Hub for advice on Sustainable Living (re)opens at Queenswood Country Park

The new centre, named the Sustainable Future Centre, re-opened at Queenswood Country Park on Saturday 7th August 2021 after it was forced to close due to Covid last year having only being open for one day.

The Centre is located in the Jubilee Building and will be open to the public every Saturday from now on (initially to the end of September). Information boards provide advice on how to live and work sustainably and we have a team of friendly volunteers  on-hand to discuss concerns and share information and advice. The centre at Queenswood, which is run by a partnership between New Leaf Sustainable Development and the Herefordshire Wildlife Trust, will also provide a space for events and a programme of workshops is being planned to take place throughout the coming year.

Recently the centre hosted a visit from the Big Bonkers Musical Carnival Contraption, inspired by seeing waste pulled from the River Wye and created by local children, and by the life-sized recycling bull from Herefordshire Community Reuse and Recycling Group.

Queenswood’s Sustainable Development Lead, Wendy Ogden, said:

“It is great to be launching a space where people can find out about global, national and local issues as well as the many community-based actions that are happening across Herefordshire. The media is full of worrying news about climate change and wildlife loss. Local impacts such as the pollution of the river Wye and flooding events are increasingly bringing these closer to home. We have lots of information from water saving to plastic reduction and sustainable food, transport and housing improvements and hope to answer the often-heard cry of ‘we know that there are issues, but we don’t know what to do!’ Along with information our goal is to provide a friendly space to chat about the issues that matter to you”

The Jubilee Building which hosts the Centre has been retrofitted to be more eco-friendly with new insulation, double glazing and an air source heat pump replacing gas central heating. Elsewhere on the site, solar panels have been installed and the hot water in the toilets is now heated by a solar thermal system.

The Sustainable Future Centre is open every Saturday from 10.30am to 3.30pm. Anyone interested in volunteering should contact Annderley Hill at a.hill@herefordshirewt.co.uk or for more details about how you or your group could be involved contact Wendy Ogden wendy@herefordshirenewleaf.org.uk.

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