eco living festival cambridge

What’s on in Cambridge – July 2019

I love summertime in Cambridge. The May Balls and graduation ceremonies are done now and as the students leave for the summer, the rhythm of the city seems to change. There’s plenty going on, as you will see from this listing which I’ll update as the month unfurls.

Tomatoes at Cambridge Market — Tons of tomatoes at Cambridge Market

1 – 14th Strawberries and Screen. Live screening of BBC coverage from Wimbledon on a giant LED screen between One The Square and The Tamburlaine Hotel. 100 chairs available. Bring your own picnic or buy from food vans (mainly available at lunchtimes). http://www.cambridgebid.co.uk/lovecambridge

3rd 6.15 – 7.15pm Sounds Green. Open air music. Afro Tema, a danceable mix of Senegalese salsa, furious mbalax, afro-rock and some serious roots reggae style music. Botanic Garden. Tickets must be bought in advance online. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

4 – 7th Independents Week. Celebrating the independent business community in Cambridge with offers and events. http://www.cambridgebid.co.uk/independents-week-2019

4th 6 – 7.30pm Open Mic Night for local musicians and poets. A celebration of music and the spoken word. Free admission. Waterstones, Sidney Street. http://www.waterstones.com/bookshops/cambridge-sidney-str

5 – 7th The Big Weekend. Parker’s Piece. http://www.cambridgelive.org.uk/city-events/events/big-weekend

6 – 7th 11am – 6pm Cambridge Open Studios. Over 350 artists in and around Cambridge open their studio doors to the public. Fine art, photography, pottery, glass making, sculpture, illustration, textiles, jewellery and furniture. http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk Read more about last year’s Open Studios here

6th 10am – 1pm Family Saturdays: Drawing Plants. Free event. Botanic Garden. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

6th 10am – 4pm Eco Living Festival Cambridge. Talks, workshops and masterclasses. Lion Yard Shopping Centre. http://www.cambridgeecolivingfestival.uk Read more about Eco Living Festival Cambridge here

6th 2 – 4pm Family First Saturday. Activities and art-making on the theme of “caring for our museum”. Free, drop in event. Fitzwilliam Museum. http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

6th 7.30pm Charity Concert supporting Cambridge Summit on Homelessness. Mawson Road Community Orchestra with classical pieces, a cappella from “Sound Scribblers” and traditional music from Greece, Russia, Romania, Macedonia, Scotland and Ireland plus an Auction of Promises. Tickets on the door. St Paul’s Church, Hills Road. http://www.mrco-cambridge.org.uk

8th onwards Cambridge Shakespeare Festival. Productions performed in College gardens, in full period costume and with live Elizabethan music. http://www.cambridgeshakespeare.com Read more about last year’s Cambridge Shakespeare Festival here

9th 7.30 – 9pm Talk: Swimming in Cambridge. Mill Road History Society. Ross Street Community Centre, CB1. http://www.millroadhistory.org.uk/events

10th 6.15 – 7.15pm Sounds Green. Open air music. Martin Kemp’s Organised Chaos. Swing and jazz standards from 1930s to present. Botanic Garden. Tickets must be bought in advance online. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

11th 7.30pm Alex Hitchcock Quintet. CUC Wine Bar, Granta Place. http://www.cambridgejazz.org

13 – 14th 11am – 6pm Cambridge Open Studios. Over 350 artists in and around Cambridge open their studio doors to the public. Fine art, photography, pottery, glass making, sculpture, illustration, textiles, jewellery and furniture. http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk Read more about last year’s Open Studios here

13 – 21st Cambridge Veg Fest. A city-wide celebration of local and seasonal vegetables, bringing people together to grow, cook, eat and enjoy delicious veg. http://www.cambridgesustainablefood.org

13 – 27th Cambridge Summer Music Festival. Live classical music, focusing this year on music by women composers and music by – and inspired by – J S Bach. www.cambridgesummermusic.com

13th 12 – 5pm Castle Hill Open Day 2019. Art, music, history, tours, talks and food. Free event. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk/events/castle-hill-2019

13th 4.30pm (child friendly) and 7.30pm Music for a summer’s evening. Fairhaven Singers. Strawberries and sparkling wine (included in ticket price) will be served on the banks of the Cam during the interval of the evening performance. Queens’ College Chapel. http://www.fairhavensingers.org.uk

14th 11am and 2pm Science on Sundays: Stop and smell the … pollination! Free, informal 30 minute drop in plant science talk. Botanic Garden. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

15 – 17th 10am – 5pm Visitor Centre Open Days and Launch of Museum on a Bike. David Parr House, 184 Gwydir Street. Facebook: @davidparrhouse Read more about David Parr House here

17th 6.15 – 7.15pm Sounds Green. Open air music. Truly Medley Deeply. A hybrid of live band, DJ and jukebox producing a huge sound from Motown classics to stadium rock. Botanic Garden. Tickets must be bought in advance online. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

20 – 21st 11am – 6pm Cambridge Open Studios. Over 350 artists in and around Cambridge open their studio doors to the public. Fine art, photography, pottery, glass making, sculpture, illustration, textiles, jewellery and furniture. http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk Read more about last year’s Open Studios here

21st 9am – 2pm Mill Road Summer Car Boot Sale. Gwydir Street Car Park.

21st 12 – 4pm Studio Sunday. Artist led workshop for families. Free, drop in. Kettle’s Yard, Castle Street. http://www.kettlesyard.co.uk

21st 3 – 5pm Jazz and Brass in the Parks. Soham Comrades. Nightingale Rec. http://www.cambridgelive.org.uk

24th 6.15 – 7.15pm Sounds Green. Open air music. Noga Ritter. Singer-songwriter and band performing Afro grooves and jazz. Botanic Garden. Tickets must be bought in advance online. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

25th 6pm Summer Night Market and Open Air Cinema (Incredible 2/The School of Rock). Market Square. Free event. http://www.cambridgebid.co.uk/open-air-cinema-night-market

27 – 28th 11am – 6pm Cambridge Open Studios. Over 350 artists in and around Cambridge open their studio doors to the public. Fine art, photography, pottery, glass making, sculpture, illustration, textiles, jewellery and furniture. http://www.camopenstudios.co.uk Read more about last year’s Open Studios here

31st 6.15 – 7.15pm Sounds Green. Open air music. Singer-pianist Ruth Applin with the Josh Kemp Quartet playing classic jazz, blues and bossa nova. Botanic Garden. Tickets must be bought in advance online. http://www.botanic.cam.ac.uk

Sweet peas on my desk — Sweet peas from the garden on my desk

Podcast: Eco Living and Zero Waste in Cambridge

I’ve made another podcast! In this episode, I chat to some of the people who are at the forefront of the eco living and zero waste movements in Cambridge and who have lots of ideas to help us tread a little more lightly on this planet. Just search for New in Cambridge on Spotify or your favourite podcast platform.

The podcast chats are necessarily quite brief so to find out more, take a look at my guests’ websites:

Full Circle Shop http://www.fullcircleshop.co.uk

Cambridge Food Hub http://www.cambridgefoodhub.org

Cambridge Cookery School and Cafe http://www.cambridgecookery.com

Eco Living Festival Cambridge http://www.cambridgeecolivingfestival.uk

My thanks to Johanna, Alice and Tine for giving their time to make this podcast.

cropped-20180625_105259 — King’s College, Cambridge

Eco Living Festival Cambridge

Eco Living Festival Cambridge returns to Lion Yard Shopping Centre on 6 July with a pop up Eco Lifestyle Advice Centre where there’ll be talks, workshops and masterclasses aimed at helping us make simple, practical choices and changes to create a lower impact on the planet and to achieve a more environmentally friendly lifestyle.

Image credit: Eco Living Festival Cambridge

Festival Founder, Caroline-Shaheera Asante, spent her early childhood at her grandparents’ pineapple plantation in Guyana, growing up just naturally living a sustainable and zero waste lifestyle. Post university in Canada, Caroline built a TV and radio career at the BBC but a trip to the Caribbean for a family reunion in 2014 was to change her path.

Image credit: Shane Asante-O’Neill

Stunned by the evidence of climate change in action, by the coastal erosion, the destruction of mangrove forests and the amount of plastic debris on the beaches, Caroline returned home and took an MSc in Sustainability and Environmental Science at Anglia Ruskin University here in Cambridge. Caroline started to work on the idea of creating an Eco Living Festival so when David Attenborough’s Blue Planet 2 natural history series, screened in 2017, brought the conversation about plastic pollution to the fore and spurred a zero waste movement around the world, she went ahead with the first Festival in September last year. The success of this inaugural event has led to Lion Yard Shopping Centre once again providing retail space for the pop up and to the involvement of new supporters, including Anglian Water.

This year’s Eco Living Festival theme is “How to Achieve a Low-Impact or Zero Waste Lifestyle @Home – Bathroom and Kitchen Eco-Hack.” Eco beauty workshops include making your own fresh cleansers and kids’ bath bombs with Lush and there’ll be talks on simple product swaps you can make to prevent environmental pollution. See how crisp packets, sweet wrappers and garden compost bags can be turned into Eco Bricks and learn vintage zero waste kitchen skills as you make food wrap, cleaning products and other household essentials the way our grandparents used to. All the events are free, some are drop-in and some need pre-registration.

Wave of Waste Dress - Linda Eco Design — Wave of Waste Dress Image credit: Linda Eco Design

In what promises to be a very eye catching display on the upper atrium of Lion Yard Shopping Centre, eco fashion designer Linda Thomas will create the Ocean Waste Dresses Installation featuring four dresses made from waste found in the sea and along the shoreline, including surf bodyboards and old “ghost” fishing nets.

To read more about Eco Living Festival Cambridge and to make bookings, take a look at the website.

http://www.cambridgeecolivingfestival.uk