What has 2026 brought?
Hello …
Firstly can we wish you a rather belated Happy New Year - we hope that it has all started well for you. As 2025 came to a close we were asked by Iain Luxford, the creator and editor of Crowborough News, to summarise our hopes for 2026, and here is what we said:
Green Transition Crowborough has now entered its fifth year of operating and has grown beyond our original expectations. However, of course we would love to increase our presence in Crowborough in 2026. As a Transition Town, we are part of a world wide movement that recognises that we are at our most powerful when we bring communities together to help, in small ways, to tackle the Climate crisis.
Crowborough has seen good progress with businesses and homes increasingly replacing carbon-based energy systems with solar panels, heat pumps and electric vehicles. We would hope to see this progress continue, in the coming year, with more of our local businesses, schools and homes making the change.
Artytime Scrapstore’s biggest hope is that their new extension will be under construction. This will mean that they will be able to save more items from landfill whilst inspiring all ages to get involved in arts and crafts. This will also mean that the Crowborough youth club run by ESCC youth services will be able to be restarted.
Our Wildlife team’s wish for 2026 is to see nature recovery gain real traction throughout the town, with landowners with sites included within the East Sussex Local Nature Recovery Strategy making genuine efforts to employ land management changes that are sympathetic to wildlife and the priority habitats identified.
Meanwhile our Community Orchard leaders would like our national and local leaders to start taking the climate emergency seriously and to start legislating to mitigate the disastrous changes that are coming down the track. And, of course, they hope for another good harvest at Crowborough Community Orchard.
We also look forward to seeing the Community Hub becoming a reality, providing a new permanent home for our Community Pantry.
These are just a few of our aspirations for 2026, but perhaps it gives you a taste of our hopes for the future. Would you like to join us in delivering them? We always welcome new ideas and new people to help deliver them.
The Farmers Market on December the 13th of December was another great success, made even more so, by it expanding along Croft Road. We should like to thank Laura Verbeek for her fantastic efforts in making the Farmers Market the success it is. The next market will be on Saturday 24th January, so please make sure you pop along.
Finally, there are still areas that we do not, nor cannot cover, due to lack of help. We’d like to do more on initiating recycling schemes and we would like more people to get involved with our Energy and Transport team. We would love to find someone who would look after our Food & Garden initiatives.
Are you passionate about sustainability, do you care about the world that our children and grandchildren will inherit? Can you see possibilities to be more sustainable?
Please give some thought as to how you might like to get involved, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Susanna Way initially to register an interest.
Wassail at the community orchard
We had a fabulous wassail at the Community Orchard on 17 January, twelfth night by the old calendar. We were supported by Spirimawgus Morris - a local mixed Border Morris side based at Coleman’s Hatch. Spirimawgus danced and sang, and led a procession through the orchard to
the “major tree”.
We dipped toast in cider and hung this on the tree. Cider was sloshed on its root and we all made rough music – this is a huge racket when we banged drums, rang bells, blew whistles and shouted, to drive off evil spirits.
This was followed by cider and apple cake by the fire.
“Wassail, wassail, all over the town
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown,
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree,
With a wassailing bowl, we’ll drink unto thee.”
Crowborough Repair Cafe
Our next meeting is on Saturday 7th February 2026, at Ashdown Junior School in Herne Road from 10am until 12.30pm.
We mend textiles, electrical, mechanical, jewellery, woodwork, tool sharpening etc. We regret we cannot accept Microwaves.
Please make sure you are following us on Facebook.
The group co-ordinator is Susanna Way.
Business Group
At the last meeting of the GTC Business Group on 27th November, at the Basepoint Business Centre, there was a presentation and discussion on how businesses can best take a systematic approach to becoming more sustainable.
We are very grateful to Helen Hunnisett from Cripps who led the discussion on the experience of her firm becoming a B Corps and to Gary Britton, from the Arracan Group, who gave us insights resulting from assisting a number of firms to prepare for ISO 14001 certification.There are now over 2700 B Corps in the UK.
The meeting also considered how best to work with Amplifi, the business sustainability group in Tunbridge Wells. Summaries of the meeting are available on request.
For more information contact us at Green Transition Crowborough info@greentransitioncrowborough.org.uk
The project will cost £300,000 to extend the Scrapstore into a fully accessible, inclusive Art and Youth Centre — a safe, creative space open to all ages and abilities.
We have planning permission and secured a 25 year lease from the district council, assuming we raise the funds to build the extension.
The Scrapstore team attended a recent Council Meeting in support of their application for funding. The Council have not said NO, but we would ask all of you who are reading this update to send an email to our Town Clerk, to show your support for this project and ask the Council to support it too. The email address for our Town Clerk is clerk@crowboroughtowncouncil.gov.uk.
We really need the Town Council to grant us at least £40k. With this it will then mean we have enough funding, to enable us to apply for funds from the Wealden District Council Fund, known as the Community Led Infra -Structure Fund (CLIF). So your email could make a real difference. Thank you!!
Here’s a reminder of why we are doing this:
Artytime Scrapstore
Who is this for?
This extension will serve everyone in our community, including:
Children and Young People – after-school clubs, weekend workshops, holiday clubs and youth mentoring and mental wellbeing sessions
Adults & Artists – creative studios, exhibitions, sustainable living workshops, and volunteering opportunities
People with Additional Needs – fully inclusive programs designed for all abilities, with accessible design at the core
Families and Carers – collaborative sessions to bond, learn and grow through art and creativity. Ideal for Family Hub's and Dementia groups.
Why This Matters
Cuts to arts funding, youth services, and social spaces mean that our community is losing safe, inspiring places to gather. Artytime is already a trusted part of Crowborough life — and we know we can offer more.
With your help, we will:
Create a new indoor workshop space for year-round use
Host inclusive art sessions, wellbeing activities and intergenerational events
Run youth programs focused on creativity, resilience, and community belonging
Divert more materials from landfill and promote sustainable making
Provide new volunteering and skill-building opportunities for people of all backgrounds and ages
This will not just be a building — it will be a beacon of creativity, connection, and care for our whole community.
The Community Pantry Update
The Pantry continues to go from strength to strength with more volunteers offering their services and an increased number of new visitors every week.
The word is definitely spreading allowing us to address both our aims of saving food waste and feeding our community. At present we are in the process of becoming a CIC (Community Interest Company) so we can continue to benefit the community.
We continue to work with other groups when necessary which builds a stronger community.
The proposed move to the station Hub has been delayed and it looks like we won’t be in until the Spring but we won’t stop serving customers and have contingency plans so there is no break in our services.
Crowborough Wildlife Group
Most of the 83 sites Crowborough Wildlife Group proposed to ESCC for inclusion in the East Sussex Local Nature Recovery Strategy have been included in the draft Strategy, which has been consulted on and will be implemented shortly.
Having sites designated is just the start and the important work now begins to engage with landowners to encourage them to manage sites in ways that enhance biodiversity value and responds to the priorities and actions set out in the Strategy. This is the focus now for GTCs Wildlife Group and a good example is Tollwood Road Wood. This is a relatively large area of broadleaved woodland - 3.6 acres - that was protected for wildlife and public access by Wealden, as part of the Coppice End development. We have been liaising with the landowners, Elivia Homes, who are happy for us to undertake voluntary conservation work in the wood.
Our first session was on 18 January (see photo) where we made a great start clearing invasive Cherry Laurel from an area of probably ancient woodland. A carpet of young bluebell leaves was revealed across much of the area as we cleared the laurel back, promising a beautiful display in the spring. If you are interested in practical conservation work please email crowwildgroup@gmail.com to be added to the mailing list.
Please follow all of the Groups on their various Website or Facebook pages:
Green Transition Crowborough on Facebook
Crowborough Repair Cafe on Facebook
Crowborough Community Pantry on Facebook
Sustainable Living in Crowborough (SLIC) on Facebook
Artytime Scrapstore on Facebook
Crowborough Community Hub on Facebook
Crowborough Farmers Market on Facebook
By following these Groups on Facebook you’ll be able to keep up to date with everything that’s happening.