Dobbies' Little Seedlings go green this summer - Free sustainable workshops in Southport store

DOBBIES Garden Centre, in Southport, is set to host a series of workshops, this summer, for its Little Seedlings Club. Magnificent Microgreens will take place on Sunday, 3 July 2022, and back for 2022 is Dobbies' Summer Holiday Club sessions, perfect for keeping the little ones busy during the School break.

Dobbies' Little Seedlings Club is a free children's gardening club for children aged 4-10 in Southport which explores the exciting ways children can connect to plants, wildlife and the environment, nurturing their minds with fun filled activities.

The Magnificent Microgreens workshop will take a deep dive into the science behind the nutritious leafy greens, showcasing all the health benefits of eating these superfoods and how attendees can easily grow their own at home no matter the space by making their very own windowsill planter to take home and grow.

The not your average garden centre will also be demonstrating all the ways in which chefs use microgreens in the kitchen to help encourage kids to eat their greens.

Dobbies' Summer Holiday Club sessions in Southport will take place on:- 28 July and 11 August 2022, between:- 10:15 to 11:15 am and 11:30 am to 12:30 pm. These interactive workshops will explore how children can create their very own summer sanctuary in the garden for plants and wildlife to flourish. Here attendees will take a closer look at the insects, birds and animals that call the garden home during the summer months, making bug hotels, learning interesting animal facts, and finding out all the ways we can make our garden into a wildlife haven.

Dobbies' Partnership and Events Manager, Sarah Murray, explained:- "Summer holidays are a great chance for the little ones to harvest a new passion for gardening, enjoy time with kids of a similar age and learn something new. Our free Little Seedlings workshops are open to all, and this summer we're showing our young gardeners that anything is possible in their green space if they have the right knowledge and tools."

Advance booking is required for the free events to secure your space. For more information about how children can get involved in these workshops at Dobbies' Southport store, visit the following links.

►    Magnificent Microgreens:- LINK.

►    Summer Holiday Club:- LINK.

Female engineers in Liverpool City Region transformed into eco-innovators through University collaborations

WOMEN led engineering businesses in Liverpool City Region are benefiting from a programme which enables academia industry collaboration to create innovative low carbon goods, processes and services.

Autentica Parts, based in Liverpool, is a platform which allows engineers to share designs for parts and components which can be 3D printed by customers anywhere in the world.

It is the brainchild of Irma Gilbert who developed the concept through the Low Carbon Eco-Innovatory (LCEI), a business support programme co-delivered by Lancaster University which gives small companies in Liverpool City Region free access to world leading academic expertise and cutting edge resources through funded research and development projects, ranging from1 month to 12 months.

Irma's research and development was accelerated using a fully funded intern who helped create a prototype for the platform which now boasts customers in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America in a variety of sectors including:- automotive, electronics, consumer goods, medical services, heavy machinery and energy.

The innovative platform is decarbonising the manufacturing supply chain, reducing customer transportation and logistics costs by 70%, delivery times from 3 months to 24 hours, and CO2 emissions by up to 40%.

Irma attributes the success of the business to the collaboration with Lancaster University. She now has a team of 4 and is forecasting a turnover of £6m by 2025. "As a woman at the forefront of the Fourth Industrial Revolution I needed someone to believe in my ambition," she said. "I saw a transformational opportunity to create a marketplace where engineers could share their designs for parts and components, which could then be uploaded to a platform, licenced and downloaded by customers anywhere in the world for additive manufacture. We really are indebted to the support offered by LCEI and the expertise of Lancaster University which supercharged my ideas to create a platform transforming supply chains, reducing carbon emissions and building a sustainable future."

Lisa Furlong, Managing Director of construction based Civil Engineers, Mole Group Utilities, based on the Wirral, has also benefited from LCEI.

Having already pioneered its unique horizontal directional drilling (HDD) technologies to excavate underground pathways for cables, pipes and network links, Lisa used a funded internship to develop a marketing and communications plan which demonstrated its environmental credentials and unique methods.

LCEi is delivered by Lancaster University's Centre for Global Eco Innovation which is led by Jess Davies, Professor in Sustainability.

Jess, an engineer and environmental scientist, said:- "Engineers bring problem-solving skill sets to the table, which are really important to developing sustainable practices, products or services across many areas including:- traditional areas like energy, transport and wastewater, but also they have much to offer other challenges such as supporting biodiversity.1 of the main challenges for women starting out in engineering is seeing it as a profession for them; having great female role models is incredibly important. And while there has been great progress, events like International Women in Engineering Day help celebrate these. Irma and Lisa are great examples to show what women can achieve in engineering and we are thrilled to hear that the kind of access to opportunities, resources and support we have offered through our programme has helped with their development as eco-innovation leaders. As a programme, we want to champion SME's to play a leading role in addressing climate and environmental emergencies. But it is also important that we champion the diversity of these innovators to help overcome barriers and change the traditional culture and norms. We can help drive change by diversifying networks. We need diverse perspectives and lived experiences to form a better understanding of the many dimensions of the problem and we are going to need all the creativity that comes with diversity to help us find good solutions to the major environmental problems of our times."

LCEI is a business R&D consortium, backed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), and led by Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) alongside partners Lancaster University and the University of Liverpool.

Since its launch in 2015, the Low Carbon Eco-Innovatory has supported 350 businesses on projects which have saved 10,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

For more information visit:- Lancaster.AC.UK or contact Philippa Chapman via email:- P.Chapman1@Lancaster.AC.UK.