Six weeks of inspiration!

Sorry we've been quiet lately - it's not that nothing's happening, it's that too much is happening! Here are a few highlights from recent weeks, when we've been getting inspiration from other places, as well as giving it to others here at Morden Hall Park.

Zoë C and Caroline braved the snow to meet the Livinggreen Project partners in Paris, managing a quick visit to another beautiful renovated building (almost as beautiful as our stable yard) whilst there - the Musee d'Orsay in an old railway station: Musee d'Orsay, Paris (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Caroline then went off on holiday to Costa Rica and amused fellow travellers by taking photos of all the recycling bins - they have some very fine specimens there, like this one which doubles up as a bus stop: Recycling bins in Costa Rica (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Zoë A meanwhile was getting her own inspiration having been invited to try out the new "Warner Brothers Studio Tour - the Making of Harry Potter":

Back in the real world of Morden we marked Climate Week (12-16 March) by hosting a focus group run by Sustainable Merton and the London Sustainability Exchange as part of their "Energise Merton" project - a group of local residents were taken on an inspirational tour of the stable yard then asked their views on what would encourage them to make energy-saving changes to their homes:

Tom Walsh, Coordinator of Sustainable Merton, leading a tour of the stable yard (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Then last week we were off to our stand at Ecobuild, the world's biggest event for sustainable design, construction and the built environment - in the ExCeL Centre in the Docklands. We spoke to over 600 people during the 3-day event and people seemed excited to learn about the inspirational centre created by the National Trust here in Morden.


Vera from Delft University (one of our Livinggreen Project Partners) visits the National Trust stand (NTPL/Ting Plaskett)

We hope you'll come and visit the stable yard for some inspiration soon!

We are lucky to have a fantastic team of volunteers in our Livinggreen Centre and without them we wouldn't be able to keep the exhibition open every day or answer the many questions from our visitors. Recently, however, some of our volunteers have been inspired to recycle creatively and have introduced some new additions to our exhibition.
Julie took an unused pallet from Morden Hall Park and made this beautiful chair. As comfortable to sit on as it is lovely, it really does highlight how easy it can be to transform something unwanted into a lovely piece of furniture.
One of the most popular parts of our exhibition is the wood burning stove, and visitors love having the opportunity to sit by the fire in our recycled cable drum rocking chairs. Adding an extra cosiness to the chairs are some gorgeous knitted rugs, courtesy of our volunteer Eileen. If you're a knitter, you'll know that you end up with bits of leftover yarn and this is a fantastic way of making use of all that wool.

We challenge our readers to get creative with their recycling - we look forward to seeing what you can come up with!

Remember you're a Womble...

Our more grown up readers remember the Wombles, those furry, brown creatures who lived on Wimbledon Common and had a rather helpful recycling habit.

This weekend we were lucky enough to have a real Womble visit the Livinggreen Centre - something of a special occasion for us here at Morden Hall Park.

Eagle eyed readers will notice that this is no ordinary Womble, this is in fact Haydon the Womble, the mascot of AFC Wimbledon. Haydon made a special trip to the park to celebrate the launch of the new exhibition in our centre which showcases some of the fantastic community art work that AFCW do with local schools and other groups.

The new exhibition is called 'Flying the Flag for Haydon' and will be on display from Sunday 15th January until Friday 10th February. It features photos, drawings and some fantastic flags, like this one, which have been produced by local schools.

Photos (c) NTPL / Zoë Adams

Merry Christmas from Morden Hall Park!

It's nearly time for the Heart of the Park project team to turn off the computer, close the office door and go home for the holidays. But before we go, we wanted to wish all of our supporters, volunteers and followers a very green (and happy) Christmas and a very eco-friendly New Year.

The Livinggreen centre will be closed from Sunday 25th - Friday 30th December, open on Saturday 31st, closed on Sunday 1st January and then open again from normal on Monday 2nd January.

We'll see you again in January, when we'll be close to launching our new park app and mobile tour, developing some new exhibitions for our centre and getting ready for the installation of our hydroelectric turbine next summer. 2012 is looking like it might be nearly as busy as 2011!

Copella apple juice in the Livinggreen Orchard

Volunteers of all ages came out in the sunshine last Sunday, at the start of Tree Week, to plant fruit trees around the edge of the new Living Green Centre. The “Merton” varieties of apple, pear and cherry trees were funded by Copella, the fruit juice company, as part of their Plant & Protect campaign to increase the number of British fruit trees - http://www.copellafruitjuices.co.uk/.

We were delighted to have so many volunteers, particularly young children, come along to help plant the fruit trees. We hope that they’ll come back in years to come and see the apples, pears and cherries which they helped to grow.

The orchard will provide a beautiful welcome for visitors to the new Living Green Centre. It will comprise ten new fruit trees, nine of which are of the local heritage “Merton” variety (the park is in the London Borough of Merton in Greater London and many of the Merton varieties were developed by John Innes, a property developer and keen horticulturalist who created in Merton Park, a ‘garden suburb’ across the road from Morden Hall Park):

• Apple trees - one each of Malus domestica ‘Merton Prolific’, ‘Merton Worcester’, ‘Merton Russet’ and ‘Merton Charm’ apple trees, plus one 'Tyndeman’s Late Orange' apple tree.

• Pear trees – one each of Pyrus domestica ‘Merton Pride’ and ‘Merton Star’ pear trees

• Cherry trees – one each of Prunus avium ‘Merton Favourite’, ‘Merton Marvel’ and ‘Merton Glory’

Volunteers enjoy Copella apple juice at the end of their tree planting. NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst

Look out for apples, pears and cherries from the Orchard being used in the National Trust cafe in years to come!

Are you sitting comfortably?

The chairs we have used in the café at the Livinggreen Heart of the Park visitor centre are no ordinary chairs! Each Emeco 111 Navy chair is made from 111 recycled Coca-Cola bottles.

Emeco 111 Navy chairs in the café - made from recycled Coca-Cola bottles. NPTL/Jon Whitehead

The story of the Emeco 111 Navy Chair goes back to 2006, when Coca-Cola in the USA asked Emeco to collaborate to show the value of recycled plastic by remaking Emeco’s classic 1006 Navy Chair out of a new formulation of recycled plastic bottles. Working with scientists at BASF, the international chemical innovator, they developed a special mix composed of 65% recycled plastic bottles, colour pigment and glass fibre for strength. The mix is processed in special moulds to produce chairs in a variety of colours, which are durable, long-lasting and easy to clean. Each chair can be re-cycled again at the end of its useful life, which is expected to be at leat 30 years.

Emeco recently announced that over 3.5 million PET plastic bottles have so far been diverted from landfills and up-cycled into useful, lasting furniture.

More information can be found at www.emecowithcoke.com

Come and visit the café soon and try out one of the Coca-Cola bottle chairs!

Come and plant a Livinggreen orchard!

The stable yard is now finished and visitors are enjoying seeing it in the sunshine today.

The stable yard with its 3 sorts of solar panels

Meanwhile work never stops on the project and we're currently planning an event to plant some fruit trees around the edge of the stable yard. It's on Sunday 27th November, 11am-1pm, and we'll be planting ten apple, pear and cherry trees, all of local Merton varieties. The trees have all been funded by Copella, the fruit juice company, as part of their Plant & Protect campaign to increase the number of British fruit trees.

Merton apples at Morden Hall Park's Apple Day, October 2011

If you haven't yet visited the new stable yard with its Livinggreen Exhibition, cafe and craft stalls, come along on Sunday 27th and help plant a fruit tree at the same time!