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Last night our minds were blown after winning the Circular Economy award at Cornwall Business Awards. The reality of this is still yet to sink in but we wanted to put a little something together to share for you what is for us so unbelievably exciting and very much worth celebrating. We want to start by saying thank you to Cornwall business awards and Tevi for recognising the importance of circular approach to Business. We often see Cornwall is leading the way for environmental responsibility and creating this new circular economy award goes a long way in recognising sustainable approaches to resource consumption taken by companies in Cornwall. And also to Lottery Community Fund that has enabled us to work in the heart of the community and build stronger , more connected communities. Over the last year so we have worked with numerous businesses, supporting them and re-purposing their textile waste, some of which have now completely eliminated all of their fabric waste. This is shown us that when we work together, we can create the change those needed. Just last night in addition to us, there is Odyssey innovation, re-purposing plastics who won the Pirate FM’s Award, Oltco, who won best product for their innovative approach to reusing hard to recyclable plastics and Tinkebu using reclaimed materials, equally deserving of the recognition this Circular economy award nomination. But this is only the beginning, 72% of textiles still never gets recycled, the UK is still sending the equivalent of a bin lorry fusible fabric to landfill or incineration every 20 minutes. Though our work is beginning to pay off. Awards like this make a real difference, providing recognition to our work. Working together on Cornwall, the place that inspired are search for approach, we believe that the Cornwall Business Awards will support us in working collaboratively to create the solutions to the greatest threats we have ever faced. We were honestly not expecting to come and weigh with anything, so this is surpassed any expectations we had had. This award will give us a huge push forward. We are excited by the doors it will open and the opportunities it will create. We hope that everyone that came to the event can take more away from this award than us. The award was given to an organisation that considers people and the community it works, and the planet before it considers profit. We hope this opens new ideas to business so they can also commit to supporting the planet and are Cornish communities. This for us could have not come at a better time, today people across Europe and sweltered in record temperatures. Last week the government rejected EAC proposals for tacking sustainability in fashion, and industry which we are closely aligned. They will consider it again in 6 years, for now, the buck has been passed to us, businesses to create the changes that are needed, in 6 years it will be too late. In the words of Greta Thunberg our house is burning down. The time for business to act is now. So we as a community led, profit for purpose business hope that businesses come away from these awards and act right away, the best time to act was 30 years ago, the next best time is now. We need to be radical for, our house is burning down. But there is hope, if we are quickly, if we come together and if we are radical, we can stop this house from burning down. And we believe, that if we work collectively and stop procrastinating, the change that is needed will happen. 
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You may or may not know that we have been shortlisted for an award this year. The award is for `Best Business of the Year`. All the finalist businesses from across 14 categories are competing for the vote to be crowned Business of the Year for 2019 at the Cornwall Business Awards and we are one of them! In fact we are simply blown away that we have been shortlisted. For us, it’s all about the communities we live in and how we can use Circular Economy to benefit the community around us. As a CIC (community interest company) and a profit for purpose business, we think it would be really cool if a CIC could win over the `For Profit` businesses that are nominated and lead the way in highlighting the community businesses that are really doing fantastic work. There is no monetary gain for us in this but it would really highlight the work CICs and `Not for Profits` undertake. It would start conversations they may be missing and we would hope it will help shape the future in some way. We work with business textile waste and we use this to benefit our communities by making opportunities including; free workshops and teaching sewing lessons, in employment, eco products and environmental issues. We have diverted from landfill over 7 tons of textiles in 2108 and some businesses who we work with are now zero waste and our communities are better for it in many ways. A vote for us is a vote for change and for the idea of doing things different, its a boost for community businesses everywhere and it opens up minds for a new way of thinking. Its 1 click and less than 1 minute of your time to make the change you want to see. Hit the button and Vote for Cultivate Cornwall cic  WoW .. Just WoW.. We have just got back from 4 days in a field in Cornwall and it was just WoW.. The field was actually the grounds of a stately home and complete with Gin Garden, Wooded and Forest areas where Silent Discos were held along with Hot Tubs and glamping galore! It is described as a Garden Party and yep, we agree with that, just one big garden party that brings together 1000`s of people to dance, sing, play and create. They also eat, drink and dress up in such fantastic ways and I think that they do this much much better here compared to other festivals. We were there as traders and for entertainment if that is the right word? We offered free repairs to festival goers over the weekend that saw dozens of repairs happen and some very happy people after. Items included shorts, jeans, tops, buttons and patches. The only thing we couldn’t repair was an awning as it was still being used and slept in, they will be bringing it to the shop at a later date to be fixed and this is good in our books. We also ran free workshops that included flower hairbands, embroidery and jewellery, lots of jewellery making was done during the weekend. These were aimed at all ages and abilities but it seemed to be mainly children and especially so during a the short period of drizzle on Sunday morning. The festival gives us chance to sell a few items of clothing that we make, remake and rework. The money that is made there goes back to our cic where we use it for community benefit in various ways. Being not for profit, that little extra income goes a long long way and really makes a difference. We use some of this for extra workshops where we teach sewing and skills to people who don’t normally get chance. We do this on the high street, in the heart of the community and like all our workshops, we aim to do this for free. The highlight for the weekend was a visit from Tim Booth and some of his group. I must confess at this point that I simply didn’t recognise him but like all our customers we had fun, told a little of our story and what is behind the TeX project and treated him no different to anyone else we saw over the weekend. He went on to buy a jacket from us and it made an appearance on stage later that evening, so now we can claim the fame of clothing worn by the stars or so we like to think. It made our day though and rightly so and Tim Booth and his team; We think you are great and what a fantastic show you put on at The Great Estate! (If you haven’t worked it out yet.. Tim Booth is James, the headline act at this year’s festival) Being human we tend to judge things in life and at events and here is no different. We don’t judge people and here we judged the amount of litter left each day as we are often some of the first in to open shop in the morning and there simply is a very little litter problem. It doesn’t happen here. The same came when we were taking down our shop on the Monday whilst looking over the camping area that previously help 1000`s of campers.. No tents left behind, rubbish neatly stacked in sacks to be collected and very little debris at all. It was a real pleasure to see this after the bad press that generally goes around after a festival or large gathering. I think I am right in saying that The Great Estate sold out this year in camping, weekend and day tickets and rightly so. It really is a brilliant thing to happen in Cornwall and the organisers have got this right. They manage it well and produce a weekend of stress free fun. It caters for all ages, tastes and desires. Its affordable for many and its local ( to us) so what’s not to love. We hope to be there for many years to come as we simply love the atmosphere and people that we find there. Hats off to Team Great Estate.. You got it right this year just like you have in the past ! oh, and if you are reading this and have never been there.. I suggest you check it out and get your tickets when you can as I am sure it will sell out next year again. |
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