22 Jun 2023
The 2023 St Albans & District Sustainability Festival (SustFest23) has surpassed the expectations of the volunteer festival team, delivering over 65 sustainably-focussed events during a nine day period.
Events were hosted by local businesses, community organisations, faith groups, individuals and 19 local schools with hundreds of children taking part.
Trustee Jill Watson chair of the SustFest organising committee said: ‘We’ve been overwhelmed by the support we’ve received from event hosts and attendees. This year’s festival was run in association with Great Big Green Week, giving a national context to our local efforts. and. St Albans Cathedral was bathed in green light on Friday June 9 to kick off SustFest23 and an impressive variety of sustainably focussed events followed.”
The 9th annual festival saw several events with a focus on ways to conserve heat loss in your home with retrofitting ideas to insulate your house.
Judith Leary-Joyce opened her home to show visitors the steps she has taken to retrofit her Victorian terrace house, making it cheaper to heat and more .
“I ran six fully booked sessions and showed 32 people round my house,” said Judith.
“This kind of renovation project can seem daunting at first, so it’s great that SustFest has given me the opportunity to share my knowledge and tips to inspire others to improve their homes.”
Visitors were able to take away a copy of Judith’s book Beginners Guide to Eco Renovation with even more information about the process of retrofit plus useful links to providers and advisors.
A sustainable approach to style also played a big part in this year’s festival with three pre-loved fashion shows and a clothes swap event. These events showcased the stylish benefits of reusing our attire as well as reminding attendees that buying second hand is a cost-effective way of updating your wardrobe in a cost of living crisis.
Other events covered topics such as food, film, music and wildlife.
Community-led charity Sustainable St Albans delivers this flagship event to inspire people to take sustainability steps in their lives. Their information on sustainable living on their website, and their annual events programme supports the community to continue this journey throughout the year. See sustainablestalbans.org/
