We held garden parties at WEN on 1st and 12th July and invited members, friends and supporters to join us for cookery demonstrations and herb pot planting. Thanks to Energy Projects Plus for providing advice on saving money and energy and to Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority for the useful utensils and booklets to help with reducing food waste. We needed to shelter from the rain on both days but the wet weather didn’t dampen anyone’s enthusiasm and everyone enjoyed themselves!

Cookery demonstration in the garden

Advice from Energy Projects Plus

Taking shelter from the rain!

Utensils and booklets from Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority

Also on 1st July, we attended the Wirral Primary Science conference at Eureka Science + Discovery. It was great to meet all the educators interested in teaching young people about nature, the environment, sustainability and climate, and to connect with colleagues from other organisations who offer some wonderful eco learning activities.

Eureka’s Secret Garden activities over the summer holidays look fabulous too! Amongst other attractions, Alison Bailey Smith’s flower sculptures will be on display and the Science Made Simple team will be performing three different shows including ‘Birds, Bees and Bluebottles’.

Education at Wirral Country Park

Education opportunities at Ness Gardens

We attended a mock COP at Birkenhead Town Hall on 3rd July. The event was organised by Liverpool World Centre to give school pupils an understanding of the annual United Nations’ Climate Change Conference, with COP29 taking place in Baku, Azerbaijan in November. Children from primary schools across Wirral represented different countries from around the world.

We were on the panel being questioned by very well informed young people! It was a pleasure to see and hear the children – their knowledge was incredible and the way they conducted themselves was exemplary.

School pupils and panel members in Birkenhead Town Hall

On 17th July we held a volunteer morning to give the WEN garden a bit of a tidy up. 20 people came along to help with the weeding, cutting back, and sorting out of plants. The place looks so much better now! Our team of helpers were glad of the lovely sunshine, both during the gardening and while they took a break for tea and coffee and slices of Jill’s wonderful cakes. Thank you all!

The volunteer team taking a break from their hard work in the garden

20th July was the date of our second Clothes Swap, which took place at Indigo in Rock Ferry. It was another fun event, with lots of good quality clothing donated to fill the rails and tables and plenty of visitors picking out items to take home. DJ Jamie Maxted kept the tunes coming through the afternoon and evening and the Indigo cafe provided tasty food and drink.

There won’t be a Clothes Swap Cafe in August as we take a break for the summer but we’ll be back with more sustainable fashion events in September. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for details, or sign up to our email newsletter. If you would like to help at our Clothes Swaps, please email laura@la21.net

The Clothes Swap at Indigo with DJ Jamie reflected in the mirror

One of the clothes rails waiting to be browsed

Wild flowers at the Green Hub

Fresh produce grown in the community garden

Before and after at the Green Hub

The summer term of WEN’s gardening courses finished this month but booking is open for the autumn term with courses starting in September.

For more information, or to book a place, please phone 07932 355742 or email carol.seery1@btinternet.com

 Practical Gardening
Discover and practice practical tasks you can do in your garden at this time of year.
Start date: Wednesday 11th September, 9.30 – 11.30am
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

 Discover the Past, Present and Future of Gardening
Discover the history of gardens, with outings to local gardens and parks of interest.
Start Date: Wednesday 11th September, 12 – 2pm
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

 How to Grow Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs – 1
This course is aimed at people who are just starting out at growing their own or want a refresher course. Learn what you should be doing in your garden at exactly the right time, practice it with us and then go home and do it there!
Start date: Friday 13th September, 12 – 2.30pm
Cost: £75.00 per 10 weeks, 25 hours

 How to Grow Fruit, Vegetables and Herbs – 2
This is aimed at people who are already growing their own and want to know the subjects in more depth.
Start date: Thursday 12th September, 9.30am – 12pm
Cost: £75.00 per 10 weeks, 25 hours

 Gardening Group
This is for people who have an interest in all aspects of gardening.
Start date: Friday 13th September, 9.30 – 11.30am
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

The gardening courses at WEN starting in September. Click to view full size.

The WEN Reclaimers group will also be restarting in September, running on Tuesday mornings to reuse donated wood, with a focus on low cost carpentry. Previous Reclaimers projects have included planters, bird boxes, bird tables, spice storage and Christmas decorations. You can choose what you would like to work on. The sessions are free, but donations are appreciated.

If you would like to join the group, please email wen@la21.net

Join the WEN Reclaimers!

We will be offering an ‘Art For Wellbeing’ course in September too. Artist Angie McCormick of Inner Sanctuary CIC will guide you through this course of 8 informal sessions covering the topics of nature and the environment. Learn artistic skills and use creative media to interpret and reveal natural qualities of the living world. You will be encouraged to build your own project in response to each topic or you can follow Angie’s examples.

Angie will draw on her Masters in Art Therapy to provide therapeutic themes during the course. Along the way, you will gain new tools to improve self-esteem, self-worth, life skills, your understanding of self and the world around you. Through discussion that references science-based research, you will investigate each theme, and its impact on us and the world around us.

The course costs £80 for 8 sessions.

Choose your preferred day:
Mondays, 5pm – 8pm, from 9th September to 28th October or
Saturdays, 10am – 1pm, from 14th September to 2nd November

To reserve a place, please use the Eventbrite links below. Payment will be taken at the start of the course.

Click to view the full sized poster for the Art for Wellbeing course

If you have attended one of Julie Marshall’s mineral workshops, you’ll have enjoyed the historical elements of her sessions. Julie will be returning to WEN on Saturday 7th September to give a workshop on the ‘Secrets, Scandals and Conspiracies of the British Monarchs‘. This event coincides with Wirral Heritage Week and will look at interesting episodes since the time of William the Conqueror.

Cost: £10.

To book a place, contact Julie by phoning 07540 073731 or emailing juliemarshall48@aol.com

‘Secrets, Scandals and Conspiracies of the British Monarchs’ workshop. Click to view full size.

Looking further ahead, Julie will also be holding 4 workshops at WEN that study each element in turn – Earth, Water, Air and Fire. Discover ancient ideas about how the elements are connected to the seasons, the human body and health, and minerals. There will be a case study of an event in history involving each element.

Click to view details of the ‘Four Elements’ workshops