Defiant Sports helps save pumpkins from the bin this Halloween

According to new research from environmental charity Hubbub, across the country, 30 million pumpkins are expected to be bought for carving, of which 16 million won’t be eaten. This is the equivalent of 95 million meals-worth of pumpkins set to go to waste, worth £26.7 million.

The event at Defiant Sports is one of more than 100 taking place across the country to support Hubbub’s #EatYourPumpkin campaign which this year is calling on Halloween lovers to ditch the knife and give decorating a go. By switching pumpkin carving to decorating, the charity hopes that even more pumpkins will be eaten this Halloween.

TheGourd Gala took place at the Defiant Sports Inclusion Hub in Eastbourne and was open to people and families of all ages.

Loretta Lock from Defiant Sports said, “By running the Gourd Gala we really hope to inspire local residents to eat their pumpkins this year and help make this delicious food go further. We gave out recipe booklets containing 5 different recipes for people to try, and we hope they will inspire their families and friends to do the same”.You can get an average of six meals out of a pumpkin, and they make a great addition to a soup or curry and taste fantastic with a wide range of flavours including ginger, chilli and sage.

Mark Breen, Senior Creative Partner at Hubbub said: “For ten years we’ve been inspiring the public to eat their pumpkins at Halloween. This year we’re sharing fun ideas to decorate pumpkins instead of carving them, to help them keep for longer and give people more time to cook them. If everyone cooked and ate their Halloween pumpkins, they’d be saving a combined £26.7 million worth of edible food from going to waste!

On 24th October, Hubbub and award-winning children’s book writer and illustrator Rob Biddulph, released a special DrawWithRob video – his first ever not using paper. Instead, he showed three brand new designs for drawing straight onto a pumpkin with edible ink.

For the second year, this year’s #EatYourPumpkin campaign is supported by donations from the Starbucks® 5p cup charge, which is applied when a customer chooses to use a single-use cup. Introduced voluntarily in 2018, Starbucks has donated all funds to Hubbub to create stronger, greener communities.

Hubbub’s Top tips for an environmentally friendly Halloween:

· If you’d rather not waste any of your pumpkin, then get creative with your decorating. Think of alternative ways to create a spooky grimace without carving, meaning you can still eat the pumpkin when Halloween celebrations are over! Head to Hubbub’s social media channels for some step-by-step ideas for decorating your pumpkins!

· Did you know you can eat almost every part of the pumpkin? In fact, it’s only the stalk that isn’t edible. Head to Hubbub’s Eat Your Pumpkin page for tips on how to use the skin, seeds, guts and flesh of your pumpkins.

· One pumpkin can make several meals, why not freeze the bits you don’t want to use straight away and save for a rainy day?

· If you don’t like the taste of pumpkin, then why not make your own spooky decorations? From craft sets to window pens to making your own Halloween poster, there are plenty of ways you can decorate for Halloween without using a pumpkin.

Visit www.hubbub.org.uk/eat-your-pumpkin to find out more. #EatYourPumpkin