Press release
Friday, 22nd December 2023
Adisham Church of England Primary School, Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School, University of Kent – Sustainable Working Group, The Refillery in Canterbury, Stream Walk Community Garden in Whitstable, Barham Downs Farmer Group – Hearts Delight Farm, and Helen Smith were among the winners of the second Canterbury Climate Action Awards this month (December).
Canterbury’s Climate Action & Biodiversity Champions were recognised on Saturday, 9th December at the Climate Action Awards Ceremony at the culmination of Canterbury’s second Climate Action Festival held at St Peter’s Methodist Church, where organisations and individuals working on low carbon initiatives and biodiversity projects were celebrated.
Cllr Alan Baldock, Leader of Canterbury City Council, opened the festival and then took time to chat with the stall holders, who included: Mansfields (Festival Sponsor), Canterbury City Council, Plastic Free Canterbury, Canterbury Improvement District, reWARD Events, RSPCA, RSPB, Canterbury Food Bank, University of Kent, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury Alliance for Sustainable Transport (CAST), Monkton Nature Reserve, Produced in Kent, Social Enterprise Kent, Stream Walk Community Garden, The Refillery, Pilgrims Hospice Pre-Loved Pop-Up Shop. Helen Smith took care of the activities for our younger visitors by making Christmas wrapping paper and other econ-friendly festive items.
Alistair Russell, CCAP Director, orgainsed a programme of talks in the church on a wide range of related topics including, Biodiversity, Food and Sustainability, Local Government and The Circular Economy, Energy and Water.
Following the closure of the stalls at 3.30 pm, everyone moved into the church for the Awards Ceremony, which was hosted by Dr Carl Wright, retiring Chair of Canterbury Climate Action Partnership. Lee Port, CEO of Mansfields (Festival Sponsor) gave an excellent presentation of the work of Mansfields. All visitors to the festival had been treated to a bag of their amazing apples, which cover a wide range of varieties.
Lee then started the awards ceremony by presenting the winner of the first of eight categories being the award for primary schools which went to Adisham Church of England Primary School.
Cllr Alan Baldock then presented the award in the second category, secondary schools, to the winner which was Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School.
Cllr Mel Dawkins presented the award in the third category, further/higher education, to the winner -University of Kent – Sustainability Working Group.
Ben Glancy, Director of Convert Energy (Award Sponsor), presented the award to the winner of the fourth category, business, which was won by The Refillery based in Canterbury.
Lisa Carlson, CEO of Canterbury BID, (Award Sponsor) presented the award to the winner of the fifth category, community/faith groups, which was won by Stream Walk Community Garden based in Whitstable.
Danielle Ward, Owner of reWARD Events, (Award Sponsor) presented the award to the winner of the sixth category, partnerships, which was won by Barham Downs Farmer Group – Hearts Delight Farm.
Alistair Russell, Director of Ian Sayer & Co, (Award Sponsor) presented the award to the winner of the seventh and final category, individual climate action, which was won by Helen Smith.
Finally, Alistair Russell, on behalf of HTA Design LLP (Headline Award Sponsor) presented the award to the overall winner 203, which was Barham Downs Farmer Group – Hearts Delight Farm.
Carl then invited Professor Obas John Ebohon, Dean, Academy for Sustainable Futures, Canterbury Christ Church University, to say a few words about the Academy.
The Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover and CCAP Patron, delivered the closing of address of the Festival and Awards Ceremony. She congratulated the awards winners and thanked all of the entrants for the awards for the very valuable work they are doing to address Climate Change and Biodiversity. She highlighted the critical nature of the global climate negotiations at COP28 and questioned if enough was being done to address the Climate Emergency, including by the UK Government, but commended the work of CCAP and its partners and stakeholders.
Cllr Mel Dawkins, Canterbury City Council Lead on Climate and Biodiversity, commenting on the festival and awards said :” “It was great to part of the Climate Action Festival and Awards this year. A fantastic event to find out what some organisations in the district are doing to address climate change and what you can do in your own homes and lives to make an impact too! It’s important to network, chat and support each other, as we transition to net zero. We can make a difference!”
Visit the CCAP website for full details of the different nominees:
Canterbury Climate Action Award Entries 2023 – Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (ccap.org.uk)
Festival Awards & Sponsors:
CCAP would like to thank this year’s Festival and Awards’ sponsors:
ENDS
For more information about the festival and awards, please contact: Yvonne Freeman, administration@ccap.org.uk, 07753 191542.
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About CCAP (www.ccap.org.uk)
Canterbury Climate Action Partnership (CCAP) was formed in June 2019 as a partnership between the Canterbury Society and the Canterbury Sustainable Development Goals Forum. It has now grown to include representatives from Canterbury City Council, local civic society groups, our three universities, business, residents’ associations, faith groups, youth groups and many others.
The partnership is an independent not-for-profit Community Interest Company working closely with our city and county councils, and councillors from various political parties attend our meetings. The Partnership sees its main role as bringing together all like-minded interest groups within the district to mobilise action towards a more sustainable future; especially to achieve a zero-carbon district by 2030. Our aims have been agreed by all our partnership groups and by extension, our residents (via residents’ associations), our young people (via the universities and youth groups), and our business community (via the Business Improvement District).
More photos courtesy of Matt Willson:
https://www.matt-wilson.co.uk/CCAG-December-2023/n-m2drW7