#ActForEaling’s inaugural mixer event on Saturday 23 January 2022 was a thrilling start to our new year’s calendar of activities. Around 50 people joined us over three hours at OPEN Ealing in Dickens Yard to celebrate the winning entries in our photography competition and to meet other climate conscious residents for drinks, nibbles, and friendly conversation. Members of local environmental groups Ealing Transition, Ealing Repair Cafe and the Selborne Society also attended, sharing information about their regular activities, and we were excited to see local MPs and councillors from across the political spectrum come and support our work.
Photography Competition
The winning photos from the competition were arranged on easels around Open Ealing’s event workshop, putting them at eye level and spacing them apart in different corners of the room really setting off each work. We were also joined by a number of the winning photographers to receive their prize (more on this below).
The winning photos have been on display in Ealing’s Central Library and Acton Library since November, and will continue to be shown in other libraries around the borough until April. More information about the winning entries and where you can see them is here.
A few words
Trevor Sharman from Ealing Transition, one of the #ActForEaling steering group members, gave a short speech about #ActForEaling’s activities over the past year, as well as introducing #ActForEaling’s supporting partners, just some of the amazing community volunteer groups who have been taking action in Ealing for many years already.
Sarah Hadland of the Selborne Society awarded the prizes to the competition winners, and explained why the judging panel had selected each of the winning entries. She also spoke about the prize. Each of the winners will receive a private tour of Perivale Wood during bluebell season later in the year. Perivale wood is located just to the south-west of Horsenden Hill and features 27 acres of ancient oak woodland and around 300 mature oaks.
Sarah also discussed the work of the Selborne Society, pointing out that despite dating back to the nineteeth century, it perhaps remains one of Ealing’s best kept secrets. Founded in 1885 to commemorate the eighteenth-century naturalist Gilbert White of Selborne in Hampshire, the society featured luminaries like Alfred Lord Tennyson as a patron. Today, the society carries on the environmental legacy of its founders and maintains Perivale Woods. Membership of the Selborne Society is only £10 per year.
Some of our steering group members, Natalie, Enid and Daniel, also discussed what attending the COP26 event in Glasgow had meant for them, as well as what they hoped to see happen, now that the excitement of the event was over, and it was time for governments and communities to re-commit to action. The theme was very much the need for all areas of the community, individuals, businesses, and those in power, to come together and work together to take the action needed.
Looking Forward
The event marked roughly a year since #ActForEaling was launched in the winter lockdown of 2021. Since then, #ActForEaling has been nudged forward through fortnightly meetings on line, culminating in its launch in September 2021’s Great Big Green Week. In that time, we have kicked-off our annual photography competition, organised a community paint-along mural, attended COP26, and have been thrilled that a growing number of local community groups have joined us as partners. Although, it has been a promising start, we have lots of plans to carry forward into 2022.
If you would like to help us make Ealing greener and more sustainable, and to work to reduce the borough’s greenhouse gas emissions, please contact us. Our photography competition will be back in the Autumn!
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