On Mon 9 Jun 25 St Albans and District Soroptimist Club Members were delighted to welcome Tricia Gibbons from the Green House in St Albans, to give a presentation and inform everyone about this wonderful place and what it does. We were marking World Environment Day which had been on 5 Jun and we were very fortunate that Tricia could spare us the time in “Great Big Green Week”.
Tricia was invited by Helen Byrne and the Club’s “Planet Team” and it is appropriate that face-to-face Club meetings are held in the Community Eco-Hub at the St Albans United Reformed Church – Greenwood. Tricia and Helen are pictured here as “book ends” for the display board and resources for the Green House that Tricia had brought for us all to browse.
This is the website for the Green House https://thegreenhousestalbans.org/ – if you can then please visit their Eco-Hub in person for advice & inspiration about anything eco – it is above Jefferson Eco at 46 London Road. There is lots of information and resources on their website too. Please tell everyone about their wonderful “Library of Things” – online known as “Share St Albans” https://www.sharestalbans.org/ where you can borrow useful items for a DIY or gardening job or something for a party or your home rather than having to buy. It costs just £10 a year to join and rentals are between £1-8.
Tricia delivered an excellent presentation which you can view by clicking here Greenhouse Soroptimist Presentation Jun 25 and she began by showing us an informative video (4 mins) you can view by clicking here: https://youtu.be/YA8qMUyTtaA?si=8u_2CaOD6teCU1wU
Like Soroptimists, The Green House has a Vision and Mission – extracted below from the presentation:
“Who are we? A group of local individuals who want to help build a fairer, kinder and more sustainable future for the St Albans District.
Mission: To create a collaborative community led project to promote sustainability, protect biodiversity and reduce our carbon footprint.
Vision: A welcoming, friendly and inclusive eco hub that will bring our community together to share ideas, information and resources and inspire us all to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle beneficial to people and the planet.”
There we lots of great questions as usual, and lots of connections made between the people and organisations that Soroptimists and The Green House work with. Tricia encouraged us all to sign up to their newsletter to receive hints, tips and news direct – https://thegreenhousestalbans.org/ just scroll down the homepage of their website to add your name. She also asked us to think of ways to help them to fundraise to keep the Green House going – it is run on as tight a budget as possible with more than 60 volunteers. Their space on London Rd is really valuable but obviously costs money to run.
After the presentation we had a break for coffee and tea and there was time for networking. The Club’s business was completed following the break, including a reflection on the brilliant Summer Conference that the Club had hosted for Soroptimist International London Chilterns Region on Sat 7 June in Redbourn – click here for more: https://sigbi.org/london-chilterns/jun25/
Another Club meeting with lots for everyone to take away and think about, share and take action on – as in the Soroptimist 3 A’s of Awareness, Advocacy, Action.