news and events
Catch up with what we have been up to with the latest news plus information on past and future events
news
New Project Officer Role
We are really excited to announce that as of 1st April 2020, Sustainable Swanage has its own part-time dedicated project officer! This role is funded by Swanage Town Council and hosted by Litter Free Coast and Sea. The project will now be able to expand and develop and welcomes ideas from the community.
Initial tasks include setting up a more comprehensive set of webpages (coming soon), developing volunteer roles and identifying projects for the coming year.
Tree Planting 2019/2020 – Target Reached!
Last year we launched a campaign to promote the planting of trees in suitable sites throughout the town to help improve biodiversity, mitigate climate change and boost wellbeing. We set a target to help plant 1500 trees in the town, approximately one for every child who lives here. The campaign was launched at our environment day on the 12th October, with this beautiful native crab apple tree, chosen by the hosts All Saints Church. This was quickly followed by 5 others in schools and private gardens and we began discussions with groups and schools who all wanted to green up their space and the local area. By March 2020 over 1600 new trees had been planted across 3 local schools, Victoria Avenue, a local farm, and private gardens!
This would not have been achieved without working together with the different local groups and was a team effort: Trees for Dorset, Purbeck National Trust, Swanage School, St Marys Primary, Swanage Primary and the volunteers from our newly formed sub-group, Greening Swanage.
Well done to all involved. We are all still busy ensuring the trees are watered as necessary in this warm dry spring of their first year, and planning new projects for next year! What will be our target for next year?..
Swanage Becomes 4th ‘Plastic Free Town’ in Dorset
In May 2019 Swanage Town Council decided to ditch all avoidable single use plastic across its operations and support the town in reducing its single use plastic. The new steering group was formed and after several months of bringing together the fantastic work already being done in the town to reduce single use plastic and promoting the issue more widely we became an official Plastic Free Town in July 2019. For full press release see…
upcoming events
Open Meetings
Unfortunately our usual monthly open meetings have been suspended due to the coronavirus crisis, however we are now holding online meetings instead to which all are welcome.
We have held 3 so far using the app Zoom and they have worked really well. Our most recent was on sustainable transport – notes coming soon.
In our May meeting we discussed the importance of local produce for a sustainable community and welcomed Claire and Andrew Head from Cedar Organic, who will told us about their work on their farm near Corfe Castle. We discussed how we can help reduce environmental impact by considering the food we eat.
We also opened up a discussion on new project ideas on this theme. These included supporting the community in growing their own food, including the idea to set up a community orchard in the town, plus other initiatives that reduce food waste and help surplus to reach people who can use it. We heard about the success of the Langton Matravers Orchard and will be visiting other sites to help with planning ours. If you are interested in being involved in this project please get in touch.
Love Swanage Environment Day
Our annual environment day is under review due to this situation.
Ideas for future events after restrictions ease
- Repair Cafe
- Seed and Seedling swapping events
- We welcome more ideas from you in the community – get in touch
past events
Open Meetings
We have held 5 well-attended open meetings so far since July, covering the topics of waste, trees and energy efficiency. Notes from our meetings will be available to view here soon.
Love Swanage Environment Day
Saturday 12th October 2019 11am-4pm
All Saints Church, Ulwell, Swanage.
Organised by Litter Free Coast & Sea in partnership with Sustainable Swanage, building on the success of 2018’s inaugural event we once again hosted events, stands and a pop-up ‘Eco Market’. The event focused on learning to live an eco-friendlier, ‘Plastic Free’ lifestyle, with tips on recycling and sourcing local, organic and plastic free products.
Going green is good for business
Tuesday 12th November 2019 7-9pm at the Cellar Bar, Swanage
A meeting to share experiences and knowledge on what businesses can do to reduce impact on the environment and be sustainable. Showcases from businesses who have reduced their single use plastic, are currently recycling, discussions on issues around packaging and also a talk from Low Carbon Trust on a renewable energy scheme that benefits businesses.
This was a successful meeting and led to a further event being planned for March 2020 which was unfortunately cancelled. Businesses requested more information on recycling options that could be simple and cost-effective and also more information on grease traps. Our waste drop-in event with businesses representatives will be rearranged for a later date. More details when we can.
Swanage Carnival Procession 2019
Carnival time in Swanage on the 28 July 2019, saw Litter Free Coast & Sea in the parade with a ‘walking float’ along with members of Sustainable Swanage and their families. Sarah Spurling commented, “We had a great time on our ‘Love our Beach’ walking procession today in Swanage carnival with Litter Free Purbeck, Swanage Information Centre and Swanage Town Council. Lovely crowd and great atmosphere, perfect for celebrating our coastline…let’s keep it beautiful!” The message was simple ‘Take only Memories, Leave only footprints’ and ‘Have a lovely litter Free Carnival’.