October 2025 – Wirral Environmental Network

October 2025 News

All of the gardening classes have had a great start to the new academic year, and will be continuing after the half term break. The course members are trying to see how much they can grow from seeds they have saved. Visits this month have included to local gardens to look at autumn flowering displays.

A local garden centre has donated a number of sempervivium offsets, which are being grown on to create a small green roof to go on the bin shelters next year.

The gardeners have had a great year growing unusual tomato varieties. Next year they will use the knowledge they have gained to grow the varieties which everyone agrees were the best for taste, quality and quantity.

Leaf collecting has started in the garden. The leaves will be stored in builders bags until next year, when it will have rotted down enough to be mixed with home made compost and top soil to create a potting mix.

Thanks to the Falkland Road Organic Gardeners (FROG), the raised beds at WEN are full of flowers and vegetables, growing well with all the recent rain. We have carrots, kale and spinach in the beds, and the leeks and garlic are looking good too. The salad veg is being grown undercover in a container to protect them from the elements. The gardeners have planted broad beans and covered them with netting and are now waiting for the tasty bean shoots to appear!

Kale and spinach grown by Falkland Road Organic Gardeners

On 29th October, the FROG group planted a rose in memory of their friend and fellow member Chris Pitt. They cleared half of the top bed and planted a Chris rose, in the week of his birthday. After the planting, the gardeners celebrated with a cup of tea and a piece of cake. Many thanks to Liz for finding the rose online, ordering it and bringing the rose bush for planting.

We welcomed a group of Wirral librarians to WEN on 9th October, through funding from Arts Council England. The Wirral Libraries‘ staff took part in a planning session for low carbon, nature-based creative activities, as part of measures to reduce Wirral’s carbon footprint and lower the environmental impact of library operations. Wirral Libraries ran Wild About Libraries sessions at Birkenhead Library in October, re-launching their pocket park behind the library. Green Libraries Week took place from 27th October to 2nd November, with wildlife-themed crafts and storytelling for children at West Kirby, Birkenhead, Bebington and Wallasey libraries.

Wild About Libraries planning meeting

The librarians taking the meeting outside into the WEN garden

A meeting for people interested in helping with a textile reuse and repair project took place on 14th October. Those attending had discussions about ideas for creative workshops to use surplus fabrics. While work goes on into finding a venue to establish a space for redistributing fabric and haberdashery, there is enthusiasm for holding some fabric swap sessions. We’ll have more news on this once plans have been made.

If you would like to be kept informed of developments in the project, please email CircularArtsNetworkLCR@gmail.com

Plans are being made for a project to repurpose, reuse and repair fabric

On 18th October, we hosted a Pyramids, Platonic Solids and Sacred Shapes workshop, run by Julie Marshall. The group spent the first part examining Egyptian pyramids, particularly the Great Pyramids of the Giza Plateau, which remain the most famous pyramids in the world. We then looked at the development of Pyramid construction in Egypt from The Step Pyramid at Saqqara (approx. 2600BC) onwards.

The features of the pyramid site at Giza during the Ancient Egyptian period were discussed with the help of a model constructed for the workshop (see photo below). We also considered pyramid development in other places and discussed the significance of the pyramid shape to various ancient cultures all over the world.

Following this we attempted to make some platonic solids namely, tetrahedrons, cubes, octahedrons, dodecahedrons and icosahedrons. Well done to everyone for having a go but particularly those who attempted the harder shapes.

After our Step Pyramid cake break we considered some of the sacred shapes used as amulets by Ancient Egyptians for both the living and the deceased including Ankhs, Scarabs, the eye of Horus, and many others. The significance of the colours and the specific minerals used by the Egyptians to make them was also examined.

There will be a second session in this series looking at why Egyptians stopped building Pyramids and the move to the more secretive tombs in the Valley of the Kings. We will also examine the work of some of the more respected archaeologists who located a number of these tombs, including The Great Belzoni and Howard Carter, as well as the impact of the more destructive ‘treasure hunters’ who desecrated landscape, tombs and mummies alike.

This will take place on Saturday 14th February 2026. If interested, look out for the flyer in the WEN newsletter or on Facebook or contact Julie – Juliemarshall48@aol.com

A model of the pyramid site at Gaza

A step pyramid cake!

Wirral Met students have been coming to WEN once a week for a sustainable clothes project run by Faiths4Change. The students have set up their own Instagram page for their fashion reuse project.

Zarah from Faiths4Change at one of the sustainable clothing project sessions

Check out @eco_wcm on Instagram!

The Crafters have been continuing to get ready for the pre-Christmas Fair, which takes place on Saturday 22nd November.

As well as our usual crafts, woodwork items, plants, home-made jams and cakes, tombola and lucky dip, stalls will include:

Dibbinsdale honey
Birkenhop beer from Callister Garden
Children’s activity boxes from Wirral’s very own UK Unplugged
Recycled woollen items from Artes Da Cleu
Wooden coasters and candle holders made from Recycled Christmas Trees
Fairtrade food and Christmas gifts
Crystals and minerals
High quality pre-loved games
Wirral Fox Rescue

We are thankful to Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority for funding for a series of free workshops on small scale furniture repairs, including repair tips and useful tools. The first workshops will be a gentle introduction to furniture restoration – the details of the initial event are below.

To book a place, please email wen@la21.net

Re-Furnish – Furniture Workshops: Breathing New Life Into Old Furniture
Saturday 15th November, 10am – 12.30pm
WEN, Sandon Building, Falkland Road, Wallasey, CH44 8ER

Loose joints, wobbly furniture? John will teach how to fix rickety old chairs.

Scratched, dented or stained furniture? Learn surface restoration techniques from Carol, including how to sand, prime and paint a small table.

Look at other furniture upcycling ideas, such as tiling the surface of a table.

Tea and coffee and biscuits provided.

Book your place on our first Re-Furnish Furniture Workshop

Our AGM is next month too – on Wednesday 12th November.

The business of the AGM will be brief – approving the minutes of the last meeting, receiving the annual report and accounts, and election of Trustees.

Then we’ll have Five Minute Talks from some of our members about environmental projects they are involved in.

Speakers include:

Anne Litherland – A talk on COP30
Liverpool Friends of The Earth – Local and National Action
Wirral Fox Rescue
WEN – Wirral ‘Eco Tools’ library

There will be time for networking and chatting before and after the AGM and talks. While you mingle, we will be serving up some light refreshments.

Arrive at 6pm, for a 6.30pm start to the AGM.

If you would like to attend, please book yourself a place via Eventbrite.