LAST weekend on the very day after Cornwall Council announced its target to become carbon neutral by 2030, Bude enhanced its green credentials by holding its first ‘Bude Earth Festival’, writes Christine Williams.

The event on June 1 and 2 was the brainchild of Carolyn Seager, a photographer, events organiser and PR who after many years working in London, has returned to what she describes as the golden beaches of Cornwall and Devon and a far simpler, natural lifestyle.

Thanks to the enthusiastic support of Bude Castle, the local community and Bude-Stratton Town Council what she originally intended to be ‘Bude Earth Day’ grew into a two day festival.

Its aim was to educate the community on local, national and global environmental concerns and what lifestyle changes everyone needs to make to help the planet.

It began on Saturday afternoon in the Willoughby Room where, against a background of artwork by students of Budehaven School, which included a portrait of David Attenborough made of small plastic pellets known as nurdles and bio-beads, mayor Bob Willingham introduced Martin Dorey, founder of #2minutebeachclean.

He opened the festival with a talk celebrating the remarkable efforts Bude people are making to help save the planet.

A small town it might be, he said, but it was a big hitter and they were proud that the Environment Agency had chosen Bude as the place to launch a £750,000 scheme to tackle plastic pollution. Simple things led to big results and he related how since 2013 when they started encouraging people to pick up every time they went to the beach they now had 62,000 followers on social media, 112,000 worldwide posts on Instagram and litter dropping had declined by 61%.

Next came an award ceremony when to musical accompaniment the following members of local environmental groups and individuals who had made outstanding contributions to a greener Bude received wooden plaques with the words ‘Meur Ras’ (‘thank you’ in Cornish), including: Ado Shorland of Widemouth Task Force; Pete Cooper of the Crackington Crew, absent; Paul and Laila Crum of Bude Rubbish Action Group; Claire Giner and Zoe Gascoyne of Parley Beach Cleans; Cllr Willingham, mayor Bude-Stratton; Martin Dorey of #2minutebeachclean; Sue Read, Kimp Stephens and Annie Creo of The Roundabout Group; Avril Sainsbury of The Cleaner Seas Project; Avril Sainsbury, Claire Giner, Deb Rosser and Simon Browning of A Greener Bude; Simon Browning and Ron Meredith of Friends of the Earth; Deb and team of The Refill Shop Team; Tilly Clarke and Elidh McCormick of The Repair Cafe; Trevor Plant of Trev’s Taxi, absent.

As she received her award Deb of Greener Bude, The ReFILL Shop, and The Repair Shop gave a moving tribute to the support she and others received from the community and the Bude-Stratton Town Council. “Bude has changed my life and my husband’s and my children’s,” she said.

This was followed by a guided bio-diversity walk led by Bob Meredith of Friends of the Earth which followed a trail visiting recently planted flower beds and an orchard.

The climate can be unkind even to its staunchest champions and when the festival continued on Sunday morning plans had to be adjusted because of heavy rain.

The celebratory blessing by Nixie James-Scott was given under the shelter of the band stand followed by a hearty rendering of ‘All you need is love!’ by those waiting for a yoga class.

While four stalls remained on the lawn and a wigwam, where Janie Sheppard read stories to help educate children about the impact of plastics on ocean ecosystems, the majority of them including creative workshops retreated to the shelter of the Parkhouse Centre.

Talks in the Willoughby Gallery and Blanchminster Room focused on helping people to live more sustainable lives and covered subjects such as sustainable living initiatives, ocean health, wildlife protection, gardening tips, clean river projects, climate change and the importance of community in our future world.

Through the day there was live music from the bandstand with Issie Smith, Sam Dowden and James Dixon and in the afternoon Cllr Willingham presented Laila Crum with a prize, donated by Finisterre clothing, for the most innovative recycled product, an eco-brick rubbish bin.

In the afternoon the sun shone and organiser Carolyn Seagrove was able to reflect on a very successful event. There had been a good turn-out, good attendance at the talks, and great music.

She thanked the stallholders and speakers many of whom had come from afar. She also thanked the green community for their support and the big hearted response from the people of Bude. “This is success we can build upon,” she concluded.