The Lakeland Forum was the venue recently for the Fermanagh Environmental Festival.
Run over two days, Saturday and Sunday, the 'green' event included demonstrations, guest speakers and stalls on a range of environmentally sensitive issues.
The Festival was devised and developed by members of two community groups, Killesher and Letterbreen, and by Tempo Farmers Group.
Over thirty-five organisations took stands and organised activities at the show while a number of specialist speakers covered various important environmental aspects and topics.
Marcus McCabe gave a talk to visitors to the show about Hempire, which is a new product to replace traditional mortar. Hempire uses hemp and lime to make a ready mixed plaster designed specifically for use in zero carbon buildings.
This process uses less water and more natural resources providing an end product with improved insulation properties. Marcus also gave an interesting demonstration of how Hempire is made.
Another presentation entitled 'Science and the Environment' was provided by Sue McGrath.
Sue's presentation dealt with the serious subject of how science impacts on our environment.
'Small Steps, Big Changes' was the interesting title of Fiona Gracey's presentation.
Fiona lives with her husband and children an eco-friendly life in a home close to Brookeborough without electricity or mains water.
Fiona's husband Andy has built the house himself and they are aiming to be completely self-sufficient, although they haven't quite got there yet.
The family don't fly anymore and Fiona educates her children at home. Her only affiliation with 21st Century technology is when she uses the internet connection at her local library.
It was fascinated to learn how a modern family can exist and have a good quality life only leaving a very small carbon footprint.
Talking about the Environmental Festival John Houston, Festival Manager, said he was very pleased with how the event went.
'It was fantastic, absolutely wonderful. The beautiful weather over the weekend certainly helped too', commented John.
John explained that the festival was the culmination of a three year Environmental Awareness Project which aimed to heighten people's awareness of the environment and how it impacts on all our lives.
"The aim of the programme was not to beat people over the head with any strong message. Rather the aim was to get people to look at the way they are living their lives and how this might impact on our environment."
John said that small things can make a big difference such as reducing our heating clocks and turning our heat down a few degrees.
Also, better use of our cars making less trips can also save fuel and resources.
On Saturday at the Festival there was an environmental poster competition which involved both primary and secondary school pupils with the prizes for the competition handed out by Fermanagh District Council Chairman Alex Baird.
The festival was part of EU programme Building Sustainable Prosperity and John Houston said a special word of thanks to all the festival's sponsors and to all from the various community groups who helped organise and run the event.
