Tag Archive for: Community Event

Repair Starts Here

Across Sussex, people are proving that repair is not a thing of the past but part of the future we need to build. From Storrington to Horsham, Lewes to Brighton, Repair Cafés show what a circular economy looks like in everyday life: people coming together to fix broken things, share knowledge and stop waste before it starts.

Last weekend marked International Repair Day, but for the volunteers and visitors at Repair Cafés across Sussex, repair is not just a day, it is a habit that keeps growing. These monthly meet-ups are practical and sociable. A kettle, a radio or a pair of trousers comes in broken and often goes home working again. What stays behind is something less tangible but just as valuable: connection, confidence and community.

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Refilling Hope in a Throwaway World

It isn’t easy to make time for change. Between work, family and the daily scramble of modern life even simple acts of care can feel like luxuries. Yet at the refill station in Chanctonbury Leisure Centre I watched someone carefully scoop oat powder into a reused container and it made me pause. In that small, steady movement was a kind of hope, the quiet belief that our actions however ordinary still matter.

The recent passing of Jane Goodall brought that home again. In her final film Famous Last Words she talked about hope and how even when the world feels dark small actions multiplied millions of times can create great change. It is an idea that feels steadying.

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Grain and Flame – Recycling Comes of Age

by Keir Hartley

The sustainability movement has achieved great things in the last decade. “Repair”, “recycle” and “reuse” are words that everyone uses now, from businesses and TV shows to repair cafés across the country including the ones run by Sussex Green Living. Dare we hope they’re here to stay? The evidence suggests so, as we discovered when we visited Peter and Kim Beadle and their seven dogs of Grain and Flame in Goring by Sea.

Grain and Flame transforms discarded materials into cherished garden ornaments. Old cutlery is metamorphosed into hovering dragonflies. Chicken wire becomes lifelike owls frozen in flight. Copper is beaten and welded into graceful lilies. Peter got the idea after a lifetime in the building trade. Kim soon joined in. A happy hobby became a business, and the building industry provided the raw materials for one of their star items. Read more

Celebrating Local Apples: Sweet Success at Transition’s First Apple Day

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, […]

Rainbows and Hope

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.”

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