From the Pitch to the Community: Creating Climate Action Together

A free workshop bringing Norwich people together through sport to understand climate change and turn ideas into practical local action. Community Action starts with Community 120,000 grassroots football matches are cancelled because of rain and flooding in a typical year. A third of community pitches can already be unplayable for up to two months of the year. And when the rain finally stops, clubs increasingly face the opposite problem: heat, drought and pitches too hard to play on safely. Climate change isn't a distant issue for sport. It's changing when we can play, where we can play – and what it costs to keep playing. And when a match is cancelled, the impact doesn't stop at the touchline. There's lost income. Disrupted leagues and training. Frustrated players, parents and volunteers. Children missing opportunities to be active. And community facilities that become harder and more expensive to maintain. Sport England estimates that climate impacts are already costing grassroots sport around £320 million a year in repairs and lost income. So we're bringing people together to ask a different question: What can we do about it – locally and together? Climate Fresk and Community Climate Action are inviting people from every kind of sport, alongside people from across the wider Norwich community, for a free, highly interactive day exploring what's changing and what practical action could look like here - and where better to host this event than Norwich City Community Sport Foundation's home: The Nest. Because sport understands something rather well: Together, we can achieve more than divided. Where and When From the Pitch to the Community: Creating Change Together in Norwich 📅 Sunday 29 November 2026 ⏰ 11:30am–4:30pm 📍 The Nest, Holt Road, Horsford, Norwich, NR10 3AQ 🎟️ Free to attend 🥗 Light lunch, snacks, tea and coffee provided 🤝 Delivered by Climate Fresk UK + Community Climate Action 🎟️ Funded by The National Lottery Community Fund Places are limited, so please book in advance. Better still, don’t come alone. Bring someone from your sports club, organisation, neighbourhood or community who you’d like to take action with afterwards. Why Sport? Sport is about far more than what happens on the pitch. Sports clubs, coaches, volunteers and supporters are embedded within their communities. They bring together people of different ages and backgrounds and can reach audiences that many traditional institutions struggle to engage. Norwich City Community Sports Foundation has already committed to moving towards Net Zero by 2030 and has identified environmental awareness and education as an important part of achieving that ambition. Its commitments include reducing energy use and carbon emissions, managing water consumption, reducing waste, reusing and recycling materials, and embedding environmental sustainability into policies and procurement. And there are already practical examples at The Nest itself. The Foundation’s 22-acre community hub brings together sport, health, education and community activities in a green setting, while initiatives such as its pre-loved sportswear and equipment store give unwanted kit a second life. Our workshop is an opportunity to build on action like this — and explore what else might be possible. From understanding to action Climate change is a huge and complex challenge. That can make it difficult to know where to begin. Our workshop takes a different approach. Rather than sitting through presentations telling you what you should do, you’ll work with other people to understand the challenge, share ideas and identify practical opportunities for action. 🌍 First, Understand Through the internationally acclaimed Climate Fresk workshop, you’ll work in a small team to explore the causes and consequences of climate change and discover how different parts of the climate system connect. It’s collaborative, accessible and designed for people with all levels of climate knowledge. 🤝 Then, Connect Then we’ll bring the conversation closer to home. • What does climate change mean for sport and for communities like ours? • What are organisations across Norwich already doing? • Where could we learn from one another? • And where might there be opportunities to collaborate? 💡 Then, Imagine We’ll move from the problems towards the possibilities. • Could clubs reduce waste or energy use? • Could we rethink travel to matches and events? • Could unwanted sports equipment be reused rather than thrown away? • Could sports facilities provide more space for nature? • Could clubs use their influence to engage players, supporters, families and communities? • And what ideas haven’t we thought of yet? 🚀 And finally, Act Finally, Community Climate Action will help turn ideas into practical next steps. Because success isn’t simply leaving the workshop knowing more about climate change. Success is what happens afterwards. Who should come? We’re particularly keen to bring together people from across Norwich’s sporting community. Whether you’re involved with a grassroots football club, running or cycling group, gym, leisure centre, school sports programme, sports charity or community organisation, we’d love you to join us. You might be a coach, volunteer, player, parent, trustee, groundskeeper, teacher, sustainability lead or simply someone who loves sport and wants their community to thrive. But this isn’t an event exclusively for people involved in sport. One of the most exciting aspects of the programme is bringing together people who might not normally meet. So we’re also inviting people from community organisations, charities, schools and colleges, local businesses, environmental groups, faith communities and other organisations across Norwich. The more perspectives we have around the table, the more interesting the possibilities become. Why the Nest? There couldn’t be a more appropriate place for this conversation. The Nest is Norwich City Community Sports Foundation’s community hub — a 22-acre site in Horsford that brings together football, physical activity, health and wellbeing, education and community programmes. It’s a place built around the idea that sport can create positive change far beyond the pitch.