Deirdre Gage runs The Creation Station franchise in Chesterfield. Deirdre is a strong supporter of the local community and adds value to peoples lives.
As part of The Creation Station commitment to reducing our carbon footprint, this is the fourth year we have had an Eco Warrier-Award.
This award celebrates all the big and little things that our franchise partners are doing to provide a sustainable, minimum carbon footprint within our art and crafts experiences.
We are thrilled to award the Eco-Warrier Award to Deirdre Gage.
The very well deserved highly commended runners were Vicky Whitwell, Janey Noble and Claire Sharpe.
Deirdre Gage Scoops Eco-Warrier Of The Year Award 2021
Here’s Deirdre’s story
“Being environmentally aware starts by making choices and then communicating those choices to customers and other franchisees. I look at these elements: REPAIR, EXCHANGE, SELECT, COMMUNICATE, INSPIRE.
Repair. I repair the children’s splashsuit overalls. They are water-resistant and include plastic. Plastic needs to be treated as a scarce material resource. I explain to the children why I have repaired the overalls. I share ideas and content from activities on social media to spread the idea of ‘repair not replace’ to my customers and other franchisees. I use my repairs to the plastic table coverings as an opportunity to explain that I treat all plastic as a precious, limited resource that should be repaired for continued use.
Exchange. We have different activity programmes for each age group. All of these activity plans are reviewed once we have completed that programme and also before we run the programme again in the future. As well as ensuring the activities are fun we look at the products we use to ensure we are using sustainable products.
For example, we used to use CDS’s for one activity and now silver card. The children cut the card into circles this removes the use of plastic and develops their fine motor skills too!
Select. We love collaging! We use collage materials that are recyclable like card, aluminium foil and fabric. With collage materials, I trim off any pieces that have acquired glue and then add the cut-down piece to my collage resource box. I have made templates and stencils from cardboard packaging and this also helps to reduce waste.
Communicate. Apart from talking to children and adults in sessions, I was pleased to be asked to run a workshop for Plastic Free Chesterfield. The workshop was on the open-air market and was a drop-in event.
For adults, I taught Furoshiki – fabric gift wrapping – using donated fabric squares and decorated with paper flowers.
For the children, I set up activities stencilling brown paper wrapping and decorating matching cardboard gift tags. To demonstrate how to reuse materials, I ironed the brown paper wrapping paper that comes in parcels to protect goods and I made the stencils using my die cutter from deconstructed cardboard boxes.
I explain to people where these materials came from and was able to give them the confidence to reuse packaging in their lives.
When parents enquire about Arty Parties, I emphasise the paper party bags and that we offer activities that have no plastic. We offer papier mache, wood, cardboard and fabric items for decoration. I find that parents respond well to the idea of an environmentally responsible party.
Inspire. We all have a responsibility to be make sustainable and positive environmental actions and decisions. I am passionate about helping my community, my franchise colleagues and our whole team to create a positive environmental impact.”
Huge thanks to Deirdre for the inspiration and work she does to help us all operate in a positive environmental manner.
Find out more about The Creation Stations positive environmental action.
Find environmentally aware creative classes, parties and events near me.
