It’s been widely known and accepted for many years that eating meat is far from ideal for the environment, and with the gradual awakening that we have far from time to waste with the current climate emergency more people are turning to meat alternatives and different lifestyle.
A community of vegans are thriving and multiplying here in Tunbridge Wells with lots of terrific independent businesses championing their lifestyle choices.
The group Tunbridge Wells Vegans was set up by Jennifer Vinell way back in 2010 but she’s been a vegan for a hell of a lot longer, a whole 44 years in fact. The catalyst for that life decision she tells CommunityAd “was after a colleague at work told me about the horrors of the dairy industry. I joined the Vegan Society when I first went vegan for support as I didn’t know any other vegans. I’ve been a trustee since 2015 and am currently Chair”.
How has the group Tunbridge Wells Vegans grown since its inception in 2010?
I set up the page at the beginning of 2010 as part of being a Local Contact for the Vegan Society. I felt there must be some vegans out there and wanted to connect with them. We used to meet at the Royal Oak and initially, there were around half a dozen of us. Later, we moved to the Brickworks as it was easier for public transport. It grew very gradually at first but in the last two or three years the number of people asking to join the page has risen exponentially and we’re now at around 500.
Obviously, it’s very tough to say for certain but does the group have any events planned in the coming months/year ahead that our readers should note?
We’re hoping to run some potlucks again soon. We used to run them monthly but of course, these all stopped in March 2020. There are occasionally vegan events run by businesses which get posted on the page.