The 44th Bedford Park Festival: June 12-27 2010
Make Every Day a Green Day
For the past five years, under the slogan Keep Green Days Green, the Bedford Park Festival has recycled all waste on its opening Green Days weekend, earning praise from Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.
It has done do this thanks to the tireless work of Rima Jones (below right) and the active support of Grundon Waste Management. The Festival's campaign urges local people to look beyond the Green Days weekend and 'make every day a Green Day'.
One of the Festival sponsors is Eco, the ‘green’ shop and consultancy opened by Colin Firth, his wife Livia and her brother Nicola Giuggioli. On Green Night, Eco launched its own campaign to make Chiswick the first "eco-village", by banning plastic bags and encouraging local businesses to recycle their waste. See below.
Eco regularly takes a stall on Green Days weekend. Greentomatocars (right) sponsors the plants stall and in the past there have been stalls for Green Concierge Service and Hounslow's recycling team, and there's been a chance to win a new ‘green’ Bluemotion car from Volkswagen Chiswick.
Love London (formerly London Sustainability Weeks)
Love London is London’s greenest annual festival, celebrating projects and organisations that are making a real contribution to creating a more sustainable capital.
Green Dads 2009
The Green Dads Competition was organised by Turnham-Green ethical hampers and the winners received their prize on the Bandstand at Green Days, (right) from Michelin star chef Chris Horridge, with Natalie of Turnham-Green.
Green Night 2008
After Kew announced it was planning to do without plastic bags, we asked 'Can and should Chiswick go further?' Eco put forward a scheme to turn Chiswick into an eco-Village at the Festival's ‘Green Night’ on Thursday June 19th from 7.30pm at St Michael & All Angels Parish Hall (right).
The event brought together people, businesses and community groups keen to reduce Chiswick's carbon footprint, in an evening of lively debate and practical advice. There were stalls, refreshments and a presentation to the winners of Chiswick's Greenest Dad contest.
Green Night built on the success of the Festival’s ‘Green Days’ weekend - a two-day fete, funfair and craft fair, where all the waste is cleared for recycling.
“With fuel bills rocketing and much greater awareness of the need to protect the planet, lots of people have been asking what can be done here in Chiswick” said Torin Douglas, co-ordinator of the Bedford Park Festival. “We're bringing them together on Green Night – and we hope the combination of community groups, businesses, councillors and residents means we really can ‘make every day a Green Day’.”
Chiswick residents speaking on Green Night included: David Shreeve, director of the Conservation Foundation and environment adviser to the Archbishop of Canterbury; Nicola Guiggioli, of Eco Age, the ‘green’ shop and consultancy, who is launching a campaign to turn Chiswick into an Eco village; local architect Oliver West, who is exploring the possibility of using solar panels on the roof of St Michael & All Angels’ Parish Hall to heat the church’s water; and Andrew Pears of the environment consultancy Kotuku, who asked 'how green is your water?'
Nigel Woolner of the Bedford Park Society presented the Society's new report,'A Greener Bedford Park', which explains how householders can reduce their carbon footprint in the first garden suburb. Copies will be on sale. There were also presentations by Hamish Phillips from Greentomatocars; the Green Homes Concierge Service, which advises people on sustainable living; and Karen Liebrich from the Chiswick House Kitchen Garden; and other local groups.
And the ethical food company, Turnham Green, announced the winners of its children’s contest to nominate ‘Chiswick’s Greenest Dad’.