Hazlehurst's Small Sustainability Festival

On Saturday the 7th of March, we opened the doors at All Saints Church in the heart of Runcorn Old Town for our Small Sustainability Festival. It was such a great day, full of conversations and creativity.

We had some special guests with us, and plenty of making going on!

A Spotlight on Our Woodworking Sessions

Roz from Build Your Confidence Liverpool was there to teach people how to make solitary bee hotels. We picked this as our ‘build’ for the day because we have an exciting nature-based project coming up —nature and the environment are going to be a running theme throughout the year for us.

Roz ran two sessions and we think everyone left happy with their creations! It was really great to see people embrace the woodworking tools and build something in just a matter of a few hours. We held the sessions outside, as we had quite a lot going on inside the church; luckily it was a dry day and we had the kettle on to make sure the brews were flowing to warm folk up.

Lauren was on hand to document the sessions—and we think she has done a marvellous job at capturing them.

In an effort to encourage CPD (Continuing Professional Development) within our own artists, we had our associate artist Clare Williams (Satsuma) build us a Hazlehurst Bee Hotel and also be a willing model for Lauren (the price you have to pay to play!).

We are wondering if there is an appetite for more woodworking sessions? Please let us know!

A Spotlight on Gizmobots

Mark from Gizmobots is a marvel with WEEE—who wouldn’t want to write that in a sentence! What is WEEE exactly? It stands for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. In the morning, Mark ran a tinkerbot workshop which allowed young people, with some assistance from their responsible adult, to create their very own robots. It was brilliant to see them get hands-on with tools, surrounded by a whole host of materials to choose from.

In the afternoon, we commissioned Mark to demonstrate making one of his larger creations for Hazlehurst to keep—and this time he had two grown-up helpers. Continuing the CPD theme, our studio artist Toni and associate artist Clare worked with Mark to create something new from the WEEE.

CPD is technically Continued Professional Development—but maybe it could just be "permission to play" instead.

And so Pat Tester the Robot was born! Pat will be our ambassador/mascot as we continue to promote PAT testing and encourage people to recycle WEEE. Again, this was beautifully documented by Lauren, and again Toni and Clare were ‘willing’ models.

Nick’s Hand-Cranked Sewing

Our studio holder Nick brought along his hand-cranked sewing machines, meaning we never have to look for a socket for him! He is continuing to create new practical things from the old mural and truck siding; he has created everything from notebooks to laptop cases so far.

He also encouraged people to have a go on the sewing machines. It is brilliant to see what a draw these vintage machines are, from people reminiscing about having one in the family home to those very new to sewing itching to have a go. Some young people even brought their own material along to have a try.

Nick has done a series of workshops from making your own toolbelt to a hammock—so we are wondering what is the next thing we should do?

Rachael and Toni: The Community Banner

Our studio artists, Toni and Rachael, have collaborated on a large-scale textile banner project lately; this planted the seed of an idea in our brains that having a community banner for Hazlehurst would be great. It would be something to have on display at Hazlehurst, but also to use when we are out and about at events.

Toni is working up the design with different elements that reflect what Hazlehurst is all about, and then Rachael will bring it to life with fabric donations. On the day of the festival, Toni was inviting people to contribute to the design and Rachael was creating the backing. Over the next few months, we will be sharing the design that Toni comes up with and how Rachael brings it to life.

Alterations with Jane

Jane was there to do some alterations and to share how you can use fabric scraps to make a simple rag wreath, themed to whatever season you like (in this case, it was spring!).

We had invited people to bring along things that needed fixing or altering, and she had some interesting cases. We don’t think she expected to have some soft toys on the operating table—this was courtesy of Animal Teach and some of the creatures she uses for her zoology sessions!

We have had quite a few conversations about clothing alterations of late—is this something that you feel confident doing yourself, or is an alteration service something you would use? We thought it might be handy to put together a list of all the local alteration services, so let us know if you recommend anyone in particular. This is great for the budget, keeping clothes in your wardrobe and not in the bin.

All Saints Church

We have loved using the church for our Sustainability Festival. It allows us all to be in the same room together while having the space to have multiple activities happening.

Originally, we set out to try and create a monthly repair cafe, but space at Hazlehurst Studios is limited and we couldn’t create the atmosphere we wanted. Going forward, it turns out that a traditional repair cafe is not for us, so we wanted to try something a little different and the festival day was the tester for that.

We are going to be back at the church in May, July, September, and November. Each session will have an environmental theme—using what we are good at, which is being creative! Then we will have a think, and we hope you will tell us too, whether it’s worked/wanted and whether we should do some more.

This event was funded by the Zero Waste Community Fund, delivered in partnership by Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority and Veolia.