Fun things for children to do to encourage Outdoor play. Get outside and enjoy the green open spaces and learn to appreciate nature and wildlife.

Cover of Start with soil book by Juliet Sargeant

Let it grow: the case for messy gardens and living soil

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by Elle Runton. Deputy Trustee Sussex Green Living.

Cover of Start with soil book by Juliet Sargeant

Learn more about soil health and thriving gardens https://www.instagram.com/julietsargeant/

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 bush yields fruit for months every year without fail (possibly thanks to its daily cup of used coffee grounds), and my blackberries are sweet and plump under the Sussex sun. I haven’t needed to buy any of those so-called superfoods—just pop along to the fruit bed and help myself free of charge!

When exploring how to get more from your veg patch, I discovered the importance of soil health. Most of us probably wish for a garden that’s easy to care for, beautiful and beneficial to the environment. According to Juliet Sargeant, presenter of BBC Gardeners’ Question Time, it all starts with the earth. Speaking at the recent Sussex Green Living “Plant to Plate” Festival in Horsham, Juliet explained that soil is not just dirt: it’s a living, breathing ecosystem filled with microbes and earthworms that break down organic material and release nutrients. When we use synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, we harm the delicate balance of nature that supports healthy plant growth.

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Plant 2 Plate Festival Logo

Exciting new family friendly event in Horsham

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Plant 2 Plate Festival LogoPress release – PLANT TO PLATE FESTIVAL – brought to you by Sussex Green Living

Growing together – Food – Fun – Family – Free

From 10am-4pm on Saturday 26th April, Horsham will come alive to celebrate green living in Sussex – perfect for mums, dads, and little ones alike. It’s a day packed with local food, expert talks and eco-friendly fun that will inspire you and your family to live more sustainably. Spread across four unique venues in central Horsham, come along for a day of free goodies, family-friendly activities, and caring community vibes at the Plant to Plate Festival!

At the Sussex Green Hub, in the United Reformed Church, you will find advice and simple energy-saving hacks to reduce utility bills, our popular Horsham Repair Café who might help you fix that zip, clock or kettle. There will be free food stalls at the Horsham Community Fridge, our Refill Shop to top up on all of the essentials, and don’t forget to treat yourself to one of the Sussex food or drink artisan delights – of course all in line with reducing waste.

At the Unitarian Church Hall and gardens, green thumbs can get hands-on gardening tips from the experts with activities like ‘take it away’ seedlings, books and goodie stall and ways to reduce your food waste. There’s also the chance to get your hands dirty with composting and wildlife-friendly gardening advice and nature activities for the kids.

The Quaker Meeting House will play host to an array of expert talks and demonstrations, including how to avoid that problematic packaging that just can’t be recycled and ideas on how to cook tasty healthy meals that can reduce your impact on the planet.

Stop off at the Bishopric Market on your way between the venues, hosting fresh fruit, veggies, plants, and even retro pre-loved treasures for your home. Enjoy live music, meet warm-hearted community volunteers, and explore the vibrant eco float that’s been creatively refurbished to lighten our carbon footprint.

Whether you’re already deeply passionate about taking care of our planet or just starting out, the Plant to Plate Festival has something for everyone. Bring your family and friends, learn new ways to live more sustainably, and join us in building a brighter, greener future for Sussex – one plate and one plant at a time!

Mark your calendars – we can’t wait to see you there!

Events Calendar | Sussex Green Living

Recycling competition – plastic food storage containers and lids

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WILLIAM PENN PRIMARY SCHOOL ASKS THE HORSHAM COMMUNITY TO HELP THEM IN THEIR EFFORTS IN A NATIONWIDE CONTEST TO WIN A PLAYGROUND WITH A FRAME MADE OF 100% RECYCLED MATERIALS 

Residents of Horsham and surrounding areas can help William Penn Primary School to win a playground with a frame made of 100% recycled materials – including recycled plastic food storage containers and lids, as well as reusable plastic water bottles and caps by bringing this used waste to the school’s public collection point 

The Sistema® Recycled Playground Contest is running from 12th September until 18th December 2024 and the school that collects the most amount of plastic food storage containers and lids, as well as reusable plastic water bottles and caps, in that time will be crowned the winner . Read more

Children in brightly coloured cothes and hand-made animal costumes, reciting a play in the forest with their teacher, looked on by their parents

Animal Friends

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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 designed and produced the whole play, including recording the soundtrack. Read more

How we can help nature

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We are all aware of the urgent need to protect our nature which has been depleting at a rapid rate. If you want to make some changes at home to protect nature, boosting the biodiversity in your garden or outdoor space is a great place to start.

Biodiversity and climate are inextricably linked, you can’t fix one without the other. There are lots of things you can do to help wildlife to thrive that don’t cost a lot but can help nature and create a lovely space for you to watch and experience all the life in your garden.

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The Importance of Nature

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We all want a world where our climate is stable, nature thrives, and where all people have health, happiness, and prosperity – it’s our human right, right?

Unless we change things, we are on track to breach the 1.5°C temperature increase limit set by the Paris Agreement by 2030. The breach risks irreversible environmental degradation and runaway climate change that will affect all our societies and economies.

An essential ally against the climate crisis is nature. We are losing nature at an alarming and unprecedented rate. For anyone who has been watching David Attenborough’s latest BBC programme, Wild Isles, you will know that Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world.

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Sussex Green Living Achievements 2022

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Ashington Youth Club

Well what a year 2022 was for Sussex Green Living. As we reflect on the last year and plan for the future and 2023, we thought it was worth taking a moment to share some of our achievements…

Demand for Sussex Green Living environmental education services in schools and public events has never been higher, so much so that requests for our help vastly outstripped the grants we had been awarded to be able to deliver the work in schools.

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Students create inspiring art in Repair Cafe Challenge

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SimonWhen thinking about living an environmentally sustainable life, the first thing most people think about is the 3Rs: ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’. As part of Sussex Green Living’s education outreach programme, we initiated a School Challenge looking at how you can reduce waste by repairing.

 

Our school challenge for Horsham District Schools was supported by a Horsham District Community Lottery Grant, a donation from a Horsham councillor and kindly judged by Horsham artist, Morag Warrack.

 

The challenge invited students to learn about repair cafés, what they do and how they help reduce waste on our planet. There are items that could be repaired but often people don’t have the skillset to make repairs. Repair Cafés are run by volunteers who have both a passion and the expertise to repair electrical, mechanical and textile items. The premise is that you can take along your items and for a small donation, they will try to fix them while you stay, watch and hopefully learn a new skill at the same time.

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Never too Small to Make a Difference

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SchoolEducation has always formed a big part of the Sussex Green Living mission. In fact, it is where Carrie Cort started out, as a network of families learning about nature, the environment and ways that everyone can live a more sustainable life.

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Sorting recycling at The Chapel

Community Collaboration at its Best

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During the first lockdown in 2020 many people felt isolated. Sussex Green Living (SGL) thought it was important to connect people and to continue its work improving the environment. SGL’s Carrie Cort organised weekly online Horsham Climate Café events. Some of these attracted over 150 people, both local and from further afield. One of the aims of the café was to introduce people ‘virtually’ from the same villages and this is when the seed of Billingshurst environmental group BilliGreen was planted.

 

The group was started by Mela Davidson and Melanie Holliker who both wanted to create a network that boosted the local community and had a positive impact on the local environment.

 

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Puttenham Barn

Puttenham Barn Bunkhouse

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Chris MeeksBuilding Your Dreams

While wardening at Puttenham Bunkhouse Barn last weekend, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Meeks, its founder, who spent many years as editor with Cycling UK, (Cyclists’ Touring Club), and who, aged 16, was the youngest elected member of the YHA’s management team here in the south-east.

Sitting relaxed in the sunshine, amid butterflies and flowers, wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Wilderness not woodchips”, Chris continues to share his passions.

He’s an astonishing example of how one person can inspire a generation.  The bunkhouse began life as an idea: finding a place, negotiating the lease with Guildford Borough Council, raising £130,000, removing a huge cattle trough and digging out the floor to lower it by 50 cm. The eventual opening in 2005 was achieved thanks to enormous input from a team of volunteers, including John Bannister, an alternative technology expert.

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Beach clean feature

Beach clean & Art to highlight plastic waste in Eastbourne

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Beach CleanNCS (National Citizens Service) Eastbourne is a volunteer youth group. They are currently running a social action project to raise awareness for Plastic Free Eastbourne which helps raise awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution and encourages people to reduce plastic waste.

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Eco Aware Earth Day (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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The children at Ashington CE Primary School enjoyed an early Earth Green Day on Thursday 7th April 2022. The day was organised by Sienna, Magenta, Sophie and Jasmine, four passionate Eco Warriors in Year 5 supported by the school’s Outdoor Learning Lead, Miss Martlew.

The four girls had their eco passion ignited by a Rainforest topic in Year Four and ever since have eagerly encouraged others, staff included, to join them in driving for a more eco aware school, community and planet. Consequently, there was no need for the school staff to set up an eco-group; the girls would never have not let it happen!  They created their own group, with many other children eager to join in.

The Green Day started with a whole school Eco Easter bonnet parade with winners from each class receiving an eco-notebook and pen and an Easter Egg. All hats were adorned with recycled decorations and had an Easter theme. The children clung to their hats in the wind but were full of smiles of pride in the beautiful spring sunshine as they paraded, each class in turn, in front of the whole school to cheerful applause. Read more

10 years of Sussex Green Living

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An Interview with founder and CEO Carrie Cort – April 2022 When did you first gain an interest in the environment? I have lived in villages, had dogs and loved horses and riding in the countryside since a very young age. I feel at peace, calm and complete when I spend time in nature. The […]

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Help Sussex Green Living with ‘free money’! (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Smarter fashion lesson

Clearly, it’s important for us all to use less of everything for so many reasons- resources are becoming scarcer on our small island – and on our small planet too, with its billions of people.

We hope this goes without saying but please only buy something if you need it!

When we do need to replace something, however, there are several ways we can help to guide companies to understand that we would like them to ‘go green.’  One of those ways is for us as customers to sign up to Easyfundraising, where there are over 6,000 retailers ready to make a donation – including eBay, Argos, John Lewis, ASOS, Booking.com and M&S – and it won’t cost you a penny extra to help raise funds for Sussex Green Living.

All you need to do is:

1. Go to our Sussex Green Living spot at  easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/sussexgreenliving/ and join for free.

2. Then whenever you shop online, go to Easyfundraising first to find the site you want and start shopping. Read more

HUb Logo

February green events in Horsham

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HUb LogoDon’t forget this Saturday it is our Sussex Green Hub event at the URC Horsham RH12 2RG (near Wilko off West Street and the Lynd Cross pub and opposite  St John the Evangelist). This collaborative community event is on the last Saturday every month 10 – 4pm, this month we have some extra activities within the hub and just outside. Free food and free advice to help people, planet and pocket!

Horsham Repair Cafe repairs and our bottle refill service.

Carbon Clinic – every month going forward a new volunteer, Christian based at our Sussex Green Living (SGL) display area, is offering a carbon clinic. People are invited to sit and have a friendly non judgemental chat about their lifestyle choices, he will run through a survey with them, then he emails the participant with ideas for changes they can make to reduce their impact on the environment. Please make time to chat to Christian yourself, you will hopefully get a few new ideas. Learn more here.
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Spring into Spring at the Sussex Green Hub

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On Saturday 26th March 10 – 4pm our normal activities will be taking place at our once a month Sussex Green Hub in Horsham plus a fun extension to help you Spring into Spring! Sunday 27th March is Mothering Sunday with Easter following along fast on its heals. so we are inviting children and adults […]

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Sussex Green Hub

Sussex Green Living 2021 Roundup By Morag Warrack

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Sussex teenagers unite to take action on climate by Max Moorcroft (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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Sussex Green Living’s Youth Eco Forum is a young persons’ environmental group where we speak about current news and creatively demonstrate climate activism in many forms. The YEF was founded in June 2020 in the hope of connecting like-minded teenagers to make a difference for our planet during a period of disconnection… so we started […]

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Bright future enjoyed by St Mary’s School

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Thanks to our Tesco Community Grant we were able to take our Bright New Futures Roadshow to St Mary’s CofE Primary School in Pulborough on the 22nd July . This is a large school with a new teacher leading their Eco activities.  We started the planning process with the school many months in advance, then […]

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Tesco grant helps us share Bright New Future

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Thanks to a Tesco Community grant on 8th July we took our Bright New Future Roadshow to Kingslea School in Horsham where we worked with 60 children from Year Two who had been studying Our Blue Planet. Our original plan was to attend their school summer fete, but owing to covid this was postponed, and […]

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Beyond Be-Leaf by Catherine Sleeman of Horsham Youth Eco Forum (first published in West Sussex County Times)

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On Wednesday 14th July, Sussex Green Living’s Youth Eco Forum led a day of outdoor activities in an area of ancient woodland near Billingshurst. The event, named Beyond Be-Leaf, hoped to give young people who would not usually have the opportunity to get out in the countryside a chance to get hands-on and creative, learning about the natural world. Youth Eco Forum Member, Flora Burleigh reflected that the best thing about the day was, “simply observing the students as they were immersed in nature, watching them be inspired and actually having the opportunity to pay a closer attention to the woodland environment.”

Year 7 and 8 pupils from Tanbridge House School, Christ’s Hospital School and City of London Academy Southwark spent the day learning about the local wildlife, woodland management, and positive climate solutions. They had the opportunity to explore their connection to nature through creative writing and dance workshops as well as learning woodcraft skills and going on a nature walk. Some of the young attendees had never been to the countryside before and this made the event a particularly exciting and revelatory experience. Read more

Destroying (the) Amazon – Think Local by Morag Warrack

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We have decided to remove sponsorship from Amazon from our website with the realisation that it contributes to so many of the problems we are all striving to resolve.

The brilliant choice of the word “Amazon” is a stroke of genius- linked with one of the most life-sustaining, essential things on the planet!

Calling a Dumfries warehouse a ‘fulfillment centre’ smacks of Orwell’s gripping novel, 1984.  Maybe it should properly be called a ‘full-Fill-ment centre’ as brand new products such as laptops and TVs are simply sent away to be buried in the ground from it, as landfill is cheaper than re-distributing them around the UK or donating them to schools and hospitals.

As the richest man in the known universe, Amazon owner Jeff Bezos made UK sales worth £14,000,000,000 in one year (2019) alone.  He has a personal fortune of £155,000,000,000.  However, he pays minimal UK tax by claiming small profits.  It seems customers are unaware of the full story of buying and throwing away, over and over again, while gradually undermining small, local businesses in the long term.   One charming designer I met cheerfully described his job, (working for several large chains based in China and Horsham) by saying, “I make landfill!” Read more

Youth Eco Forum

Beyond Be-Leaf: A Day in the Woods by Liz Stack

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