Newsletter June 2010
Sustainable Ottery: Ottery St Mary’s response to climate change, carbon footprints and peak oil.
Welcome to the June 2010 edition of
Sustainable Ottery’s monthly newsletter
Herbs and natural food forage event, Saturday 10 July
There is a vast resource of wild food just growing on our doorsteps waiting to be collected – as you can discover at SO’s “Herbs and Natural Food Forage event” on Saturday 10 July on an organic farm near Ottery. There will be a two hour walk around the farm during which two experts will guide people on what wild foods and herbs can be collected and eaten. We will then prepare what we have found and enjoy a lunch of British wild food. At the same time we will collect natural herbs and make some easy preparations that can be used in the home. There are limited places on this event and they are offered free on a first come first served basis. If you are interested and would like to book a place, send an email to info@sustainableottery.org.uk with “Food Forage” in the subject line. Include your name, contact number and the number of places you would like. We are planning to car share from the town so please indicate if you can provide a seat in a car, or would like a lift. We will then send more details at the end of June.
Sainsbury’s Update
A big thank you to all those supporters who wrote to English Heritage and the Government of the South West (GOSW) asking for the Sainsbury’s decision to be referred to the Secretary of State on the grounds that such a large store should not be allowed to go ahead in a conservation area. It has definitely caught the attention of GOSW. Their decision about whether or not to refer the decision to central government is likely to be made in the next few weeks, so maybe by the time our next SO Newsletter comes out in early July we will know more. Given the small number of planning decisions that get referred, we are not very optimistic, but you never know.
Latest on traffic. EDDC have not yet issued the notice which gives Sainsbury’s the final go-ahead so they can start the building process. We understand the delay has been caused by a sudden realisation that the traffic problems will be horrendous and need looking into further. This is despite DCC Highways Dept. claiming that they could see no potential problems with an estimated 20,000 visits per week to the proposed supermarket (Sainsbury’s own estimate), regardless of Ottery’s narrow and already congested streets. Now all parties are looking into the possibility of making Hind Street two-way to relieve the problems which DCC could not foresee. We did offer to show personnel from the Highways Dept. around Ottery many months ago so that they could see for themselves the likely black-spots and potential problems. However, they did not take us up on this offer. Making Hind Street a two-way street might ease traffic congestion but could make life even more miserable for the residents there. Moreover, in our opinion, it is likely that many new shoppers coming into Ottery from the west could well go to Sainsbury’s and back home again without even noticing, let alone visiting, the local shops. And such a scheme will not alleviate the potential traffic problems in Gold Street and North Street either. What a mess!
Community Market – Saturday 26 June 9.30 – 12.30
Fresh Vegetables & Plants at Sustainable Ottery’s Community Market. The market is now the only place in Ottery town centre to buy fresh, locally produced vegetables!
We also welcome back our plant and locally grown flower stalls.
Everyone’s welcome to browse and shop among the many stalls selling organic meat, home made cakes and chocolate, cards, jewellery, gifts, fair trade goods, nature photographs, eggs, preserves and much more.
Relax with coffee and cake while children have their faces painted.
The next market is on Saturday 26 June 9.30am – 12.30pm at the Institute in Yonder Street.
Drumming into Summer
Sustainable Ottery’s African drumming workshops continue to be a success with a great group of drummers, both experienced and beginners, now planning their summer dates. The next dates are on 26 June & 17 July at 2pm in the Old Boys School in Jesu Street. Everyone is welcome to attend and drums are available to borrow, or you can bring your own. Tutor Nick Bore will take you through the basics, before introducing more complex rhythms which fill the hall, and probably Jesu Street, with the sound of Africa. If you would like to attend please call Clive on 01404 814217 to find out more. The cost is between £12 and £15 depending on numbers and the fun starts at 2pm and lasts for three hours. There will be no workshop in August but they will start again in late September.
Parish Church Summer Fete at Cadhay – a resounding success in spite of the rain!
Once again we were very grateful to St Mary’s Parish Church for inviting us to hold a stall at their annual summer fete in the beautiful Cadhay gardens on Saturday 26 May. Hundreds braved the wind and showers to enjoy this unique event in the Ottery calendar and many went away with free seeds, seedlings and vegetable plants donated by SO members, as well as Yvonne Salmon’s delicious jam (made from blackcurrants in Jill Dixon’s garden) and our newly printed SO information leaflet. Heartfelt thanks to Roberts Hardware for their donation of a garden trug packed with gardening goodies for our raffle and to Ottery guides for the loan of their gazebo which kept us dry. All in all, we raised £100 towards SO’s ongoing activities. But more importantly the Cadhay fete is a great opportunity to chat to people about what SO is trying to do and how they can get involved.
Sustainable Ottery AGM: live bands, food - and a talk about permaculture in Cuba – watch this space
In the last newsletter, we mentioned that we were in the process of confirming a date for Beth Hamer (of GrowingOurFuture) to come and speak to SO about her 6 week trip to Cuba where she explored the island’s advances in permaculture and the politics of food production there. She is now applying some of the things she learnt in Cuba to her own town of Okehampton. Having originally thought of inviting Beth to Ottery in early summer, we are now thinking of delaying this event to the autumn and combining it with our first AGM as a Community Interest Company. And because AGMs can sometimes sound a bit dull, we also plan to have live music and food (asking everyone to bring a plate of something like we did in the autumn of 2009). If you would like to help organise this event, please e-mail: info@sustainableottery.org.uk
Events in Neighbouring Towns
Transition Exeter have informed us of a launch of A Real Food Company in Exeter and you could become a shareholder! Come along to their launch on Thursday 10th June at 6.30 at St. Stephen’s Church, High Street, Exeter. To find out more visit www.realfoodexeter.co.uk
Crediton Climate Action are holding an ‘open house’ for renewable energy and an ‘open kitchen garden’ on the weekend of 26/27 June.
More information see http://sustainablecrediton.org.uk/Pages/Events/Events.html
Sidmouth Community Market on Saturday 12th June in St. John’s Ambulance Hall, 10 – 12.30. Contact Kerry on 07973 137592 for more details.
Trill Farm near Axminster are holding numerous courses over the next few months covering topics such as organic gardening, beauty and perfumery, renewable energy, health and well-being, rural skills, building sustainability, natural remedies, yoga, preserving, organic farming, permaculture, eco-textiles etc. etc.! For more information on these please contact Zoe Haigh at zoe@trillfarm.co.uk. (They are happy to pick-up from the station if you want to go by train).
Become a member of the Sustainable Ottery Community Interest Company
If you are on our mailing list, you will automatically receive our monthly newsletter via e-mail. But you can also become a member of Sustainable Ottery (now that we are a Community Interest Company). The benefits of being a member:
o Supporting the work of Sustainable Ottery as described on the website
oVoting powers at AGMs (notice of these will be posted on the website)
oThe right to stand for election as a director of the company
o Regular e-newsletters keeping you up to date with news of Sustainable Ottery, environmental and local issues
oMembership of sub-groups that interest you
oAn influence on the direction that the organisation takes in pursuit of its aims
oAn open invitation to attend Directors’ meetings
At the end of the newsletter you will find an application form for membership of SO. You will also find our skills audit form which is our way of discovering what you, our supporters and members, are skilled at. This means you can offer to get involved in the way that you want to. Please take a look, fill it in and email it back to us. Thank you.
The next SO monthly Steering Group meeting is on Thursday 17 June 7.30pm, URC Hall (behind URC Church, opposite the Co-op in Jesu St). All welcome to attend.
Please pass on this newsletter to any contacts you have. If a friend has sent you this, please e-mail info@sustainableottery.org.uk adding `subscribe’ to the subject line. If you would like to be removed from the mailing list, please let us know. And if you currently receive a paper copy of this newsletter but could receive it electronically (which is cheaper and more environmentally friendly), please send us your e-mail address.
See www.sustainableottery.org.uk for further details of our events and activities.
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Sustainable Ottery Ltd.
Community Interest Company
Application for membership
I would like to apply to be a member of Sustainable Ottery and I support the aims of the organisation as described on the organisation’s website at www.sustainableottery.org.uk/
Name:………………………………………………………………………………..
Address: …………………………………………………………………………….
…………………………………… Postcode: ……………………………………..
Email: ………………………………………………………………………………..
Tel: ………………………………………………Signature………………………..
Membership is open to everyone over the age of 16.
Annual membership fee £3 (renewable on 15th October annually)
Benefits of membership
· Supporting the work of Sustainable Ottery as described on the website
· Voting powers at AGMs (notice of these will be posted on the website)
· The right to stand for election as a director of the company
· Regular e-newsletters keeping you up to date with news of Sustainable Ottery, environmental and local issues
· Membership of sub-groups that interest you
· An influence on the direction that the organisation takes in pursuit of its aims
· An open invitation to attend Director’s meetings
I do not wish to be a member but would like to be a supporter and receive the e-newsletter
Please return to: Sustainable Ottery, c/o Roberts, Broad Street, Ottery St. Mary, Devon. EX11 1BU
Cash, or cheques made out to Sustainable Ottery please.
Your details will not be passed to any other organisation at any time. By signing this form you are agreeing to us keeping your information on a computer system.
Also Click Here for a downloadable version of the application form
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Skills Audit Database
To enable Sustainable Ottery to communicate better with its supporters we wish to enhance our database. If happy to do so, please could you fill in the requested details below and return, so that in future Sustainable Ottery can make better use of its hidden talents.
Experiences and skills.- don’t hide yours under a bushel, we all have something to offer. Here are a few suggestions:
Name: Post Code:
E-mail: Telephone:
EXPERIENCES & SKILLS:
Delivering leaflets Accountancy/bookkeeping
Food preservation Campaigning
Garden share, land available Organising events
Livestock rearing Poster design
Permaculture Public speaking
Putting up posters Running meetings
Seasonal cooking Writing up minutes
Staffing stalls Town planning
Tree planting Fund raising
Vegetable growing Advertising
Catering Group Facilitation
Creative activities Renewable energy
Coaching & counselling
Please tick one or more boxes and return via this email address (info@sustainableottery.org.uk) or via SkillsAudit@sustainableottery.org.uk . If we have omitted a skill that you are able to offer, feel free to write it in a space provided.
If returning this skills survey in paper form then please could you drop it into Roberts Hardware shop for collection.
