Newsletters and Articles

16th March 2025 - Allotment Fence Repairing Session

A few volunteers joined us to fix the fences around the allotment - a good mornings work, fresh air, good chat and a bit of fun - if you fancy joining us for the next session - drop us an email - info@purleysustainability.co.uk

The Community Lunch 2024

 Saturday 7th September was the day of the Purley Sustainability Group annual Community Lunch.  This was the third year running and provides an opportunity for locals to enjoy for free, the fruits of the three allotments that PSG maintain.

 We had a wonderful array of feasts, including butternut and cashew casserole, turnip curry, saag aloo, mattha aloo, vegetable madras, tomato and courgette au gratin, amazing vegetable quiche, potato salad, along with courgette bread and homemade pickles.  The deserts were mouthwatering, with Eton mess, rhubarb and custard, raspberry and beetroot cake, and plenty of scones and jam, all washed down with cordial - homemade of course.  We know our visitors enjoyed themselves and had a great time, some took part in our fun raffle and we thank you for the donations received – more than £100 combined– these will go into PSG and be spent on essentials that continue to build PSG and the community.

 After the lunch, we enjoyed the annual Purley Horticultural Show – this was great and PSG were lucky enough to win the longest bean in the show!  Some of our PSG team also took away prizes which was wonderful.  We will be back at next year’s show - hopefully taking home some silver!

 The weather was kind to us, and allowed us to have great conversations with the visitors and share more about PSG and the activities that PSG do – for those who don’t know, we have several regular things:

 ·       Three allotments in Purley, we tend to go twice a week.  If you want to come and visit and perhaps help support, please do get in touch.  This is a good way to get some fresh air, be social and perhaps learn a thing or two about gardening – we welcome experts and complete beginners.

·       Repair Café in the Mad Duck on the second Saturday of the month, bring your items that are no longer working, need a stitch, or you just don’t know what the problem is, then our volunteers may be able to help prolong the life and save landfill and money.

·       A recycling collection once a month in Beech Road – this takes a number of Terracycle items together  with natural corks (e.g. from wine bottles) Any jewellery and watches (including broken items), coins and currency (UK or foreign and of any age), mobile phones, cameras and gadgets (e.g. sat navs, games consoles, games and accessories, iPods, MP3 players, tablet computers -  do check out www.purleysustainability.co.uk/recyling for future information

·       The Book Swap box located in Beech Road footpath to Sulham woods, where you can take books from it, read then return or add yours once you have finished with them for others to enjoy

·       The pantry in the Mad Duck Café – this is where anyone is welcome to take what they need from there, and equally we welcome donations of excess food you may have to eliminate food waste and provide others with the opportunity to use.

·       Purley Wildlife Library – on our website – www.purleysustainability.co.uk/wildlife  we have more information about the wildlife that locals have spotted and photographed –  some are most unusual and some are regular sitings in the area.  If you have any pictures that you want adding to the collection, please do send to info@purleysustainability.co.uk

 In addition, we are in the process of building an Orchard in Bucknell Meadow – this is early days so keep an eye out for updates – these can be found on our website.

 PSG very much enjoy events and working with the community, to build upon the sustainability opportunities.  If you are free on Saturday 6th October do come and join us for the annual Apple Pressing – all you need is a container to collect some apple juice and some apples if you have any spare.  We can’t guarantee the weather but we can guarantee a good time. 

Thank you to all who came to the PSG Annual General Meeting 17 April 2024 at the Memorial Hall, Glebe Road. It was a great night, and we heard the very interesting experiences and future plans from Natalie Ganpatsingh from Nature Nurture - recommend you check out the website to see more information and learn more about the many events they host.

Additionally, we had an update on the many PSG projects - the allotments in Purley on Thames, the Repair Cafe - that's hosted in the Mad Duck Cafe on the second Saturday on the month, and the future Community Orchard project - we are at the start of the journey and promise regular updates as we progress.

We enjoyed some very tasty cheese from the Cheese Shop Pangbourne - if you haven't already tried the Barkham Blue, we recommend it!

We elected our committee members and look forward to another busy year - Earth Day is approaching, remember to put the Community Lunch in your diary - 7 September - same day as the Purley on Thames Horticultural Society show.

PSG could not operate without the support from the many volunteers - the Purley on Thames Repair Cafe fixers, the allotment gardeners, the residents who recycle, litter pick, drop leaflets, donate wood, food, swap books, the Purley Parish Council, PAWS (Pangbourne & Whitchurch Sustainability), Purley on Thames Allotments, Mad Duck Cafe, and the residents of Purley who strive towards greater sustainability through recycling, Easy Fundraising and support PSG at events. We thank you all.

check out www.purleysustainability.co.uk for more information on the projects and see how you can get involved. Thank you

9th Sept 2023

Pangbourne Rotary Club donates £500 to Purley Sustainability Group

Pangbourne Rotary Club donates £500 to the Purley Sustainability Group (PSG) to help fund the creation of a new community orchard at Bucknells Meadow. (https://www.purleyonthames-pc.gov.uk/bucknells-meadow/ ) Richard Coates (Chair, PSG) and Stuart Gatherer(Treasurer, PSG) thanked Pangbourne Rotary Club for their donation at a community lunch on September 9th, at which a ceremonial “cheque” was presented by Mal Sandham (Community Chair) and Brian Davies (President, Pangbourne Rotary Club)

Pictured (L-R) Mal, Stuart, Richard and Brian.

For further information about the activities of the groups please contact: info@purleysustainability.co.uk membership@pangbournerotary.org.uk

Purley Sustainability Group article June 2023

This month PSG outline the Recycling facility that is ran by volunteers every second Sunday of the month.  

This Terracycle collection has been in place since 2020 and operates from 7 Beech Road – next to the footpath to Sulham Woods.  There are green bins on the gravel drive way to add recycling to.  Items need to be empty, clean and dry and separated – perhaps using bread bags.

TerraCycle  are  a recycling company that specialises in recycling typically hard-to-recycle waste which is not processed by local councils.  They strive to eliminate the idea of waste by offering a range of free national recycling programmes that are funded by brands, as well as recycling solutions, They reuse, upcycle and recycle the waste instead of incinerating or landfilling it. This moves waste from a linear system to a circular one, allowing it to keep cycling in our economy.

During May,  three green bins had been filled by the Purley residents.  Our Volunteers then need to sort into the various schemes.

In May – our volunteers took an afternoon to sort - we had a large bin bag of clean tin foil, half a bin bag of Milk bottle tops, a carrier bag of Stamps (used or unused), half a carrier bag of natural corks  and some jewellery/watches, a few coins, and some old mobiles.   – 

Additionally, we received three bin bags of crisp/snack packets, one bin bag of biscuit/cake wrappers, one bin bag of sweet wrappers, a bag full of toothpaste tubes/brushes and dental floss containers, a bag of cheese wrappers, a bin bag of bread bags, a collection of old pens, a bag of coffee bags (outer wrappers),a bag of dishwasher and washing machine (tablets and liquid) and carex hand wash refill bags.

We always receive a bag full of soft plastic such as vegetable, rice, pasta, toilet roll wrappers along with various other soft plastic  – whilst we are delighted that residents are recycling, unfortunately this is not accepted via our Terracycle collection but most can be recycled at the larger supermarkets. We were also given some fruit/meat trays, yogurt pots and milk/ drink cartons these can be recycled but via West Berks small recycling centres (Cotswold Sports Centre. Additionally, we received a mixed bag of unwashed and unsorted mixed plastic which unfortunately we had to disregard.  If in doubt, please look at the PSG Facebook page or get in touch and ask for help.

Whilst previously popular, empty tablet blister packs can no longer be accepted, but residents can take their personal items to Superdrug in Broad Street. We can no longer accept coffee/chocolate pods, we only collect  the Lavazza eco pods.

We are pleased to collect these to save landfill and enable future use.  If you are a user of the above items, why not save them and add to the Terracycle in the next month?  No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

We are always needing help with sorting, so if you can give an hour or so to help, please reach out on the email below.  It’s a fun social time that really helps with our sustainability goals.

More information can be found at https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/ and always look at Purley Sustainability Facebook page under files for more information.

Purley Parish News Article - May 2023

A very important part of the Purley Sustainability Group is to grow and produce our own food source. This helps to save the cost of vegetables, goes towards assisting with climate change., and supports our wellbeing.

PSG now operate two community allotments at the Purley site which is off Nursery Gardens/ Winston Way. Access is via the railway bridge and there is ample car parking but you can always walk or cycle if you wish. The gate is open from dawn to dusk.

The first plot (K4) was obtained almost 3 years ago and volunteers have erected a fruit cage for the raspberries and gooseberries, so we are expecting a good crop of fruit this year. We are now just planting this seasons vegetables in the ground as the soil warms up in the sun. Some asparagus were cut last weekend which is always very tasty wrapped in bacon then cooked. The runner beans will be planted out in a couple of weeks time.

The second community allotment( A12). which is a recent acquisition. This has been cleared by the volunteers of all old carpets and plastic sheeting. The whole plot has now been dug over and is ready for planting. We have just purchased both a small poly tunnel and tools storge box for the plot. These have been erected over the last few weeks in rain showers and quite strong winds. Some rhubarb has been harvested and frozen for the Community Lunch on Saturday 9th September (more news in future issues).

Volunteers are always welcome to come and help with either or both plots, and have a chat, meet some new friends, learn some new skills. We are mainly there on Sundays from 9.30am and also Wednesday afternoons. You don’t need to bring any tools or gloves because that is all provided., you don’t need to know anything about gardening as we all learn from each other.

Please do come and visit us at the allotments