2025 has been another busy year for ActForEaling. We supported schools and parents with our green schools network and uniform swap, and toured the borough with our informative display on reducing waste. Green front gardens were celebrated, joined forces with other networks for our partner mixer events, and even took part in Ealing’s first climate week. We also turned five years old! Below is a quick gallop through some of the things ActForEaling have accomplished in 2025. We hope you enjoy reading.
We are always on the look-out for active, climate or nature minded people who are keen to get involved with events and who can help planning, and website tasks. If you would like to support us, please get in touch.
CutTheCrap
ActForEaling’s CutTheCrap exhibition completed its tour of libraries and other community spaces in Ealing. While on display in the borough, CutTheCrap challenged us to reduce the amount of waste we send to landfill or incineration by making more conscious decisions about our consumption.
The exhibition was the creation of the late Enid Baron of St Stephens Church Ealing, and was designed to show us how much waste we generate through our careless consumption of everyday things. Enid’s inspiration for the exhibition had come at least in part from the film Red Rope which showed the effect of plastic pollution on the marine environment, and the exhibition had become a colourful and engaging display of riveting information and photographs.
Viewers of the display were challenged to be more aware of their ‘waste’ impact, and, by placing a discarded plastic milk bottle top into the relevant bottle, make a pledge to either “recycle, reduce, or repair” more in future. If you would like to find out more about the exhibition now that it is completed, please email us.
Read more about CutTheCrap here. The exhibition will be on display in Boston Manor Park in the February half term if you missed it first time round!
School Uniform Swap
ActForEaling’s 2025 School Uniform Swap has been a huge success. Around 2000 uniforms were donated, and 250 items have already been passed onto 60 families. Not only is reusing school uniforms a great way for families to save money, it also helps the planet. Extending the life of clothing by just nine months can reduce carbon and water usage by up to 10%, and reduce the huge amount of clothing that is sent abroad each year.
The School Uniform Swap is partly run by Mary Horesh of Ealing Repair Cafe. In 2025, Ealing Repair Cafe was recognised for their contribution to the community by winning the Kings Award for Voluntary Service. A big congratulations from us!
Green School Network
The Green School Network supports more than 50 schools in the borough taking action on climate or environmental issues. So far, the Green School Network has launched initiatives leading to energy saving measures, new compost infrastructure, green grant applications, sustainable fashion workshops and more. At the heart of every success story has been an incredible school staff member who has gone above and beyond due to their passion for a greener future for the young people in their school.
You can find out more here.
Partner Mixers
ActForEaling is about the network of fantastic people in Ealing working on projects or initiatives that protect the environment or address climate change, and our partner mixer events are opportunities for our partners to get together and share inspiring stories. This year we were thrilled to hold a number of wildlife themed mixer events.
The first of these was held in Boston Manor Park focussing on the importance of the River Brent and the surrounding park lands to Ealing’s blue and green spaces and natural habitats. Sean McCormack from Ealing Wildlife Group, Ben Morris of the Brent River Park, and Natasha Gavin from the Park Rangers at Boston Manor gave us a fantastic and varied insight into the local flora and fauna, discussing pressures on local wildlife as well as wildlife success stories.
At the second event in Greenford’s Paradise Fields, we were introduced to the Beaver Restoration project and managed to get a glimpse of one of the new family of beavers in the wild. A big thank you to Ealing Wildlife Group and Citizen Zoo for arranging this. Paradise fields will be featured in David Attenborough’s Wild London programme on BBC on 1st January 2026.
Front Gardens Competition
In 2025, ActForEaling worked with Ealing Council and Cultivating Ealing to deliver the Ealing Biodiversity Awards for Gardens and Green Spaces 2025, a competition celebrating the green spaces in Ealing that are wildlife friendly and which support biodiversity.
Paved over front gardens can retain heat in the summer, and can push rain and pollutants into the drains during wet weather. Front gardens that are green with grass, planters or flowerbeds, or ponds, not only provide a habitat for small mammals and birds, but keep our streets cooler, and act as reservoirs locking up excess rain water run-off.
Ealing Climate Week for Better Living
September 2025 saw Ealing’s first council run Better Living Climate Week. ActForEaling was thrilled to take part in the celebrations, and as well as supporting a number of partner-led initiatives throughout the week, also took part in the main Climate Social summit at Parkside Yards, Southall. Our climate week contribution was a “climate conversation” at Open Ealing, where we were joined by Dr Neil Jenkins of Imperial College and the Grantham Institute to speak about “Science, Scary Stuff and Solutions”.
ActForEaling Impact
ActforEaling is a great place to find information about ways you can support climate action, rewilding, nature restoration or other environmental initiatives in Ealing. In 2025 alone, ActForEaling published over 200 blogs and articles, and sent more than 200 regular mailing campaigns. The ActForEaling website has been viewed nearly 30,000 times.
Want to get involved?
We need people to support our activities, write blogs, help with events, and come up with inspiring ideas for climate action in Ealing. If you think this might be you, and want to help out in 2026, please get in touch with us.
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