Whether you want to ask about getting something repaired, buying more sustainable goods, developing land or just how you can have a more environmentally friendly lifestyle, all of this and more is available at Sussex Green Hub, a monthly event (on the last Saturday of each month) run by Sussex Green Living at the United Reformed Church in Horsham. Sussex Green Living (run by CEO Carrie Court and supported by a team of volunteers) is a multi-award-winning charity that provides a network and facilitates initiatives for the benefit of the local community and the planet; the hub is crucial to their work.

One service is the Repair Café which values fixing faults (whether mechanical, electrical or textile related) rather than throwing away and buying anew. Although items like electronics are difficult to work on, the volunteer repairers can take items home where they have access to more tools. Andrew, a mechanical/electrical repairer, said ‘all sorts of things are put together to be quick to manufacture, it can be difficult to fix them’, but regardless, the volunteers dedicate their time and skills to fix what they can. There are also volunteers taking bookings and keeping records of the activities within the Repair Café. Best of all, you know when a repair is successful thanks to the bell rung at the front desk!

Another great stall was the Remake Resell stall selling sustainable goods from oat drink powder to hats made of ring pulls from cans. The advertised oat drink powder was a more compact, more easily recyclable alternative to a carton and only requires you to add water, shake it and put it in the fridge; this simple process means you can make up only as much as you need. There were also hand-crafted products like the hats (made in the Philippines as part of the Purple Community Fund), scarves with gradients showing biodiversity loss, paintings and recycled cards amongst other products.

Next, I spoke to volunteers at the North Horsham stall (who visit the hub every four to six months), representing a community land trust run by local people, aiming to find a suitable plot of land to develop or build on to provide local homes to rent. Peter Beckley and Joy Gough discussed their goal to expand the membership and find shareholders (to buy a share it is only £1). Joy Gough expressed her concern for young people trying to find housing in Horsham and believes this project can help to improve this.

Finally, an Eco-Church stall helping individuals to live more environmentally friendly is currently providing information about making gardens more hedgehog friendly. Reverend David Pitkeathly summarised what it is like for the church to be part of this monthly event: ‘it is a truly wonderful privilege for us as the United Reformed Church to host the Green Hub, it is a key part of our calling as Christians to proactively care for the beautiful earth God has given and we are delighted to support this positive initiative.’