Ashby 2020 November Minutes

Ashby 2020 Minutes
23rd November 2010
7pm Legion House

TWE: Still awaiting progress from the utilities’ legal department. Launch remains January. All publicity, advertising etc will be co-branded Ashby2020 / utility. Clare Bampton and Socius will be handling the Ashby end of the arrangement.

Climate Week: Need ideas for events between 21 - 27 March 2011. Swishing event? Emma of ZeroCredit is interested in collaborating on a swishing event.

Short film: screening taking place on 18th December - slight hitch in location, confirmation of new details to follow. Needs ideas of interactive activities for this day.

CAP centre launches in Ashby 28th November at 3pm, Holy Trinity Church - Christians Against Poverty is a national charity working through local churches to help people of all or no faiths to deal with their debt.

Tree Planting - Jan / Feb? Will contact the National Forest about a community day and seek their guidance on what we could do (or seek other land)

Town treasure map - Mandy expressed interest in Ashby producing a map or guide highlighting strengths of the town and pointing out special spots tourists should visit. This needs further discussion and development.

Public building renewables - Need to establish if there’s interest in this, funding etc. Question raised about community funding for this.

Workshops - Would there be any interest in holding a COIN workshop or similar? http://www.coinet.org.uk/who-we-work-with/low-carbon-communities

Next meeting: TBA.

Ashby 2020 October Minutes

28th October 2010

6.30pm - 8pm

Legion House, Ashby
Chair: Carl Benfield

Agenda:
Sustainability  exercise
Networking  for sustainability groups
Town wide renewable energy
RCC funding application
Upcoming Events
Ashby2020.co.uk

1. Sustainability Exercise
Deferred to a future meeting.

2. Networking
The ‘Inspiration for Action’ event @ De Montfort University offers the chance for interested parties to learn more about what can be done locally to achieve low carbon lifestyles, and to network with other people taking action in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. The event will feature talks on community action climate change and workshops on permaculture, reducing carbon footprints etc.

We would like Ashby 2020 to have a presence at the event, and will arrange transport for interested parties.

Please get in touch if you would like to attend this event.

Inspiration for Action
Queens Building, DMU
Thurs 11 November 2010
6pm - 8.45pm
http://www.ruralcc.org.uk/inspirationforaction.html

3. Town Wide Energy Deal
We have a provider who may not be named as yet, however, their proposal includes:

• 100% renewable energy tariff at no extra cost
• £100 green energy bonus paid on anniversary
• £100 direct debit discount
• Free power monitors
• Free energy surveys
• Advice on energy efficiency
• Up to £50 per contract cash-back incentive for use in Ashby 2020 initiatives

For most households switching to the Ashby 2020 ‘green’ tariff will be cost neutral, though we must acknowledge that some people will be paying less and the renewable aspect will not be sufficient to tempt them to switch. The chosen utility are currently putting together the necessary legal details, more information will be forthcoming.

4. RCC Funding Application / Other Funding
We will put in a bid for the RCC funding (available for amounts between £200 - £5,000), for the purpose of raising the Ashby 2020 profile with a public event and ‘equipment’ that will be used long term for promoting the group at events. We will apply to fund the following:

• Film screening event (with refreshments)
• Eco Teams Training
• Banner
• Marqee
• Leaflet drop
• A-board
• Recycling points
• We will also consider taking a full page advert is Ashby Times/Ashby Life

5. Upcoming Events

• Climate East Midlands events - a series of events Changing Climate Weeks 2 (adaptation and mitigation),2 – 24 Nov. http://bookwhen.com/ccweeks2010
• Green Footprints Free Tree Scheme - application deadline is Mon 15th Nov.  http://footprints.nwleics.gov.uk/
• Green Footprints Awards - will be open for applications from Nov - Jan.  There are six categories: Businesses; Families & Individuals; Schools; Children & Young People; Partnerships & Community Groups; Sustainable Urban Design.  Three shortlisted applicants in each category will be invited to the Annual Awards Ceremony & Civic Dinner at the Hilton Hotel, Kegworth on Fri 15th April.  More info due shortly in Vision newsletter, local press and on GF website. http://footprints.nwleics.gov.uk/awards-2011.html
• Climate Week - 21st - 27th March.   National event to promote action on climate change.  Green Footprints Challenge hopes to get involved and will be encouraging lots of local groups and businesses to take part too.  Further information due to be released soon.  http://climateweek.com/
• Spectacles Recycling Day – 13 Nov, 10 – 4. By Ashby and Coalville Lions, will be taking place outside Boots on Market Street.
• N.W. Leics Wildlife Trust talk on ‘Climate Change and Wildlife’ -  19 Nov. 2010, 19:30 . Burton Road Methodist Church Hall.

6. www.ashby2020.co.uk
Ashby 2020 has a place on the Ashby TCP website, which can be reached from the above web address. People are encouraged to access the site, and suggest content etc. From here you can see all our social media connections and news clippings, photos, videos etc.

A calendar of events will be added in the future.

Sitting under the Ashby TCP name makes for a good reference point and gives us official status, and through the ATCP Ideas area on the ‘parent’ site Ashby residents are able to submit suggestions of things the Town Partnership and its sub-groups could attend to. There has already been communication through this online form for Ashby 2020 as well as the other groups, and it can be found here: https://sites.google.com/site/ashbytcp/ideas.



Next meeting: Tuesday 23rd November 2010 @ 7pm.

Blankety Blank

Hello, Gemma here. Yes, again. You wait for a blog entry for ages, then two show up on the same day!


There is something happening at Ashby 2020 HQ, but I'm not at liberty to divulge just yet. Believe me when I say it's harder on me than it is on you, but I promise it's worth it. In the meantime, I'm going to tell you a story about two things that seem not to be connected but are, just very tenuously:
     I am a big fan of the popular American sitcom Friends. I think it's predominantly a generational thing as when I was at secondary school everyone watched it (and what's more, my friends and I all nicknamed each other after the character we had most in common with - I'm Chandler, for the record).
     You're probably wondering what this has to do with sustainability and the truth is... nothing. BUT, something this week reminded me of an episode, so bear with me. One storyline sees two characters (Rachel and Joey) swap favourite books (Little Women and The Shining, respectively), but half way through reading them Joey accidentally reveals a plot spoiler. From this point he begins speaking in code about What Happens Next. It is this element that came to mind yesterday during a meeting with Carl Benfield and Clare Bampton to discuss something HUGE on the horizon for Ashby 2020. Actually, it was on the horizon a month ago, now it's waving at us from the swing set next door.
     But let's briefly go back to my poor analogy. You see, Joey's code merely involves substituting the word 'blank' for others that reveal aspects of the plot ('All blank and no blank, makes blank a blank blank'), and that is how I feel when updating FB, Twitter etc. this week. I can't reveal what the 'blanks' are, but similarly can't not tell you something superb is about to be announced. 
     Thankfully, all will be revealed next week and I'm not alone in struggling not to bounce off the walls - when Carl, Clare and I sat down to discuss the meeting we're having with BLANK about the BLANK this coming Tuesday, it was a sight akin to three Tiggers on Spacehoppers.


Now admittedly, you're not getting many clues here about what's coming to town from this post, suffice to say in retrospect you'll appreciate why I'm oscillating as I type. Something for the whole town, green, and the first of it's kind - history in the making!

The Big Switch Off

Those beady eyed among you will have seen the emails and updates regarding the Big Switch Off promotion Ashby 2020 took part in on Saturday. If you made it to Market Street in Ashby between the hours of 10am and 3pm, you'll have been treated to sights, sounds and smells that Ashby has (probably) never witnessed. Most of the kerfuffle came from a noisy but VERY satisfying Pedal Powered Smoothie Maker [our pièce de résistance] which proved itself to be a valuable aquisition for the day, particularly for attracting younger members of the community. There may be no such thing as a free lunch, but a free smoothie was well within everyone's reach! We took short surveys about opinions on 'green' things in Ashby, gave away tea towels and posters, and gave everyone the chance to sign up for something leafy and possibly fruity, as part of the NW Leicestershire Free Tree scheme [you can still sign up for one here].

Special thanks to Joshua Benfield's legs.

The reason Ashby 2020 and NWLDC's Green Footprints team joined forces was to promote the county-wide BSO event taking place throughout this week [11th - 17th October], which you may have figured out is all about switching off those energy zappers that aren't needed. It is easy to dismiss the odd light bulb left on as 'not doing much damage' to our energy consumption and our pockets, but consider the accumulative effect of all those appliances left on stand-by and phone chargers left plugged in around the county and you begin to see why Leicestershire chooses to highlight this bad habit once a year.

Today is Friday 15th October, which means we are in the mid section of BSO week and the likelihood is that your awareness of the energy saving event will have come through wherever it is you spend most of your daylight hours i.e. work or school. There's nothing wrong with that, but how many of us fall back into naughty habits when at home? [You can't see, but I'm raising my hand] Just yesterday I visited the home of an Ashby 2020 'player' and watched  him walk around the house muttering 'big switch off, big switch off' to himself every time he turned off an unnecessary light or socket. I also watched as he left the house to run an errand and missed the light in the room he exited from. He's pretty spun up on this energy saving stuff, so it goes to show nobody's perfect. It isn't easy, I know that and we know that, no one can honestly say otherwise [even those eco angels out there!], but maintaining a sustainable energy supply and cutting down on unnecessary expenses are  two things that can effect our lifestyles in both positive and negative ways.

So what I'm trying to say [in a round-the-houses sort of way] is that when you turn off your desktop at work, switch off that coffee machine and douse the strip lighting, no doubt breathing a sigh of relief that the weekend is finally here as you make the final trek to the car [which you're using to Liftshare, obviously ;-) ] or bus stop, and when you reach the sanctuary of your home - don't forget to keep up the good work!


Central Networks are working to monitor the energy consumption before and during the BSO week to measure the effectiveness of being a bit more careful with our gadgets so we'll have a real gauge of how good we've been and how much we can improve. It'll be illuminating.


~ Gemma, Ashby 2020