ECO FEST

EcoFest 2024 - Saturday 8th June

Over 1500 visitors flocked to EcoFest in Accrington town centre on Saturday 8th June 2024.  The event, organised by the PROSPECTS Foundation, celebrates all things green and environmentally friendly.  The new Mayor of Hyndburn, Councillor Mike Booth, officially opened the event.  There were live performances throughout the day including Haslingden brass band, the Lancashire Wallopers clog dancers, Indian dhol drummers, stilt walkers, guitarists and singers.

Stallholders lined Broadway with information for the public on environmental initiatives and activities.  Exhibitors included the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Ribble Rivers Trust, Woody (Hyndburn) CIC, Community Rail, PROSPECTS Community Energy (Coach Road Solar Meadow), Cambodia Crafts, Be-Nu Massage with Missions, Accrington and Rossendale College, Hyndburn Council and Cosy Homes in Lancashire.  There was also a clothes swap stall, household product eco refill stall and heritage craft demonstrations.

Children enjoyed a host of free recycled arts and crafts activities, face painting and henna art.  Visitors could make a bird box and take home free sunflower plants and goody bags filled with eco-friendly gifts and information on how people can reduce their impact on the climate and the environment.

This year’s EcoFest was also a celebration of the PROSPECTS Foundation’s 25-year anniversary of environmental action in Hyndburn!

Thank you to our EcoFest 2024 sponsors: Hyndburn Borough Council, the Windfall Fund, the UK Government Levelling Up Fund and PPL PRS.

EcoFest 2023 - Saturday 17th June

We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to EcoFest 2023!  This year's celebration of all things green and environmentally friendly was bigger and better, with more stalls, family-friendly entertainment and involvement from local schools.

Thank you to all the stall holders at the festival, including Ribble Rivers Trust, Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Lancashire Badger Group, Woody (Hyndburn) CIC, GoVelo, Hyndburn Borough Council, Community Rail, Lancashire Volunteer Partnership, East Lancs Beekeepers, Share Energy, Cambodia Crafts, the Food Pantry, Active Lancashire, Move 2 Change, Civic Arts Centre, Yorkshire Circus, Chatting Chimers CIC, Open Source Arts, Babbling Vagabonds, Create Yourself, Danielle Kay Medical Herbalist, Ian Smith Marquetry, Owen Jones Oak Swills, Little Vegan, Mrs Dowson's and TurtleBee.

Attendees from Hyndburn and beyond were treated to a day packed with entertainment from the Blackburn Festival of Light Band, Liam Paul acoustic guitar covers, the St. Christopher's School Trash-ion show, Desi Nach bollywood dancers, Haslingden Brass Band and the St. Christopher's School puppet show.

There was also a family-friendly performance at the Oswaldtwistle Civic Arts stall, stilt walkers, face-painting, henna, bird-house making, a bug-hotel workshop at the PROSPECTS stand and much more! Visitors also received free goody bags filled with lots of exciting content and freebies such as trolley tokens, hand woven bracelets and wildflower seed packets.

There were also sweets and eco-friendly goods for sale from TurtleBee, raffle prizes from Cosy Homes in Lancashire, and a visit from Hyndburn's new Mayor and Mayoress.

The participation from local schools this year was phenomenal!  St. Christopher's School took to the main stage with their Trash-ion show, modelling pieces of clothing made from rubbish and donated goods. Some of the highlights included a dress made from Holland's pie wrappers and another made from COVID-19 face masks. The art department also showcased their fantastic puppet show, which told a story about defeating a greedy oil king!

There was also an eco-themed scavenger hunt trail, featuring A-boards that have been beautifully decorated by schools and community groups. These were judged by an independent panel of judges, with the top 3 schools receiving a cash prize.  All the schools did an excellent job, with the top 3 prizes going to Intack Primary School, Baxenden St. John's CE Primary School and St. Andrew's CE Primary School.

For those who missed out, we still have our organic cotton and fairtrade tote bags and postcards for sale.  These bags and postcards have been beautifully decorated with Hyndburn wildflowers, chosen by the PROSPECTS team and illustrated by the amazing Rebecca Chesney from The Super Slow Way.   The tote bags are £10 and the postcards are £5 for the full set (8 cards).  Pop into the PROSPECTS Foundation office at 54 Broadway, Accrington to purchase them.  All proceeds go towards funding our environmental work in Hyndburn!

To ensure that we can run the event again in future, we need your feedback to relay to our funders that the festival was a success. We would be grateful if you could complete this short survey. Alternatively, you can pop into our office on Broadway to fill out the form.  There is a section at the end of the form to give us any recommendations/comments that you would like to make.

We hope you enjoyed EcoFest 2023! We look forward to hearing your feedback.

And finally, a huge thanks to our EcoFest 2023 sponsors: Hyndburn Borough Council, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Onward Homes, The Ernest Cook Trust, The Windfall Fund, Nineveh Trust, and the Green Recovery Challenge Fund.

With a big thanks to the Eco Fest 2022 funders: The Ernest Cook Trust, EnergieKontor Windfall Fund, Hyndburn Borough Council and Onward Homes.