TW Newsletter January 2018

        Contents

• First Open Meeting of 2018 – Friday 19th January – Eco Centre – 6pm social and 7.30pm business meeting.
• A quiz on Shopping Locally in Wirksworth.
• A selection of Good News from 2017.
• Dates for diaries.

Friday Jan 19th: Open Meeting at the Eco Centre, Porter Lane, DE4 4LS

The meeting is in two halves – do come for one or both. At about 6pm, join us for a pleasant social over a light meal. Bring some finger foods and drink if you can, but if you can’t, do still come and we’ll share with you! (Finger foods because the Eco Centre doesn’t have much crockery and cutlery.)

Our business meeting starts at 7.30. Bob Ledbury will be chairing, with minutes taken by Brian Hebron.

[Buses: 6.1 leaves the marketplace at 5.55pm. Get off at the top of Steeple Grange and walk up Porter Lane to the Eco Centre. A later 6.1 leaves at 6.40pm. Get off at the beginning of Middleton Village and walk down Porter Lane to the Eco Centre. For return, last  6.1 of evening leaves Cromford at 9.43pm to Wirksworth via Steeple Grange.]

We will be reviewing the changes we made a year ago, in which we disbanded the core group, began holding an Open Meeting bi-monthly and set up an Events sub group (a former task of the core group) for organising public meetings. Some things have worked well, but some things haven’t, so we need as many people as possible to talk about how best to strengthen our set-up.

The final agenda will be available at the meeting. If you have any items you would like added, please email Bob Ledbury on ledbury.com@lineone.net

Minutes of the last Open Meeting on 15 September: Open meeting 15 Sept

Quiz on Wirksworth Shopping Locally

Use the Leave a Reply at the bottom of the newsletter for your answers.

Questions:

1. If everyone in Wirksworth and surrounding villages spent £5 a week in Wirksworth rather than elsewhere, by how much would it boost the local economy in a year?

2. Do you do a main shop in a supermarket? If so, which one?

3. What shopping do you do in Wirksworth?

We will not reveal any names or identities, but will include a brief account of answers in the next newsletter.

Good News from 2017!

• For the first time in 2017, more than half of electricity generated in the UK came from low-carbon sources (renewable & nuclear). We also had the first coal-free day since 1882. See: Carbon Brief 3 January
• More than 21,000 people are now doing more exercise, and more than 6,000 have become regular cyclists after the success of Cycling UK’s (link) Big Bike Revival 2017
• Derbyshire Connect, the door to door bus which covers Ashbourne, Wirksworth, Hartington and intermediate villages runs on Mondays to Fridays 7am-7pm and Saturdays 8am-7pm. Between June 2016 and June 2017, numbers of journeys increased by 42% – from 591 to 1,018. Anyone can use this service and it will take wheelchairs and bikes. Ring 01335 342951 to book a journey. Find out more: Derbyshire Connect
•  2017 had coverage of the horrendous increase in plastic rubbish in the world’s oceans, threatening fish, wild life and our food chain. But pressure for action is building up – at a UN environment summit, plans were discussed to adopt a legal treaty banning plastic waste from entering the sea. Get moving, guys! The UK government have announced its tepid 25 Year Environment Plan which includes reducing plastic waste, but the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (run by our Ellen MacArthur who went to Anthony Gell) intends to speed things up. Here’s how: Circular Economy for Plastics
• Wishing you a Happy New Year from the national Transition Network.
• And a taster for 2018, New York City just announced it is divesting its $191 billion pension funds from fossil fuels. On top of that, they’re filing a lawsuit against top fossil fuel companies for damages caused by climate change!
  

  ---

  Dates for diaries

Tuesday 20th February, 7pm to 9.15pm, Town Hall Wirksworth ‘Grow your own drugs in Wirksworth’ – Talk on Herbal Remedies we can pick from our gardens and make in our kitchens, by Fran Hanna, Community Grower and Healer. Also a Seed Swap – bring spare seeds you dont want and take some others you do want away with you. Enjoy drinks and nibbles.

Wirksworth Community Growers AGM  and slideshow of the previous year in the Community Garden – ALL WELCOME!

∞∞∞∞

2-4 March Burnout to Balance Co-Creating Cultures of Collective and Self Care, Bristol

∞∞∞∞

Friday 16th March 6-9, Eco Centre, TW Open Meeting

∞∞∞∞

Mid-April, public meeting on Local Food Stories. To be confirmed.

∞∞∞∞

• End of Jan 18 Newsletter.
• Next newsletter will be in Feb 2018.
• Click here for website Home Page.
• If you no longer wish to receive emails from Grassroots Wirksworth, please put Unsubscribe in the heading of an email to wirksworthti@gmail.com