Build your own NestBox!

Join us in the ECO Action Hub from 10:00 – 12:00 on 16th December 2023

  • A drop in session to help you build your own nest box and take home for your garden!
  • No prior knowledge of building boxes or of using the right tools is required
  • Bisham Nest Box Group will bring all equipment and tools you need to build nest boxes.

From Bisham Nest Box Group: We are a small, not-for-profit volunteer group making nest boxes for garden birds, owls, raptors, swifts, hedgehogs, bats and bees. We just ask for a donation to cover the cost of the materials. Bisham Nest Box Group

In the ECO Action Hub from 10:00 to 12:00 Saturday 16th December. Drop in!

“Stitch It – Don’t Ditch It!”

11:00 to 14:00 Saturday 25th November.

Drop in and get stitching: Save your old clothes, Refresh your wardrobe, Get stitching!

Woman at sewing machine
  • A drop in session to help you bring new life to items that would otherwise have been binned. No prior knowledge of sewing or using a sewing machine is necessary.
  • Advice, materials and sewing machines will be available for you to make a start on a project. You can also bring your own ideas and projects.

Upstairs at the ECO Action Hub: no experience, expertise or equipment required. Drop in and get stitching!

Repair Cafe – Open Saturday 11th November

Here again: Maidenhead’s successful Repair Café gives people’s broken or worn-out possessions a new lease of life! See people like yourself rebuilding, repairing and recycling things that might otherwise be thrown away. Opening again in our ECO-Action Hub.

Please register here if you wish to bring something for repair to reserve your time-slot: Or feel free to email the Repair Café team on repair.maidenhead@gmail.com.

We open from 10:00 to 15:00. Repair skills available at this next event include:
– small electrical items (excludes microwaves and large items)
– laptops/computers, phone repairs (except screen repairs)
– IT assistance(e.g. anti-virus, software updates)
– glass repairs, book binding, fixing picture frames
– basic woodwork, small furniture items
– sewing and mending, textiles repairs

We aim to fix anything, our volunteers love to solve problems!

We have published our future dates which also include:
– Saturday 9th December

Question Time “All About Heat Pumps”: 2nd December 2023

Thinking about getting a heat pump? Got lots of questions? Need to talk to an expert?

  • Do they make economic & environmental sense?
  • How can you get the best deal and outcome?
  • What’s best and are they the right thing for you?

Hear from our experts who have the answers, practical experiences, and have ‘lived’ with them? Put your questions to our specialist panel chaired by Peter Gibbs (From BBC R4 Gardeners’ Question Time and our local ‘Weather Man’). Find out if heat-pumps will work for you.

From 11:00 too 12:30 Saturday 2nd December.

To ask a question, book on Eventbrite: click here (Batch 2)

Book now: Climate Fresk Workshop

Saturday 4th November 10:00 – 13:00 in the ECO Action Hub Maidenhead

You can’t fix what you don’t understand – luckily, the Climate Fresk turns climate science into a game! Played by over 1M people worldwide, this collaborative workshop allows you to understand the essential issues of climate change in order to take action.

Based on IPCC reports, you’ll learn how the climate functions – as well as the consequences of its disruption. Whether you’re a novice or an expert, you’ll learn a lot in just three hours.

How it works: The workshop is based on a 42-card game.

  • Each card represents an element, a cause or a consequence of climate change.
  • In teams, guided by facilitators, you have to find the cause-effect relationship between the different components of climate change.
  • Collective intelligence will get you from one set of cards to the next!
  • This step-by-step reconstruction provides keys to understand the complexity and develop an overview of climate change.

All you need to bring is your joy, energy, and willingness to learn! Just make sure to arrive on time so we can start the workshop with the whole group, and plan to stay for the full 3 hours (there will be a short break in the middle).

Tickets: offered at £10, £5, or free … best considered as a donation which we welcome but no donation is also fine. ALL the registration details you need are in the link.

RBWM Sustainability SPD Consultation “How To” Guide: MORE HELP!

We recently posted about the RBWM’s Sustainability SPD Consultation (here). If you just want to provide a quick response, we suggest you use our handy “How To” guide (here).

For those with more time and interest in how the SPD can be made better we’ve now got more detailed responses linked here to help you shape your feedback to RBWM! This edition has a particular focus on Energy Efficiency, Climate Adaptation and Sustainable Construction.

If you are short on time then you can simply copy and paste the last three columns of the table in the document (Section, Para, Suggested Text) into Box 5 of the Representation Form and email to planning.consultation@rbwm.gov.uk. Those items where ‘Push for change’ is highlighted in red are our priorities.

It would be really great if you can complete the submissions using the forms and information we’ve provided. The more RBWM hear from all of us as residents, the better informed they will be to make sound decisions.

To see all our posts about the Sustainability SPD please click here.

Thank you for your submissions!

Sustainability in action graphics

“We must now look at the world through a new lens”

The BBC’s Planet Earth III is now on television and iPlayer.

Presented by Sir David Attenborough it’s a fascinating journey to the far reaches of our planet. It follows some of the world’s most amazing species, telling extraordinary stories that are dramatic, thrilling, funny and sometimes heart-breaking, but always full of hope.

For anyone who cares about the climate and biodiversity … it’s a must-watch!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gjwxhv

Sir David Attenborough

Repair Cafe – Open Saturday 11th November

Here again: Maidenhead’s successful Repair Café gives people’s broken or worn-out possessions a new lease of life! See people like yourself rebuilding, repairing and recycling things that might otherwise be thrown away. Opening again in our ECO-Action Hub.

Please register here if you wish to bring something for repair to reserve your time-slot: Or feel free to email the Repair Café team on repair.maidenhead@gmail.com.

We open from 10:00 to 15:00. Repair skills available at this next event include:
– small electrical items (excludes microwaves and large items)
– laptops/computers, phone repairs (except screen repairs)
– IT assistance(e.g. anti-virus, software updates)
– glass repairs, book binding, fixing picture frames
– basic woodwork, small furniture items
– sewing and mending, textiles repairs

We aim to fix anything, our volunteers love to solve problems!

We have published our future dates which also include:
– Saturday 9th December

RBWM Sustainability SPD Consultation “How To” Guide

We posted last week about the RBWM’s Sustainability SPD Consultation. (See here).

For any of our supporters (YOU!) that are keen to respond but are short of time, here is a detailed “How To” guide. Helping you to make best use of your time and respond in what we consider a most appropriate fashion to get to desired outcomes within RBWM!

Here’s a summary of what you will find there:

  • Why Engage: We want to live in a Borough that is zero carbon and rich in nature. When developments take place, we want them to help us achieve this. The Sustainability SPD will direct and guide planners and developers towards this.
  • What Best Informs: The SPD needs to include: clear Intent (a sense of urgency & confidence the SPD will deliver RBWM targets), meaningful Content (the SPD needs to remain current and relevant in our changing world). And must be Ambitious (to ensure the Borough’s critical climate goals are reached and the SPD delivers)
  • How to make a difference: Experience shows we are more successful in achieving change when we clearly target specific sections of the document subject to consultation. It is also just as important to support those sections of the draft SPD that show true ambition.

We will be providing specific guidance on the Eco Action website in the next fortnight to help you to do this. Deadline for your response to the consultation is 27th November 2023.

Here again is the link to the “How To” guide. Thank you.

Sustainability: People, Energy, Planet.