Take a bag, Make a bag

 A quiet revolution is underway in Mangere Bridge.  In a bid to reduce the number of plastic bags in our environment and community, Friends of the Farm and lots of keen locals are helping to make it easy for us all to opt for reusable bags at the Mangere Bridge shops.   The ‘Tote-all Recall’ initiative will see cloth shopping bag collection spots dotted around the village shops for people to borrow and return bags when they’ve forgotten their own.

Before launching the initiative, 1000 bags are needed, and several dedicated home sewers have made a start by whipping up 150!  To boost the collection, our first community sewing bee was held at Ambury Farm last weekend.  As advertised, participants were invited to make two bags during the workshop- one to take home for themselves, and one to add to the community collection. 

The sewing bee attracted 11 enthusiastic locals, including adults and children. Some were expert sewers and some complete newbies keen to have a go. The afternoon proved a great success, with 25 bags made for the community, and lots of connections made between participants of different ages over fabric and afternoon tea.

A huge thanks to everyone who's made a contribution to our community initiative so far!  The next sewing bee will be held on the 16th September, 1.30pm at Ambury Farm.  Check out our Facebook page for more details.  If anyone would like to sew at home, recycled fabric can be collected from Mangere Floral Studio and completed bags can be dropped off there too.