Meet the green guardians helping New Forest communities respond to the climate and nature emergencies

We spent time with some of the New Forest’s green groups finding out more about the people bringing their community together to respond to climate change one bug hunt and broken zip at a time.

The NPA supports a wide network of green groups across the New Forest through an online community platform as well as funding opportunities. The groups provide vital community hubs, places for people to meet and make a difference in their local area.

On a warm afternoon in Jack Wright Field, Ringwood, having distinguished dragonflies from damselflies and dispelled myths of ladybirds growing spots as they age, we sat down with Mary DeBoos of Ringwood Actions for Climate Emergency (RACE) to find out why she had organised a bug hunt for the town’s potential next generation of ecologists.

The RACE chair of trustees and newly appointed Mayor of Ringwood said: ‘Some of the children here today might never have seen a soldier beetle or a spider up close and they get really excited when they do.

‘By putting events on that everyone can attend, not making it about climate change or biodiversity, but making it about a fun day out for people, we’re more likely to reach the wider community.

‘If you don’t have green groups gently raising awareness, then people just carry on with little regard for the environment.’  

Mary has been involved since the start of RACE in 2019. The green group became an official charity in 2020. She added: ‘I genuinely love the environment in which we live, we’re incredibly lucky to live in this part of the country.

‘Will we solve all the issues of climate change? No, we won’t. Will we be able to say we did our little bit locally? Yes, we will.’

RACE runs several projects including pollinator-friendly planting, a community fridge, sewing classes to reduce textile waste, eco-fairs, and educational events, including bug hunts and film screenings.

RACE was given Jack Wright Field and turned it back into a place where nature and the Ringwood community can thrive, with a wildflower meadow, bat boxes and a pond. NPA support has included funding for fencing in the field, educational materials, ranger attendance at events, and social media promotion.

‘This field has provided a space for people away from the hustle and bustle. It gets used regularly by all sorts of different demographics because it’s right on their doorstep.’

Our first of two repair café visits was in Brockenhurst. Not quite the rustic barn scene from the BBC’s ‘Repair Shop’, but the church hall with copious amounts of tea, cake, warm smiles and flowing conversations gave a welcoming feel, nonetheless.

Brockenhurst Repair Café has been run by Greener Brockenhurst several times per year since 2022. Typical repairs include vacuum cleaners, broken plates, ripped clothing and broken garden tools akin to Trigger’s broom.

There were stations for electrical repairs, sewing and other clothing repairs, and general DIY for odds and ends. There was a particularly impressive scene of four volunteers re-soldering a circuit board and bringing a mini fridge with a blown fuse back to life. Much like, the ‘Repair Shop’, some pieces came with a story, none more so than a handheld mirror with a broken casing which had been handed down three generations.

Repair Café organiser Mary Pattison said: ‘It’s a really happy atmosphere and a great purpose. It keeps a lot of things out of landfill and it’s very sociable. The helpers make friends between them and when we have a lot of customers waiting, they all start chatting to each other.

‘It’s really important that we do as much as we can to pass the world on to our children and their children and so on in a better place.

‘Even though what we do seems to be a drop in the ocean, it’s all vital and it makes a difference. You have a clearer conscience yourself because you know at least you did what you could do to help things to be better.’

Over on the DIY station, as the glue dried between the cracks of a broken plate, volunteer Joshua Morgan said: ‘It’s a really nice way of giving back to the local community and if me coming along and repairing some stuff means people don’t go online and buy something new then that’s a positive thing to do.

‘Normally, while I’m sat here putting things back together, people will tell you a story about when they came to the village or what they’ve done. I’ve lived in the village about 18 months and met more people through this than anything else.’

Despite a carpentry background, some repairs aren’t so straightforward, Joshua recalled: ‘Someone wanted a new handle on an old pan and the only way to do this was to remove the old handle, which I brought an angle grinder to do.

‘Suddenly outside the room, there’s a huge shower of sparks. It slightly scared the others, but we got it apart and fixed up.’

NPA funding helped the green group apply for membership of the Repair Café Foundation in 2022 and continues to help with hall hire and equipment costs.

Our final visit, Ringwood Repair Café, was like stepping into Santa’s workshop in the run up to Christmas. In one corner a chair which had succumbed to overly playful grandchildren was being fixed up, elsewhere record players and radios were finding their voice again and a giant, stuffed goose was receiving some stitches. The room was buzzing and joyful, but equally, the whole process was slick and calm – a testament to the dozen or so volunteers in snazzy, branded aprons and the care and planning that goes into each café.

Some book in advance, others walk in on the day, and some come along just for some tea and cake, to soak up the positive atmosphere in the room and feel part of the local community. All items are weighed and valued on arrival. On the day, 26 items were brought in, with only four being determined as end-of-life. The total estimated value of those items was nearly £4,000 and saved 138kg of waste going to landfill – the equivalent of two washing machines. Last year, Ringwood Repair Café prevented more than 1,300kg of waste going to landfill.

Rae Frederick is the chair of Ringwood Repair Café, which was set up two years ago as part of Greening Ringwood and won the New Forest Sustainability Champion award in 2025. She said: ‘The key thing with the Repair Café is you’re not dropping something off to be mended, you sit with your item, and the repairer will have a conversation with you and explain what they’re doing. The idea being that people may be able to go away and repair things themselves next time or think more about keeping something rather than throwing it away.

‘I love the idea that people work together. Two years ago, we didn’t know each other and now we’re all friends. We all have the same goal, we all want to help the community and if you can get your town to work together as a team, how fantastic is that.’

Rae’s hope for the future is to get more young people involved in the Repair Café. She added: ‘I’m passionate about getting youth involved because they’re the future. We’ve had children bring their toys in for repairs, but the next step will be trying to get the Duke of Edinburgh Award involved.

‘It’s about upskilling young people too. If they came to a repair café they might learn about a trade and think that’s something I could do for a job.’

Some of the repairers have decades of experience, but others are picking up new skills and learning from each other. Anything too specialist or requiring a particular paid service, such as clothing size alterations, is referred to local businesses.

Repairer Bill Robertson focuses on mechanical and electrical things, such as clocks and lamps. Originally from South Africa, he had spent most of his career in IT but has a passion for mechanics and how things move.

He said: ‘My whole life has been repair it, don’t throw it away, you had to make do with what you had. I can’t say that what I do makes a difference to the world, but it makes a difference to me, I feel like I’ve achieved something.

‘People bring in cherished stuff, you fix it for them and they walk away in tears sometimes because they didn’t think they would see it fixed or working again. You get that sense of “yeah I did it”.’

Some repairs evoke childhood memories, Bill added: ‘A lady brought in a horse racing board game called Escalado, and I had one when I was five years old and I said I have to fix that. Another brought in a radio that reminded me of one my dad had which I hadn’t seen for 60 years.’

The NPA supports Ringwood Repair Café and Greening Ringwood through promotion of events.

Funding opportunities and support for the green groups are provided through our Sustainable Communities Fund, as well as the Youth for Climate and Nature (YouCAN) scheme. The Fund has provided £2.4m to more than 300 projects since 2006, which have helped to reduce the carbon footprint of the New Forest National Park and improve nature.

Find out more about the New Forest green groups and get involved through our webpage.