Newsletter July 2008

Sustainable Ottery: Ottery St Mary’s response to climate change, carbon footprints and peak oil.

Welcome to the July edition of the Sustainable Ottery Newsletter

Film Showing of `Message in the Waves’, Thursday 10 July, 7.30pm, The Institute, Yonder St, Ottery St Mary

`Message in the Waves’ is a BBC Natural World programme set in Hawaii which SO’s Resources Working Group is showing in Ottery to help raise local awareness of the damage caused by plastic bags. Plastic uses up oil in its production and creates a huge problem after use as it does not degrade as natural materials do. Disused plastic is found all over the planet, dispersed by the oceans where it accumulates. Marine wildlife is frequently found dead following the ingestion of plastic objects.

The film showing is open to everyone and we hope you can attend. We are particularly hoping that local traders will come along. Thanks to the Co-operative, we will have 50 cotton bags to give away on the night! Other Ottery traders will be invited to display their alternative bags too.

Is there anyone who could help us on the evening set up chairs and serve teas and coffees etc? If you can, please ring 01404 812683 or 01404 811067. Thanks!

More about the work of the Resources Working Group

Since starting up last year, the resources group has been focusing on trying to make Ottery plastic bag-free, as many places now are. Modbury is famous for having started the idea in this country, but France and Ireland have been for several years, and China is due to go plastic bag-free from this June! Further into the future the Resources Group may look into encouraging the use of glass milk bottles – very handy when delivered to your door and now available for organic milk too. We would love to have some more members in the Resources Group. If you are interested in joining us, please phone 01404 812683.

Factory Future Working Group

Steve Bendle of Wessex Community Assets has recently sent the Group a very useful and informative Discussion Paper which lays out the potential and viability of developing the old mill and factory for community purposes and possible sources of finance. The implications of this Paper will be discussed at the next Factory Future meeting on Weds 2 July, 7.30, at Normandy House Indian Cuisine (opposite the church). Come and find out more. All welcome.

St Mary’s Church donates £200 to Sustainable Ottery

Last week, Sustainable Ottery was presented with a cheque for £200 from St Mary’s parish church. This represented half of the proceeds from the highly successful candlelit fair meal we publicised in the June newsletter and at which SO’s Nikki Lancaster was given the opportunity to say a few words about Sustainable Ottery (focusing on our new food group – see below). The church decided to split the proceeds from the evening between the Fairtrade Foundation and Sustainable Ottery. We are very grateful to the church for this generous donation. It will be used to fund Sustainable Ottery’s ongoing activities in this critical period in which we have set up various working groups and are now actively promoting more sustainable living in Ottery but have not yet secured significant grants from external bodies (we have just finalised our governing document so we will be able to start applying for grants in the near future).

Last Green Drinks on 3 July, 8pm onwards

Many of you will know that since last September we have been meeting for an informal drink in Normandy House Indian restaurant in Ottery on the first Thursday of every month. These`Green Drinks’ have proved a great way of getting to know each other in a more informal setting and have also enabled new people to come along and find out more about Sustainable Ottery and the various working groups without making any firm commitment. However, it seems that perhaps Green Drinks have outlived their purpose for the time being. Few people have turned up in the last few months – partly because they are now busy in SO’s working groups etc. This can be rather disheartening for the 1-2 people who show up.

So the Green Drinks in Normandy House Indian Cuisine (opposite the church) on Thursday 3 July will be the last Green Drinks for the time being. But please come along on 3 July as we shall be saying goodbye to Diana Jones, creator of the Community Market and co-founder of the Factory Future Group, who will be leaving Ottery this month.

Community Market, 26 July, and Radio 4’s `Any Questions’

Don’t miss the next Community Market on 26 July in The Institute. As well as all the usual stalls selling fresh local produce, fabulous home-made cakes, good quality handmade gifts, reconditioned tools, and other more quirky items such as Bonsai miniature trees, the local town councillors will be holding their monthly surgery there too.

During the market, town councillors will be handing out application forms for tickets to Radio 4’s `Any Questions’ programme which will be broadcast from the King’s School later this year. Completed application forms will need to be taken to the Tourist Information Centre where the tickets will be allocated on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Don’t forget: Community Market, Saturday, 26 July, 9.30 – 12.30, The Institute, Yonder St. Queries and stall bookings: ring Beatrix on 01404 812213.

Energy Group – Peter Addie talk and planned trip to his house

On 13 June, around 30 people attended an inspiring talk in The Institute by local environmentalist, Peter Addie, who runs his own home entirely on renewable energy and sells the excess back to the grid. He came with a heap of practical tips for increasing the energy efficiency of our homes, whether through adding a new type of insulation to the outside walls, ensuring all curtains have pelmets or surrounding our houses with porches and conservatories!

The energy group is now planning a Sustainable Ottery excursion to Peter Addie’s home at Dalwood Hill House near Offwell, to see firsthand how his various solar, wind and bio-mass energy generation systems actually work. More information soon on the trip to Dalwood Hill House.

Art and creativity group

Did you manage to catch King’s School pupils performing their play with an environmental theme at Pixie Day this year on the Land of Canaan? The play was the creation of the pupils themselves, with the support and input of Clive Essame from Sustainable Ottery’s art and creativity group. The valiant efforts of the young performers to make themselves heard above the frequent noise from planes flying into Exeter airport added a poignant twist to the performance. In spite of the audio problems, none of the audience could fail to have appreciated the passion and the anger felt by the performers about environmental destruction and the wasteful use of resources. A huge amount of work clearly went into the production. Well done to all involved!

The art and creativity group will next meet on Weds 23 July, 7.30pm at 12 Meadow Close, OSM. Bring your ideas for enhancing creative life in Ottery to the meeting. All welcome.

New food working group

The new good working group held their first meeting in June in Ottery Healthstore. If you are interested in joining the food group, please e-mail food@sustainableottery.org.uk and we will forward your e-mail to those involved.

Would you like to join an SO Transport Working Group?

The past 50 years have seen a revolution in the way we travel, mainly because of cars and planes. Oil-fuelled transport has given us the kind of mobility our ancestors would never have dreamed of. But at what cost? Quite apart from the congestion, air pollution and traffic accidents involved, the way we travel is having a huge impact on climate change. At the same time, soaring petrol prices indicate that the global demand for oil is starting to outstrip supply. As the days of cheap oil draw to a close and the effects of climate change start to bite, we need to develop alternative means of transport to the unsustainable transport most of us currently use.

Why not come and help us do this in Ottery? We are planning to set up a Sustainable Ottery transport working group in the near future, with a first meeting scheduled for early September – date to be confirmed. If you are interested in joining the transport group, please phone Helen on 01404 814078 or e-mail her at: Helen@hcollinson90.freeserve.co.uk. Please let us know whether you would prefer a day-time or evening mtg and which day/evening would suit you best.

At this stage, the possibilities for action around transport in Ottery are endless. Some are interested in improving bus services, others in promoting car share schemes or campaigning against the expansion of Exeter airport. The pros and cons of running cars on recycled chip oil and the serious implications of biofuel expansion are other issues we may have to address.

Cycleways. Many of us are particularly interested in working with the new SO transport group to promote the construction of safe cycle paths – an issue on which Sustainable Ottery has already been active. Last year, we encouraged our members to write letters to Ottery Town Council, EDDC and the press in support of the proposed cycleway along the disused railway line between Feniton and Sidmouth. We also worked with the Town Council and EDDC to drum up votes for the Sustrans bid in the People’s Lottery last December which included the building of a cycle and footpath between the Colin Tooze sports centre and the centre of Ottery. Thanks to our efforts (and those of others up and down the UK, of course!), the Sustrans bid won. A representative from Sustainable Ottery will now be joining a local steering committee to ensure the cycleway is built as soon as possible. But making the Feniton-Sidmouth cyclepath a reality will require a major mobilisation of local people and political will to get things moving. So please come and join us!

Reminder of dates for your diaries

2 July – Factory Future meeting, Normandy House, 7.30pm

3 July – Last Green Drinks, Normandy House, 8pm onwards

9 July – Communications/awareness raising meeting, 63 Yonder St, 9.30am

10 July – Showing of `Message in the Waves’, The Institute, 7.30pm

23 July - Arts and Creativity meeting, 12 Meadow Close, 7.30pm

23 July - Food meeting, 28 Longdogs Lane, 7.30pm

26 July – Community Market, The Institute, 9.30 – 12.30

Sustainable Ottery welcomes new members. Anyone interested in finding out more or in joining one of the working groups (energy, resources, food, art and creativity, transport, factory future, communications and awareness raising) can e-mail: info@sustainableottery.org.uk. See www.sustainableottery.org.uk for future events.

Please pass this on to any relevant contacts you have. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list please let us know.

Sustainable Ottery

A local response to global change

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