Published on 1st February 2023

It’s Saturday morning and a queue is forming outside the United Reformed Church in Horsham. People are waiting patiently to receive bread and fresh groceries to feed them and their families, with food distributed by the Horsham Community Fridge. Next door, an industrious team of volunteers are fixing toasters, lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners and even Teddy bears at the Horsham Repair Café, while the team at the Refill Shop fill an empty bottle with eco-friendly washing-up liquid. There are volunteers on other stalls too, giving information on recycling or energy saving tips, helping people upcycle Christmas cards, handing out books about climate change or offering advice on seed swaps. 

All these services have been brought together at the Sussex Green Hub, held on the last Saturday of every month at the URC on Springfield Road (opposite St John the Evangelist Church and near The Lynd Cross) from 10am – 4pm. The event offers information as well as services, with a community café running too. 

The hub is organised by Sussex Green Living, an award-winning charity set up in 2012 to promote green initiatives. SGL was founded by Carrie Cort, who arrives at the hub in the Inspiration Eco Station, a converted milk float used for roadshows and events. Wearing a coat made entirely from upcycled ties, one might mistake Carrie as an archetypal environmental campaigner. Yet her dedication, and that of the charity’s ever-expanding network of volunteers, has influenced positive change in the District. Not that she’s resting on her laurels…

‘We are pleased with everything we’ve achieved so far, but now we need to step it up from an environmental point of view,’ says Carrie. ‘The Horsham District has one of the best recycling rates in West Sussex and I believe that has a great deal to do with Sussex Green Living, in particular the work of our volunteers in rural communities, who are passionate about the environment and give up their own time to make a small but important contribution.’

‘But more needs to be done. Horsham District Council is very vocal about its own efforts to become carbon neutral, but what about the 140,000 residents in the District? There won’t be much to celebrate if the council reaches its own carbon footprint goals if it doesn’t also support the wider efforts of the community, which will have a far greater impact.’ 

‘In recent years, the Council has increased its efforts to promote Sussex Green Living’s initiative and events. However, it still needs to better signpost people to environmental efforts happening across the district, especially in the villages, and there are still some “fossil fools” serving in local government, who need carbon training to enhance their understanding of what needs to be done.’

REPAIR JOB

Despite Carrie being its only full-time member of staff (Melanie Nurse helps with marketing on a part-time basis), Sussex Green Living manages to organise the green hub, as well as its own day-to-day activities, thanks to the support of a dedicated board of trustees and committed volunteers across a range of services. One of the most popular of these services is the Horsham Repair Café, which sees a group of experienced handymen giving up their time to repair household and electrical items in return for a small donation to charity. 

The Repair Cafe was originally held alongside the Refill Shop at the Quaker Meeting House, before coming under the umbrella of the Sussex Green Hub, when it was launched post-Covid. Such has been the popularity of the repair service that an appointment system is now in place, with half-hour slots to avoid members of the public having to wait long. From 10am – 2pm, there were 47 bookings, so the team’s expertise is in high demand!

Karen Epsley, who organises the schedule, said: ‘The appointment system saves the bedlam that we used to see and also means we can allocate jobs to certain people. Some repairers are “generalists” who can fix most things, but Richard is especially skilled with electrical items, while John has a mechanical mind and has repaired everything from a complicated bridge card counter to an antique gramophone.’

‘They’re so dedicated that they often take items home to finish fixing and bring them back the following month. We see a lot of vacuum cleaners, as well as coffee machines, mowers, toasters and this week, even some decorative Christmas lights. Some people bring in items that have emotional or sentimental importance, but in the majority of cases, the most important thing is saving something from going to landfill.’

The Repair Café also offers textile repairs, with volunteers undertaking zip repairs and sewing tasks. AAH’s visit coincided with volunteer Rosalind Peters handing back a Teddy first given to Doreen Kerr by her parents as she set off for university some 50 ago. Rosalind said: ‘The bear was in a bit of a mess and he’d lost his paws. Doreen came in and asked us to give him a clean, but I also made him a little jacket and a sandwich bag! She’s delighted with the work we’ve done!’

ECO REFILLS

The Refill Hub also began at the Quaker Meeting House before becoming part of the Green Hub. It gives people the chance to empty bottles of household cleaning products, as well as shampoo and conditioner, and refill them. There’s a range of products by environmentally-friendly brands including Bio D, Ecoleaf and Faith in Nature, and the service not only reduces what goes to landfill, but saves people money. 

Liz Thorns, Refill Shop volunteer, said: ‘More people want to know about the products they buy from shops, as they’re keen to buy non-toxic products that can be refilled. Running alongside the Repair Café helps us at the Refill Shop, as it brings a lot of people through the door. If we can convert some of them to more sustainable products, it will make a difference, as people often return month after month to refill. As well as reaching more local people, services such as this also have a positive commercial impact, as we are starting to see more environmentally-friendly products on supermarket shelves.’

AFFORDABLE HOMES

Other groups, organisations and businesses represented at the Green Hub include Eco Churches, Transition Horsham (a community initiative best known for its seed swap programme) and Declutter coach Amy Thompson, while the North Horsham Community Land Trust were attending the event for the first time. Working alongside North Horsham Parish Council, the Trust aims to provide affordable housing for young people in the area. 

Peter Beckley said: ‘A lot of young, local people either have to live with their parents as they can’t afford a place of their own, or they’re having to move away from the area, which has a knock-on effect on employment. Developers are required to build “affordable housing”, but the reality is that these properties are unaffordable for most young people. So, we want to provide genuinely affordable housing in the District. What we’d like to do, as a Trust, is buy property that we would own in perpetuity, and rent to local people at a rate they can still live comfortably on. In the meantime, we need people to support us and become a Trust member.’

KEEP IT COOL

Sussex Green Living focuses on the ‘Three Rs’ of Refill, Repair and Recycle. Thanks to the Horsham Community Fridge, the Green Hub might also add Replenish, as it offers a vital food service. The fridge isn’t an SGL initiative, and is instead run by a Community Interest Company called Fair Divide. Fair Divide established its first fridge in Littlehampton and has since expanded, with the Horsham fridge launching two years ago and an ‘on tour’ fridge visiting other parts of Sussex. 

Horsham Community Fridge not only prevents tonnes of food from going to landfill (about 40 tonnes in 2022 alone) but also provides an increasingly in-demand service, as organiser Nicola Fryatt explains: ‘We collect food that is either surplus or past its “best before” date from supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Lidl. We store it in fridges and freezers, then hand it out to members of the public.’ 

‘People can choose five items, as well as a loaf of bread and anything additional we may have plenty of, such as a surplus of bananas. It’s different from a food bank in that we offer chilled foods, from fruit and vegetables to frozen ready meals. Anybody can come along, and if people are prepared to wait on a cold, January morning for five items of food, they probably need it. We think of Horsham as being an affluent area, but we often see queues outside and many people need some help.’

Horsham Community Fridge is held on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the Methodist Church in London Road, Horsham, and every Saturday at a different church, rotating between St Andrew’s in Roffey, Holy Innocents in Southwater and St John’s in Springfield Road, Horsham, before visiting the Green Hub on the final Saturday of the month. Some additional fridges are held at St Mark’s in Holbrook too. 

SERIOUS SCIENCE 

Working with other Horsham-based environmental, community and faith groups, it is the ambition of the organisers that the Green Hub becomes a permanent fixture on the High Street. Sussex Green Living has applied for a lottery grant in a bid to lease a shop in town and fund an additional member of staff. This would allow some services at the hub to operate more frequently, while also providing space for SGL to provide information on recycling and energy saving. Additional funding would also help the charity fulfil its three-year mission by offering more support to volunteers in villages. 

Carrie believes now is the time to build on the positive changes that have been made in recent years. ‘Perceptions of what we’re doing as campaigners has changed and that’s partly down to the pandemic. When the world’s governments had to make united decisions on how to combat the virus, they turned to the scientific community and their work was heralded by just about everybody.’ 

‘That same scientific community overwhelming agrees that climate change is a man-made environmental and ecological disaster, and that we need to act now. A few years ago, we had a very vocal minority opposing the science, but thankfully we’re now listening to what the experts have to say.’

‘Although it’s frustrating, as sometimes it feels not enough is being done, there are some incredible initiatives happening all over the world that will make a significant dent in our carbonfootprint and have a positive impact on the planet for future generations. We can make an even bigger dent if we work together and play our part on a local level. That’s really what all this is about.’

Further information: For  details about Sussex Green Hub and local green initiatives, visit www.sussexgreenliving.org.uk