In Our Nature’s latest updates | Spring 2025
It's been an action-packed few months for In Our Nature as we head into summer.
We’re helping people to discover that taking climate action can be fun, delicious, stylish, easy, rewarding and wallet-friendly too.
Empowering Manchester’s residents and communities
In Our Nature has supported 82 projects right across Manchester, helping communities and individuals to make positive changes in their own lives and for the city.
Let’s take a look at some recent project highlights…
We’re sharing recipes, reducing food waste and making sustainable swaps
In May, we collaborated with Mandem Meetup and A-Kin Club to run a series of outdoor BBQ cooking workshops for men and non-binary people. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and we cooked up some serious plant-based grub, including oyster mushroom skewers, corn ribs, and the best seasonal slaw we’ve ever tasted! Feeling inspired and want to give these a go at your next BBQ? Check out the recipes here.
We’re growing local and greening the city
Work to create a community allotment at The Message in Sharston is now almost complete! The allotment is brimming with fresh veg and fruit trees, all lovingly being looked after by a growing group of volunteers. The allotment’s harvest is then available through the Message Community Grocery, a charity helping communities to access low-cost weekly shops and reduce food waste.
We’re staying warm and saving money
We teamed up with Energyworks to help residents in Whalley Range to save money on their energy bills and make their home more energy efficient. Participants had a free home visit from Energyworks, where they learnt how to make their home cosier and cost-effective, including sorting drafts and learning what insulation would be best for them. We also ran a series of workshops with them where they learnt how to sew their own draft excluder and how to use tech to save on their energy bills. Want your own energy saving tips? Check out these tips to save energy room by room.
We’re using less energy
We’ve been supporting Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurdwara in Cheetham to help them reduce the carbon emissions from their building, through completing an energy audit and sharing their results and handy tips to cut energy bills with their community
This included working with Green Economy to develop a bespoke carbon reduction plan for the Gurdwara, and an energy audit checklist.
Their recent energy saving event included a screening of Wheels of Civilisation, a film exploring the themes of cultural sensitivity, xenophobia and the potential for ecological disaster. Energyworks Green Doctors provided expert advice and there were hands-on activities for kids - including a poster competition to design an environmentally friendly Gurdwara.
Want to better understand how you can reduce energy use in your building? Download the Energy Audit Checklist here.
We’re making the most of our stuff and turning old into new
We’ve helped to set up a brand-new community-led repair café in Openshaw, meet The ReVamp Repair Café where you can get you household items repaired for free every first Saturday of the month! Simply head to Grace Life Church on South Street between 10:30am-12:30pm.
Did you know, there are now 8 repair cafés in Manchester – read our blog post to find your nearest repair café: Manchester’s repair cafés and where to find them.
We’re finding new ways to explore the city
We teamed up with Bee Pedal Ready to help St Margaret’s CofE Primary School start their own Bike Train. Bike Trains are a great way to get more people pedalling to school, they operate like a normal train with stops and a set route, except on wheels! Bee Pedal Ready ran sessions with staff and parents covering basic repairs and cycling confidence. Everyone who took part said they would join the weekly bike train, cycle instead of driving and would now cycle at least twice as much as before! We even had one parent who couldn’t cycle before, who can now ride and is part of the weekly bike train.
“The Bike Train has brought together parents who are passionate about active travel, reducing cars and pollution and making our streets safer for all users. We have enjoyed the Bike Leader training and bike maintenance sessions with Belinda,” Arwa at St Margaret’s.
Check out our guide on How to Start a Bike Train in Manchester.
Building a movement
In April, we ran a series of resident engagement sessions to ensure that community voices are brought into Manchester’s next five-year Climate Change Framework, the city’s high-level strategy for tackling climate change.
The sessions brought together a small but diverse group of people, reflective of Manchester’s population, and including members of the In Our Nature resident’s Steering Group. Over the course of three meetings, the group shared their experiences, concerns, and ideas on a range of issues affecting their communities and developed a list of recommendations to be included in the new Climate Change Framework which is due to be published this autumn.
In May we held another fantastic networking meeting for our Community Champions, a group of inspring individuals working in communities across Manchester. During this session, the Community Champions headed to Heathfield Resource Centre in Newton Heath to learn about how, with our support, Easy Come Easy Grow, have transformed the outside space into a beautiful and user-friendly community garden.
The group were also joined by In Our Nature partners the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research and learnt how to measure carbon savings from community projects and use in funding bids to demonstrate their impact.
If you’ve been involved in a community project and want to connect with others and share your insights, get in touch to become a Community Champion.
Putting a spotlight on community action
Over the past three months, we’ve had a pop-up exhibition at Manchester Museum as part of their Wild exhibition. The exhibition and is made up of stories, photos and videos of the people and community groups that are making a huge difference across Manchester.
As part of the exhibition, we’ve run two workshops, including a Tataki Zome workshop with SNUG longsight on the Japanese art form of flower hammering, and a training workshop to support residents to start their own community group, and apply for funding.
Sharing our learning
Through our Community Support initiative, we helped project lead, Ghada, to set up Sustainable Threads, a group for refugees and asylum seekers in Manchester to learn and share clothing repair and upcycling skills. By saving clothes and repurposing textiles, the project saved 780.165kg carbon!
To celebrate the amazing work that had been achieved by everyone involved over the last few months, Sustainable Threads hosted a showcase event and pop-up repair café at Manchester Museum where the group got to show off their fabulous creations and put their skills to the test.
Check out some of our favourite tips, tricks and guides of the season:
Inspired to make a difference where you live? Visit our Resource Hub for tips, guides and inspirational stories to help you get started!