Yesterday we wrapped up the first of our ten week Green Skills programmes with the Innovate Trust and it’s been brilliant fun – we’re a little sad to bring it to an end!
If you’ve not heard of The Innovate Trust before, they’re an amazing organisation provide a really wide range of services for people with learning disabilities including workshops that offer new opportunities and new skills.
We were delighted to be approached by Innovate to work with them on a project funded by a National Lottery Community Fund Climate Action Boost grant. With input from staff and participants, we planned a programme of online workshops that would explore environmental topics and offer lots of opportunities for hands-on and achievable low carbon actions.
The programme took place via Insight, Innovate’s own app, developed to help participants find out what’s on, share, and stay connected.
To help make the programme welcoming and accessible, we provided participants with kits, with lots of small and simple items to help them try out the ideas shared in the sessions, plus a couple of little treats! Here’s the unboxing video Becca shared on Insight for everyone receiving their Green Skills kits.
The programme was structured around ten themes, with a focus on practical actions. Over the last ten weeks we’ve learned to care for clothes and make low carbon lunches, insulate our homes and grow salad on a windowsill. We’ve made bee drinkers, draught excluders, simple cleaning products and upcycled crafts. We’ve even had a session with the cheeky Green Squirrel hens, with a fresh egg laid live during the zoom call! We’ve had some unforgettable conversations about cow farts, Joanna Lumley, and – everyone’s favourite – draught excluders made with old pants…
It’s been a brilliant experience for us, and we’ve learned a great deal from Innovate staff and participants. We’ll be kicking off a second programme with Innovate soon and we’re hopeful that some members of this first cohort will return to share their learning with new participants.
If you’re looking for workshops – or perhaps a longer-term programme – to help your team or community to develop low carbon skills then we would love to have a chat! You can reach us using the form below.
