New Term for Gardening Courses

After the summer holidays, it’s great to see the gardening course members around WEN. We didn’t need to advertise any of the gardening courses for this term – they are so popular that everyone wanted to come back for more! The courses make good use of the growing spaces around the WEN building, as well as covering the practical side of gardening. Carol’s knowledge and teaching skills are much appreciated by all of her students.

One of the gardening topics covered this month has been how to make leaf mould for sowing seeds in. It can also be mixed with homemade compost for making a potting mix for containers. This is the time of year to collect leaves – put as many as you can in a builder’s bag. If you can mow the leaves first, they will get chopped up and you can fit up to 90% more in the bag. Cover up the leaves in the bag for the winter, place the bag somewhere that gets sunshine and, fingers crossed, in the spring you can scrape the top layer off to reveal the leaf mould, which will be ready to use. Homemade leaf mould is much better than the poor quality peat-free compost that is on sale. It really pays to think ahead to create your own.

Woodwork Course

We have a new cohort of eager learners on the woodwork course – which, this term, has a morning and an afternoon session to meet demand. Our container is full of woodwork projects that have been started and we look forward to seeing progress towards their completion over the coming weeks.

Our woodwork courses always book up very quickly and there is demand for more. As we can’t clone Tony, we have advertised for a second woodwork tutor.

People’s Emergency Briefing Follow Up

At the People’s Emergency Briefing Follow up meeting on 8th September, we discussed the recent press articles quoting Angela Eagle, local MP and Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, saying that residents will be urged to prepare for food and water shortages with the effect of El Niño on weather in UK between November and February. This led us to ask what happens in an emergency, how can we be prepared and what is emergency planning locally. We do not have the answers to this yet but there is information to help residents to make a household emergency plan.

There is also a local resilience forum for Merseyside with a survey asking how prepared you are.

We discovered a new emergency number for power cuts: 105 and a list of items to store in case of emergency:

• Battery or wind-up torch
• Portable power bank for charging your mobile phone
• Battery or wind-up radio to get updates during a power cut
• Spare batteries for torch or radio
• First aid kit
• Wet wipes and hand sanitiser
• Bottled water
• Non-perishable food that does not require cooking (e.g. tinned meat, fruit or vegetables) and tin opener
• Baby supplies (e.g. nappies and formula)

You can check if you’re in a flood risk area and sign up for flood alerts.

Each utility supplier has a register for vulnerable customers. Unfortunately, this isn’t one register for each local authority so you have to sign up to all. Go to https://prepare.campaign.gov.uk/ to find out more. Priority is given to any household with a child under 5 or with a person of pension age, not only those with a disability.

What we could not find out was how the local resilience forum works at the community scale. We are concerned that many will not have the ability to stock up on food, water and the items above and will be isolated in such emergencies. The vulnerable in society will be most affected. There is a good voluntary sector in Wirral. Are they part of this planning? Any help bridging that knowledge gap would be appreciated. As it won’t just be El Niño that can cause emergencies.

The next follow up meeting will be on Tuesday 13th October, 10.30am – 12pm. Over the next few months, we will be using the Just One Thing for the Planet materials produced by Liverpool Friends of the Earth. You are welcome to attend the meetings even if you haven’t seen the People’s Emergency Briefing film as we will use extracts from it to illustrate topics. The theme for the October session will be food and you will be encouraged to try out some lifestyle changes – big or small!

Please email Anne – ham.creation.2020@gmail.com – if you would like to take part.

Volunteer Day

Massive thanks to everyone who came to our Volunteer Day on 12th September. It was wonderful to have helpers who spanned the generations and several of the volunteers brought family members with them.

We weeded the raised beds, weeded and rebuilt the Ugandan keyhole garden, fixed the bench, potted up indoor plants and did some general tidying. A great sense of achievement and a good time was had by all!

We hope to hold Volunteer Days on a more regular basis and encourage more people to help out at WEN, whether they have never visited before or often attend events.

‘Keeping Warm This Winter Shouldn’t Cost the Earth’

On 17th September, Dominic Griffiths from Energy Projects Plus returned to WEN to give a follow up to his talk in June. With the colder months approaching, we thought it would be a good time to get an update on energy price rises and give more people advice on how to prepare their homes for winter and reduce their bills. Dominic gave an explanation of the grants and schemes available to help people make their homes warmer and cheaper to run, and talked about alternatives to using fossil fuels in our homes.

Dominic’s top energy saving tips included:

• Switch off appliances before going to bed
• Shut the door to each room to keep the warmth in
• Change light bulbs to LED lights
• Switch the heating off 30 to 60 minutes before you go to bed and switch it on 30 to 60 minutes before you wake up
• Keep your boiler temperature at 55 degrees C
• Add reflector panels behind radiators
• Insulate your roof space
• Use draught excluders and hang a curtain behind your front door, especially if it’s wooden
• Put a flap on the back of letterboxes and keyholes to stop the wind blowing through them

Wirral Earth Fest

We headed off to West Kirby for Wirral Earth Fest on 19th September. Earth Fest is organised by Transition Town West Kirby to celebrate caring for our planet through music, storytelling and poetry. They took a break last year so it was great to be back at St Bridget’s Fields, amongst other local groups.

The morning started wet and windy but luckily by the time the festival opened the sun had come out. We took along handmade goods from our Crafters group, including toys, jewellery and bags. They sold very well, raising money for WEN. We found the craft items also helped draw people towards the stall, leading to interesting conversations about all the activities at WEN and encouraging people to join in with our projects.

Wheatland Lane Play Area Tidy Up

We supported Seacombe Pride In Place for another Community Clean Up on 23rd September. The play area on Wheatland Lane was in need of some TLC. Thanks to everyone who answered the call for help – between them they filled 26 bags with rubbish! They also did some weeding and cleared soil and debris along the fence lines.

The next Seacombe Community Clean Up will be on Saturday 10th October, 10am – 12pm. This time we’ll be tackling Church Road, Borough Road East and surrounding area.

Join others and get involved, meet Pride in Place board members and give your feedback on plans for Seacombe. Come for as long or as little as you want.

If you have them, bring your own litter pickers and gloves but some will be available on the day.

Meet at Home Bargains, 18 Church Road, Wallasey, CH44 6JF

Myths and Mysteries Volume Two: Medieval and Modern

On 26th September, Julie held the second part of her Myths and Mysteries workshop at WEN. The myths and mysteries covered this time were as follows:

Myths

• King Cnut ordered the tide to stop
• Vikings wore horns on their helmets
• Christopher Columbus discovered America
• Marie Antoinette said ‘let them eat cake’
• Napoleon was very short in stature

Mysteries

• Did King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table exist?
• Who killed the Princes in the Tower?
• What happened to the Mary Celeste?
• Is there really a Bermuda Triangle mystery?

Sadly there was no conclusive proof to solve any of the mysteries but Julie showed that the myths, despite being widely believed, are all total fabrications. The group had fun discussing all of them, looked at some artefacts and written sources and then enjoyed a Bermuda Triangle themed cake at the break!

Julie’s next session at WEN is on the 31st October and is a mineral themed workshop which looks at how and why certain minerals, metals and gemstones have become so valuable to modern society, whilst also looking at what sort of objects were considered precious to ancient societies.

To book a place please contact Julie:
Email: Juliemarshall48@aol.com
Mobile: 07540073731

Falkland Road Organic Growers

After plenty of rain this month, the plants in the WEN garden are green and growing. The FROGs met each Wednesday morning during the month, come rain or shine, and have been tending to the marigolds, beans and squashes.

Crafters 

The Crafters returned to WEN after taking a summer break in July and August. As well as providing items for selling at Wirral Earth Fest, the Crafters have been trying to organise the store cupboards to get their supplies in order. They plan to create a seasonal autumn and winter themed display at their next session.

The group meets on alternate Tuesdays from 10am to 12pm during term time. It is aimed at keen crafters who can make items to sell in the sales area based in the WEN Centre and also at various external fundraising events.

The fortnightly meetings are primarily ideas sessions rather than teaching or instructional lessons. The members usually work on their projects at home using the donated materials from our well stocked storeroom. Crafts include sewing, knitting, crochet, jewellery making and card making.

If you are interested in joining the group, you are more than welcome to call in for an initial chat between 10.30 and 11.30am on one of the session days.
Future dates can be checked by phoning WEN on 0151 639 2121, or emailing wen@la21.net

The Crafters helped out Wirral Unplugged by supplying balls of wool in colours suitable for making beards, ready for the Questival cosplay event at Port Sunlight on 3rd October! Take a look at the creation of a woolly beard here.

Reclaimers

Our talented Reclaimers group members have recently made an A-Board, a radiator cover and a garden seat from reclaimed wood. In upcoming sessions, they will be focusing on making items for the pre-Christmas fair on 14th November – bird boxes, hedgehog houses, bat boxes and more.

Karen from Re-jiggery has continued refurbishing our chairs using reclaimed material and unwearable woolen jumpers. Everything is beginning to look a lot smarter and more comfortable.

The Reclaimers meet every Tuesday morning at WEN, 10am – 12pm. New members of the group are always welcome. Please drop in on a Tuesday if you would like to find out more.

Become a WEN Trustee

Want to help increase environmental action across Wirral?

As a WEN Trustee, you’ll help shape our strategy, ensure we meet our charitable objectives, and support work that enables individuals, communities and organisations to make a positive environmental difference.

Trustees meet up to six evenings a year, alongside a planning day and our AGM. There are also opportunities for training and to get more involved in WEN’s work, from supporting office management and organisational development to helping at events or volunteering with projects.

You don’t need previous Trustee experience. We’re interested in people who care about WEN’s work and can bring their ideas, skills, knowledge or lived experience to the organisation.

We want our Trustees to better reflect the communities we work with across Wirral. We therefore particularly welcome applications from people who are currently underrepresented in our team, including younger people (under 25), people from Black, Asian and other ethnically diverse communities, LGBTQ+ people, disabled people, and people with other protected characteristics. Applications are welcome from anyone.

For an informal chat about becoming a Trustee, contact wen@la21.net
Formal applications must be submitted at least seven days before the AGM, which will take place on 11th November.

Thriving Communities Job Vacancies

Thanks to National Lottery players, Cool Wirral Thriving Communities has received £1,578,021.46 over three years from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK. The project aims to transform the way underrepresented communities engage with climate action across Wirral, addressing their needs and barriers through a combination of community-led projects.

Grouping initiatives in four priority areas; food, energy, nature, and wellbeing, the project aims to deliver a range of support, empower disadvantaged residents to lead healthier lives, manage living costs, and strengthen social ties. Wirral Council will lead a partnership which includes Faiths4Change, Wirral Environmental Network, Grow-Wellbeing, St Vincent Centre, Energise Cycles, Energy Projects Plus, Compost Works, and Wirral Forest Wellbeing CIC.

This comes from the Climate Action Fund, a long-term commitment to support communities across the UK to act on climate change and involve more people in positive environmental action.

As part of this three year programme Wirral Environmental Network will be running the Grow, Eat, Learn project, teaching sustainable food growing and eating practices in community settings across the Wirral.

We have four job vacancies: Lead Community Gardener, Lead Community Cook, Community Gardener and Community Cook Support Worker. Read about the roles and how to apply.