Sun shines light on Sustainable Bridgnorth as people flock to first-ever green festival

Crowds have been up to the Castle Gardens today for the event, with 18 stallholders – commercial and charity organisations – there to greet people.

Organised by Sustainable Bridgnorth, the purpose of the event was to promote the work of local organisations in 'preventing pointless plastic.'

There has been a mix of stalls and fun activities for families as well as live music on the park bandstand.

The event kicked off at 11am with Lara Neal, who started up the Tree Town project, addressing attendees. She was accompanied by the Mayor, Karen Sawbridge.

They then held a two minute silence for Her Majesty The Queen as a mark of respect for the late monarch who passed away on Thursday, September 8.

Commenting on the work of Sustainable Bridgnorth, its chair, Kath Norgrove said: "Its been going for years, I have been with the group for 12 to 13 years and this is my seventh year as Chair.

"The whole idea when I joined was to make Bridgnorth a sustainable low carbon community."

Back in 2018, the group coincided with a public meeting in which there was a showing of the film Trashed – a environmental documentary highlighting the global scale and impact of wasteful consumerism and pollution.

This spurred peoples interest into what could be done about plastic waste in the local area and so the group worked under the umbrella slogan – Prevent Pointless Plastic.

Since then, Kath said, a number of local businesses, organisations and communities of people have been working towards a plastic-free Bridgnorth.

"There was COP26 last year and its becoming mainstream now. We wanted to advertise what groups are doing in the community and to promote what is being done in the local area," Kath added.

The aim of the event is to inform people of where they can recycle, what they can do to help and what resources are available in the town.