Sustainable Marlborough’s Great Big Green Week which ran from September 24th to 30th offered fun, practical, accessible and useful ways to help create a greener better world. Hundreds of people engaged with 14 events over the week including a clothes swap, Tai Chi on the Common, a Repair Café, a sustainable cooking workshop and more.
Hayley Lambert from Sustainable Marlborough told Marlborough.News, “There was a positive buzz and collaborative spirit throughout and most importantly – people were asking for more of the same!
The week started in style on Saturday 24th September with a clothes swap in the Town Hall. There was a sense of anticipation as the first people arrived clutching their bags of clothes, shoes and accessories ready to swap and it wasn’t long until people were streaming in with bags full and excited faces. As the volunteers organised everything into departments (men/women/children) the swappers enjoyed the tunes and grabbed a drink from The Tap’s pop-up bar. After around 25 minutes, the swap was declared open and the real fun started. It was wonderful to see such a wide age range and everyone was keen to know when the next swap would be as they left, delighted with their finds.
Sunday was the most action-packed day of the weeklong festival, kicking off with some Tai Chi on Marlborough Common. The sun was shining and the orange and gold of the trees looked absolutely beautiful as Mark guided a group of 12 through the basics of Tai Chi. The slow methodical movements are relaxing, but also challenge your balance and coordination, so you can see how regular Tai Chi would be very beneficial to people of all ages. We’re hoping that Mark will set up some regular classes in Marlborough, so watch this space!
After a relaxing start in the fresh air, it was back to the Town Hall for the Repair Café. There were volunteer fixers set up around the outside of The Court Room and a café serving tea and coffee, local apple juice and a delicious range of home baked cakes and biscuits. As people arrived they were greeted by the reception desk and pointed in the direction of the best repairer for their broken item. Vacuum cleaners, laptops, phones, jewellery, clothes, hairdryers and a Kenwood Chef were just some of the items that were successfully repaired by the fixers! This is such a brilliant idea as it keeps things out of landfill as well as saving money and resources. The café finished at 2pm with around 60kgs of items being given a new lease of life – amazing!
At 7pm Penny from Hungerford Food Community hosted a sustainable cooking workshop in St Mary’s Church Hall. As you entered the hall, the slow cookers were already going and the food smelled delicious – with cake, curries, sauces, seitan and lentil ‘meat’ balls all in various phases of preparation and cooking! Penny showed just how versatile a slow cooker can be and also had some brilliant tips for air fryers, pressure cookers and microwaves. We all went away having enjoyed lots of tasters, with a really useful recipe and information sheet, inspired to get creative with low energy cooking techniques.
After a fantastic weekend of events, there was plenty more to come during the week, with businesses taking away actionable steps to meet their sustainability goals from the Greening Your Business workshop and 14 moth species recorded at the Moth Trapping at Bay Meadows with Wiltshire Wildlife Trust on Monday.
One group was motivated and inspired by just how much ‘one knackered mum’ has achieved after listening to Sustainable(ish) in Sixty Minutes with Jen Gale at the White Horse Bookshop on Tuesday. More Tai Chi and a brilliant and engaging Bat Walk with Anna from ARK on Wednesday. Practical ideas and hands-on experience in Wendy Allen’s Rain Garden workshop and a chance to climb St Peter’s Church Tower to take in the night skies with Mike on Thursday and finally on Friday, another Green Spaces walk with Debs and a fascinating Stargazing session at the Blackett Observatory with Gavin and Jonathan!
Sustainable Marlborough’s Great Big Green Week would not have been possible without the help of a brilliant team of volunteers and a number of local organisations and businesses. Sustainable Marlborough would like to thank: The wonderful people who volunteered, Marlborough Town Council, North Wessex Down AONB, Green Machine Computers, Hungerford Repair Café, Hungerford Food Community, Packaging Not Included, Carbon Lens, MACK, The Merchant’s House, The White Horse Bookshop, Marlborough Cricket Club, The Quakers Friends Meeting House Marlborough, ARK, Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, St Peter’s Church and Marlborough College.”
Ramsbury Primary School – After School Club Assistant
