New Project! A Green Hub* for Waltham Forest
Did you know that our first registered business name back in 1991 was The Hornbeam Whole Earth Centre? So 90’s, so wholesome. In 1993 we switched to The Hornbeam Environmental Centre, then in 2014 becoming the slightly less wordy The Hornbeam Centre. Despite dropping Environment from our official name, the care of our beautiful planet and only home has and always will be a guiding principal and mission.
Low Cost, Low Impact Living
Our priority is always to meet the needs of our community, with an environmental perspective; ‘Low Cost, Low Impact Living’ was our motto for quite some time. Hornbeam’s early food waste reduction initiatives came about as a way to address the methane, transport emissions, waste and land use challenges inherent in our inefficient industrial food systems, while also getting cheap or free food to local people who needed it. These initiatives (along with an army of volunteers) were able to nimbly respond to Covid, post-covid and the ongoing Cost-of-Living Crisis, developing into the bustling hyper-local surplus Food Redistribution Hub we operate onsite today, along with our role in coordination of the Waltham Forest Food Partnership. We have been doing this work so well for so long that it’s no real surprise we have become known to many in the borough as ‘that vegan food bank’.
It is also a reality that people experiencing food insecurity, deprivation and marginalisation often have very little bandwidth beyond immediate crisis solving, quite rightly, environmental issues become less of a priority. Our agility in meeting the needs of our community and the strategic goals of funders has meant that our more obvious ecological focus has taken a bit of a back seat these last few years.
Artwork by Aysha Tengiz for Fine Acts
More than a ‘Vegan Food Bank’
This is why we are so excited to announce that we have recently been awarded funding from The National Lottery Community Fund - funded by National Lottery Players, to invest time and resources into our community response to the Climate and Ecological Emergency.
We will use this funding to develop The Hornbeam Centre as a Green Hub for Waltham Forest (* the name needs working on!) by bringing people together and sharing the skills & stories we need to build the resilience and changes that will be required of us to face the challenges ahead. Over the next year we will -
Build and host a directory of all the groups, organisations and businesses in Waltham Forest who are working towards a climate safe future. We wish to showcase all the wonderful work already happening in the borough and make it easier for residents to know what is happening, how to connect and get involved.
Host and amplify regular events and activities here at The Hornbeam that explore the many ways that we can build resilience and respond to the unfolding crisis. Our cafe space will be offered for free to individuals, groups or organisations that wish to host an activity for the community to learn, share, skill-up, connect and/or creatively respond to the Climate and Ecological Emergency (CEE). Eligible activities can also access extra support for things like printing costs, travel and material costs.
Build and host a CEE focussed resource library - books, art & posters to inspire, inform and illuminate.
This is so exciting for us, to have actual funds and above all - paid staff time! - to be able to execute the ideas we have have had bubbling about at the top of our wish list for some time now is a dream come true. Huge thanks again to National Lottery Players!
Now it’s up to you. We invite you to bring your curiosity, creativity, care and compassion to The Hornbeam, bringing the community together to address the challenges of the Climate & Ecological Crisis. Please fill in this short form and tell us what you would like to do!
The future can feel quite scary; the scale of change required, the shifting weather patterns we are experiencing today, the growing pressure of increasing costs and decreasing civil liberties in our day-to-day lives. On our own, we can’t do much. But together we have power. Together, we can also cultivate joy and camaraderie, reinforcing the resilient community we will need to face the challenges ahead.