With the burst of spring-time comes movement! Both in our gardens, and within our global transition from our fossil fuel dependency….. The great global energy transition is accelerating. Who could have imagined a few years ago that global carbon emissions would stall in 2015, spurred by a rise in renewable energy? Or that the Saudi government would announce a $2 trillion investment fund to wean their nation off oil within just 20 years? Or that an electric vehicle costing $35,000 would attract over 100,000 pre-orders some 20 months before its actual launch.
Read more here…. http://www.jeremyleggett.net
Ban Ki Moon has set Earth Day as the day for world leaders to start signing the Paris Agreement (but elsewhere Obama and Chinese leader seem to be signing it together now…)
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Meanwhile, back in our quiet corner of Derbyshire…
Grassroots Wirksworth began in 2010. From a small group of dedicated people it has grown to be a thriving community of like minds. Our newsletter reaches over 300 people, which for a small town is to be celebrated! Grassroots Wirksworth continues to grow and evolve. It is an open group, and what happens depends largely on people’s input and creative ideas. The beauty of it is, there are always other people to share, to support and develop your ideas further! Why not join one of the current groups, meet lively like-minded people and be part of this expanding movement!
NEWS FROM THE LOCAL ACTION GROUPS
THE CORE GROUP AND COMMUNICATIONS
Contact: wirksworthti@gmail.com
The Core Group meets about every six to eight weeks. Any supporter of Grassroots Wirksworth can join the core group. Contact us to find out more.
Grassroots Wirksworth New Website – Mary Ann, Glennie and Rosemary and are making good progress on improving our website www.grassrootswirksworth.org with the generous help of Chris Tebb in Wirksworth and John Hobson, a web designer in Cromford. It is still work in progress and the new site has not gone not live yet. There is still much to do! Each of the Action groups will have a page and sub pages if needed. We need help with writing, and photos of Grassroots Wirksworth in action…. If you have anything we could use please send them to wirksworthti@gmail.com
MAY 3rd – Film Evening at Northern Lights – Film to be announced
MAY 30th – Wirksworth Carnival. Grassroots Wirksworth are planning to be walking vegetables led by the Growers, with a message of: Grow Your Own! Each group to make costumes.
NEXT MEETING: 11th May at Bob Ledbury’s, 8 Summer Lane.
THE COMMUNITY GROWERS
Main Contact: Rosemary Blenkinsop: hernesrose@w3z.co.uk
The Community Garden is on Coldwell Street, opposite Wirksworth Railway Station.
WORKDAYS
Workdays at the Community Garden are the1st Sunday of the month, from 11 a.m (and other Sundays and/or Thursdays as well.)
NEXT WORKDAYS:
THURSDAY 7TH, 14TH APRIL
SUNDAY 17TH APRIL & 1ST MAY
Time: 11-3pm. At Community Garden.
Contact Rosemary on 07904 783818 to check what needs doing if you want to go up there on your own. All are welcome!
EARTH DAY FRIDAY 22ND APRIL – Join us at the Community Garden 11am – 5pm Come and help feed the Bees by planting nectar rich plants. Bring a picnic and any spare seeds you don’t need. Hot drinks and tools provided! All Welcome!
Earth Day is an annual event, first celebrated in 1970, and now celebrated in more than 192 countries each year. Celebrated on April 22, when events worldwide are held to demonstrate support for environmental protection. Read more about it here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day#Earth_Day_Network
NEXT GROWERS PLANNING MEETING WED. 20TH APRIL
To become a Grower, or a Friend of the Growers
Contact Rosie Rosie.shaw@btinternet.com
THE RUBBISH GROUP (WASTE AND RECYCLING)
Main Contacts: Judith Green 01629 825675 and Richard Finnigan richard.finnigan2@btinternet.com
The Give or Take at the Wellspring Church, was hugely successful and we raised £120 in donations for our funds!
Thanks to everyone who came and supported this very popular annual event!
RECYCLING PLASTIC FILM/ PLASTIC BAGS: Lots of Wirksworthians are now saving their plastic bags, and other clean plastic film. There are bag recycling bins (like pillar boxes) just outside supermarkets – our closest is Sainsburys at Ashbourne or Matlock, or Morrisons at Belper. Grassroots Wirksworth Rubbish and Recycling Group are campaigning for our local Co-op to provide this.
NEXT MEETING: 7th April at 7.30pm
Venue: Judith’s house – 38 Cromford Road, Wirksworth.
THE ENERGY AND HOUSING GROUP
Main contact – BrianHebron brian@bhebron.orangehome.co.uk
TEL: 01629 258914
We meet monthly and have several projects on the go aimed at reducing carbon emissions. Despite claims to the contrary from some quarters carbon positive housing can now be built within the affordable housing budget. Carbon positive houses are those that over a year consume less energy than they generate having a
positive beneficial effect on the environment The Department of Architecture at the University of Cardiff have built one using locally sourced materials and resources. A video of the house – interior and exterior with the Head of Department Phil Jones is available from BBC News :-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33544831
Our current focus is setting up a Community Land Trust. Yesterday, we met at a well attended meeting of the environment committee of the town council to discuss setting up a Community Land Trust to help build affordable houses built using that are at least carbon neutral. After all there is no point in having cheap houses if the long term running costs are expensive.
We have also helped to develop a specification used by the County surveyors to report on the energy requirements of our senior school. This report is now with the School and we are hoping for a shopping list that will provide a sustainable energy development.
If you are interested in finding out more about these and our other activities, please contact us!
NEXT MEETING: Ring Brian 01629 258914 to find out.
ACTIVISTS SUPPORT GROUP
Main Contact: Hilary Hebron: hilaryhebron@orange.net
TEL: 01629 258914
We are an informal group who support each other, share email campaigns and meet when we feel we need to….
We are Currently Supporting:
FRACK-FREE AMBER VALLEY
In Amber Valley (Alfreton and Ripley area), Ineos have been awarded the license to start hydraulic fracturing, more commonly known as fracking.
Get informed here– http://frack-off.org.uk/local-group/amber-valley-against-fracking/
Get in touch with them if you want to help.
Email: ambervalleyagainstfracking@gmail.com
And Join their Facebook page to keep in touch with what is happening…
https://www.facebook.com/groups/862574837111750/
In the first instance for taking more action, those of you who haven’t please can you write to the local MP for Amber Valley, Mr. Nigel Mills. His email address is: nigel.mills.mp@parliament.uk.
That is the first step in taking action – letting local government know that there is an issue.
If you haven’t done so already please sign their petition
A groundbreaking study published in Seismological Research Letters has demonstrated a link, for the first time, between hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) for oil and gas and earthquakes.
https://ecowatch.com/2016/03/30/link-fracking-earthquakes/
Contact us to find out when the next Activists meeting is or to join our e-group.
STONEY WOOD
Contact: Chris Bristow: chris@number37wirksworth.co.uk
If you want to hear about what’s happening in Stoney Wood – “like “ our Facebook page.
The Labyrinth – A living willow ‘fedge’ has been built around the labyrinth to help soak up the water in this very wet part of the wood. It should make it easier for walking! The work continues with planting native wild flowers in that area. If you have any you are digging up from your garden we would be happy to collect them and find them a new home in the labyrinth area. Please contact glennie : glenniekindred@w3z.co.uk
LOCAL DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
April 9 – 11th – The Wirksworth Book Festival
For more information, check out www.wirksworthfestival.org.uk
and the Wirksworth Arts Festival Facebook page.
9th April – Saturday evening in the Red Lion den, Wirksworth,
Seni Seneviratne will be performing some of her punchy poetry, and singing as well. This evening is part of the first Wirksworth Book Festival. If you want to check out her writing please search for: http://seniseneviratne.com/ Tickets from Wirksworth Festival site.
9th. April – IN or OUT of the EU – a free public debate, in the Cromford Community Centre in the Marketplace, on Saturday at 7.30 p.m. left-hand front door. No entry charge
Contact: David Mitchell 01629 823456
APRIL 22nd – EARTH DAY – FRIDAY – at the Community Garden 11am – 5pm Come and help feed the Bees by planting nectar rich plants. Bring a picnic and any spare seeds you don’t need. Hot drinks and tools provided! All Welcome!
MAY 3rd – Grassroots Wirksworth Film Evening at Northern Lights – Film to be announced
MAY 30th – Wirksworth Carnival. Grassroots Wirksworth are planning to be walking vegetables led by the Growers, with a message of: Grow Your Own! Each group to make costumes.
June 18th – Derbyshire Eco Centre Summer Fair – Saturday
11am – 4pm. A celebration of Green Living and Green Learning including a wide range of demonstrations, have-a-go activities, stalls and entertainment. There will be catering and a bar selling local beer and the evening will be a fancy dress ball – tickets for this will be available to buy soon.
July 16th – Grassroots Wirksworth Community Garden Barbecue At the Community Garden. More details coming soon!
September 10th – Green and local market in Wirksworth as part of the festival. Contact: Judith Green: greenjudith@hotmail.com
And Finally, an email from Luke Harman
( 0207 5232031 lharman@christian-aid.org
Dear Transition town member
My name is Luke, I work for Christian Aid and have helped put together an initiative called “The Big Church Switch (to clean energy)”. The scheme relies on bulk buying (which I’m sure some of you may be familiar with) of 100% renewable electricity from the cleanest energy providers on the market to try and give church buildings the most affordable rates to help encourage them to switch to clean energy. Churches use huge amounts of energy and so the effect this could have on clean energy demand could be enormous and send a very powerful signal to government, energy companies and investors. So far we’ve had almost 450 churches across the UK sign up, but we want to see that increase tenfold!
As you may imagine we’ve been contacting church networks and our supporters about the scheme. But having read up a little bit about the amazing work happening in transition towns around the country you struck me as a potential ally in getting more churches on board and the scheme could be another string to your bow for helping grow the work & impact of your transition town.
All the details are on the website and explained in a neat 2 minute video: www.thebigchurchswitch.org.uk and I’d very happy to talk any further or answer any questions. What I love about this campaign is that it combines local, practical action with a national collective of churches, increasing our bulk-buying power. So, hopefully the best of both worlds! You may not be a church-goer yourself, but maybe you know somebody locally who would be keen to take this to their church. Either way if this is something that sparks some (or any) interest please do get in touch, I’d love to hear from you!
The Transition Network ~ is a grass roots world-wide movement, aiming to help increase local resilience and community initiatives in the transition from our dependency on fossil fuels. Subscribe to the inspiring and informative Transition Network Newsletter http://www.transitionnetwork.org
The Transition Wirksworth E-Newsletter team meet in the Scrumdiddly café on the first Tuesday of the month 11.30 am –12.30pm. Do pop by for a chat and to bring any items for inclusion (or email them to glennie (glenniekindred@w3z.co.uk.)
Next Newsletter Meeting: Tuesday May 3rd – Scrumdiddly Café. Hope to see you there!
END OF APRIL 2016 NEWSLETTER
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