A FAMILY hopes their efforts to help the environment mean they walk away with the Green Household title at the 2009 Green Guardian Awards.

The Hemmings family, who live in Eden Park Avenue, Beckenham, do all they can to help the environment and live a sustainable lifestyle.

The family consists of Martin, and Jennifer and their children Harry, 13, Jamie, 11, Alice, nine, and eight-year-old Ben.

They have built a summerhouse from recycled materials, encourage wildlife to visit their garden, turn food scraps into compost and only produce one-and-a-half bags of rubbish per week.

Mr Hemmings said: “It is a family thing and we are all trying to make a difference.

“It is our children’s generation we are trying to look out for.”

The Hemmings have two TV-free nights each week to save electricity and also shred all receipts they receive and use the paper as bedding for their hamster.

They have also built a feature in which four recycling boxes are hidden under a plant bed to avoid having a pile of plastic boxes in their garden.

A GROUP which has spent time improving a town’s green spaces is hoping to be recognised.

Biggin Hill Friends of the Parks has tackled everything from litter-picking and bulb planting to removing graffiti.

It is now hoping to be crowned the winner in the Green Project or Group award at the 2009 Green Guardian Awards.

Since the group was formed in 2007, 15 active members have given up their time to improve parks and green spaces around Biggin Hill.

Committee member David Judd said: “We would like to win as one of the prizes is a park bench and this would benefit the community.”

One of the first places the group tackled was Main Recreation Ground in Church Road, Biggin Hill, and the wooded area behind it known as the Copse.

The Copse needed clearing as it was covered with flytipped rubbish and overgrown bushes and nettles, which hid the floor and wild flowers.

Not only did the group clear up bottles, car parts, cans and crisp packets, it also tackled the rose beds which had become unkempt.

The group has continued to keep the areas tidy and also looks after two others — Jug Hill, bordering Main Road in Biggin Hill, and King’s Road Recreation Ground.

A HOUSING association is hoping to win an environmental prize for a project which involved refurbishing a 1930s house.

Hyde Housing Association is up for the Green Concept award for its Retofit and Replicate Project, which has seen it refurbish the house to reduce its carbon emissions by up to 80 per cent.

The house in Court Farm Road in Mottingham was completed in October 2008 after three months’ work, at a cost of £90,000.

It includes triple-glazed windows with insulated frames, insulated walls inside and outside and rooftop solar panels.

Simon Chatfield, director of major development for The Hyde Group, said: “Hyde’s retrofit project was the first to tackle the issue of how to achieve 80 per cent carbon reduction in a typical existing property.

“The lessons learnt in how to achieve this and how cost effective these solutions are will be hugely important for the industry as it tries to achieve carbon dioxide reduction on a larger scale.”

Other environmental aspects of the house, which is currently occupied by a family of three, include LED lighting, recycled kitchen units, composting bins, a water butt and a raised vegetable garden.

The results of the project will be announced in the summer next year, and will help determine what innovations might be rolled out in the 43,000 properties currently run by Hyde.