Opened five years ago by then Mayor Cllr Mark Cooper, its fifth birthday was celebrated on Friday last week by the new Mayor, Cllr Mark Luson. Sited in the Community Room at Cooper’s Corner in the George Lane Car Park adjacent to the bridge over the River Kennet it is stocked with donations from Waitrose, Tesco, Gails and other retail outlets and kept going by an army of volunteers.
Many birthday cards were left in a special card post box’. One read: ‘To all the great people who help at the fridge, it is more than about helping stop food waste going to the tip! We have made it a social event. We have made friends and a community. I love queuing and catching up with fridge friends – it is so important to me, Happy Birthday all!’
What is the ‘Community Fridge’, and how does it work? Firstly, all food there is free, to be taken by members of the community. It was set up by the Town Council in partnership with Transition Marlborough in 2021, and it’s there so that what food that might possibly be wasted is taken and used. Volunteers collect from Gails, Waitrose and Tesco’s each week and we also accept food from other retailers on an ad-hoc basis.
It’s a ‘trust’ process, whilst the food there is free it’s there to be taken and eaten by those who need it. All the Council and Transition Marlborough ask is that people take what they can use.
‘Not just the fridge’ adds Milly Carmichael from Transition Marlborough when telling us all about the garden alongside the fridge building, adding that there are ‘a couple of other projects’ on the go. “One is growing flax. Alongside our herbs, veggies, fruit and flowers, we also have one square metre growing now as part of the ‘Let’s Grow Flax‘ project. Later this summer we’ll harvest, dry and process it to make a small amount of linen thread that we will weave into a small piece of fabric.” explains Milly.
The other project is about watering – demonstrating ‘water-savvy’ gardening techniques. In the garden there are now two ‘self watering’ beds which function in a similar way to the rain planters that ARK installed on the sides of the building earlier this year.
The garden is also there to be seen as an example of what can be done, and how. Starting in July there will be some ‘garden tour’ events to promote all the ways we’re working differently with water, to encourage more people to do similar things in their own gardens.
She adds that children from St Mary’s school children will be helping the team to paint up some bright, colourful signage for the garden, making it ever more attractive, especially for those who come to ‘forage’ in the garden, adding “we’re OK with people taking picking a few strawberries, peas, beans, salad leaves or sprigs of herbs when they’re ripe and ready. We ask that people don’t remove whole plants or crops that are in the ground though. We’ll harvest those and distribute through the fridge.”
First ever Pride event in Marlborough – 24 June
