Newsletter September 2010

This month’s edition is bursting with all sorts of exciting and local environmental items – such as local solar generation, fungi forage, Community Market, car-free day in Devon, Green Fair in Exeter (Saturday 4th!) African drumming, a survey about a community vegetable shop in Ottery plus our exciting multi-cultural, music AutumnFest event. Read on to find out more…

SATURDAY 2ND OCTOBER – AUTUMNFEST IN OTTERY ST. MARY.
An evening of exciting multi-culture vibes is coming to Ottery on Saturday October 2nd. Sustainable Ottery is presenting live world music while spreading the message of permaculture, at The Institute.
Beth Hamer (GrowingOurFutures) will be giving a presentation of her recent visit to Cuba and the relevance of that experience to her work with Okehampton College students in West Devon.
Moussa Kouyate, master kora player, of griot heritage from Senegal, plays the beautiful West African instrument. He will also talk briefly about the significance and structure of the kora, which he continues to make himself.
Finally a 'local world' touch from 4 piece acoustic band Folkadelica! Playing Eastern European and African themes including a couple of numbers with Ottery's own djembe players!
Doors open after 7, for 7.30 start; tickets £6.50 in advance from Roberts and Ottery Health Food Store; £7.50 on door. Licensed bar and snacks. Finish just after 11pm.
Come enjoy, explore, engage!

FOOD GROUP
The next meeting of the Food Group is on 7th September, 7.30pm in the bar of the London Inn. If you are interested in all things to do with local food please come along.

SATURDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER - SOLAR POWER IN ACTION
Are you interested in solar power? Have you been tempted to generate your own energy and get paid by the Government for doing so? Then why not come along to an ‘open house’ on Saturday 18th September (from 10 until 1) at 35 Oak Close, Ottery St. Mary and see both a solar thermal system (heating hot water) and 15 PV panels (generating electricity) in action. Sun Gift Solar (local installers of the system) will be there to answer any queries you might have about their systems or about generating energy in general. Please e-mail info@sustainableottery.org.uk or telephone 01404 811067 for more information or directions.

TRY YOUR HAND AT AFRICAN DRUMMING
The Sustainable Ottery drumming sessions will start again on Saturday 18th September with a slightly different format, and a new venue. Starting at 2pm the first session will be for beginners and inexperienced drummers, and the second session will start at about 3.30 and will be for more confident or experienced drummers. Each session will cost £7.50 and you can choose if you attend the first, the second, or both sessions. Complete novices are welcome and there will be drums to borrow. The new venue is The Station Youth Centre, just over the bridge towards Kings School. We are going to try this new venue as we wanted somewhere that would be warmer in the winter. Further sessions are on October 23rd and November 20th. Please contact us on 01404 814217 or info@sustainableottery.co.uk to find out more, or to book your place.

COMMUNITY MARKET  Saturday 25 September 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 from the local WI
The next market is on Saturday 25 September 9.30am - 12.30pm at the Institute in Yonder Street.

COMMUNITY VEGETABLE SHOP
Following the sudden closure of Wendy’s Greengrocers, leaving many Ottery shoppers at a loss , there has been much discussion about whether the Community Market could meet more often or whether local producers might set up a shop in town. Many of these discussions about setting up a Community shop have been directed to Sustainable Ottery as one of our main aims to make Ottery as sustainable and resilient as possible and that includes providing for itself, especially food and keeping things local. This will not only reduce the food miles but should ensure fresher food and more money will be kept in the local economy if supplies are sourced locally. We will know who is growing the food too.
There are many benefits to a shop being run on a community enterprise basis. In principle it would not be run for any one person’s gain, it would run on a not-for-profit basis so that all net profits would go back into benefitting the community.
A venture of this kind will need a committed core group of people to manage and steer the setting up of the shop. It will also probably need a paid manager to run the shop as it is a committed responsibility, along with volunteers and there is no doubt that a shop of it's kind would command enough takings to be able to sustain a paid position.
Following an initial meeting about this a small sub-group has been set-up to investigate this further. Their first task is to establish whether there will be a demand for such a shop. A questionnaire will appear in September issue of Ottery Gazette and is reproduced at the end of this newsletter or visit our website www.sustainableottery.org.uk. All replies to be handed in to Roberts or Ottery Healthfoods in town by the end of the month if possible.

FUNGI FORAGE
Following the successful Wild Food Forage in July we are now looking ahead to Autumn (I think it has arrived already).
The first Sustainable Ottery Fungi Foray is planned for the morning of Saturday 16th October, led by a local expert who has kindly offered to share her knowledge of edible fungi. The plan is to meet up on the outskirts of Ottery at 10.30, walk some of the footpaths and public rights of way collecting edible fungi before returning to our starting point for an open air cook-up of our finds. There will be a small charge for this Foray to cover the cost of food to accompany the fungi, more news on this in a short while. Numbers are limited to 20, first come first served. Youngsters are welcome but anyone under 14 will need to be accompanied by an adult.
If you would like to put your name down for this please send an email to info@sustainableottery.org.uk with fungi as the subject, and we will ensure that you get final details. 

TEXTILE REQUEST
Do you have any old sheets, curtains, duvet covers, surplus lengths of fabric, buttons, threads, whlte shirts or ties you no longer require? If so then Mrs Merrygold at the King’s School would love to receive them to use next term to encourage students to reuse and recycle textile items. King’s School tel. no. is 01404 812982.

LAND REQUEST
We have been asked to place the following request in our newsletter ‘Does anyone know of an acre of two of land that could be purchased with a view to planting fruit trees within 7 miles of the tow?’ Any replies to come via info@sustainableottery.org.uk please.

HARVEST HUB UPDATE
AGM/Harvest Celebration- Sunday 19th September 4pm some freshly pressed apple juice from local orchards. ALL WELCOME.
Grow your own, Permaculture and Composting- Night Class 6 week course starts Thursday 7th October 7-9pm. This course is aimed at anyone wanting to start growing their own food without recourse to chemicals and following permaculture principles. Some of the areas covered include mulching, companion planting, perennial veg, no-dig and a detailed look at composting using worms, Bokashi and anaerobic digestion. The course includes videos and a tour of the Hub garden. £44 – booking now open.
To find out more visit www.harvesthub.blogspot.com or contact Phil Foggitt on 851048 or  philfoggitt@gmail.com and Christina on 814086 or christina@davidwilkinsacd.co.uk   

OTHER EVENTS–
  Saturday 4th September, 10-4 p.m. Green fair on the Cathedral Green. Lots of interesting stalls all with an environmental/sustainable theme.
  Tuesday September 7th, 8.30 ‘No Impact Man’ film showing at the Exeter Picture House, followed by Q & A with Gill Westcott from Transition Exeter. More details on their website www.transitionexeter.org.uk .
  Wednesday 22nd September. Devon County Council Car-free Day. The aim of the day is to get people to leave their cars at home, explore other options for getting to work or school and to reduce their carbon footprint. They will be offering sponsored prizes for the winners of the 'best team' effort, and 'the most creative way of travelling using green/sustainable transport'. People have been very creative in previous years and have used sedan chairs, horse and carts, tandems and rowing boats, for example. DCC have also been able to negotiate special fare prices for the day on several of the county's bus services.
Details of these and the prizes are available on the website www.devon.gov.uk/devoncarfreeday
  Friday 24th September 8 p.m. CHURCH JAZZ SHOW TO AID “HELP FOR HEROES”. Profits from the Roger Marks’ Armada Jazz Band concert will be shared equally between the “Help For Heroes” charity and the Parish Church. Tickets £10 in advance ( from 01404 811299, the Tourist Information Office or Church Office 01404 813964 ) or £12 on the night There will be a licensed bar offering local beer, soft drinks or wine.

Next Sustainable Ottery meeting – Thursday 16th September at 7.30 in the URC Hall, Jesu Street (opposite the Co-op). All welcome to attend.
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 added to the mailing list please let us know.

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