May has been a month of collaborations, sharing eco ideas and encouraging climate action at several events around the Wirral.

After starting a series of gardening workshops last month with other local groups, the second session took place at Falkland Road on 6th May, followed by one at Callister Garden in Oxton on 18th May.

Here are the dates of the remaining workshops:

Wednesday 1st June
10am to 1pm
Green Hub at St James Garden. Entrance between 192 and 194 Tollemache Road, Birkenhead.

Wednesday 29th June
10am to 1pm
Bee Wirral Elemental Project, off Landsdowne Place, Birkenhead.

Wednesday 13th July and Wednesday 27th July
10am to 1pm
Holy Apostles and Martyrs Parish Church, St George’s Road, Wallasey, CH45 6TU

Come to one or join in with all of them. For more information and to book a place, please email ham.creation2020@gmail.com

We took our information stall to Cool Heswall on 14th May. It was great to be part of the event at Hill House Gardens, where community groups, businesses, schools and churches came together with climate solutions. Thanks to the Joint Rotary Environment Group for organising the day.

Naomi, WEN’s Project Manager, spoke at the online Mersey Green Fair event on 19th May. Naomi gave a brief intro to Wirral Environmental Network and provided a whistle-stop tour of Wirral’s environmental organisations, asking how we can increase collaboration to increase impact.

If you are interested in joining in with the networking opportunities provided by the Mersey Green Map and the Green Fair, please email merseygreenmap@gmail.com for more information.

We were so happy to be able to hold our Spring Fair on 21st May, after we couldn’t do so in 2020 and 2021 due to covid restrictions. Stalls included a plant sale by Falkland Road Organic Gardeners, hand made items from the WEN Crafters, cakes, Traidcraft and furniture upcycling. Thanks to everyone who came and all the volunteers and stall holders who made it such a brilliant day. We were delighted to raise over £1000 for WEN.

We teamed up with Wirral Unplugged and Wirral Council’s Eco Schools for Biodiversity Day at Castleway Primary School on 26th May. Children from seven schools took part in a celebration of nature and art. Fun activities were also provided by Wirral Wildlife, GROW-Wellbeing, Jackson’s Animal Rescue, Tam O’Shanter Urban Farm and local artists, including Welly Road Art Studios and Pamela Sullivan. The kids enjoyed getting messy with seed bombs, learning how to identify trees and butterflies, as well as pretending to be a bee!

The teamwork behind this event continues as we are preparing for our Eco Art in the Park and Pollinator Passports project, which will also feature the creations of artist Alison Bailey-Smith. Alison began by making watercolour sketches of native Wirral flowers and pollinators and then moved on to produce metal maquettes, as miniature versions of the final artwork. We’ll be announcing further details of the project soon. Follow Wirral Unplugged CIC on Facebook or Twitter to get the news first and take a look at Alison’s work in progress on the Abscraft Facebook page.

This month at the Bee Wirral Elemental Project, Maria helped the group to plant flowers grown from seed into the perennial bed to support pollinating insects in the wildlife area. They potted on growing plants in the polytunnel ready for sale, worked around the pond and weeded the raised beds. The men also prepared some recycled wood for plant boxes and harvested produce.

There’s plenty to do but we make sure there’s time to relax and have chat too (and maybe enjoy a bit of home made cake!). If you know any men who would like to take part, the workshops with Maria take place on Wednesdays, 10am – 1pm, at the allotment at Landsdowne Road, Birkenhead. Please contact Tom@beewirral.gov.uk for more details.