Havant set to host Big Green Week with more than 50 environmentally friendly activities

Havant’s Big Green Week will see bug hunts, litter picks on paddle boards, film showings and guided walks on bird-watching, local ecology, and trees.

With more than 30 groups involved, there are also programmes in a number of schools and special services.

Set to take place from September 18 to 26, it will launch with the Mayor of Havant’s green coffee morning on September 17 from 10.30am to 12pm at St Faith’s Church.

Throughout 2021, the team behind the Fatface Foundation shop in Havant has been litter picking while stand up paddle boarding 1,988km to raise money and awareness for marine conservation.

Members of the community can join the team on a litter pick paddle on September 19 at 11am in the Ship Inn car park at Langstone.

Havant Repair Café will be running an event at Park Community School on September 23 from 4.30pm to 7.30pm.

Launched in July, Havant Repair Café, runs regularly on the first Saturday of the month at the Pallant Centre in Havant.

Volunteers undertake repairs and help customers learn to fix items that may otherwise have ended up on the scrap heap.

Anne Sayer, Repair Café Havant coordinator, said: ‘My first experience of a Repair Café gave me the confidence to undertake a repair that I would previously not have attempted.

‘The waste associated with a product is more than just the item itself. There is around 86 kg of invisible waste associated with the manufacture of a single phone which weighs just 200g.’

The Friends of the Hermitage Stream will host a children’s bug hunt and scavenger hunt along the Hermitage Open Space between Middle Park Way and Purbrook Way on September 25 from 10am to 1pm.

This group of volunteers are passionate about maintaining Leigh Park’s Hermitage open space and surrounding areas.

Dee Tupper, organiser, said: ‘We wanted to do something for children so we can tell them how important bugs are and how climate change will affect pollinators and other bugs.’

The Friends of Park Wood are inviting people to join volunteers on work parties taking place on September 24, 25, and 26, meeting in the front meadow on London Road at 10am each morning.

Willing helpers are needed for two major tasks: surfacing some of the main paths which have been heavily used during the lockdowns, and raking and removing the grass in the glades after the annual meadow cut in the wood.

Pete Hodges, chair of the Friends of Park Wood, said: ‘Climate Change is real. I have been able to see its effects on the British countryside, whether it has been changes to the range of species or more frequent extremes of weather occurring. It is happening.

‘Trees absorb carbon. We need to plant more trees and just as importantly manage and protect our existing woods and other wildlife habitats.

‘The Friends of Park Wood is a great example of how people can help their local environment through practical action and benefit nature and the community.’

To find out more about Friends of Park Wood, the group is hosting a stroll about the wood to learn more about its history, wildlife, and conservation management on September 25 at 2pm, meeting at the entrance to Park Wood on London Road between Wallis Road and Queens Road in Waterlooville.

Schools in the area will also be taking part in Havant Big Green Week.

Warblington School will host a number of events throughout the week, including Meatless Monday, an active transport Wednesday encouraging pupils to walk, cycle, or public transport to school, and a reduced energy Thursday.

On Friday, the school will host a Fairtrade festival, offering food from allotments, homemade cake sale made with Fairtrade produce, a swap shop, and a power generation activity with static bike and rower.

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A poster created by Olivia Hill-Burnett, a Bosmere Junior School pupil, will be used for the programme cover this year.

In July, 180 children from the school created posters as part of a competition, all of which will be displayed throughout Havant in September to help publicise Havant’s involvement in Big Green Week.

The school plans to use Havant Big Green Week to launch its quest to become an ‘eco-school’ this year.

Children will complete a written application to join the committee, then carry out a review of the school before creating an action plan.

There will also be visitors in for assemblies during the week, and the school will also encourage lunchtime teams of litter pickers, plastic free lunchboxes, and its Walk and Stride policy to get to and from school.

The Berewood development in Waterlooville has put together a programme of guided walks, craft sessions, outdoor yoga and a meadow sweep to check the wildlife.

Jenni Upstill, organiser, said: ‘We have over 250 acres of green spaces and nature reserves providing a range of habitats including meadows, farmland, landscaped parks, ancient woodland, and the River Wallington which runs across the north of the site.

‘We are proud to be working with both Havant Climate Alliance and the Wildlife Trust this Great Big Green Week to inform, educate, and delight Berewood residents and the local community about the fantastic nature on their doorstep.’

Activities, walking routes and more information on the site can be found at berewoodhampshire.co.uk

Visit havantclimatealliance.com/havant-borough-green-week

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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