Engaging People Safely
In addition to the 40 members of the Green Team, who are drawn from across our community, we have engaged with local schools, charities and businesses. We were also fortunate to have 30 temporary volunteers from two schools and a government agency lend a hand for a day. We are also grateful to local primary school children, who grew plants from seed.
In November 2023 and again in May 2025, presentations were made to the Chamber of Commerce. These were well-received and led to further engagement with members of the local business community. Several cafes are involved in our weekly coffee grounds collection and distribution to allotments. Neighbouring businesses, residents and the museum have taken on responsibility for watering beds and troughs. We hope that others will emulate their example as more troughs are planted this year. Our public events attracted over 200 people, most of whom have become active participants in our wildlife initiatives. We have also established a partnership with the Aldingbourne Trust and with Brent Lodge Wildlife Trust.
Through our WhatsApp group, we keep members of the Green Team updated about developments. We share updates with the wider community through our Facebook page and the monthly Arundel Update. We also present annually at Arundel Town Council and at Town Hall meetings. We have had several articles published in the Sussex Express and The Bell. In addition, articles about our work have appeared in the South Downs and RHS newsletters. In this way, we are working to keep the community informed and engaged.
The Green Team
The people that bring the ideas to life. This growing team of wonderful volunteers is what makes the projects happen and continue to thrive. With over 40 active volunteers and 25 projects underway or in the pipeline there is always plenty of rewarding work to do.
“It’s been a fabulous community project, connecting all ages of Arundellers in art and nature.” Mary Peach
Sunflower Festival
All Year Round at Arundel Station
The festival initially focussed on Arundel’s two schools – St. Philip’s Catholic Primary School and Arundel Church of England Primary School. With the support of the Green Team along with parents and teachers, hundreds of pupils engaged in a range of sunflower-related activities including planting seeds (5kg of seeds donated by Arun District Council, RHS donating the soil to plant them) to take home and nurture; making labels for the plant pots; painting a sunflower mural; learning about Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflowers and making clay sunflower petals and leaves. The next step involved the Green Team and other volunteers working with ceramic artist, Ali Pacey, to paint and prepare the petals, leaves and sunflower centres for their later transformation.
One by one, the mosaics emerged, created by volunteers and sponsored by local businesses. They were installed to the delight of passers-by until, by the end of November, all were in place ready for the official opening of the Sunflower Parade.
“The Sunflower Parade is such a fabulous addition to the station, and its collaborative nature perfectly represents the essence of what we are trying to achieve,” Katrina Murray
Wild about Gardening
A project to encourage local people to change the way they garden. An event was held in May 2024, in which 59 people attended. There were 4 speakers who gave insightful and interesting talks in relation to this topic.
This spawned a plan within the town – transforming a very well-manicured garden into a more wild and animal-friendly space….With advice and design input from a member of Green Team, Andy and Janet Batty have created a beautiful urban space that works equally well for people and wildlife. Locals were invited to visit during GBGW to be inspired as to just what can be achieved in their own backyard.
Community Weeding
Progress towards lessening the use of pesticides and chemicals in the town and local area are very much underway, with the community street weeding pilot project! This was to ask local residents to be responsible for a particular set of streets, in regards to weeding them, initial discussions with WSCC began to make sure this could happen and what it would aim to do. The aims are to demonstrate that health and safety hazards could be avoided, whilst also allowing space for nature grow, yet also to be aesthetically pleasing for the community. Therefore not needing use of chemical pesticides to control 'overgrowing' weeds from WSCC. A training session was given to people taking part in the pilot, in order to safely allow residents to get involved. This pilot is on-going and will come to an end in October this year, with a review to determine a long term plan.
There is also communications with all three local allotments to encourage and educate allotment holders of the alternatives available to using chemicals on their plots. This has been well received from the growers and we hope will be a long term change to adjust the local growing habits.
St Phillips School Allotment
A small group of Green Team members has been working on a weekly basis with pupils from St. Philip’s Catholic Primary School. After clearing the school’s allotment, they helped the children grow vegetables and flowers from seed. Thanks to the Weald to Waves BioBox, an ink tunnel was installed to capture wildlife tracks and the children then used ID charts to identify the animal tracks. A refuge for reptiles was installed and a slow worm identified.
Nature in Art
As an historic town located in the South Downs, Arundel is well-known for the beauty of its location and for its vibrant artistic community. We have decided to broaden our scope, by highlighting how local artists feature nature in their work and showcasing that art in natural settings.
The nature-based installations should educate, inspire and engage those who visit Arundel as well as those who live and work here.
In 2024, the loan of an Arun Valley landscape painting by Frances Knight enabled us to feature the South Downs in the Waiting Room at the station. Frances’ painting was replaced in June 2025 by an Arundel Railway painting by Sarah Semplay, which will also be on loan for a year. It is accompanied by a Nature in Art display from the South Downs National Park. A Poetry Trail is being planned.
Local chainsaw artist, Simon Groves was commissioned to design and sculpt a bench for the train station that would sit in nature and represent the South Downs, the Arundel Wetland Centre and Arundel Castle, as well as Mullets swimming in the River Arun. The bench was funded by donations from Arun District Council, Network Rail, Arundel Town Council, Lyminster and Crossbush Parish Council, the Norfolk Estate and the Roseland Group.
He was later commissioned to design and sculpt a sheltered bench for the station that would celebrate the 200 th anniversary of passenger rail travel. That bench – funded by GTR – depicts a steam train travelling through the South Downs and includes the Railway 200 logo. The bench was dedicated by the Duke of Norfolk during the Green Welcome to Arundel event on 13 June 2025.
