| Think and Do London Spring '26 Newsletter |
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Happy early spring from us at Think & Do London. We are on a mission to transform London, one community at a time. Our projects are co-created with residents as a direct response to the climate emergency. From empowering Bengali women, to equipping young people as green leaders, we are growing a powerful network of residents, educators, businesses and councils to tackle inequality, together. But don’t take our word for it… |
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‘T&D have made a real difference to our estate by enabling young people to co-design and plant an orchard. The project strengthened community bonds, promoted ecological justice and inspired pride in caring for our shared green space.’ - Arun, Kilburn.
‘The collab between St Raph’s Voice and T&D is all about unleashing our collective imagination. This Sharing Space is proof that, when residents are given the tools and room to lead, we can create a more sustainable and supportive home for everyone on the estate.’ - Asif, Neasden
‘I’ve seen a beautiful shift in how residents think and act. T&D has helped us residents grow in ways we never thought possible.’ - Syeda, Camden Town
‘Working with T&D has been amazing, and it has opened so many opportunities for me to interact and learn more about our community.’ - Zara, Somers Town |
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| Have a look at our new website showing our work in action. |
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| | Camden Climate Alliance Networking Event |
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Do you agree with the statement: 'The future isn’t something we stumble upon, it’s something we actively create? Well, we do…and here’s why!
We recently co-hosted a networking event with the Camden Climate Alliance. Over 60 businesses joined us at the Society Building in Fitzrovia to spend an evening connecting and sharing ideas for climate action. One highlight was a thought-provoking talk by leading UK environmentalist, Rob Hopkins. For Rob, imagination is a survival tool essential for unlocking the sustainable, equitable future we desperately need. |
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Our thanks to the CCA organisations who are already stepping up to imagine and create that better future for Camden. These include Depaul, a charity tackling youth homelessness who wanted to turn their underloved outdoor space into a bucolic retreat for their young people. We connected them with ESCP business school who provided funding alongside student and staff volunteers. And Alpaca Garden Rooms who provided materials. Watch this space grow… |
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Later this month, we’ll be joined by Softwire, The Foundling Museum and Team Jump to green up Curnock Estate, NW1, with a wildflower meadow. Wildflower meadows are bloomin’ brilliant: they provide a vital habitat for pollinators and are a beautiful way to boost biodiversity in the urban environment. We are really excited by the green woodworking session where young people will learn to make a bench for the estate using wood provided by Fallen and Felled and Treehab.
We are connecting lots of other CCA organisations with transformative local climate projects. Would your business/organisation like to help create our future Camden?
Join the CCA and complete our matchmaking form here. Contact Nicole@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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Great fun was had by ten primary schools at our 2026 Green Dragons Den. 90 students joined us at the Royal Veterinary College to pitch their ideas for a circularity project to a panel of fiery judges. |
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We loved the project pitches, from a wormery to an upcycled bee hotel. Each school took home an award of £500 - thanks to the following CCA organisations who made this possible: TB+A; Anthesis; St George PLC; LabTech; Blade Services; Sheppard Robson; Imperial Hotels London; Regal Four London + Regal Three London (under Arada); Camden Council School’s Clean Air Fund.
Additional activities included a compost workshop by Compost Collective, a recycling and waste game delivered by Veolia, and a bird feeder workshop with CCA signed businesses Anthesis and RVC.
We are always amazed by the ingenuity of young students who bring such creative ideas to make sustainable change. We look forward to following up with these schools’ projects.
Would you like to set up a Green Dragons’ Den in your borough? It’s a great educational project which gives the younger generation a chance to develop creative and critical thinking skills and advocate for a better future.
Contact Finley@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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| Circular Communities: In the Loop
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| What if … we reimagined waste as opportunity? What if … swapping and sharing became second nature and we strengthened community connections so that resources in London could be shared more equitably? |
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Introducing our new project: In the Loop. A ward circularity project where we will be inspiring residents across London to get swapping, sharing, reusing and repairing.
Join us for an ‘In the Loop’ Community Conversation and People’s Assembly at Primrose Hill Community Centre, Thursday 23/4, 7 pm - 8:30 pm. Together, let’s envision ways of reducing waste in our communities. Sign up via Eventbrite here. |
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Last month, we hosted a packed street swap outside Swiss Cottage Library where over 300 items were swapped, from coffee tables to electric heaters.
On days like this, community spirit is contagious: a local resident, Deqa, even turned up with freshly made lentil soup for our team! We are so grateful to every person who shows up, swapping trash for treasure and sharing with the community. |
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| | Save these dates for the Transition Kentish Town Street Swaps we’re supporting!
• Saturday 14th March, 10am - 4pm: Primrose Hill Community Library.
• Saturday 18th April, 10am - 4pm: Hampstead Heath Education Centre. This event will additionally feature a special afternoon Nature Connections session to swap and share experiences for mutual support and collaboration through Nature Recovery Corridors. Sign up via Eventbrite here. |
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| Instagramps: Mining your mobile |
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And here’s another new circular communities project for us!
In partnership with Fixing Factory, we will be delivering two pilot intergenerational projects in Primrose Hill. These will include a secondary school workshop featuring the live disassembly of a smartphone, and a conversation on precious minerals and the right to repair movement. This will be followed by a skills and stories exchange between different generations. Young people will be invited to help older people with digital access, whilst older residents will share stories and skills about life, pre-tech.
This will be followed by a general fixing event, involving skills and story-sharing:
2-4 pm at Primrose Hill Community Centre on Sat, 25th April. Sign up here.
These events are not just about repairing items, they are about repairing relationships. We think every secondary school student across London should become critical mineral aware, and adopt an Instagramp! We’re looking for young and older residents to join in the fun.
Want to get involved, or know anyone who does? Contact info@thinkanddocamden.org.uk We are looking for two project assistants to support with this project! See our website for more info. |
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| Patch: School Assemblies and Toy Shares |
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With our mascot, Patch the rescue bear, we’re on a mission to empower the younger generation at primary schools to make the sharing economy more tangible. |
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Last year, we delivered primary school assemblies on the ‘Life Cycle of a (rescue) teddy bear,’ followed by toy shares at two primary schools. This Spring, we’ll be delivering this at four more schools, including Richard Cobden, Hawley, and St Paul’s. The students are always absolutely captivated by the project, which just goes to show that retail therapy doesn’t have to cost the earth!.
Do you want a toy share at a school near you?
Do you have ideas for your circularity in your community? Want to get looped in? info@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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Meet Hasna. Hasna is one of our newly trained Energy Saving Ambassadors. This winter we have been training residents, like Hasna, to offer free energy-saving advice to support other residents, helping them to save money on their bills and carbon. Our ESA’s are helping to de-mystify energy, with quizzes, freebies, and simple, low-cost tips.
This winter, Hasna, Olabisi, Farhana, Zara, Jahanara, Dinah, Rushna, Halima and Syeda, amongst others, have spoken to 400 residents at pop-up events at our Sharing Spaces in Libraries across Camden, including Kentish Town, Camden Town, Pancras Square and Holborn. |
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Zara, Tayeb and Maisha, our NRG101s are on a mission to have a laugh and empower young people to make small changes to their energy use. This winter, they have led a campaign to skit-up the area of energy saving, making it fun and relatable to young Camdeners. From hilarious workshops at St Mary and St Pancras school and Regents High to giant human lightbulbs, follow all they’re getting up to on Instagram: project.nrg101 |
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| Renewables for beginners! |
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Many of us would like to power our homes with renewable energy, but don’t know where to start.
This month, our Power Rangers led a free training session on Renewable Energy at Euston Skills Centre with Power to the People. Our workshop demystifying home solar, batteries and heat pumps was followed by a tour of installations at the centre. They say seeing is believing: by combining knowledge with practical access, we aim to empower residents and get community capacity building. Would you like a ‘Renewables for beginners’ workshop where you are? Contact Ned@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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What role could libraries play in creating circular, resilient communities?
Join us, in collaboration with Ashden Sustainable Towns and Cities and the Brent library team for a special Sharing Space, 3 - 5 pm @ Wembley Library, Brent Civic Centre, HA9 0FJ. Sign up via Eventbrite here.
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Last autumn, we set up Sharing Spaces in libraries, to help our libraries become even more vibrant community hubs. Our Sharing Spaces have seen a programme of circularity workshops led by librarians and local residents from visible mending, nature writing, craftivism and gardening. Sharing Spaces are a place for residents to come together to build resilience and share skills, stories and stuff. We’ve also set up clothes swap rails at each library, to keep on sharin’. |
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Our Sharing Spaces are running regularly at Holborn, Swiss Cottage and Kentish Town:
• Swiss Cottage - Tuesdays 5-7 pm • Holborn - Thursdays 4-6 pm
(Art workshop every second week of the month; Gardening workshop final week of the month)
• Kentish Town - Fridays 12-2 pm
Would you like to run a workshop? Get in touch: info@thinkanddocamden.org or speak to your local library officers. |
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Last autumn we set up a Sharing Space at St Raph’s Estate in Neasden. This Sharing Space has been taken on board enthusiastically by the community and runs each Wednesday with a packed schedule of fun, and meaningful circularity and resilience building activities. Paused for Ramadam, it will resume every Wednesday 5pm-7pm after Eid-al-Fitr. And there’s more… buoyed on by their success, we are now supporting residents to co-design and deliver an ecological justice project, to transform an outside area of St Raphs into a biodiverse habitat. |
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Meanwhile, over at the South Kilburn estate in Brent, we recently co-hosted a repair cafe Sharing Space with Kilburn Repair Cafe, at St Luke’s Church. And veggin out… we can’t wait to see what residents will grow in the veg planter made at our Sharing Space at the OK club. |
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| | | | Host to Enabler: Sharing Space Taster Days |
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Our project manager Syeda has been busily setting up taster Sharing Space sessions across Camden. At Cumberland market, the Kings Cross Champions loved the clothes and toy swap, free food, fixing and mending, henna, and nature printing. Artivism, anyone? |
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Would you like to set up a Sharing Space where you are? Email: syeda@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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| Other news and opportunities
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We are looking for partners to collaborate with on a number of new resilient communities projects which we are developing alongside residents, from Resilience Rangers, to Stay Cool, to Cosy Homes and Our Estate … want to join our Neighbourwood?
Contact: ned@thinkanddocamden.org.uk |
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| Also: we’re delighted that our Communitrees project has been highlighted by the GLA as a successful urban forestry project. Read all about it here. |
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Thats it for now… Thanks for making it to the end of this bumper newsletter! We believe that if we wait for governments to create the future we want, it will be too late; if we do it by ourselves, it will not be enough - but if we unite as one big London community of businesses, residents, community groups, it might just be enough, and just in time. Join us…. |
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