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 Project
name:
Green Living Fayre
Social Landlord’s name:
Devon & Cornwall Housing Association
Location:
Barnstaple, North Devon
Project aim:
To promote green living options to residents
and the general public in North Devon and
celebrate the excellent local environmental and
community initiatives happening in the area.
What you have done:
On June 1st 2006 we organised an afternoon
fayre with stands and activities dedicated to
promoting environmental action in the home and
in the community. The day was organised in
partnership with the North Devon Citizens Advice
Bureau and took place at the Belle Meadow
Community Rooms. We linked the event to
World Environment Day and all those that
participated were invited to make a green pledge
and be entered for a free raffle with gifts
donated by community partners and local
businesses. A
report about the day
and the poster and programme for the day can be
downloaded from here.
(Poster
Programme
Report )
When did it take place:
June 1st 2006.
Which community partners were
involved:
Devon Energy Efficiency Advice Centre, South
West Water, Trans-send, Barnstaple Volunteer
Centre, Sure Start, North Devon CAB, Friends of
the Earth, Devon & Cornwall Housing, Care
Blackerton (Catering), St John’s Ambulance,
North Devon Primary Care Trust, Jig Saw
(Furniture Recycling), Mrs Recycle (Workshop
leader), South Molton Recycle Ltd, Devon County
Council (Recycling), Fair’s Fare (Fair Trade
shop).
Where did the money come from:
Devon & Cornwall Housing covered the cost of
refreshments, publicity and did the general
organising. North Devon District council paid
for the children’s workshop (Mrs Recycle), all
the stalls were provided free from the community
partners involved. Total cost not including
volunteer and staff time from the Housing
Association was approximately £800.
What worked well:
The World Environment Day Pledge worked
well. As people entered the fayre they were
given a programme that included details of all
the stalls and a pledge card provided by the
Environment Agency. The pledges included using a
cloth shopping bag instead of collecting plastic
bags and putting a water saving device in your
toilet cistern. Thanks to the support of Devon
County Council’s Recycling department we were
given 200 black organic fair trade cloth bags
and South West Water had a stand giving away
water saving hogs and hippos so we made sure
everyone could at least commit to two of the
pledges. Another positive aspect was the
networking that happened through inviting local
organisations to run stands and activities. It
was great to see not only our residents chatting
to stall holders but the connections that
happened between the community groups.
 What
didn’t work so well:
Publicity, we sent out press releases and
linked them with information about other world
environment day events but the local papers
didn’t really pick up on these links until after
the event. We should have spent more time making
direct contact with the reporters. However the
local radio did plug the event and many of the
local shops and businesses were happy to display
the poster.
What next:
This event formed part of our Defra funded
Sustainable Living Project and was a pilot,
looking at the benefits of running public
environmental events in areas where we have
housing stock instead of ‘resident only’
activities. The hope is to run further similar
events across Devon and Cornwall and encourage
residents’ groups to do the same. Interestingly
we had some world environment day pledge cards,
bags and hippos left over and gave them to two
of the community projects involved who then ran
their own mini event in the following week with
their members.
Contact name:
Rose Hunter, Sustainable Living
Co-ordinator, Devon & Cornwall Housing
Association. Telephone: 01392 814471 Email:
rose.hunter@dcha.co.uk
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