows and Hope. Rainbows have always been a symbol of hope, and I took this photograph at the weekend, just after my friend had said, “It’s impossible to take a good photograph of a rainbow.”
Without nature we are nothing. With that in mind, Sussex Green Living, Horsham Eco Churches and their supporters joined more than 60,000 people, representing 350 environmental groups on the Restore Nature Now march (led by Chris Packham) from Park Lane to Parliament Square in London on June 22. It was a well organised family event, […]
Vote Wisely for the Planet. Sussex Green Living recently hosted the launch of Horsham MP Watch at the Sussex Green Hub. Pat Smith from Dorking introduced MP Watch to explain the nationwide service it provides for all residents. The idea is that amongst all the spin, information, misinformation, and media stories, the conflicting reports can […]
Confessions of a reformed Lawn Addict. Oh, the swelling ambition with which I greeted my first lawn! (it was tiny). How I would nurture it! Feed it. Weed it, ruthlessly. Mow it close, until its stripes looked like the No 1 Court at Wimbledon. Reality was very different. Inconvenient patches of muddy brown forever reappeared, […]
A Small Island. I’m currently reading one of Bill Bryson’s funny books and he beautifully describes a little-known area near Heathrow airport which has somehow escaped development. The Staines Moor pocket of land has been untouched for over a thousand years and is the only green space for miles that Staines residents can enjoy. Heathrow […]