We kept up our busy pace in March, with the first day of the month being particularly full of activity. On the morning of 1st March, we held a bird box making demo at WEN. Tony showed how woodwork skills can be put to use to create different types of bird box. He also gave advice on where to site and how to care for the box.

Then in the afternoon, we enjoyed a warm welcome at Wallasey Village Library, where we held a Clothes Swap event. We were delighted by how many people wanted to take part, with 70 visitors and 42 bags of clothes donated. Huge thanks to the volunteers for running the event and thank you to everyone who came along and swapped clothes. A library is the very definition of reuse and Wallasey Village Library sets a great example for sharing resources within the community.

On 3rd March, some of the WEN team and volunteers completed ‘Emergency First Aid at Work’ training with Above All First Aid. The practical, hands-on training helped everyone learn the new skills (and led to some amusing photos!)

We held a Craft Day on 4th March to recycle, reuse and repurpose some of the materials that have been donated to us. Craft projects demonstrated and then tried included making a rag rug, earrings, T-shirt bag, animal blanket and greetings cards. There were also craft packs and resources available for a donation. It was lovely to see the finished results and watch everyone enjoy spending time being creative, including some friends from Neo Community.

On 8th March, Julie held the third of her Four Elements workshops, taking the theme of Spring and Air. This session covered the chemical elements of air, how these gases came to be on our planet, what the Ancients believed about the air element’s impact on health and personality, and which minerals are linked to the element. There was also a case study of the evolution of air breathing animals.

The final workshop in the Four Elements series is on Saturday 7th June.  The topic will be Fire and Summer.

To book, please contact Julie – phone 07540 073731 or email juliemarshall48@aol.com

Spring is really getting into its swing now. At the Green Hub, we’ve had mini daffodils in front of the hedge laid by Wirral Countryside Volunteers, beautiful cherry plum blossoms, catkins and leaves on the willow den and tadpoles emerging in the pond!

As the weather is warming up again, we’re starting to get several people turning up to the Green Hub at the same time, giving it a real community feel. We have treated the pond with barley straw to stop algae growth and made repairs to the bug hotel. We’re also planning to create a pollinator palace!

Meanwhile, at Falkland Road, a gloriously sunny day was perfect for spending time in the garden and also checking out how the growing plants are doing in the restored polytunnel.

On 16th March, we held another session to demonstrate how to make homes for wildlife in the garden. Tony showed the group how to make a bee hotel from wood. It is designed to provide a shelter and nesting site for solitary bees, such as species of mason bee and leafcutter bee.

On 20th March, Carol and six members of our Thursday gardening class helped plant a Tiny Forest at Wallacre Park, off Mosslands Drive in Wallasey. In just under an hour, the WEN group planted nearly 200 tree whips.

Merseyside Biobank and Wirral Council held a City Nature Challenge training session at Birkenhead Park on 21st March, aimed at anyone interested in taking part in this year’s City Nature Challenge and learning how to use iNaturalist. Raya and Anne attended as WEN will be getting involved with the City Nature Challenge during the 4 days of the event from 25th to 28th April.

Several City Nature Challenge events are being held on the Wirral. See list of locations and book places at the events here. Local groups are encouraged to participate and organise their own events and records from individuals are very welcome too. The more wildlife that is recorded and added to the totals for the Liverpool City Region, the better our area will do in this global bioblitz event! You don’t need any biological recording experience, and everyone is welcome to take part. All you need is a smartphone with the iNaturalist app installed. Join the City Nature Challenge 2025: Liverpool City Region iNaturalist project page for news and observations as they are uploaded.

Cheshire Wildlife Trust‘s Action for Wildlife Weekend took place at the Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre on 22nd and 23rd March and we had a stall at the event on the Saturday, sharing the space with lots of other local groups who look after nature on the Wirral. There were talks and guided walks, crafts, and free trees and wildflower plants. We also took part in the Community Group Meet Up. Raya spoke about the all the different projects at WEN. and we heard about Prenton Dell Claypit and the voluntary opportunities at Wirral Wildlife.

While the Action for Wildlife Weekend was going on, Naomi was helping at the Clothes Swap Cafe at The Quirky Community Hub in Hoylake! There were some beautiful items donated and we had 30 visitors, who brought in a total of 20 bags of clothing.

On 27th March, the ‘How to Grow Fruit and Vegetables’ gardening class had an interesting talk about trees and tree planting in Wirral, followed by a visit to the Wallasey Tree Planting Group nursery. Thanks to Anne Litherland for organising this.

On 28th March, Raya gave a talk at WEN on the topic of Gardening for Wildlife and Food. She explained how easy it is to grow fruit and vegetables which help wildlife and save money on expensive shop bought produce.

On 29th March, Indigo in Rock Ferry held the spring edition of their Clothes Swap. Around 100 people came to the event and an incredible 51 bags of clothes were donated! Indigo will be holding more Clothes Swaps in future, so do follow them on Facebook or check the event listings on their website to keep up to date with all their plans.

This marks the end of our Clothes Swap Cafe project, which began in May 2024 thanks to funding from the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority‘s Zero Waste Community Fund. Indigo has been our partner in this project since we worked together on our bid for funding and it’s been a great pleasure to make connections with them and the other venues and organisations we have organised events with. This teamwork has inspired ideas for future collaborations and we look forward to new opportunities to educate about the impact of fashion and clothing and demonstrate solutions.

If you would like to organise a Clothes Swap event, we have rails, hangers and display shelves you can borrow. We can also give advice and help you publicise the event. Please email wen@la21.net for more details.

Thank you to students from the Prep For Life Department at Wirral Met College, who have completed two work experience sessions at WEN. Their tasks included:

Sorting plant pots
Planting into pots
Weeding paved areas
Hedge cutting
General tidying
Sorting hangers for clothes swap events

The placement has helped the students to develop skills and gain understanding of the world of work. Importantly, they also enjoyed the experience and we were pleased to make the students welcome as they carried out the jobs we needed doing and gained a deeper understanding of environmental issues and how we, as individuals, can make a difference.

WEN receives no core funding, so we are currently looking for funding and donations to be able to continue offering work experience sessions. If you would like to make a donation, please email wen@la21.net

We’ll be starting a new term of courses next month.

There are places available on the following gardening courses. For more information, or to book a place, phone 07932 355742 or email carol.seery1@btinternet.com

Practical Gardening
Start date: Wednesday 23rd April, 9.30 – 11.30am
Discover and practice practical tasks you can do in your garden at this time of year including taking cuttings, what to sow in summer for autumn/ winter/ spring colour, pruning, creating a summer flower border, general maintenance tasks, looking at YOUR garden for the summer season and much more.
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

Discover the Past, Present and Future of Gardening
Start Date: Wednesday 23rd April, 12 – 2pm
Discover the history of gardens, with outings to local gardens and parks of interest.
Learn what you should be doing week by week in your garden in the Question and Answer time.
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

Gardening Group
Start date: Friday 25th April, 9.30 – 11.30am
This is for people who have an interest in all aspects of gardening. As well as the usual gardening subjects we also cover the more unusual e.g. is gardening good for you,
roof gardening, how to garden without peat, colour therapy of garden design and any topic the group would like to discuss.
Cost: £60.00 for each 10 week term, 20 hours

The WEN Reclaimers will be starting again in April too. Choose from an 8 week course or free drop-in sessions.

8 week course
Tuesdays from 29th April, 10.30am – 12.30pm
£60
Learn use of hand tools, designing, measuring and cutting accurately, drilling and more.
Make a garden bench to take home.
Booking essential. Please email wen@la21.net or phone 0151 639 2121.

Drop-in
Tuesdays from 29th April, 1 – 2.30pm
Free
Make wood items for WEN and help with improvement projects around the centre.
No need to book