News from Planet Wimborne

Painting the town green

Thanks to Jean Morgan, Planet Wimborne

Green Festival is back

Don’t miss this year’s Planet Wimborne Green Festival – coming to town between October 15th and 22nd.

With a full and varied programme of green-themed events and activities, the Green Festival aims to encourage us to live more sustainably and protect the natural world that we and our fellow creatures depend on. This summer’s heatwave, drought warnings and wildfires have signalled to us that the Festival’s focus on eco-friendly living and caring for the planet is as important and relevant as ever.

The Green Festival will be officially opened by the Mayor, Cllr Carol Butter, at 10.30am on Saturday 15 October on the Minster Green. And the Green will also be the venue for the ever-popular apple pressing, along with exhibition stands manned by a whole host of local eco and green groups.

There’s something for everyone during the week – whether your interest lies in food, nature, craft, gardening, waste prevention, energy efficiency or the grandeur of the night skies. Local businesses are taking part in a Global Goals Trail around the town. There are family-friendly craft events at Walford Mill and the Museum of East Dorset; you can enjoy a walk along the River Allen at Dean’s Court or a film at Colehill Village Hall; you can learn how to revive old clothes or make beeswax wraps; you can sample produce from Wimborne Community Garden or locally made honey…

For full programme details and booking information (where applicable), go to planetwimborne.org/wimbornegreen-festival or facebook.com/WimborneGreenFestival/

On the wild side

As one of Planet Wimborne’s affiliated community groups, Wilding Wimborne is doing a fantastic job of protecting and nurturing nature on our local patch.

In response to the crisis in nature – specifically the devastating decline in insect populations – Wilding Wimborne has set about raising awareness of the problem and working to help insects and other biodiversity to recover. It’s an urgent task: insects pollinate a third of our food crops and provide the main food source for a lot of wildlife.

With the support of local organisations and businesses, enthusiastic volunteers have made and installed eleven bee homes around the town – a key factor in Wimborne being awarded Bee Friendly Town status in May. Other initiatives include wildflower planting, increasing tree cover, campaigning against the use of harmful weedkillers, and regular monitoring of the River Allen in partnership with Dorset Wildlife Trust.

And the health of our local rivers is something close to the heart of Wilding Wimborne’s Mitch Perkins (pictured). At a summer ‘Minibeasts’ event next to the Allendale Café, she waded in and then helped children (and adults!) to identify what was in her net. Says Mitch: “The number of tiny creatures like mayflies and caddisflies you find tells you whether the water is healthy or polluted. That’s why we do the riverfly monitoring and report our findings to the Environment Agency.”

Wilding Wimborne is making things better for nature and for us. If you’d like to get involved, look out for them at the Green Festival or get in contact.

E: wildingwimborne@gmail.com W: planetwimborne.org/wilding-wimborne