St Bees Parish Council’s Climate Change Working Group was formed in 2023. The working group comprises parish councillors, representatives from St Bees Eco Church, St Bees Green Future and the village schools, and individuals with an interest in environmental issues.
The Climate Change Working Group has been using the Parish Council Climate Change Toolkit as a guide for possible projects to consider. As part of this, the Climate Change Working Group has developed a questionnaire to identify which environmental projects residents would like to see a priority. This will help to determine which projects the working group will try to take forward.
Each year on 22nd April people around the world mark Earth Day. This worldwide event is an opportunity to raise awareness of protecting the environment by engaging people and helping to raise environmental issues on national and international agendas. In 2024 the theme is “Planet vs Plastics” which highlights the harm plastic pollution can do to the health of humans and the planet.
St Bees Green Future created a poster on the theme of simple swaps to reduce single-use plastic, while also saving money. This poster was displayed in prominent windows and shared via social media. The aim was to get people thinking about what else they can do to reduce plastic consumption and reuse what they can, and to share these ideas with others.
St Bees Green Future also took the opportunity to remind residents where they can recycle plastics that can’t go in their kerbside bins and boxes, such as dental items, pens and soft plastics. A list of collection points within St Bees and West Cumbria was shared via social media.
What spoils a day at the beach? Bad weather, forgetting your swimsuit or sand in your picnic all put a dampener on a day at the beach. But so does beach litter.
Rubbish left behind or washed up on the beach spoils the view and also poses a danger. Sharp cans, smashed glass and fishing hooks partially buried in the pebbles and sand can cut feet and paws. Marine wildlife can also become tangled in discarded rope and twine and ingest plastic.
Beach cleans at St Bees
Impromptu litter picks and regular organised beach cleans help to keep St Bees beach tidy and safe for everyone. This is thanks to volunteers from St Bees Litter Champions and the monthly beach cleans run by St Bees Parish Council.
Volunteer litter pickers at St Bees beach in February 2024
Each month volunteers borrow litter pickers, bag hoops and gloves to clear dropped and washed-up rubbish from the pebbles and sand. Most of the beach litter is plastic. Small plastic fragments are washed up among the seaweed at the high tide mark, but lucky beach cleaners sometimes find a toy soldier or Smarties lid among the litter.
Beach treasures – a toy soldier and Smarties lid
Since March 2021 visitors to St Bees seafront have also been able to do their own mini beach clean thanks to the 2 Minute Beach Clean Station on the side of the beach toilets. Each day litter pickers and bags are available to borrow from the beach clean station, helping to encourage everyone to keep St Bees seafront tidy.
2 Minute Beach Clean Station at St Bees
Great British Spring Clean
The next organised beach clean at St Bees is part of the Great British Spring Clean. Keep Britain Tidy encourages individuals and groups to clean up their local environment each year as part of this national event.
Join in the beach clean at St Bees on Sunday March 17th, meeting at 11.30am at the beach clean station.
Look out for details of future litter picks or why not ask St Bees Parish Council if you can borrow equipment for your own beach clean?
The start of the Community Garden came in 2019. A group of enthusiastic volunteers turned up to push open the gate to see what lay inside the walled garden at the side of the vicarage. We quickly found out that the answer was five-foot brambles from front to back. Undaunted, we began slashing and digging and by the end of the day we could see about a third of the area.
A meeting was held to set out the group’s future plans and it was agreed: we wanted to grow fruit, vegetables and flowers, we wanted to improve areas of the garden for wild flowers, and we wanted to make the garden a place for people to meet and garden communally. A meeting was held with Cumbria Wildlife Trust who helped us draw up a wildlife management plan and provided us with plug plants and money for some tools.
So, what progress has been made? Well, we can now see the back of the garden. The brambles are not yet conquered, but more of the garden is uncovered. We plan to keep some for the birds and wildlife, but by lifting the tree canopy and clearing the bramble in the centre of the garden, we now have the beginnings of a wildflower garden. The front third has been turned into a productive vegetable and flower garden. There are four raised beds for those who want to garden without bending.
Surplus produce is placed on the Community Garden Produce Stall for anyone to pick up and the donations left means that the garden is now largely self-financing. Spare flowers are available for Church use, to reduce the air miles in providing displays. We have held a number of Open Days and enjoyed visits from the Beavers who sowed seeds which have grown successfully. There is a “new to us” greenhouse at the rear of the garden, carefully rebuilt for us from one donated. We also have a garden bench, made by the inmates at Haverigg, for anyone who just wants to sit and chat rather than perspire over a spade!
We have some plans for the future. We want to uncover more of the garden from the brambles; we haven’t yet decided what to put in the areas uncovered but it will evolve. We would like to put a gate in-between the Community Garden and Priory Paddock, making access to the garden for the village easier. We have uncovered some wonderful photographs from the 1970s of the area before the current wall was built, when the area was still used for farming, showing that the two areas used to be connected.
We are always keen to have more volunteers. We normally meet on a Saturday morning, but in the growing season volunteers also pop in to do jobs midweek. If you would like to join us, feel free to pop in any Saturday morning or contact Rev. Becky.
Thank you for this guest post, which was written by volunteers from the Community Garden in St Bees.
Trees were planted at Adams Recreation Ground by St Bees Parish Council as part of “Plant a tree in ‘73”. Further trees have been planted at Adams Rec since then and last year saw two rounds of tree planting at the rec by the community.
In April 2023, around 200 native saplings were planted at Adams Rec as part of the Cumbria Coastal Community Forest project. The project’s aims include connecting communities to nature, increasing biodiversity and reducing the effects of climate change via carbon capture. Local volunteers and children from Little Learners Nursery’s Beach School helped to plant these trees.
Cumbria Coastal Community Forest tree planting
In November 2023 St Bees School received over 400 saplings from the Woodland Trust. Students from Year 7 to 9 helped to plant these saplings at the rec. Trees planted included birch, hazel, oak, holly, hawthorn, blackthorn, wild cherry rowan and crab apple.
Woodland Trust tree planting
Thank you for everyone’s help with tree planting at Adams Rec in 2023!
As part of the 2023 Christmas Tree Festival at St Bees Priory, St Bees Green Future created a preloved book tree. This was decorated with paper chains made from magazines, cardboard stars made from toilet roll tubes, garden greenery and topped with a book-folded angel.
Labels were also available during the Christmas Tree Festival to let people claim any books that they wished to once the tree was taken down. The remaining books from the tree were donated to Oxfam, Samaritans and Great North Air Ambulance.
If you are looking to pick up some preloved books in St Bees, take a look in The Little Library outside 61 Main Street or browse the shelves in the beach café. Alternatively, check out the buy and sell, and share swap and give away groups for St Bees.
Second Hand September is Oxfam’s campaign to encourage people to rewear the clothes they already have, donate the clothes they no longer need and choose preloved over new clothes. Wearing preloved clothing helps to reduce the demand for new clothing, which in turn will reduce the greenhouse gas emissions generated by the fashion industry.
St Bees Green Future ran a “bring and take” event on 30th September in New College Hall for Second Hand September. As well as clothing, we invited people to bring along books, toys and household items that they no longer needed so that others could take them away without charge. Some of the items that found new homes included organic children’s clothing by Frugi, a set of Le Creuset pans, a pull-along suitcase, the game Articulate, a set of Dr Seuss books and embroidery materials. Lots more items changed hands and the remaining items were donated to charity shops to find another home.
St Bees Green Future is running a clothes swap on Saturday 18th November, 2 till 4pm, at Adams Recreation Ground. It costs £4 to take part, with refreshments included. Bring along clothes and accessories that are still in good condition and see what garments you can find to take home!
Bees, wasps, hoverflies, butterflies, moths and beetles play an essential role in pollinating flowers, shrubs, trees and crops. However, due to the loss of flower-rich habitats over the last 50 years, pollinator species have declined. Developing habitats that encourage pollinators can help to reverse their decline.
Cumbria Wildlife Trust has been delivering its Planting for Pollinators project, working with communities across north and west Cumbria to increase flower-rich habits and increase number and diversity of pollinators.
In St Bees Cumbria Wildlife Trust has worked with Adams Recreation Ground, the Community Garden and St Bees Parish Council to help develop pollinator habits in three areas of the village. In autumn 2022 wildflower seeds were sown at Adams Recreation Ground to create a wildflower meadow and wildflower plug plants were also planted in the Community Garden. This September wildflower plug plants were planted in the verge behind the wall on Beach Road with the help of pupils from St Bees Village School.
One of the volunteers from the Community Garden describes the help offered by Cumbria Wildlife Trust as part of this project:
“Last year Cumbria Wildlife Trust supported the Community Garden through the Planting for Pollinators Project. They met us and surveyed the grounds and what was there and set us up with a management plan containing lots of useful advice on how to manage the garden long term. They offered a work day of free labour (CWT volunteers) to help us clear more ground and in the autumn provided us with some wild flower plug plants and, finally, some tools to add to our kit. All much appreciated.”
Cumbria Wildlife Trust also provided St Bees Green Future with wildflower seed packets to distribute among residents keen to provide pollinator-friendly habitats in their own gardens, as we can all take action to help reverse the decline of pollinators.
Wildflower meadow at Adams Recreation GroundPlanting wildflower plug plants along Beach Road
During Great Big Green Week, St Bees Green Future shared energy and money saving tips via social media and St Bees News.
Energy saving tips from turning off lights and not using standby to line drying clothes, using a slow cooker and only boiling as much water as you need were also depicted in scenes along Main Street and Sea Mill Lane.
Great Big Green Week celebrates community action to tackle climate change and protect nature.
In 2022 St Bees Green Future held a community craft event, reusing fabric scraps and embellishments to create a banner, bunting and green hearts – the symbol for caring about climate change. There was also a discussion café focused on food and climate change.
This year Great Big Green Week runs from 10th to 18th June and several organisations from St Bees are hosting events.
Saturday 10th June (10.30am – 12.30pm) – The Community Garden (next to the vicarage) is open to visitors and volunteers.
Sunday 11th June (10.30am) – St Bees Priory celebration of summer service will feature a talk on going green.
Sunday 11th June (2.30 – 3.30pm) – Priory Paddock – guided tour of wildflowers.
Friday 16th June (6.30 – 7.30pm) – Beach Clean, meeting at St Bees Lifeboat Station. Organised by St Bees Parish Council.
Saturday 17th June (10.30am – 12.30pm) – The Community Garden is open to visitors and volunteers.
Saturday 17th June (6.30 – 8pm) – Great Big Green Family Quiz in the Village Hall on Finkle Street. There is a prize for the winning team and a raffle. The bar will be open for refreshments. Entry to the quiz is free, but donations to St Bees Green Future are welcome.
Sustainable St Bees 