Sustainable St Albans recently hosted a momentus weekend at Oaklands College to celebrate a decade of the ‘Sustainability Festival’. Since its inception as ‘Sustainable St Albans Week’ back in 2015, the festival has helped create and support dozens of projects within the district whilst also providing exposure for hundreds of like-minded community groups and charities.
On the Friday evening, trustees past and present, along with key guests and volunteers were joined by Mayor Teresa Heritage at a special reception for the final Sustainability Festival weekend of 2025, at the new construction centre at the Oaklands Campus.
The building itself, one of the most complete examples of sustainable development in the country, opened last year and was the perfect location to house the event.
Lead trustee Jill Watson, part of the ‘SustFest’ working group highlighted the importance of collaboration with Oaklands.
“For ten years SSA has always been driven by the people of the district, their values and the role they play in helping sustainability in the community. For us the collaboration with Oaklands was all about building upon that foundation and highlighting the role our future generations are playing in that journey”.
Those in attendance had the opportunity to enjoy photos and displays from past years’ events, showcasing the path to success since 2015. Past trustees and representatives from the college spoke passionately about the importance of such festivals and how future generations can help continue the momentum for a greener future.
One of the founders of Sustainable St Albans, Catherine Ross, began by reflecting on how far the festival has come since her involvement and celebrated the tireless volunteers for their work to date. One of the pioneering initiatives for Catherine was the creation of ‘Postcards to Paris’, where they asked hundreds of local school children to share their thoughts and ideas about the protection of the planet. These were collated and then hand delivered to the climate talks in Paris for COP21.
“When we started the Sustainability Festival, realistically we knew we couldn’t influence what was going on in Paris but maybe we could impact what happened here locally”.
The importance of establishing a greener community was also highlighted by Andrew Slade, Principal and CEO of Oaklands College, as he delivered a powerful reminder that future generations will be the ones to deal with our actions.
“We are a partnership, a collaboration – and we have to work together in order to connect our students with the real world. Young people are the ones that are making us sit up and take the lead in terms of the environment. We are custodians of a better future for these young adults.”
The evening concluded with a Sustainable Fashion show where students put their talents in the spotlight. A tremendous display of creativity, all with the focus on environmentally conscious design including clothes made from old school ties and handmade skirts dyed with plants grown on campus.
Saturday saw the building open to the public for a host of workshops and talks. Climate anxiety, biodiversity, green energy, environmental press and global collaboration were just some of the topics covered throughout the day. Established eco charities and community groups were also on hand to discuss their respective projects.
Whether it be a market takeover, a three day City Centre Expo or in this case – a series of seasonal weekends throughout the year; one of the driving factors behind the festival is its ability to develop and remain relevant in a world with growing competition for people’s attention and interest.
A point reinforced by SustFest event coordinator Sonya Jefferson; “the seasonal blueprint for this year has shown us that the appetite for change is already strong in the district.”
“Progression is really a numbers game. Rather than focusing on the thousands of people that have taken part in our activities, this year was really about that one conversation, the one connection or the single act of selfless service to the environment that went some way to bringing everyone closer in the charge for a sustainable future”.
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