Eco SoCo Newsletter June 2025
As we head into summer, our community projects are blooming — and there are plenty of ways to get involved this month!
From the inspiring Wilding film screening to our upcoming evening on owl conservation, plus practical activities at the Repair Café and Village Day, June is full of opportunities to learn, connect, and take action for nature.
Our community veg garden is bursting into life, our young village trees are growing strong with your care, and we’re continuing to share ideas for greener living — from local recycling tips to refill options around the village.
Read on to see what’s happening, how you can help, and ways to celebrate nature right here in Sonning Common.
Eco SoCo Presents @ Sonning Common Parish Council Annual Meeting
Julie, our Chair, gave an inspirational presentation of Eco SoCo's first year, celebrating all the amazing projects we've been working on together and the tremendous support we have received from the local community. Julie shared how much fun we have as a group but also highlighted the very serious ecological reasons behind the work that we do.
Shocking Fact: The UK is ranked in the bottom 10% globally for the proportion of original nature left!
Sonning Common’s Hedgehog Highways
Following the launch of Sonning Common’s Hedgehog Highway scheme last year, we now have 75 participants in the village, connecting over 150 gardens and public spaces, with a total of 16 football pitches of area covered. You can see the latest highways here if you wanted to see wher you could link up.
You may have seen my latest EcoSoCo FB post highlighting that hedgehogs are starting to emerge from hibernation. That's my prompt to get Hedgehog Highways activities moving for 2025.
Here are some things you can do to continue our work for our prickly friends:
1. Promote Hedgehog Highways by asking your friends in the village to join the scheme. They can contact me on this email address.
2. We will be offering new HH participants (who need it) free assistance to make gaps in their fences or tunnels beneath. If you are fairly handy and would like to volunteer to assist, please let me know. Tools and materials provided.
3. Log your hedgehog sightings (dead or alive) at www.hedgehogstreet.org
4. Please send me your hedgehog videos and photos as they are great for promotional content.
5. Learn more about hedgehog conservation with the British Hedgehog Preservation Society. Links to a couple of very informative recent YouTube videos below.
Hedgehogs & Their Ecology https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pib6P_UMBNk
Habitat Threats & Conservation https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UX0PozJL9U
If you have any ideas and feedback, I'd love to hear from you.
Charles Smith
Repair Café - Saturday 5th June 10am - 12.30pm
Join us for Eco SoCo’s next Repair Café on Saturday, June 5th, from 10am–12:30pm at Springwater Church, Blounts Court Road, Peppard.
Bring your broken household items—like small electrics, bikes, textiles, clocks, and toys—and our skilled volunteers will do their best to fix them. You can even learn while they repair!
While you wait, enjoy tea, coffee, and homemade cakes at the Revive Café, running alongside the event.
Repair so far:
110 electrical items repaired
14 bikes
39 pieces of clothing, rucksacks, handbags
40 items sharpened
40 pieces of jewellery
The repairs are free, but donations are welcome to support Eco SoCo’s environmental projects. We look forward to seeing you!
Community Vegetable Garden – Springing to Life!
The garden is thriving, thank you for your contiued support.
Seedlings planted just a few weeks ago are now well on their way - runner beans have reached the top of their their A-frames, salad leaves are ready for picking, and the first hints of colour are starting to show in the flower borders. It's wonderful to see the raised beds buzzing with life.
At the Herb Farm, we've been busy transplanting our greenhouse seedlings into the beds – tomatoes, courgettes, and basil are settling in nicely, soaking up the early summer warmth. Fingers crossed for a bumper crop!
New trellises are now up and supporting our climbing crops, and the wildlife protection frames are doing a great job keeping curious nibblers at bay.
A huge thank you to everyone who’s watered, weeded, planted, or simply cheered us on – it really is a team effort. If you'd like to get involved, we’re always happy to welcome more helping hands.
How You Can Get Involved
Throughout June we’ll be at Springwater Church - come and lend a hand, please email Alyson, .ecosocoveggarden@gmail.com
Where: Blounts Court Road, Peppard Common, Henley-on-Thames, RG9 5EU, Saturdays 12pm - 2pm and Sundays 1pm-3pm
Please note - A project co coordinator must be present during all work sessions, please do not carry out any tasks outside of these designated times. Children are very welcome but must be accompanied by a responsible adult and supervised at all times.
Help Us Keep Our Young Trees Thriving!
Our young fruit trees are settling in beautifully, thanks to the steady care they’ve been receiving – a huge thank you to all our fantastic waterers!
With the warmer weather arriving, these trees will need regular weekly watering to stay healthy and establish strong roots. Your efforts are already making a visible difference leaves are looking lush, and some trees are even showing early signs of growth.
If you’d like to join the rota and help give these trees the best start in life, just drop us a line at ecosoco24@gmail.com. It only takes a few minutes a week, but it means a lot – to the trees and to the community.
Help our Hedgerows
We’re putting together a team of local volunteers to help restore and plant new hedgerows across the parish. The first step is assessing the current condition of hedgerows in key areas, and for that, we’re looking for people who’d like to get involved and are happy to attend a one-day hedgerow identification course.
If you’re passionate about our local environment and would like to be part of this rewarding project, we’d love to hear from you! Please email ecosoco24@gmail.com
Reduce, Reuse, Refill – Let’s Keep Sonning Common Green!
Looking to live a little greener? There are lots of ways to reduce waste right here in the village:
Heath & Watkins offers refills on eco-friendly cleaning products, hand soap, and more – bring your own bottles and cut down on plastic!
One Stop has a collection point for used batteries.
Co-op accepts soft plastics and crisp packets for recycling.
Sonning Common Library collects pens, and milk bottle tops, and hosts our seed bank.
You can donate household items and clothing to the Christian Community Action Shop to give them a new lease of life
Come and See Us at Sonning Common Village Day! - Sunday 22nd June
We’re excited to be part of this year’s Sonning Common Village Day with a fun and interactive Eco SoCo stall.
Join us for free bird box and bug hotel building – a great hands-on activity for all ages. Plus, back by popular demand, our Eco SoCo Tombola will be packed with fantastic prizes.
Come say hello, get involved, and support local nature!
If you know anyone who would like to receive this monthly newsletter, please ask them to email Alyson, ecosocoveggarden@gmail.com
Find out more about what Eco SoCo are doing and how you can get involved in and around our lovely village on our EcoSoco website and on Facebook
Thank you for being part of this. Looking forward to seeing you soon.
The EcoSoco Team