Climate Cooking Challenge, fashion upcycling and community gardens part of £50,000 award for climate change projects in Renfrewshire

Communities in Renfrewshire will reduce food waste and emissions, recycle old clothes and textiles, and create community gardens, biodiversity areas and food growing areas thanks to funding awards from Renfrewshire Council.

The Community Climate Fund was created by Renfrewshire Council to offer local communities the chance to make environmental changes in their local area that will contribute to the target of Renfrewshire reaching net-zero by 2030.

£50,000 was allocated from the Council’s £1million Climate Change Action Fund, with up to £3,000 available to community organisations for each project – and a total of 18 projects have been successful.

One of a range of innovative ideas was a Climate Cooking Challenge devised by the Tannahill Centre in Paisley, which will reduce food waste by sharing techniques and skills with the local community around making the most of raw food, leftovers and surplus food.

Jamie Mallan, Business Transformation Manager at the Tannahill Centre, said: “This funding is going to make a big difference to families and individuals in Ferguslie as it will enable us to support local families by helping them to reduce food and energy costs at home at a time when the cost-of-living crisis is hitting really hard.

“Author Lorna Cooper will run workshops for residents from Ferguslie where she will share some of the recipes detailed in her book ‘Feed your Family for £20’ and some of the advice and tips she shares on social media which help families make leftovers go further, whilst also reducing their energy costs.”

Lorna will also work with the local sewing group, The Feegie Needlers, to produce non-electric slow cookers.

She said: “Made from a duvet and some fabric, non-electric slow cookers are a popular way of slow cooking all over the world. After bringing a pot of food to the boil and placing it inside the slow cooker, the retained heat will continue cooking for up to eight hours without any additional energy source.”

Renfrew YMCA SCIO plan to teach young people in the community about the effects of ‘fast-fashion’ on the environment and support them to carry out upcycling of clothes and textiles, with the aim of hosting an eco-friendly fashion show.

Taylor Smith, Renfrew YMCA Youth Development Worker, said: “Our project is an upcycling project that provides children and young people with the skills to take old clothes and make something new as we try to tackle the fast fashion problem and help with climate change.

“We are so excited that we have received this funding and have already started making upcycling hair bands and bangles in our summer programme.”

The Council’s Climate Change Action Fund provides initial funding to pilot new ideas and approaches, to support engagement and partnership working across Renfrewshire, and to accelerate the pace of change already being delivered through existing initiatives.

It is one of a variety of initiatives in place to support Renfrewshire’s aim of reaching net-zero by 2030.

Councillor Jim Paterson, Convener of Renfrewshire Council’s Planning and Climate Change Policy Board, said: “It’s fantastic to see the level of enthusiasm and creativity from our local communities as they help to tackle the climate change emergency in any way they can – and these projects are a shining example of what can be done.

“As a Council, climate change is considered in every decision we take and we are reducing our carbon emissions at every opportunity, but we know that we need our communities and businesses to do the same.

“We’ve set an ambitious target of reaching net-zero by 2030, but I am confident that as a Council we can lead from the front with the initiatives we have in place now and to come.

“Climate Change is a key priority of this administration, and we will continue to do all we can to reduce our emissions and support all of Renfrewshire to do the same.”

Other projects which received funding include food growing initiatives in Lochwinnoch, Williamsburgh Primary; community gardens in Kirklandneuk Primary, Langbank Primary, The Good Shephard Centre in Bishopton, Johnstone Castle Community Centre, Bishopton Community Centre and the Finding Your Feet centre in Paisley; biodiversity improvements in Ferguslie and Lochwinnoch; funding for bike repairs to support active travel; environmental improvements to the Howwood Park pavilion and Ferguslie Cricket Club; ‘Repair, Make Do and Mend’ sewing workshops, videos and a Mending Skills toolkit by Mossvale Community Church; and a community dye garden in Paisley.

All applicants whose projects did not receive funding have been supported by the Council and Engage Renfrewshire to identify other possible funding opportunities.

For more information on climate change projects in Renfrewshire, visit www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/climatechange.

The projects awarded funding were:

The Tannahill Centre (£2,953)

• Climate Cooking Challenge
• Reduce food waste by sharing techniques and skills to make the most of raw food, leftovers and surplus food
• Reduce energy consumption through more efficient preparation of food
• Produce non-electric slow cookers using recycled household materials

Lochwinnoch Sustainable Community Garden (£1,000)

• Rewilding Lochwinnoch
• Improve biodiversity in the area by sowing wildflower seeds
• Interactive project aimed to be accessible for all

24^th Paisley Boys Brigade (£3,000)

• Climate Challenge 2022
• Reduce energy consumption
• Learning how to grow food through a community garden
• Turning over church lawns to wildflower meadows

Kirklandneuk PS Parent Council (£3,000)

• ‘Mon the Weans, Mon the Bees, Mon the Community’
• Outdoor space for pupils to be creative
• Used for community food growing and preparation
• Biodiversity area in the school grounds

Own Yer Bike (£3,000)

• Volunteer Training/Parts for repairs
• Put five volunteers through cycle mechanics course to allow them to teach young people how to fix and maintain their bikes
• Purchase of parts to repair bikes for free to support active travel

Friends of Howwood Park (£2,840.60)

• Howwood Park Pavilion Renovation
• Renovate the pavilion in an environmentally friendly manner
• Insulation and low energy electrical fittings
• Minimise energy demand and maximise efficiency

Langbank Parent Partnership (£3,000)

• All the flowers of tomorrow are the seeds of today
• Establish the garden as an extension to the outdoor classroom
• Growing ground for fruits, vegetables and herbs

The Good Shephard Centre (£2,855)

• Community Garden
• ‘Fork to fork’ approach
• Follows GSC’s Young People’s Climate Change Agenda
• In partnership with Duke of Edinburgh Award, GSC School and Wellbeing teams
• Improve horticultural skills

Local Energy Action Plan (£3,000)

• Diggin’ It Together
• Food growing initiative for people in their own homes
• Reduce carbon emissions, promote mindfulness, tackle food insecurity, promote sese of wellbeing, opportunity to bring people together at community events

Renfrewshire Rainbow Buddies (£2,220)

• Little and Large Explorers
• Renovate Johnstone Castle Community Centre’s garden
• Provide active travel equipment
• Learn new skills, such as planting, making flower beds, food hygiene

Ferguslie Cricket Club (£2,000)

• Climate Change projects
• Install LED lighting
• Creation of a small garden for biodiversity

Ferguslie Community Development Trust (£2,871)

• Sunshine on Ferguslie (schools project)
• Improvements to front gardens to encourage interest in nature
• Learn new gardening skills
• Create planters and birdboxes
• Community gardening clubs

Mossvale Community Church (£2,510)

• Sewing2gether All Nations – Repair Make Do & Mend
• Sewing workshops for members of the refugee and asylum seeker community
• Create Make Do & Mend videos
• Produce a Mending Skills toolkit

Williamsburgh Parent Council (£2,897.22)

• Getting Williamsburgh Growing
• Support children to grow their own food

Renfrew YMCA SCIO (£3,000)

• Make Renfrew Green
• Implement up-cycling into the organisation
• Teach young people about up-cycling and the effect of ‘fast-fashion’
• Host an eco-friendly fashion show

Bonnie Bishopton (£3,000)

• Community Gardens at the Community Centre
• Regenerate neglected land
• Create a community garden for health and wellbeing

Finding Your Feet (FYF) (£3,000)

• Turn an area of disused land into a garden and play area
• Sensory garden, outdoor children’s accessible play area, nature walks, bee keeping and gardening

Sculpture House Collective (£2,985.60)

• Community Dye Garden
• Green spaces used to grow plants and trees that can be used for dying and printing textiles
• Expand to satellite locations in Ferguslie Park area
• Engage and educate the local community
• Improve biodiversity

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