Circular Whitby

A community wealth building initiative for local skills, making, mending and growing

Circular Whitby is a small but powerful project exploring how we can keep value in Whitby. By developing new skills, supporting small scale production, fixing what we already have, and sharing knowledge across our community, we are building a steady culture of resilience and local opportunity.

This pilot is supported with a small grant from the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority Community Wealth Building Fund, enabling us to test ideas and lay the foundations for long-term, locally owned growth.

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What Circular Whitby is doing

Circular Whitby offers practical, hands-on activities to build skills, confidence, and connection:

🍓 Whitby Jam

Using locally grown or donated fruit, participants make jam, chutney, and preserves. This teaches production, labelling, costing, and micro-enterprise skills while creating a tangible product they can take pride in.

🛠 Repair and Reuse

Community-based repair sessions help people learn to mend clothing, furniture, and household items. These activities reduce waste, recover value, and keep useful items in circulation.

🌱 Cooking, Growing and Creative Making

Participants take part in small-scale growing, seed saving, and food-based learning to gain confidence and knowledge. Shared cooking sessions teach practical food skills while fostering social connection. Creative activities, including craft, music, and event-making, show that community wealth is social and cultural as well as financial.

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Why Circular Whitby matters and how to get involved

Circular Whitby exists because too much value leaves the town, too many skills remain unseen or unused, and too many resources are thrown away instead of repaired or reused. We believe that small acts like mending a chair, making jam, or growing herbs can lead to bigger change. This is not charity. This is capacity building.

If you would like to take part, share skills, volunteer, donate materials, or simply follow our progress, we would love to hear from you.