Caring about the future of our community
in Thornbury and the surrounding villages

ST Bulletin

Contents

This Bulletin includes news about:

• The Thornbury Give'n'Take website;
• The Energy Project;
• Thornbury Community Plan;
• The EcoFair;
• Learning about energy;
• The AGM;
• Discussions and planning;
• Grow Your Own Food;
• Forthcoming dates.

Thornbury Give'n'Take website

The Give'n'Take website is now up and running! Many thanks to MyThornbury for setting it up. The idea is to find new homes for useful but unwanted things that you would otherwise throw away. Everything is free. It is a similar idea to our Give-It-Away Take-It-Away Days.

The website is a bit like Freecycle or Freegle, but covering only the Thornbury area. This means less travelling to collect things, so if you want you can put on items that are bulky or of low value but usable.

We think it is very easy to use. You will need to register to use the website. You choose a username, so you can be more or less anonymous. You can either post things you have or things you want. The taker then normally collects the item, but you can arrange to meet somewhere.

The Energy Project

We are planning some work on energy topics. The details are still to be agreed, but we expect it to include:-

• publicising energy matters;
• learning about energy;
• offering basic advice;
• publicising grants, loans and sources of more detailed advice;
• setting up demonstration homes;
• helping community groups;
• working with Gloucestershire and Bristol community energy groups.

If you would like to offer your home as a demonstration home or help define, plan and set up this project then please email energy@sustainablethornbury.org or ring Alan on 416778.

Thornbury Community Plan

Thornbury Town Council is starting a process to draw up a Community Plan for Thornbury. They held a public meeting on 10th May to gather ideas for the plan. The plan will be written by the community, approved (or not) by a local referendum and carried out by the community. ST wants to contribute to the plan to ensure it is sustainable, and expects to be involved in its implementation.

EcoFair, Saturday 19 May 2012

The EcoFair was very successful, though the weather was not as good as last time. Well done everyone involved, and thank you, especially to the EcoFair team.

About 580 people paid to come in, plus 250 helpers, entertainers and stallholders, so not far short of last time, and we had the same sort of buzz. The weather was dry and cool, so we did well. Photos and more details will be posted on the website soon.

Learning about Energy

On Thursday 19 July the topic for the South Glos Environment Forum is Community Energy Planning. 7pm to 9pm, at Winterbourne International Academy. Please email to sustainability@southglos.gov.uk if you are going.

Annual General Meeting

Sustainable Thornbury held its Annual General Meeting on Wed 23 May. Alan Pinder is our new chair. Thanks to a £1000 donation from Ethical Solar, we now have over £2000 in the bank.

Get Growing Day

Thornbury joined in with Get Growing Day on Sunday 10th June with three community projects - Thornbury Harvest Co-op, the Thornbury community orchard and Filnore allotments. There were some visitors in spite of the rain, mostly from Bristol.

Facebook

We have a Facebook group and a Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, do have a look, join the group, like the page and share with your friends. If you are not on Facebook, you can still see the Facebook page.

Discussions and planning

The next three meetings are on Wed 25 July (discussing how to improve Thornbury), Wed 22 August (discussing the energy project) and Wed 26 September (a talk on community energy by the Centre for Sustainable Energy).

We have discussions and plan what we are doing at meetings on the fourth Wednesday of most months at 7:30pm at The Chantry. The first hour or so is often a talk or general discussion that we call Sustainability Forum. Then we have a tea break and talk about what the project groups are doing. All are welcome.

Grow Your Own Food

The Grow Your Own Food group has a meeting most months, usually on a Thursday at 7:30pm. The next meeting is Thursday 9 August, visiting Thornbury Harvest Co-op at the Sheiling School. Please ring Brett for more details. Click here for meetings after that or ring 01454-412165. The Grow Your Own Food group also has an email group; to subscribe email gyof-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Dates

Thu 19 July: South Glos Environment Forum on Community Energy Planning. 7pm to 9pm, Winterbourne International Academy. Please email to sustainability@southglos.gov.uk if you are going.

Wed 25 July: ST general meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry. Forum topic: Making Thornbury better.

Thu 9 August: Grow Your Own Food, Visit to Thornbury Harvest Co-op at The Sheiling School, Park Road, Thornbury.

Wed 22 August: ST general meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry. Forum topic: the energy project.

Thu 13 Sept: Grow Your Own Food group - 7:30pm. History talk.

Wed 26 Sept: ST general meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry. Forum topic: CSE talk on community energy

Thu 11 Oct: Grow Your Own Food group - 7:30pm. Planning meeting, Gloucester Road.

Wed 24 October: ST general meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry.

Thu 8 Nov: Grow Your Own Food group - 7:30pm. Talk by Chris Sunderland on Grow Zones, at The Chantry, Buckingham Rm.

Wed 28 Nov: ST general meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry.

Wed 12 Dec: ST Christmas social meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry.

Thu 13 Dec: Grow Your Own Food group - 7:30pm. Social evening and quiz.

This email was sent by info@sustainablethornbury.org, telephone 01454-416604. To unsubscribe, email info@sustainablethornbury.org.