Though for many the Wombles may seem just a nostalgic childhood memory, their ethos of ‘make good use of bad rubbish’ has made a large and long-standing contribution to environmental education.
First created in Elizabeth Beresford’s ‘The Wombles’ in 1968, the pointy-nosed furry creatures have since appeared in several children’s novels and TV series, and their main location being ‘the burrow’ under Wimbledon and Putney Commons has caused them to become a beloved symbol and key fixture in local culture.
In the 1970s, when the Wombles were first gaining traction, the main focus on the environment was simply cleaning up the streets, meaning that they were decades ahead in showing the detrimental impact of human activity, and were one of the first examples of such an educating role that was aimed at children.
The burrow’s communal work of cleaning up and recycling litter in creative ways, and the whole environmentally-minded core of the Wombles gently encourages viewers and readers to care for their surroundings from an early age; in a survey I conducted I found that 89% of those who were aware of the Wombles have been so since their childhood, and the majority (54%) think of them as positively impacting the environment.
Not only are the Wombles an integral part of Wimbledon’s identity, but their comical encounters and antics with rubbish resonate with young audiences, teaching them what are now considered more modern-day ideas about reusing items and avoiding overconsumption.
The Wombles’ activism was even used to make them ambassadors for the UK government’s Together for Our Planet campaign, encouraging people to go #onestepgreener.
By using fictional characters, Beresford created a safe environment for future generations to learn about how to care for their surroundings, helping many navigate growing concerns about the environment.
According to the results of the children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza’s 2021 report the ‘Big Ask’ with over half a million participants aged 9-17, 39% of children said that the environment was one of their main worries about the future, making it the second most common answer.
Children all across the world are becoming increasingly aware of the danger that human activity poses on the planet through education, and characters such as the Wombles help do this through telling the story from the perspective of an active part of an ecosystem.
Thanks to the books and TV series, the Wombles have had a large cultural influence on Wimbledon’s community; the mascot of AFC Wimbledon is the Womble ‘Haydon’, and there are several benches with them, such as one in the Wimbledon piazza.
Many primary schools in Wimbledon also include Wombles as part of topics on their local area, further increasing their reach on children’s environmental education.
‘I remember learning about the Wombles when I was in year three - they made me genuinely excited to be out on the common,' says Zara Edmunds, local student who attended The Study in Wimbledon.
Zara further adds ‘I feel that the Wombles prompt a sense of wonder in young children, and encourage them to care for and love natural wild areas.’
The Wombles have also had a much further reach with their band, and even performed live at Glastonbury in 2011.
Ever since their creation, the Wombles have greatly helped shape eco-consciousness across a huge audience, and one can easily anticipate that as the challenges of the climate crisis intensify and their message of environmental care becomes increasingly important, they will continue to inspire future generations to take meaningful action.
