September 2025 News
The WEN team returned from summer holidays at the start of September, ready for the beginning of the new term of classes, including gardening courses and a new group of woodwork beginners learning how to make a garden planter on the Reclaimers course.
The WEN Crafters resumed their sessions too and they have set up a new seasonal display area with Halloween goods. Their stock of hand crafted hats and scarves is also available for sale and they are busy preparing for the WEN pre-Christmas Fair on 22nd November (see the end of this news update for further information about the fair).
The Crafters autumnal display with knitted scarves, hats… and pumpkins!
On 6th September Julie held the second of her History of Medicine workshops, looking at the artistic and medical renaissance. Topics covered included the work of Leonardo da Vinci and other artists who assisted developments in medicine. the importance of the Royal Society at the time of Charles II, and medical developments such as William Harvey and blood circulation.
Julie’s next History of Medicine workshop isn’t until 17th January but she will be back at WEN on Saturday 18th October for ‘Pyramids, Platonic Solids and Sacred Shapes‘ (see poster below for details). To book a place, please contact Julie by emailing Juliemarshall48@aol.com or phoning 07540 073731.
Pyramids, Platonic Solids and Sacred Shapes – book now!
On 9th September, Kenny attended the Transition Cafe in Liverpool, where there was a showcase of green groups from the Liverpool City Region. Other organisations at this monthly Transition Liverpool event were Our Common Home, Hope for the Future, Engage Liverpool and XR Merseyside.
We welcomed Angela Eagle, MP for Wallasey, to WEN on 12th September. The meeting was organised by our Trustee Anne, as a follow up to her discussions with Angela at The Climate Coalition lobby of Parliament in July. We invited people from groups from the Wallasey constituency and were delighted so many could join us. We had representatives from Greenpeace Merseyside, several Eco Churches, Wirral Eco Schools, Wallasey CND, and Rotary.
Sarah from Greenpeace Merseyside described their Make Polluters Pay petition to make oil, coal and gas corporations pay their fair share for the damage they cause. Anne then spoke about the Brew It Fair campaign by the Fairtrade Foundation to demand better conditions for tea farm workers. Anne gave Angela a letter from Kenyan tea farmers, asking MPs to protect human rights and honour international climate finance commitments. Naomi followed with an overview of the work of WEN and the eco action taking place on the Wirral.
Left: Networking over a hot drink and Anne’s homemade cake (with Fairtrade ingredients). Right: Naomi gave an overview of WEN and eco action on the Wirral.
Group photo outside WEN after the meeting with Angela Eagle MP
A small group met at WEN on 17th September to discuss plans for new fabric reuse projects on the Wirral. This was a subject raised at the Wardrobe Talk at WEN in February and chats have continued on WhatsApp over the last few months so we thought it was time to catch up in person and hear about progress so far and ideas and visions for this exciting venture. At the moment we have a number of people who would like to help make the project a success (including some local craftspeople with fabric stashes in their studios!) but we’ll need more volunteers to get this going.
Getting together to share ideas for a new fabric reuse project
if you are interested in textile reuse and repair and/or sewing and craft, and would like to help with a project to give surplus fabrics and trimmings a new home, please come along to a meeting on Tuesday 14th October, 6 – 8pm at BirkenHack. Find out how you can get involved in setting up and running a project to reuse, repair, upcycle and redistribute some of the wonderful stash of textiles we have in Wirral.
For more details, please email CircularArtsNetworkLCR@gmail.com
Volunteers wanted to help with fabric reuse, repair and redistribution
Cool Wirral Fest took place between 22nd and 28th September with members of the Cool Wirral partnership holding events to encourage climate and environmental action. We held drop-in activities at WEN on the Tuesday and Wednesday of that week, inviting people to have a go at air pollution monitoring, water testing or litter picking, visit a craft sale, and take part in a Fairtrade Tea and Coffee Morning.
The Cool Wirral Fest events at WEN
Fairtrade tea and coffee
The pollution monitors, water testing kits and litter pickers can be borrowed at any time. Please email wen@la21.net for more details.
We also have an apple press and scratter available to loan so if you find yourself with an excess of apples in your garden or allotment this autumn and want to have a go at turning them into juice, please get in touch.
It is free to borrow any of the above items but a donation to WEN is appreciated or you can purchase annual membership of WEN from £6 per year.
Borrow a water testing kit from WEN
Apple pressing equipment available to borrow
Three of our Trustees were amongst those who gathered for the Cool Wirral Awards 2025 at Start-Yard on 25th September. The awards celebrate those working on green initiatives and sustainability across Wirral. We were nominated in the Community Action category and received a certificate of achievement. The worthy Community Action winner was Barbara Gleave at the Wirral Repair Cafe. Congratulations to all the inspiring winners and nominees!
WEN Trustees Anne, Claire and Dave with the Mayor of Wirral at the Cool Wirral Awards
Our Green Streets project finished this month. Thanks to funding received from the Postcode Neighbourhood Trust in September 2024 we were able to increase biodiversity and access to nature at our Falkland Road environmental hub in Wallasey, the Green Hub at the St James Garden in Birkenhead North, and the approaches to both areas. Public engagement and education were also important aims of the project and residents were encouraged to improve their own gardens by providing them with items such as pollinator planters, wildlife friendly perennials, bird boxes, native wildflower seed packets and seed bombs. There were also talks and workshops on subjects including wildlife gardening, making bee hotels and hedgehog homes, and how to use the wildlife recording app iNaturalist.
Raya joined the WEN team as Volunteer Co-ordinator for Biodiversity and Climate Action and we would like to thank her for all the work she did during the project. Her knowledge and experience of biodiversity was incredible. She brought a delight in and appreciation of nature in all conversations and workshops. She came up with creative ideas and we could see her forest school training take root (excuse the pun). Thank you Raya!
Read about all the achievements of the Green Streets project here.
Gatekeeper seen at the Green Hub during the Big Butterfly Count
One of the pollinator planters given to local residents
As much as we would like to enjoy autumn and don’t want to think about winter and the festive season just yet, we are planning ahead with the dates for our Christmas decoration willow weaving workshops and the WEN pre-Christmas Fair.
Make Christmas wreath and heart decorations from willow, with added festive greenery.
Please bring your own secateurs and scissors. If you have any extra decorations you want to include in your design, please bring them too. It’s a great way to upcycle old Christmas baubles that can be given a new lease of life instead of being thrown away.
Cost: £15
There will be extra willow for sale, available for anyone who wants to take some to make their own decorations at home.
To book a place on one of the workshops, please contact Carol and state which date you would like to attend – phone 07932 355742 or email carol.seery1@btinternet.com
Put the 22nd November on your calendar for the WEN pre-Christmas Fair!
Would you or your organisation like a stall at the fair?
We will have our usual mix of cakes, crafts, gifts, and eco ideas and activities and would like to invite other environmental groups and businesses to share the occasion with us.
Stalls are free of charge but donations to WEN are appreciated.
Please email wen@la21.net or phone 0151 639 2121 to book a stall.
