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Woodley Town Council, in collaboration with Wokingham Borough Council, held the borough’s first ever Climate Action Week from 18-23 November, in line with COP 29.
Both councils declared climate emergencies in 2019, making a commitment to reach net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. The series of free events held during Climate Action Week were created to raise awareness of how residents can contribute positively towards these shared goals.
Here is a summary of the week’s events.
CLIMATE ACTION WEEK 2024
Monday 18th November
The week began with a recycling art class for the under 5s, hosted by local artist Jo Wyles on behalf of Arts4Wokingham and kindly funded by MoreArts. The children made framed jellyfish using recycled materials such as cardboard, wool and shiny threads; some with the addition of Santa hats! The parents in attendance were very pleased with the free event and complimented Jo for her enthusiasm and range of materials available.
Tuesday 19th November
Despite the rain on Tuesday, many attended the Walk & Tour of Woodford Park, hosted by the Friends of Woodford Park (FoWP). The tour involved a discussion about the wildlife and biodiversity in the park, as well as information about the wonderful work carried out by FoWP. Also accompanied by our Deputy Town Mayor, Cllr David Bragg, attendees commented on how lovely the park is and what a pleasure it was to attend the tour.
Wednesday 20th November
Wednesday was a busy day with four events. Citizens Advice Wokingham were in the town centre offering advice about ways to be more energy efficient and reduce bills. They had many visitors over the two days.
Woodley was treated to its very own fashion show at centre stage, hosted and managed by the Thames Hospice and Oxfam shops in Woodley. The audience were inspired with a range of donated items to showcase themes of ‘Up from Bed’, ‘Walking the Dog’, ‘Everyday Fashion’, ‘Christmas Jumpers’, and ‘Glitz & Glam’. The models were exceptional and delighted the crowd from beginning to end, culminating in a rush from audience members to buy the items on show in both shops. Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr David Bragg and Wokingham Borough Deputy Mayor, Cllr Carol Jewell, both gave speeches thanking the team for the spectacular fashion show, as well as highlighting the need for us all to play our part in tackling climate change.
Woodley Repair Café set up at the Oakwood Centre in the afternoon and successfully repaired seven of the nine items brought in.
While Energy Saving Trust presented a very informative webinar about electric vehicles in the evening, highlighting many interesting points, including costs for individual EV car owners, savings that can be made, the positive impact EV usage will have on climate change, as well as the potential for a hydrogen-based transport for London bus fleet. The webinar is available to watch on our YouTube channel.
Thursday 21st November
Dr Bike set himself up at Woodford Park Leisure Centre, on Thursday, fixing and repairing bikes to help give them a new lease of life.
We were delighted to host the local primary school’s climate event at the Oakwood Centre. Year 3 children from Highwood Primary, Rivermead Primary, and Woodley C of E Primary were tasked with creating posters about the impact of climate change on coral reefs. The children worked in mixed school groups, and the winning team was made up of children from Highwood and Woodley C of E. The geography department at Bulmershe School devised and ran the challenge, assisted by two fantastic student Transition Leaders. Woodley Town Deputy Mayor, Cllr David Bragg, was very impressed with how much the children knew about climate change and the detail each group went into to create their posters. David was a co-judge and presented certificates to the winners.
Friday 22nd November
Many residents joined us on Friday to chat about what Wokingham Borough and Woodley Town councils are doing to tackle the climate emergency, with suggestions about how we can all individually help. Kevin Murray, Woodley Town Council’s Town Clerk presented information about what we have done and continue to do, followed by Mhairi Adams, Climate Emergency Service Manager at Wokingham Borough Council, who outlined the council’s dream for a carbon neutral borough and highlighted what is being done by the council. Resh Thorpe, Climate Emergency Engagement Officer at Wokingham Borough Council then presented a quiz to the audience, with interesting statistics about some of the effects of climate change and what changes everyone could do to reduce their individual carbon footprint. Members of the audience engaged in a lively discussion about the points raised.
Rolling climate videos ran throughout the day in the theatre at the Oakwood Centre, highlighting many facets of the climate emergency.
Saturday 23rd November
Citizens Advice Wokingham were back in the town centre on Saturday, while more than 20 volunteers, including our Town Mayor, Cllr Juliet Anderson, braved the wind and rain to join Woodley Adopt a Street (WASP) with a communal litter pick. Over 12 bags of rubbish were collected from an incredible huge area: Woodford Park through to Western Avenue and St Dominic’s school, the town centre, Waitrose car park, Lidl car park, Brigade Walk, Arundel Road, and Headley Road from the Oakwood centre to the Just Tiles roundabout. Then parts of Butts Hill Road, Woodland’s Avenue, Crockhamwell Road to Loddon Bridge Road and Drovers Way, Lytham Road, Reading Road and Beechwood Avenue.
The week finished with an entertaining and informative Climate Fresk game, where a team of people had to order a set of 42 cards into cause-and-effect connections, creating a fresco of climate change. Participants really enjoyed the session and mentioned that they learnt many new facts in a fun way, while meeting new people.
Highlights for our Mayors
We would like to thank everyone involved in helping to create, manage and run a successful week of events; as well as everyone who came along to participate.
“It was a pleasure to attend many of the free events during Climate Action Week. The highlights of the week, for me, were the charity fashion show and the school’s climate workshop. The charity fashion show was very entertaining and inspiring to buy pre-loved items. It was an honour to judge the school’s climate workshop. The children knew a lot about climate change and were very thoughtful when creating their interpretations of the effect of climate change on coral reefs.
“I’d like to thank everyone involved in putting the week together and hosting all the events. It has certainly highlighted the need for us all to play our part in tackling climate change,” said Cllr David Bragg, Woodley Town Council Deputy Mayor.
While Cllr Juliet Anderson, Woodley Town Council Town Mayor, who who braved the weather to help at the communal litter pick said: “It is important that we all play our part in addressing the climate emergency and take accountability for our individual carbon footprints, and Climate Action Week has been an important week to raise awareness. We had an interesting debate about changes we can all make and the bigger responsibilities the government must address, during the Climate, Coffee and Cake talk. Despite Storm Bert, we collected an alarming amount of rubbish during the community litter pick. Not littering is just one small thing we can all do to play our part. Thank you to everyone involved and I hope those who attended found the events informative and food for thought.”
Climate Emergency Information Hubs
Both councils have Climate Emergency Information Hubs on their websites, with lots of information to help us all to reduce, reuse and recycle. Please click on the respective logo to find out more.
