Sussex Green Living Achievements 2022

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.

Last year we worked in over forty different schools delivering tailor-made classes and we ran or supported over seventy other events as well, with a Green Hub event as the grand finale of every month consisting of the Sussex Green Hub and Horsham Repair Café, (nearly five hundred items were repaired by our wonderful Repair Café volunteers), Refill Shop (Liz and the other vollies have kept thousands of plastic bottles topped up with hygiene and cleaning products) Community Fridge (keeping fresh food from being thrown away), Transition Horsham, crafts talks and demonstrations for children and adults, carbon reduction and energy advice, Green Books Library and a warm friendly space to sit and chat over tea and cake.

We attended many events in the villages with our mobile classroom a.k.a. the Inspiration Eco Station which now has much-needed wet weather awnings fitted- thanks, Brian!)

Our younger enthusiasts organised a score of Youth Eco Forum meetings on Zoom and in person and produced a great electronic magazine.

For the slightly more mature of us, the monthly Sussex Green Ideas on Zoom is available share innovations and suggestions.  So there’s been something for everyone!

 

Although Sussex Green Living was founded in 2012, it has only been a charity since May 2020. This year our trustees aim to establish a Community Climate Hub on the ‘high street’ in Horsham.  This will open daily and feature all the aspects of the Sussex Green Hub with additions such as a baby and toddler clothing bundle rental service and a Library of Things for renting items such as tools or camping equipment.

Come and see us at the Sussex Green Hub on the last Saturday of each month to learn more or volunteer with us. This amazing community of almost 150 volunteers  is contributing over a thousand volunteer hours a month to the Horsham District with only one full-time member of staff to run it- me!

So we are really hoping to attract funding to enable us to continue to expand this important (and fun) work. We could do so much more with more staff.

by Carrie Cort