Nailsea Methodist Church’s first ever community Eco Fair brought together twenty organisations involved in different aspects of environmental work.  The Avon Wildlife Trust, Bristol Ornithological Club, Yatton & Congresbury Wildlife Action Group, and Friends of Trendlewood Park are all involved in the management of local nature reserves and rewilding projects while Nailsea & District Horticultural Society, Fagus Gardening Club and North Somerset Master Composters were on hand to offer advice and guidance to gardeners. The South West Dry Stone Walling Association are preserving traditional countryside skills while the Nailsea Shedders focus is on repairing, recycling and repurposing cherished or broken items and you could also buy a Somerset Wildlife Products birdbox made out of reclaimed materials. Burnham and Weston Energy and the Centre for Sustainable Energy were on hand to offer advice on clean energy and energy saving.  The climate crisis featured on the Greenpeace , Nailsea Climate Emergency Group and Christian Climate Action campaign stalls and The Green Party were also featured along with Christian groups Green Christian and A Rocha.  Nailsea Methodist Church also had a display telling the story of its journey to becoming a Silver Award winning Eco Congregation.

The Fair was popular with over one hundred and seventy visitors visiting the stalls, enjoying the free refreshments and attending the programme of six environmentally themed talks. The talks covered re-wilding on the Belmont Estate, Management of the Land Yeo River, care for Trendlewood Park, the science of Climate Change and taking action to tackle the climate crisis, home composting and sustainable gardening.

There was also one lucky winner of the free draw for an Organic Veg box donated by The Community Farm.

Some of the feedback we’ve received

“We want to thank you for running a brilliant day yesterday. It was so worthwhile, we were able to network with other groups and have the opportunity to engage with new people.  The layout and the organisation was really excellent. We felt well looked after throughout the day.  We received some positive feedback which is always nice to have.“

“Just want to thank you very much for putting on such an excellent event on Saturday. YACWAG volunteers really enjoyed meeting old eco warriors and our new volunteers enjoyed making new contacts. It was inspiring and uplifting. A great event and very well organised!”

Richard Lancaster, organiser of the Fair on behalf of the Church’s Eco Group, added: “This was the first time we’d tried an event of this kind and we were delighted with the positive feedback we received from both the groups taking part and the visitors. There was a very positive vibe in the hall, lots of opportunities for networking and many great conversations on the environmental challenges ahead”