About SinCH

Forming our group

Following Sally’s trip to Indonesia where the shocking reality of plastic waste in the seas was so evident, our Group was started in the Spring of 2018 by local residents Sally and Rob as Plastic Free Colwich & the Haywoods.

The aim was to promote a radical reduction of single-use plastics in local households and businesses.

We began by carrying out audits of single use plastic and its disposal in around 20 local businesses and organisations which revealed an overall eagerness to reduce plastic use with many businesses having already made great strides.

The profile of the issues was massively raised by the BBC’s TV programme Blue Planet and what our group was doing was picked up by Radio Stoke which interviewed Sally and Rob.

Listen here to the report on the group’s activities broadcast by Radio Stoke.

In 2022 SinCH was kindly nominated for the BBC Radio Stoke Make a Difference award and having been shortlisted for the Environmental Award. We were pleased to be Highly Commended for the work we are doing.

We have always been a non-party political network focussing on encouraging lifestyle changes and postive environmental action in the community.

Our starting point

We started quite simply with a small group of people getting together to talk about the issues in an informal social setting. webuilt on this with:

• howing of the film ‘A Plastic Ocean’ (see right) in October 2018 which included an interactive discussion to encourage alternatives to single use plastics.

• At the Colwich Parish Assembly in May 2019 Dr Sharon George of Keele University, illustrated the damage plastics cause and Teresa Walters of Sisters against Plastic (Lichfield) inspired us with ways to reduce our single plastic use.

• A flyer was distributed to every household in the parish to provide up to date information about plastic alternatives and recycling.

• From this we set up a regular monthly Plastic-Free Shopping Scheme in collaboration with Roots Larder, a ‘not for profit’ social enterprise based in Stafford. This enabled local people to purchase plastic-free household items and foodstuffs without single use plastic wrapping at our Coffee Morning social events where people can meet up for a chat and discuss plastic-use reduction and other ecological issues.

• We have run Green Drinks Social Evening for some years but from 2025 we are moving to a less formal series of events including talks, films, walks and on the ground nature-based activities. Please check out the news page and our emails for details.

SinCH and New Projects

As possibilities of other projects emerged a larger organising group was formed in 2020 which became our 6 person Steering Group. Since then we have changed our name to Sustainability in Colwich & the Haywoods (SinCH) to reflect the wider scope of our eco projects.

We have since set up new projects: Green Fingers (gardening advice) and an Eco Directory of local businesses. In Covid times we developed our outdoor walks programme, which still continue.

In October 2021 we held our very first AGM at the Ingestre Orangery which was a very successful and well attended evening which took stock of what we have been doing so far and has provided some pointers about our future direction. This event continues every October with a keynote speaker and is very popular.

In April 2022 we launched this website, kindly supported by development funding from County Councillor Francis’s Local Community Fund.

The Parish Council has asked SinCH to advise them on Sustainability issues and to help implement their Green Infrastructure Plan. This has led to a series of on the ground activities to Help Nature Thrive.

In 2024 we were fortunate to be able to take on a small allotment which will be the SinCH Growing Space – for raising vegetables, developing people’s skills and nature friendly gardening ideas and techniques.

We will continue to develop our current work and raise our profile in the community by having stalls at a number of local events.

There is a lot more than can be done but we need more people to come forward and get involved to make these ideas happen so please contact us if you want to be more involved. We need your skills and insight!