RUNNER beans from a Wellington ironmonger helped launch great promise for a cooler future as Somerset's first climate cafe opened its doors.

Climate Cafe Wellington went live at Wellington Meeting House on Thursday, April 23, with planned monthly meetings beginning from Thursday, May 14.

The audience listened with a runner bean from H T Perry & Son & Granddaughter in their hand as two keynote speakers talked about the local and global impact of a changing climate.

Town weatherman Simon Ratsey began by explaining how climate data collected by his family over the past 65 years showed that April had become the new May.

Simon, who turned 80 recently, finished with an appeal to someone in the town with a garden to set up a new weather station and carry on his work.

Halle Krieger, an American PhD student at Exeter University, followed with a talk about research into positive tipping points that could see the human species move towards a giving rather than a taking relationship with the earth.

Halle then gave a moving account of watching from afar as wildfires in California in January 2025 destroyed the place where she grew up.

After a brief interval for gut-friendly flapjacks, fresh herbal tea and ground coffee, Ewan Jones, chief executive of Somerset Association of Local Councils and founder of Somerset river conservation group, BrueCrew, chaired a lively discussion.

He said: "For me, the climate cafe's greatest achievement was to bring two different generations together to talk about climate change.

"I hope the climate cafe continues to build further bridges between the generations because it helps us become more alert to the scale of what's going on and who it affects most."

The audience then departed into the night with their runner bean in a recycled yoghurt pot full of compost.

The next meeting is May 14, from 6.30pm to 9pm.