Thanet’s Big Green Week is a last-minute, cross-party, cross-community initiative that aims to bring together environmentally focused events and activities taking place across Thanet.
The aim is to encourage residents to take direct action to improve the environment we live in both locally and globally.
Organisers say the message is unambiguous:” I, you, we – can and must make positive change to improve our environment and each take responsibility for the change we want to see.”
The week focuses on sustainable living across the Isle, from litter picks and gardening through to webinars and talks and the Broadstairs Food Festival, which hosts its last day today (October 1).
All the events, run by many different groups, are featured on the Green Week Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Thanets-Big-Green-Week-109838114794660.
There are also a series of links to hints and tips on how people can all live a little more sustainably, ranging from ways to reduce energy costs to how to green up the front garden. Anyone is welcome to add events or links to the page or to share it with other groups.
Thanet’s Week was the brainchild of Barry Manners from the Friends of Botany Bay & Kingsgate group. That group had plans for a local Day of Action in early October, and knew that others had similar ideas, so Barry suggested a week of action.
He said: “We’ve been working for a while to create a wildflower meadow on a neglected piece of land off Knockholt Road on the Palm Bay estate. We have a Day of Action on Friday, October 8 between 8.45am and 4pm and will give a warm welcome to anyone who can come along and help. We’re also looking for donations of bulbs and loans of gardening tools. Please get in touch if you can help.”
Barry also came up with the idea of a weekend of beach cleans round the Isle to prepare beaches for winter, now that extra Thanet council beach-cleaning staff have finished their seasonal work. The weekend of October 9-10 will feature clean-ups in Thanet – Margate and Broadstairs on Saturday, and Botany Bay and Ramsgate on Sunday.
Thanet Green Party Councillor Tricia Austin, who’s been working with Barry on the Week, added: “There are activities going on across the Isle: in Ramsgate, for example, there’s painting and cleaning the seafront shelters, Montefiore Woodland’s regular work party and the Ramsgate Society’s twice-yearly Chine to Chine litter pick, in Broadstairs there’s the Food Festival and litter picking, while in Cliftonville there’s beach cleaning and Thanet Biodiversity’s planting day.
“But if you’re not up for taking part in physically active events, we’ve also listed less arduous things, including Margate NOW’s amazing Eco Gathering at the Sunken Garden in Westbrook and a couple of webinars that you can enjoy from the comfort of your armchair!”
National Green Week was at the end of September, but many people involved in Thanet’s week were tied up with other events like Ramsgate’s Royal Harbour 200 festival. so Thanet is doing things differently.
To make up for being a little later, Thanet’s Big Green Week is 10 days long. It started on Friday (October 1) and runs until Sunday, October 10.
Visit the Facebook page for more details, or contact Barry on [email protected] or Tricia on [email protected] for a list of events taking place during the week.
