So proud to have co-founded this group with Anne-Marie.
It’s with a proud and slightly heavy-heart that we wanted to share that we are wrapping up Plastic Free Caversham as an active community group.
The group was set up back in 2019 to secure plastic-free status for Caversham which we achieved in May last year – we recruited local business champions and brought together 30 community allies who have pledged to reduce their single-use plastic use.
And among our small but dedicated team of volunteers, there have been relocations, emigrations and newborn additions, meaning we have decided collectively the time is right to draw things to a close.
Another key part of our activities has been fundraising for a new water-refill station in the heart of Caversham free for all residents and visitors to access. We also pledged a proportion of the money to supporting Surfers Against Sewage, the charity behind the plastic-free communities initiative. And with your help and support we raised more than £1,000!
So, the obvious question – where is the refill station?
This is the final piece of our legacy for Caversham that we’ve been dying to update you on! We have been working behind the scenes with Thames Water and Reading Council to make the installation a reality (as you can imagine, it involves a lot of logistics and planning!) and we promise the refill station should be on its way very soon.
As part of this partnership, Thames Water are covering all the costs of the refill station, which means we will donate the remainder of our fundraised money to Surfers Against Sewage to support their brilliant work. You can read more about what they do in the link in our bio.
So given where we started, what we have achieved, and what we will be leaving behind we feel now is the right time to hang our hats and reflect on our journey. We hope you will join us in continuing to celebrate and maintain our plastic-free status. So please keep an eye out for the new refill station coming to a precinct near you, and keep a refillable container handy to toast our success 🎉
Ayo Sokale 