Aylsham Climate Emergency’s 3rd annual Green Day took place on Sunday 22 September in the Town Hall and Market Place featuring stalls, live music, delicious locally produced foods and the popular games and activities we have come to expect from ACE such as the famous “blister pack mangling machine”.
Opened by Nicholas Crane, writer and presenter of BBC Television’s Coast series, attendees and bystanders heard about the challenges facing communities in moving towards sustainability but also the many carbon emission reducing opportunities being offered by volunteers from Aylsham Climate Emergency to help us all take some of the sting out of the environmental crisis.
ACE’s Nature Group gave eager children the chance to create bug huts from scavenged materials, held a magical fancy dress parade won by Astrid, aged 7, with gallant runners-up Martha the mouse and Eric the hedgehog.
The famous “ACME Mangle” in action.
Volunteers spoke with interested residents about how we are letting the bees buzz with our meadow flowers project in town and a “Nature Menu” was compiled from ideas shared as to how we can all further support the wildlife which surrounds us.
Our Waste group were on hand to talk about their work addressing the recycling needs of Aylsham. Arriving with handfuls of blister packs, visitors had a chance to see the now famous “ACME Mangle” in action as volunteers prepared the wrappers for dispatching to Refactory to be turned into mixed polymer plastic board or aluminium nuggets.
Residents were invited both to make a financial contribution to this valuable scheme to keep it going and sign the petition calling for the big global pharmaceutical producers of this waste to pay for its’ recycling.
For more information and to take part head to ace-aylsham.org or the Quaker Zero-Waste stall at the monthly Food and Craft Market.
Many residents took the opportunity to have their say over transport issues with ACE’s team. Conversations ranged from the Town Council’s Traffic Management Strategy to sustainable transport.
The group have been concentrating on making walking and cycling routes more visible and are now moving towards meeting with the County Council’s Highways over the plan.
If you are interested in this area, please email Town Councillor KayMontandon@aylsham-tc.gov.uk for details of regular meetings.
Aylsham Slow Food, now working together with ACE, showcased their much-anticipated October Festival (4th-6th) which puts the spotlight on locally produced food and drink.
They also hosted our incredibly well-received “Hook-a-Duck” game, a family classic, which was greatly enjoyed by children throughout the day.
The Energy group demonstrated their heat loss survey camera, which can help residents become better informed on how to insulate their homes and provided general energy saving advice in the run up to winter.
If you would like to book a survey this autumn, don’t delay, head to ace-aylsham.org and use our contact form today.
There was live music by local artists Paul Towson, Joan’s Silver Pin and Jollificearshons, a collective group formed especially for the event.
The opportunity to sit for a while or eat lunch in the communal area surrounded by trees was also welcomed; these were kindly lent to us by Woodgate Nursery.
Children watched in amazement as the face painter from Crazyskins transformed their peers into butterflies, bears and all manner of other beasts and created a special ACE logo design for the day.
Grizelda Tyler, Chair of ACE said: “Aylsham’s third Green Day was wonderful, on so many levels, but mainly because the community came together to help the environment and to create a better future for our children.
“Your support is invaluable to us and the spur that drives us on, so thank you so much. If you want to get involved yourself, we would love to see you. We always need more volunteers to help with these vital projects.”
For more information about how you can help with this important community effort, please contact us here or search social media for Ace Aylsham.
