Here is an interview with Barbara Street and Lorraine Cookson, organisers of the Sustainability Spring Fair in Birmingham.
What is the Spring Sustainability Fair about?
The Sustainability Spring Fair is an entertaining, creative, educational and sustainable fun day out to celebrate Climate Week 2013. The Fair is being held at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens on Saturday 9 March from 10.00am – 4.00pm. This year, we’re having two stage shows featuring local bands and dancers, magic and fun to keep everyone entertained, a fair-trade and ethical market, Love Food Hate Waste cooking demonstrations and people will have the chance to sign up for the Birmingham Green Deal at the energy road-show. There are plenty of activities for the kids like making things from “scrap,” learning to juggle at the Circus workshop or having a go at sumo wrestling and playing giant games out on the lawn. And of course there are the beautiful grounds, glass houses and aviaries of the Botanical Gardens for everyone to stroll around and enjoy for free!
Entrance to the Fair and Botanical Gardens is FREE with a printed copy of the flyer available here.
Who funds this event?
This event is sponsored by the Botanical Gardens, Carillion, and Co-op Membership with a lot of support from Fair-trade Association Birmingham volunteers and many other green practitioners who want to get their message out. Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a hub for Green events and initiatives in Birmingham and will be a Green Deal Beacon for Birmingham in the near future. This event is kick starting a new phase of this re-development.
What is your role in the event – what do you do from day to day?
I am a joint organiser of the Fair with my colleague Lorraine Cookson. Lorraine Cookson is the Sustainable Living Initiatives Officer and we both deal with Behaviour Change Engagement and events to promote Environmental Sustainability. We are also being helped by Malcolm Currie from Globally Local who’s setting up the Fair-trade and Ethical Market and Tom Hyland from The Stage Bus who is directing the entertainment.
My day to day role is as Partnership Support Officer to the Climate Change and Environment team and it varies from setting up meetings, events, conferences, workshops and visits by European delegations to minuting meetings right through to doing publicity for events like the Fair.
Have you got any advice for people running similar events?
Leave plenty of time to set up your event and try and think of every eventuality! Although of course you can’t and something will always catch you out! Put as much inside as you can with a contingency plan to put things outside at the last minute. Promotion is key send as much promotional material as you can to as many people as you can.
Ethical Pets will have a stall at the Sustainability Spring Fair where you can come and buy lots of sustainable products for your pets (inducing spring essentials such as a herbal wormer and a fox poo remover!)