A special family-friendly festival will be held in St Helens Borough later this month (October) to highlight the start of the council’s journey to address climate change and the actions we can all take to help make the world a greener place.
Organised by St Helens Borough Council with funding support from the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority’s Town Centre Fund - Green Festival falls in line with the council’s priority of reaching carbon zero by 2040 and comes ahead of COP26, the 2021 United Nations climate change conference in Glasgow that many believe to be the world’s best last chance to get runaway climate change under control.
As part of the two-day festival to be held in Earlestown and St Helens town centres, there will be entertainment in the form of environment and nature-related street roaming acts; exhibitions from the council and some of its partners – as well as interactive workshops; a birds of prey display; performances from Valley Brass band – and even a bicycle-powered funfair ride.
Meanwhile, scarecrows made by local schools will be hidden around both town centres. Keep your eyes peeled to be in with a chance of winning some great prizes.
Councillor Andy Bowden, Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport said: “Climate change is the biggest challenge countries are facing, and it requires a collective response from us all. While it is vitally important to get the word out at a local level, we’ve got to look at how we can do this effectively as possible.
“Holding events like this are just the start of the journey but allow us to reach a range of audiences, particularly the younger generation, to get across to as many as possible the small changes we can make that will made a big difference.”
Councillor Mancyia Uddin, St Helens Borough Council’s champion for climate change, added: “As a council we are committed to tackling climate change and have been carrying out a number of projects to help protect the environment – Green Festival being the latest awareness-raising initiative.
“Climate change is a crisis faced by all of us and we all have a role to play in addressing it. Working together we can tackle the climate emergency in St Helens and build a more sustainable borough.”
Details on what the council intends to do to tackle climate change are set out in a year one action plan to be presented at a cabinet meeting in November
As the aim of Green Festival is to promote an eco-friendlier way of life, visitors heading to this event are encouraged to leave their cars at home - unless electric powered - considering more sustainable modes of travel such as public transport, cycling or walking, if possible, instead.
Green Festival will take place in Earlestown on Friday 29 October and then in St Helens town centre on Saturday 30 October, with both events running from 12:00pm-4:00pm.
For local bus times, visit https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/
To find out what other exciting events are taking place in St Helens Borough over the coming months, like 'What’s On In St Helens' on Facebook or follow @whatsonsthelens on Twitter.