Arundel is not just a town. Arundel is our river, our fields, our woodlands, our hedgerows, our wildlife, our birds, our pockets of wild overgrown greenery, our muddy puddles, our bugs and beetles.
The list can go on, it’s so much more than what meets our eye. There is brilliant stuff happening on your doorstep every day to help nurture the natural environment around you and it’s time to get involved.
The Great Big Green Week was about us coming together, learning and encouraging everyone to do their bit in helping nature cope with and hopefully recover from the effects of climate change. In June there was an array of wonderful events for everyone. From a River Guardian Workshop and Community Picnic to Earth Listening and a Dawn Chorus Walk. Lots of opportunities to enjoy and immerse yourself in an activity that celebrates nature, while also teaching and encouraging us to change for the better, for Arundel and for the planet.
Green Week Gallery
A quick glimpse into what our first Great Big Green Week looked like!
Events: what happened and where, for Arundel's first Great Big Green Week.
Below you will find details on all the events held in Arundel during the Green Week. If you would like any more information on how to continue to do your part or more specifically about a subject/ person that held an event, then get in touch and we will be happy to help.
Great Big Green Get-Together
Herington's Field & The Community Orchard
A community day and plastic-free picnic to launch the first ever ‘Great Big Green Week‘ in Arundel
"This community event and plastic-free picnic organised by Arundel Town Council was held on Sunday 8 June as part of The Great Big Green Week. Attendees enjoyed the green
space of Herington's Field and the Community Orchard by relaxing in the sunshine with a book, picnicking, playing games, checking out community stallholders and finding about all things green and sustainable through the brilliant work of Greening Arundel - a passionate alliance of individuals and organisations dedicated to driving environmental change in Arundel. Other activities included wellbeing workshops, community weaving, children's games and craft, a talk on hedgehogs, 'pond' dipping with the Western Sussex Rivers Trust, low food waste and economical cooking tips, a storytelling corner and free face painting. Community stallholders were encouraged to promote their organisation's sustainable values. The Mayor's charity for 2025/2026, My Sisters' House Women's Centre, also attended to showcase how their vital work provides support, resources, and services specifically tailored to the needs of women. Arundel Town Council is an official group of the Wombles Community Charity - an organisation devoted to inspiring and empowering everyone, from every generation, to act like Wombles and do their bit to improve the quality of their local environment. As well as special guest Madame Cholet, who delighted adults and children alike, it was lovely to welcome Mary Corfield, the national organiser of The Climate Coalition's Great Big Green Week, to Arundel to find out more about all events during the week.'
Written by Tracy Clayton, event organiser, photos by Nigel Cull.
SUNDAY 8TH
Herb Walk & Wild Crafting
The Community Orchard
(in association with Great Big Green Get-Together)
From Earth to Art: Communicating and Crafting with our Native Wild Plants.
A herb walk through the orchard and surrounding meadows, exploring the healing properties of the wild plants growing all around us.
Participants learnt how to safely identify seasonal flowers and herbs, discover their medicinal and nutritional uses, and take home a collection of simple, nourishing recipe ideas.
The session culminated in a relaxed, creative activity: pressing flowers and painting with plants, allowing nature's colours and textures to guide your own piece of living artwork that they could take home.
Instagram: @veritymegan
SUNDAY 8TH
Earth Listening - Meditation
The Community Orchard
(in association with Great Big Green Get-Together)
Earth Listening invites you to reweave your relationship with nature, awakening the senses and softening the body to the peaceful presence of plants, trees and bird song.
Moving at an unhurried pace, we created space to listen, reflect, and reconnect with the parts of ourselves so often lost in the momentum of modern life. With meditative practices that invite curiosity, we return to a slower rhythm—leaving with a feeling of rootedness and a renewed sense of belonging.
Guided to meander through the orchard and find a sit spot where we bathed in the essence of trees, allowing their presence to open a quiet, meditative space where nature and our true nature intertwine.
Verity practices locally and offers a wide range of experiences that offer a connection to nature and our own inner landscapes. Go to her website to find out more.
SUNDAY 8TH
Sustainable Community Weaving
Herington's Field
(in association with Great Big Green Get-Together)
Using recycled materials to create a Community Weaving installation.
A drop-in event as part of Get Together, to create something beautiful out of discarded items. All were invited to take a moment to weave some rubbish into the community loom. Discarded bits of plastic, fabric and much more, found it's way to becoming a part of this interactive artwork during the picnic. Everyone was involved and could do as much or as little weaving as they like.
You can see the finished piece up at The Arundel Town Hall.
Thinking about your recycling / waste and those hard-to-recycle items? Arundel has is own Terra Cycle and Green Hub.
You can take down rubbish that can't be recycled in our usual bins.
What is this Terra Cycle? 'We specialise in recycling typically ‘hard-to-recycle’ rubbish not processed by local councils, such as flexible coffee packaging or dental care products that would otherwise be destined for landfills or incineration. We transform them into new products such as park benches, playground equipment or outdoor furniture.' Terracycle Website 2025
Every 3rd Saturday of the Month, 10am - 12:30pm at The Norfolk Centre, Mill Road, Arundel.
SUNDAY 8TH
Dawn Chorus Walk
Arundel Wetland Centre
People experienced the delights of the morning bird song chorus on a guided walk around the reserve at sunrise.
Led by Suzi and Hannah, they learnt how to identify birds from their unique songs, including wetland specialists such as reed warblers and Cetti’s warblers, to dawn chorus superstars such as song thrushes, blackcaps and goldcrests.
The chorus is best early in the morning as birds seek to attract potential mates and defend their territories whilst the light levels are low, before spending the day feeding. With the arrival of migratory birds joining our resident songbirds in the spring, the dawn chorus reaches its crescendo at this time of year – making it one of nature’s greatest spectacles!
Arundel's B-BOB Project!
Listening and learning from our birds is vital to keeping our wetlands and other surrounding habitats alive. The B-BOB (Bring Back Our Birds) project is an on-going Arundel intiative to actively help reverse the delcining bird populations. Specifically House Martins, Swifts and Swallows. Check out the project and how to get invovled on our 'Protecting The Environment' page.
Photos by Annabel Cary
MONDAY 9TH
Sip and Swap Coffee Morning
The Spa Club
This local salon hosted a coffee morning for clients, friends and family to share their growing stories altogether.
Encouraging the team, friends, kids and clients to grow their own fruit, veg and herbs. They set up a stall outside their salon and gave away hampers of homegrown veggies to spark conversation about the benefits of growing your own and why we need to support our local green week.
They will also be installing a bug house at our allotment to encourage bees and insect. They will also be planting 'Help Yourself Herbs' outside the salon, for everyone to take home and use.
MONDAY 9TH
Balancing Your Garden
Arundel Museum
How to garden with nature in mind...
Dr. Millam is the Study Programme Leader for RHS courses at Brinsbury College. He explained the concept of a balanced garden and why it is so important. Highlighting simple ways in which to achieve a better balance, as well as how to avoid practices that inadvertently upset the natural balance. Providing advice on restoring and maintaining natural balances in a variety of ways without using chemical pesticides.
An informal Q&A followed his talk, with Claude Paradis, Greening Arundel member.
The Community Weeding Project...
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.
TUESDAY 10TH
Song Of The Land
Church of St Mary Magdalene, Tortington
An immersive evening inspired by the late Irish priest, poet and philosopher John O'Donohue, exploring how music moves the inner landscape.
Through the resonant spheres of cello, violin, singing bowls, voice, flute and drum, we'll invite the living biosphere of the South to sing through us.
This unique sound experience becomes a conversation—with the flow of Arun, the twisted forms of ancient yews, the pebbled shoreline, and the wide embrace of the Downs—lulled over the inviting vale of Chalky hills.
“What amazes me about landscape is that it recalls you into a mindful mode of stillness, solitude, and silence, where you can truly receive time." ~ John O'Donohue
The world around us constantly shapes our inner landscape. Allowing ourselves to be moved—by music, nature or story—awakens something forgotten. It stirs memory, belonging, and the quiet sense of coming home.
An evening journeying with creatives David Edward, Garwyn Linnell, and Verity Megan, musicians, artists, and holistic practitioners, sharing the music of the land through deep listening, intuitive sound, and soulful connection.
This offering was supported by St Mary Magdalene Church and Greening Arundel and interwoven with Alistair Appleton and Alice Eldridge’s Bird Bath—a contemplative invitation into the rhythms and songs of the natural world.
TUESDAY 10TH
Moth Morning
Arundel Wetland Centre
Alongside the Reserve Team participants unpacked the moth traps for close up encounters with a myriad of moth species on the monthly survey. Aiding to help identfiy the catch and input the data.
WEDNESDAY 11TH
Four Unavoidable Truths
Arundel Town Hall
A talk / discussion on how to prepare for the coming storm as the polycrisis looms bigger.
Tony Whitbread, President of Sussex Wildlife Trust was joined by academic and writer, Paul Hannam for a lively, challenging and visionary discussion.
60 people came along to hear and discuss the conclusions of two longstanding experts who say not only are we in a poly crisis - economic, social and environmental- but that change is inevitable and the future is local. In the absence of effective governments at all levels, how do we as an active community take more responsibility for finding our own coping mechanisms and contingencies? A big conversation with little time, to be continued locally, we hope.
WEDNESDAY 11TH
Urban Wildlife Garden Visit
Carleton House, 15 Maltravers Street
Demonstration of how to integrate support for wildlife into garden design and management.
An open garden in the centre of Arundel that has been designed for modern outdoor living but also carefully planned to encourage wildlife. It features a modern patio with outdoor eating but also extensive additions to encourage wildlife including a pond, bug hotels, composting and other ideas designed to help our pollinators and urban wildlife.
Guided by the owner and project designer, this was an informal presentation of what can be done in our own backyard.
THURSDAY 12TH
A Greener Wardrobe
The Swan Hotel
How to have a greener wardrobe with Willow and Eve.
A workshop / talk followed by a shopping event with Arundel's own preloved clothing store, Willow and Eve.
"It take over 10,000 litres of water to make one pair of jeans."
"In the UK the estimated amount of clothing thrown in landfill every year is over 300,000 tonnes."
Encouraging and educating people on why to buy preloved clothing. The team at Willow and Eve put the planet first when it comes to fashion. Promoting slow fashion and changing our buying habits to think preloved first, this is about enjoying clothes but in a way that doesn't cost the earth.
Their Arundel Store is located at: 1, The Old Mill, River Rd, Arundel BN18 9JR
Open Wed - Sat, 10am - 4pm
THURSDAY 12TH
Understanding and harnessing the regenerative agriculture movement
Juniper Café
What is regenerative agriculture and can it help build a better food system?
A talk from Paul Martin, Pasture For Life Certified Butcher and owner of Garlic Wood Farm Butchery.
The term ‘regenerative agriculture’ is everywhere but what does it mean? Is it simply ‘green-wash’, or can it be a genuine and positive movement towards building an ethical food system? How can engaging with this movement allow us to use our collective retail power to support nature recovery and help build a robust, viable, and ethical local food network?
This talk opened up an informal discussions surrounding this topic and our personal responsibility as consumers.
THURSDAY 12TH
Art and Agriculture: Productive Land
South Stoke Barn
Zimmer Stewart Gallery presented Productive Land, a contemporary landscape painting exhibition from 12 to 16 June 2025 at South Stoke Barn, South Stoke, near Arundel, BN18 9PF
A Talk on Art and Agriculture: Productive Land led by Ryan Haydon with James Stewart and Nick Bodimeade, in support of The Sussex Snowdrop Trust.
The term 'Productive Land' refers to an area that can support agriculture. Traditionally this means that it is capable of growing crops or supporting livestock. These days agricultural activities are much broader. Food production is still the fundamental purpose of agriculture, a point raised by Ryan Haydon in his opening statement on the 2024 panel discussion.
Artists contributing to the exhbition:
Emily Ball, Matt Bodimeade, Nick Bodimeade, Pippa Blake, Tom Farthing, John Harmer, Emma Hurst, Frances Knight, Andrew Milne, Karin Moorhouse, Paul Newland, Lucinda Oestreicher, Piers Ottey, Deborah Petch, Andrew Roberts, Tiffany Robinson, Melanie Rose, Tania Rutland, Kate Sherman, Catharine Somerville, Phil Tyler, Andy Waite
THURSDAY 12TH
CineVic presents:
Six Inches Of Soil
The Victoria Institute
Despite all our accomplishments, we owe our existence to a six-inch layer of topsoil and the fact it rains.
A film screening followed by a Q&A.
The inspiring story of British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, benefit our health and provide for local communities.
FRIDAY 13TH
Bird Bath Soundscape & Nature Tour
St Nicholas Church
Created by meditator and broadcaster Alistair Appleton (Mindsprings) and musician and ecoacoustician Alice Eldridge (University of Sussex), Bird Bath fills beautiful spaces with local bird song and invites anyone and everyone to pause, rest and bathe in the magic of nature’s song.
To create the soundscape, Alice spent time during spring recording local bird song from dawn to dusk across a range of different habitats within The Living Coast UNESCO Biosphere and surrounding area.
About the artists:
Alistair Appleton is a meditator, therapist and broadcaster. Trained mainly in the Buddhist tradition, has studied in the Thai Forest tradition at Chithurst Monastery in, draws inspiration from the shamanic practices of the Amazonian Indians in Brazil and is currently studying with the contemporary Vajrayana teacher, Mingyur Rinpoche. Since 2004, Alistair has led numerous courses on mindfulness, compassion training, self-soothing and the creation of joy and practices as a psychotherapist in Brighton, UK.
Alice Eldridge is a musician and researcher with an interest in how sound organises systems. Her research integrates ideas and methods from music, computing and ecology to advance theory and methods in the emerging science of ecoacoustics, as well as to create experiential soundscapes and ecosystemic music. She is currently a Professor of Sonic Systems at the University of Sussex where she is joint director of the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab, co-director of the Experimental Music Technology Lab and a fellow of the Sussex Sustainability Research. Alice is interested in how different ways of listening can help support nature recovery and regenerate socio-ecological systems for planetary health.
SATURDAY 14TH
ARC Saturdays: Great Big Green Week Edition
Started at Tarrant St Espresso
Bring something green, bring a smile and come and run 5k with ARC!
Arundel Run Club (ARC) is a local run club encouraging community engagement, and a social hub for people to exercise and socialise.
For the Great Big Green Week, they dressed in green and went on a social 5k run, along the River Arun and through Arundel Park with coffee to finish.
Encouraging people to enjoy their local environment through free and commuinity driven exercise.
SATURDAY 14TH
Your River Arun Needs You!
Arundel Museum
What it takes to be a River Guardian...
Learning from experts about the issues affecting the River Arun and how we can all help address them locally. Working together to make a positive impact on our community and our beautiful river. A great opportunity to give back and connect with like-minded individuals.
Keir Smith from the Western Sussex Rivers Trust explained why the River Arun is struggling and how it needs urgent protection. Calling upon concerned individuals to volunteer as River Guardians to help restore this vital habitat. Joined by our South Downs Ranger, Sophie Brown and local vet, Lisa Daniels.
Instagram: @westernsussexrivers
SATURDAY 14TH
Sunset Yoga
The Community Orchard
Celebrating the height of Summer with a special evening of movement, breath, and connection under the open sky.
A unique evening practice in tranquil natural surroundings, moving in harmony with the setting sun and rising moon.
A slow, somatic flow designed to ground you in the moment and unwind from the day—set against a backdrop of golden light and fresh evening air. This practice invites you to attune to Nature’s rhythms, blending mindful movement with spacious stillness as the day's warmth softens into night.
SATURDAY 14TH
Open Allotment Day
Fitzalan Road Allotments
Curious about what Arundel’s Allotments are about? This is your chance to see what they are all about...
Allotments can be for everyone. This was a chance to visit two of Arundel’s Allotment sites and see a variety of different methodologies used by different growers.
To learn about growing without chemicals, how we can augment bio-diversity in our gardens and what you can get growing right here on your doorstep. Exchanging on how these spaces can be used for the community at large by creating spaces to learn, teach and share.
For the green fingered grower to the vegetable loving novice, this was an opportunity for everyone to experience these productive and beautiful spaces.
Greening Arundel's Allotment & Arundel's Plan for a Community Allotment!
We have an established team allotment in order to grow our own plants, to continue to propagate and develop so that we lessen to need to find funds for purchasing new plants for new projects. Maintained and managed by The Green Team it is a lovely, productive space that has created a lot for Arundel's green spaces.
Coming soon... A new plan is being set up to explore the idea of having a community allotment so people can grow nd learn together. Plans are being developed with the aim to develop over the next coming year. Watch this space!
SUNDAY 15TH
Cosmetics and Skincare Swap and Save
Organic Cosmetics Company
A swap and save promotion from Organic Cosmetics Co.
To bring along any non-organic item of skincare, bodycare or makeup that you use and they will offer a 25% discount for any like for like item from their store that is organic and sustainable. They can also offer advise on why it is important to choose organic.
Instagram: organic_cosmetics_co
Find their store at: 31 Tarrant Street, Arundel, BN18 9DG
7TH - 15TH
2025 Main Sponsor
A huge thank you to The Swan Hotel, the Green Week's main sponsor and for their continued support of Greening Arundel.