Friday, 23 March – Bread evening
We are making provisional arrangements for a bread (and thatch, wheat, flour, etc.) evening with John Letts of Oxford Bread Group as a speaker. Please keep this date free but check the next Blewbury Bulletin to confirm.
Permaculture project – planting of fruit trees and bushes, 11 December 2011
On a cold, drizzly afternoon we planted a dozen fruit trees and an interesting variety of soft fruit bushes, followed by soup, cake, and mulled wine and apple juice. The area had already been mulched with cardboard and local horse manure. See our permaculture page for more information.
Next spring we will be adding herbs and ground-cover plants – any contribution
of suitable cuttings or plants would be very welcome. Please advise Angela
Hoy if you might have something suitable:
Growers’ workshop, 7 December 2011
We joined forces with allotment growers and others for an ad hoc discussion – a post-mortem on the past growing season and a look forward to next, what seeds to sow and things to grow, etc.
Produce stall producers and helpers get-together, 25 November 2011
An end-of-season party for everybody associated with the produce stall, and also to mark the end of Sarah’s very successful time as convenor of the Food and Farming group – initiating the Produce Stall and Permaculture Project.
Apple juicing days, 28–29 October 2011
We borrowed a fruit press and associated equipment to
assess apple juicing logistics, in order to decide whether
to purchase equipment for the village for next season, and familiarise
ourselves with its operation and management. After a day spent learning
the best way to use the equipment, we held two public sessions where people
could bring their own apples:
- Blewbury School: We juiced apples from the trees in the school playground as well as ones brought by parents. Lots of schoolchildren participated and enjoyed seeing how apple juice can be made.
- Red Lion pub garden: Many people brought their surplus apples, some in large quantities, and we also used apples from the trees in the pub garden. We were able to compare the juice and yield from many kinds of apple (including the very common ‘don’t know’ variety).
Produce stall 2011
The stall (photo at right) had a second successful season. It ran every Saturday from early May to mid-October, thanks to our local producers and team of helpers. See our food page for more information about how the stall works.
Village clubs open day, 18 September 2011
For this event, at the new Clubhouse on the Recreation Ground, we had a small exhibition and people on hand to give advice and attract new members.
Blewbury Festival, June 2011
We were involved in the following events:
- 11 June: Village Day (Festival opening) – For this Saturday only, our weekly Produce Stall was moved to Tickers Folly field. It ran all afternoon with an expanded sale of local food, as well as displays of the current activities of Sustainable Blewbury.
- 16 June: A talk by Colin Tudge
entitled GOOD FOOD FOR EVERYONE FOR EVER: A people’s takeover of the
world’s food supply, at the New Barn, Blewbury Manor. (Photo by Bernard
Mattimore) The talk was followed by a very lively discussion,
and local wine and cheese.
Colin Tudge is a biologist and writer with a lifelong interest in the philosophy of science, politics, and agriculture. He has worked for Farmers Weekly, New Scientist and BBC Radio, and published about 15 books on natural history, evolution, food and farming. His latest book is ‘Good Food for Everyone Forever’ (2011). In 2009, he and his wife Ruth founded the Campaign for Real Farming.
- 25 June: As part of the Festival’s exhibitions weekend, we had an exhibition explaining the current projects of Sustainable Blewbury. It took place in Anita Rendel’s lovely garden. The first three photos are views of the exhibition, and then James Morgan's live demonstration of creatures from the Millbrook.
Architectural heritage seminar: Blewbury's Hidden Gems, 4–5 April 2011
- 4 April: Guest speaker Charles Brooking gave a talk in the Methodist Church.
- 5 April: Charles Brooking led a village walk to point out the many architectural features of interest.
Sustainable Blewbury has an initiative to record architectural detail of buildings in the village, in photographs, sketches and drawings. This has recently started with a survey of about 100 houses (not all of them listed buildings) to note external items of special interest. To throw further light on our findings, we invited Charles Brooking back to Blewbury for a talk on the importance of windows and other detail in historic buildings and what you can learn from them. At a time when historic buildings are being swept away in large numbers, Charles' crusade is to make people aware of the significance of detail.
Film evening, 25 March 2011
- ‘Beyond the
Brink’
The film’s maker, Ross Harrison, attended and contibuted to the interesting discussion.
‘Beyond the Brink’ is a young Oxfordshire filmmaker’s take on the climate change debate. 18-year-old Ross Harrison spent a year chasing up experts, studying the news, and filming to create a short documentary that answers two ever-pressing questions: are we really causing climate change, and who cares? The result is a 40-minute film about the knowns and the unknowns of the science, about the risks, and about being hopeful for the future too. Interviews with Sir David Attenborough, among others, offer fresh perspectives on a subject that saturates the media, divides the public, and yet is still meaningless to many.
Open meeting and shared lunch, 19 February 2011
The aim was to present our projects and activities:
- A Sustainable Blewbury presentation by various people involved in our current projects, which you can view here (pdf).
- A very interesting talk by Cynth Napper of Oxfordshire Nature Conservation Forum, which you can view here (pdf).
In between the two we had a delicious and varied cold lunch, with the emphasis on local ingredients.
Apple Day, 16 October 2010
Apple Day is an annual celebration of apple, orchards and local distinctiveness, initiated by Common Ground in 1990. It has since been celebrated each year by people organising hundreds of local events. We held our first Blewbury-wide celebration of Apple Day on 16 October – it was well-attended and successful. We have put together a gallery of Apple Day photographs showing many of the activities, and the results of our survey of orchards in Blewbury is summarised on a separate page.
An attractive 28-page booklet, ‘Orchards in and around Blewbury’, was prepared for Apple Day and contains a wealth of information. It is available from us for £3.
Blewbury Produce stall
Our weekly stall for people wishing to sell surplus garden produce, including fresh fruit, vegetables, plants, cut flowers, preserves, free-range eggs, cakes and other home produce, ran from 22 May through 25 September. It was held at the shop (garage forecourt) on London Road, and proved to be popular and successful – almost everything supplied was sold.
More information? On our food page,
or contact Angela Hoy:
–
01235 851726 or Ange Barton:
–
01235 850957.
Sustainable Blewbury stall at Brass Band Day, 11 July 2010
The Blewbury and District Brass Band celebrated its 100th anniversary with an open-air party in the Playclose. Sustainable Blewbury had a stand – we talked to a lot of people about the project's aims and activities, as well as selling some local produce.
Green Energy Initiative – group purchase of solar photovoltaic panels
The Blewbury Energy Initiative coordinated a group order from Blewbury and Upton to obtain a discount on solar photovoltaic panels. Under the new feed-in tariff these have become an good investment, as well as contributing to a low-carbon future. Planning regulations have been eased, and a discount was offered if enough orders were placed. A well-attended information meeting about solar panels and the possible arrangements was held on 5 July, and this led to about a dozen new systems being installed.
A series of 3 films
- The Power of Community – how Cuba survived peak oil: 22 January 2010
- Home – a film by Yann
Arthus Bertrand:
19 February 2010
- In Transition 1.0 – what communities elsewhere are doing:
5 March 2010
Food and farming in and around Blewbury – a discussion evening, 13 November 2009
The discussion was chaired by agronomist Andrew Chell, with a showing of the recent BBC2 film "A Farm for the Future". The aim was to learn about the huge changes and challenges in today's farming, including higher oil prices and climate change.
Sustainable Blewbury – exhibition and demonstrations, 27 June 2009
In recent years the Blewbury Village Society Environment Group has worked closely with other organisations on issues concerning the environment. For this Blewbury Festival event, in the newly constructed barn at The Manor, the Environment Group organised exhibitions, demonstrations of, and detailed information about:
- Energy saving, solar PV, solar thermal, ground source heat pumps, etc.
- Reducing and recycling waste, including advice on composting
- Fairtrade food, saving resources and much more on sustainable living initiatives
The exhibition also highlighted the group's activities past and present, with a display of records and photographs of our own natural environment, and presentations on energy saving and microgeneration.
News from a warming world – a talk by Mark Lynas, 22 June 2009
This talk discussed what Blewbury and its global neighbours might look like in a warmer world, and how we all need to adapt our lifestyles. What can we do now to prevent the worst effects of climage change?
Mark Lynas, who lives in Oxfordshire, is a journalist, author and environmental activist. His book ‘Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet’ won the prestigious Royal Society Prize for Science Books in 2008.