The Sustainable Blewbury project
Our origins
Blewbury is a medium-size English village which enjoys a high standard of living and quality of life, and has a tradition of interest in and caring for its environment. Community concerns about the environment led to the formation in 1993 of the Blewbury Village Society Environment Group (BVS-EG), acting as a forum for discussion and action on topics related to the village and its environment – including the village fabric, amenities such as footpaths and open spaces, springs, streams and the natural habitat. In 2013 we are therefore celebrating our 20th anniversary!
During the first decade of the new millennium the BVS-EG initiated several actions relating to the Parish Plan. Our environmental work was brought together in 2006 with the publication of a book, A View from the Hill. Increasing awareness of concerns around climate change and a need to switch to non-polluting sources of energy led in 2005 to the formation of the Blewbury Energy Initiative – the first of a family of new village initiatives relating to sustainable living and coping with climate change, as well as our environment. In order to better reflect the emphasis on sustainability, the BVS-EG was renamed Sustainable Blewbury.
In 2012 it was agreed to operate as an organisation independent of the Blewbury Village Society, and Sustainable Blewbury now has its own constitution, approved at our AGM on 27 April 2012. The constitution was modified at the following AGM, on 12 April 2013, to add trustees – this was needed to allow us to enter into leasehold agreements and other legal arrangements. We are affiliated to CAG (Community Action Groups) Oxfordshire, and join a growing wider regional and national movement of communities small and large striving for lower carbon standards of living.
Five themes
Sustainable Blewbury is organised around five main themes:
- Energy – to decrease use of fossil fuels and encourage renewables
- Travel and transport – to reduce dependence on cars and wasteful transport
- Food and farming – to promote local production and fair trade
- Natural environment and heritage – to promote protection of Blewbury’s special features
- Reduce, reuse and recycle – to reduce waste, increase reuse, and recycle as much as possible
Current projects
Below we list the specific projects currently underway and their convenors:
- Blewbury Energy Initiative (Ian Bacon)
- Blewbury Garden Market [formerly Produce Stall](Angela Hoy)
- Permaculture project (Eric Eisenhandler)
- Orchard survey (Mike Edmunds)
- Downland project (Peter Cockrell)
- Millbrook project: the Cleve, springs and streams (Mike Edmunds)
- Village trees (Anita Rendel)
- Village skills project (Anita Rendel)
- Dark skies and tranquility (Mike Marshall)
- Transition Together (Jo Lakeland) – website: ttog-blewbury.com, email: ttog@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk, telephone: 07466 708 030.
We wish to involve the whole village, and welcome participation from all those with suggestions and ideas on how we can adapt to more sustainable ways of living. Our ambitions outstrip our resources – we need more helpers. If you are interested in getting involved with a project, please make contact with the project leader or one of the two Mikes (Edmunds or Marshall).
- Chair – Mike Edmunds:
- Secretary and deputy webmaster – Mike Marshall:
- Treasurer – John Ogden:
- Webmaster – Eric Eisenhandler:
- Energy – Ian Bacon:
- Travel and transport – Mike Marshall:
- Food and farming – Angela Hoy:
- Natural environment and heritage – Mike Edmunds: and
Anita Rendel:
- Reduce, reuse and recycle –
Jo Lakeland:
and
Angela Hoy:
- Other members of the Core Group –
Ange Barton (Blewbury Village Society):
Richard Farrell (Parish Council):
Nearly 1000 years of Sustainable Blewbury
In the Domesday Book Blewbury is recorded as containing a church, 89 households and four water mills – two of which were in the current Parish of Blewbury.
This water wheel was installed in the late 19th century by Eli Caudwell to provide electricity for Ashbrook House. It was the first use of electricity in the village.
