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TENONS AGM
The Annual General Meeting of TENONS took place
on Saturday 29th November in the Lower Studio of the Blakehay
Playhouse in Wadham Street, Weston-super-Mare |
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The AGM was followed by two presentations:
‘Batty about Bats’ by Dot Baker of North Somerset
Wildlife Wardens and
"A Tale of Two Butterflies" from Tony Moulin of
YACWAG (Yatton and Congresbury Wildlife Action Group). |
Zero Waste Week
The launch of Zero Waste Week took place Friday
19th September in Weston’s High Street in the Italian
Gardens.
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ENVEC 2008 CONFERENCE
Members of TENONS’ committee attended
the ENVEC 2008 Conference on 2nd October.
Presentations were by:
- Dr Richard Cresswell, Regional Director of the
Environment Agency which aims to be aspirational in its influencing
role to raise awareness of the need to both mitigate and adapt
to climate change.
- Roger Street Technical Director of UK Climate Impacts
Programme who spoke to us about the new format for UKCIP08.
- Angus Norman, Managing Director of Sustainable
Solutions ED Energy explained how EDF is looking at renewable
energy and gave the example of Barkentine where a Combined Heat
and Power CHP plant provides locally sourced energy for about
600 people.
- Professor Glenn Lyons of the University of West
of England spoke on Low Carbon Transport. He pointed out that
although transport can become greener, with the predicted increase
of becoming hypermobile we may need to look at localisation.
All presentations available at www.oursouthwest.com/envec/archive/index.htm
Rose Hughes
From Walters Munde,
September 2008, recently moved to Canada www.waltersmunde.com
I attended a very comprehensive meeting
yesterday with my new boss with regards to my new job.
My designated position is Environmental Technician
as my duties will be mostly centered towards imparting Technical
Advice to First Nations' stakeholders, and their communities.
Saturday 30 August:
Green Festival @ The Quarry
South
Road, Weston-super-Mare
Tenons organised a green event
this year in The Old Town Quarry in Weston.
This lovely wildlife haven, where
a family of peregrine falcons nest most years, is possibly
Weston’s best kept secret. The Quarry Artists have studios
there and Nathan Bennett can be found working at his forge.
The day was a celebration of local foods
and crafts with many environmental stalls, competitions, including
a scarecrow challenge, an eco schools challenge, food and
music.
We had celebrities, Chris Sperring who will
be well known to many of you, and zoologist Sanjida O’Connell,
author and BBC presenter of nature programmes. |
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Saturday 7 June:
Winscombe Environmental Day. Poster
(454kb pdf file)...
Saturday, 7th June saw the inaugural event of
"Life Beyond Oil," a new group under the auspices
of Winscombe Community Association. Despite the glorious summer
weather outside, more than a hundred people came to learn,
to listen and to discuss what it will mean for our community
when oil becomes unaffordable.
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9th April 2008: TENONS members enjoyed a talk on bees
and honey by John Carrott.
John has had a lifetime interest in bees and for 30 years
was a member of the Avon Beekeepers Assn of which he has held
various posts including President. He is a Fellow of the Chartered
Institute of Water and Environmental Management. |
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Award for Weston
By
Rose Hughes
A handsome plaque comprising oak from Wales
and tin from Cornwall has been awarded to Weston for Weston
Woods. Weston was one of ten winners of a competition ‘Planting
Places’ run by Sustainability South West (SSW), who
were looking for imaginative and creative examples of urban
greenspace in the region.
During the Forum, presentations were made by
Leslie Watson for SSW; George Ferguson for Acanthus, Ferguson
and Mann Architects; Gary Mantle, Wilshire Strategic Board;
Keith Budden ‘Be Birmingham’ and Sandra Rothwell
South West Regional Development Agency. During the afternoon
we heard from Naresh Giangrande who is the Focaliser and co-founder
of Transition Town Totnes and Jochen Rabe for ARUP.
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Their total commitment to sustainability projects
was clear. Whilst appreciating the main barriers they encountered,
such as money for funding, their willingness to share ideas
and their enthusiasm in achieving ambitions such as buying
a vacant warehouse destined to be bulldozed and creating The
Tobacco Factory or making a town carbon-neutral, will motivate
us to carry on to our own goals for sustainability. |
Friends of the Earth – Residual Waste
Disposal
By
Jane Stevenson, Friends of the Earth
The West of England partnership are currently proposing
to use PFI to build a 200,000-tonne incinerator in our area. This
will be discussed at the WoE Project Board meeting THIS WEDNESDAY
- 12 March, and again in the North Somerset Council cabinet meeting
on 15 April.
If all goes according to their plans, they will put
in a bid for PFI credits by 31 March 2008- BEFORE the plans have
been agreed by any of the WoE councils. They will put a business
plan together for the incinerator in May - BEFORE there has been
public consultation on the Joint Waste Core Strategy.
Planting 4 Youth Project - 1st and 4th
March
By
Rose Hughes
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As part of the project to improve the South
Ward area in Weston, 4Youth group asked for help to plant
hedging along the walking paths in the area. 4Youth is a local
youth group aged 10-19 created by The South Ward Neighbourhood
Management Partnership managed by Sara Brown. They aim to
change the negative view many people have towards youth and
show that they can help towards improving the environment.
The project involved clearing litter and planting a mixed
hedge by the Youth Centre, which was completed on the Saturday,
and on the Tuesday to clear and fill in the gaps in the hedging
in Windwhistle Lane which leads to the now disused Bournville
Allotment Site. |
Whilst clearing the litter and we
made some interesting discoveries which included items from golf
balls to old bicycle handles and also some barbed wire - not very
nice. As could be expected, the majority of the litter consisted
of plastic ranging from wrappers to bags.
Amongst the volunteers were
members from Tenons, Judith Tranter and Terry Smith of the
North Somerset Wildlife Wardens .
Victoria Rooke from the South
Ward Neighbourhood Management Partnership, and Michelle
Cleary and Simon Dyer, detached youth workers for the four
estates supported the event. Emma Whitaker, Tree Life Centre
Project Officer for BTCV was in charge.
The hedging was largely hawthorn
but also included rowan, hazel, blackthorn, guilder-rose
and two oaks. Sponsorship came from Western Power Distribution
who paid for the trees and also Emma's time. |
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In January 2008 the TENONS' committee
was featured in the Weston & Somerset Mercury.
Missing from the photo is Fred Parsons. Joining us is Nkem Muluh
representing the Association of Cameroonians in North Somerset.
Nkem has worked as an engineer in the palm oil industry. Also
joining us is Sonia Russe who was a Personnel and Training Executive
with a major public corporation.
Charge for Plastic Bags
By
Rose Hughes
We were very pleased to see implementation
of the charge for plastic bags by Marks and Spencer for their food
bags. James Shorney, Manager of Weston's branch tells us that Weston
is part of a trial conducted in Ireland and the South West and that
they have received very positive feedback.
Their chief executive, Sir Stuart
Rose is reported to have estimated that if implemented over
the whole of the country, use of plastic bags could be reduced
as much as 280million per annum. We were told that the charge
of 50p per bag will be going to the Groundwork Charity to
help create or improve 'greener living spaces' such as parks,
play areas and gardens in various neighbourhoods around the
UK
We have been supporting and promoting
the use of shopping bags and are heartened to hear the Prime
Minister say that all supermarkets should be following the
example of M&S. |
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It is important to remember that although
changing light bulbs and taking a shopping bag with you is a very
positive move to combat climate change, it is only the first small
step on the road. This may be all you can manage for the present
but please don't stop there. Look to see how you can reduce your
carbon foot print still further, maybe walking or cycling instead
of driving. Remember 'Think Global; Act Local'
Wednesday 11 June:
screening of Message in the Waves
at
Uphill Primary School
Film
details at www.messageinthewaves.com... Poster/Event
details (159kb
pdf file)...
Greener Footprints: www.greenerfootprints.org.uk...
An Inconvenient Truth
Showing at Christchurch Church Hall,
Chapel Hill, Clevedon , Wednesday 7th May 2008
at 8pm.
The film is being hosted jointly
by Christchurch, who are working towards achieving the eco-congregation
award, and Greener Footprints, the community group interested
in local environmental issues.
In this fascinating film, former
US Vice President Al Gore presents a compelling look at the
state of global warming. Gore's persuasive argument brings home
to us that we can no longer afford to view global warming as
a political issue - rather, it is the biggest moral challenge
facing our global civilization.
Admission is free, so please do come
along to watch this amazing documentary and take the opportunity
to discuss any related environmental issues. We look forward
to welcoming you. Refreshments available.
Glebe School Lead the Way in Congresbury
Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced
in his budget 2008 speech that unless supermarkets voluntarily
make big changes to the use of plastic bags in their outlets,
next year he proposes to bring in legislation. There are
high street stores and supermarkets already either charging
or waiting for customers to ask for a bag and we look forward
to similar practices adopted soon in other retail outlets.
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Although these are steps in
the right direction, we still need to encourage shoppers
to take their own bags with them in the first place. To
this end a number of communities in North Somerset are leading
the way with plastic-bag free projects, the latest being
led by the children of Glebe School in Congresbury. On
Monday 28th April at 7.00 p.m. they will be holding
a public meeting in the school at which
Tenons will be showing, with kind permission of the BBC,
the documentary ‘Message in the Waves’,
a film that educates us all to be more aware of the harm
plastic can do in the environment.
All small changes such as not using plastic
bags do add up when it comes to climate change so long as
we look to do more which, if we all build them bit by bit
into our livestyle, will add up to one big difference.
Rose Hughes |
Greener Footprints: www.greenerfootprints.org.uk...
Spend an Evening Talking ‘Rubbish!’
Come and listen to what Catherine McCoy, Waste Minimisation
Officer for North Somerset Council, has to say about recycling
and waste management in Clevedon.
Her talk, which will deal with how our rubbish is
handled by the Council and what we can do to help reduce it, is
being hosted by Greener Footprints. Greener Footprints are a community
group concerned with the effect we are having on our planet and
what we can do about it locally. The Group’s aim is to promote
more sustainable lifestyles through raising awareness, stimulating
discussion and co-ordinating local initiatives. Catherine McCoy
will be giving her talk on Wednesday 23rd April, 7.30pm
for 8pm, at The Council House, 44 Old Street
Clevedon, BS21 6BU. Admission is free, though donations
will be gratefully received.
It would be great if you could join us to listen
to Catherine and discuss these and any other environmental issues
of interest. You can contact Greener Footprints at greenerfootprints@hotmail.co.uk
Climate Change Workshop, 12.45 - 4.00pm,
Saturday 5th April,
Methodist
Church Hall in Yatton.
This is a free networking event for
community groups that are tackling the issue of climate change
in North Somerset. For further details, contact Janice Gardiner
(Avon Wildlife Trust) on j.gardiner@blueyonder.co.uk
Uphill Environment Day
Victory
Hall, Old Church Road,
Saturday
29 March 1pm - 3.30pm
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Earth Hour 29th March
On Saturday 29th March 2008 many people
over the globe will be shutting off all their lights and turning
unused equipment off stand-by for one hour at 8.00 p.m. With
Earth Day on the 22nd April, this is a symbolic action to
draw attention to the issues of climate change. The event
in Sydney last year, Energy Australia reported, resulted in
a 10.2% drop in energy usage (www.wwf.org.au/news)
You can make the hour a family occasion or an
event but please remember if you need to use candles do take
care. Go to www.earthhour.org
for more information.
Rose Hughes |
26 & 27th January 2008: Why we should all take part in the
Big Garden Birdwatch
Why not take part in the world's biggest bird survey, 400,000 people
did just that in 2007.
6 million birds were spotted in 236,000 gardens in 2007 and records
for the Garden Birdwatch go back three decades. Why not stop the
decline in British biodiversity from your armchair. Bird surveys
are truly helpful to monitor trends in important bird populations.
The survey also helps identify their possible cause of population
fluctuations whether human induced or natural causes. RSPB scientists
can then use these patterns in bird numbers to help prioritise bird
conservation work and management of nature reserves.
So visit
www.rspb.org.uk/birdwatch to take part.
Here's a helping hand, see if you can identify the birds below:
Thurs 17 January 2008 10.30am: Taste of North Somerset meeting
Claverham Village Hall
Further meetings to be 6 March, 24 April, 5
June, 24 July, 11 Sept, 30 Oct, 11Dec.
Contact Terry Black at Terry.Black@n-somerset.gov.uk
for more information
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