Tag Archive for: sussex green hub

Repair Starts Here

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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

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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

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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

Crafternoons in Horsham

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This October Sussex Green Living will be opening the doors to something new at the Horsham Repair Café. We are calling it Crafternoons, and the idea is simple: an afternoon each month where people can sit together, bring something they are making, and enjoy a couple of hours of creativity and company. The support of the National Lottery Community Fund has made it possible to add this new strand to our work, and we are excited to see where it leads.  

Crafternoons will take place from twelve until two, alongside the usual Repair Café. The set-up is very informal. Some people might arrive with their knitting or embroidery, others with a sketchbook or some mending to do. There will be craft materials provided as well, many of them rescued or repurposed. The community café will be open for tea, coffee and cake, and the pace will be slow and sociable.   Read more

Dogs and Wolves

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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 20 km. While they roamed, their fur collected seeds from wildflowers and grasses, which would later fall off and grow into new plants, spreading nature far and wide. Read more

a rainbow arcing across the sky at dusk over lush treesMorag Warrack

Rainbows and Hope

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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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Vote Wisely for the Planet

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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 to some extent be unravelled and facts presented more clearly to inform people about what government advisors are saying, what candidates are saying, what they are doing, and what the MPs are actually voting for (or against).

MP Watch aims to provide unbiased information about MPs across all parties, so voters can be better informed.

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Horsham Cloth Nappy Library: Changing Nappies Changing Lives

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Horsham Cloth Nappy Library: Changing Nappies Changing Lives

We’re Lucy and Sarah, local mums who loved cloth nappies for our babies so much that we’re now running the Horsham Cloth Nappy Library to support other families! As one of our favourite nappy retailers says, “You can change the world, – one nappy change at a time.”

Most people now recognise the damage single use plastics cause, and we’re making changes.  Let’s now extend our thinking to other single-use products! Read more

Transition Horsham’s Annual Seed Swap

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Transition Horsham’s Annual Seed Swap 

It’s spring!  Well, nearly …we have some snowdrops out and it’s just glorious to see them.  It is at least the promise that spring is on the way, and it’s not just us humans who appreciate the flowers-the insects also appreciate the life-giving nectar in these early blossoms.

If you’re a gardener, you’ll be thinking of what seeds you’ll plant this year too, and Sussex Green Hub’s next meeting on 24th February can help you with that, as Transition Horsham will be hosting their annual Seed Swap. Read more

Give Dry A Try in 2024

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Give Dry a Try in 2024

We started our ‘Give Dry a Try’ campaign in January – but not for the reason you might be thinking – though that’s an excellent idea as well!

From January 27th, the Sussex Green Hub our once a month event is encouraging all to ‘Give Dry a Try ‘ by offering concentrated water-free household cleaning and personal hygiene products, which can then have water added at home.

The photo to the left is one of our volunteers Marilyn showing the bottle she has been refilling for five years, she is now ditching liquid refills and switching to give ‘Dry a Try’!

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