Blue Heart

12/06/2026

Maja was delighted to join the Linking Lives 10 Year Celebration on Wednesday, craft materials on hand and ready to chat! Friendships and support networks are a vital part of community resilience (and we love a bit of that!) - feeling confident that together, we can face and recover from life's challenges.

Linking Lives Eastbourne

10/06/2026

Tegan at the Flood and Coast Conference, introducing Missy and Stanley's Tale to a roundtable of folk from the world of Property Flood Resilience (PFR), and in the Conference Exhibition Hall.

09/06/2026

Last week Lindsay attended this year's Climate Resilient Streets conference. This year it was held in Walthamstow, where Waltham Forest Council has been doing great things to improve their streets.

Lindsay was particularly excited to visit the UK's longest residential rain garden (pictured), designed and built by our SuDS for Schools partner, Meristem Design .

"The highlight for me was the walking tour of the rain gardens & local infrastructure supporting less traffic & more biodiversity (albeit in appropriate rainfall!) They walked us round an area that 15 years ago was an industrial estate without a single tree. Over 15 years the Council has worked with many partners to regenerate the area, its really colourful and vibrant. Local children were shown the plants that were going to be used in the raingardens; the children then created designs based on them & those designs were painted on the lock-up doors."

More information and a video about the project: https://www.meristemdesign.co.uk/case-study/sutherland-road-rain-gardens/ #

05/06/2026

World Environment Day 2026 calls on governments, cities, businesses, and people everywhere to move in one direction: read the signals around you—and send one back.

Every action is a signal.

Start a conversation. Fund a solution. Shift a policy. Share a story. Make your moves in ways that move others.

What signals will you send this ?

Find out more at: https://www.worldenvironmentday.global/2026/about/2026-campaign

Go to a screening of the People's Emergency Briefing: https://www.nebriefing.org/screening-map

04/06/2026

Where am I?

02/06/2026

Meet Missy the cat and Stanley the dog, who are about to go on an unepected adventure! They're the heroes of a new children's book created for Blue Heart to help raise awareness of flooding and the importance of being prepared. Don't worry - it all works out in the end!

Copies of the book will be distributed to primary schools and public libraries in East Sussex this month. If you're a family-focussed organisation and would like your own free copy, please get in touch!

29/05/2026

We were delighted to attend the launch of the Eastbourne Neighbourhood Board's 'Pride in Place' Regeneration Plan today.

Great presentations by Richard Garland, Jess Holliday and Emily May about the plan, which includes food security and growing, support for nature and opportunities for young people.

We look forward to learning more and exploring how Blue Heart might support this exciting project.

Today we launched the Eastbourne Pride in Place Regeneration Plan with representatives from over 70 community groups, CICs, charities, sports clubs and businesses. We are so fortunate to have them supporting the people of our town. 🎉

Close to £20 million is to be invested in our town over the next ten years, backed by the UK Government and led by YOU.

From ward workshops in church halls to schools getting involved, this plan belongs to the community.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today, and to the hundreds of residents whose voices shaped every page of this plan.

A huge thank you also to Duncan Kerr and the team at Hillbrow Health and Wellbeing for hosting us so brilliantly.

Follow us and visit https://weareeastbourne.org.uk/ to stay updated and involved!

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

28/05/2026

We're honoured that our community resilience card game, Stronger Together, is being exhibited with others on the Games in Education stand at UK Games Expo in Birmingham!

Thanks to Liz Cable from Games in Education for including us, and modgames.co.uk for creating the game.

Find out more about Stronger Together at https://www.blueheart.org.uk/stronger-together/

Blue Heart is funded by Defra as part of the £200 million Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes which is managed by the Environment Agency. The programmes will drive innovation in flood and coastal resilience and adaptation to a changing climate.

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26/05/2026

Does the heat energise you or drain you? We hope you've been managing to keep cool and comfortable.

Where's your favourite cool spot in Eastbourne, Polegate or Pevensey? Parks, trees, shade or water - where do you go for a bit of relief?

19/05/2026

You know those times when you are so busy doing a thing (especially when its raining) that you forget to take photos of the thing you're doing?!

Today was our final day of SuDS for Schools engagement this academic year, so Lindsay and I (Eleanor) had the challenge of fitting everything back into the store - a giant, slightly sodden game of 3D tetris.

We were so eager to get everything out of the car, and ourselves out of the rain, that we didn't take a single photo. So I've done you a list to give you an idea of the kit involved in our outdoor learning sessions....