Green Wedmore Minutes – 28 November 2022
Apologies –Emily, Ben, Sonya, Anthony, Melvyn, Rupert
The chair welcomed everyone especially the new faces present.
Rob Richley –
The chair mentioned the sad news of the recent death of Rob and the meeting remembered his long association with Green Wedmore as a founding member, including 8 years as secretary and his work on Terry’s Wood and the solar power co-op. His funeral will be held on Monday 5th December at 1pm, Sedgemoor Crematorium and after at The Swan. Anyone wanting a lift please contact David Hopkins.
Action: to consider a fitting memorial at one of the community woodlands – all
Outstanding Actions –
Instavolt confirmed with Sonya that they have paid donation into GW account of £1k, although not yet showing. Action – Gail to check and if still no sign of amount to ask Sonya to chase.
It was agreed that we should look at insurance options next year as the most recent increase had been 18% Action carried forward: Gail
Our regular corporate donors should be thanked and mentioned on the website Action carried forward: Ben
Next Big Tidy Up, next date is Sunday 5th March.
Bat Boxes in Churchyard. Vanessa has corresponded with Richard Neill who approves of the idea. He also offered the church grounds as a site for a bike repair station location. Mike Rippon reported that the Village Hall have been approached by the Parish Council to host one in their grounds and the PC have suggested the Village Hall applies for grant funding from Wedmore Community Power Co-op for this.
Repair Café went ahead on 26/11 and was very successful. Thanks to Mike who organized the day. Approximately 40 items were brought in to be mended. With donations, cookbook sales, Alison’s sales and money from the café nearly £300 was raised.
Transport –
No update this month.
Food:
The Somerset Food Trail will now be back in 2023 albeit in a slightly different format. The emphasis will be more on ‘feasts’ with multiple producers encouraged to team up for events. There will be less involvement from the co-ordinators and more organised by the SFT team.
Back in February group members had an initial meeting to explore the possibility of a Wedmore Community Farm. There followed site visits to various local enterprises. Another brainstorming meeting is scheduled for next week.
David H announced that the cookbooks would now be sold at £5 each. Action – David to notify retailers.
Energy –
70 solar installations booked or completed. Action – Emily and Steve to politely follow up with any who have not donated
There may be a change in government direction regarding onshore wind power, however the issue with grid capacity remains. A large battery set-up will almost certainly be part of a future renewable energy scheme in the village.
Nature/Carbon –
Geoff gave an update on the plans for Wilder Wedmore. Geoff brought the meeting up to speed on the speakers, walks, talks and Bio Blitz. A grant application for funding to be submitted to the Power Co-op. A separate group has formed to run this event. Please join them, email geoff_carss@hotmail.com if you can help.
Finance –
Gail reported that income for the month was £415.44 which included £80 donations and £100 solar donation. This doesn’t yet reflect all the Repair Café fundraising.
There was £1.60 in expenses leaving a balance of £6,881,43.
Events –
Wedmore by Lamplight – 7th December. Steve will be the lead on the GW stall. Let him know if you can commit to helping that evening. Additional volunteers are David, Sarah and Zofia. Action: Cookies or muffins should sell. Any bakers please contact Steve on stevemewes415@gmail.com
Worthington Woods Work Party – Group to meet on 27th December
Warm in Wedmore – Green Wedmore have committed to hosting on 15th and 16th February. Action: Anyone wanting to help contact David Hopkins
Wilder Wedmore – 9/10/11 June 2023.
AOB
David Hopkins updated on progress making contact with the local schools. We are keen to connect with them and want to offer retro fitting for both schools to reduce their carbon emissions close to zero and drastically reduce their costs. Action – David to pursue.
On-street recycling bins. There are currently approx. 6 litter bins in the village serviced by the District Council. Steve has been in touch to explore the possibility of on-street recycling bins instead of the litter bins. It is being piloted elsewhere and Steve proposed we move this along by offering to fund the purchase of a bin (circa £1,000). The group agreed.
Worthington Woods Management. A new plan to keep on top of maintenance, Food Forest Project have some funds available quarterly to help with this. Likely to be in the region of £100-300 p/q. Tristan has offered 2-hour visits fortnightly at £15p/h. Steve suggested the idea of virtual honesty box where visitors could give donations to help with any shortfall in maintenance costs, a start-up exists locally which Steve is in contact with. Permission has been granted by the PC to erect a shelter. Vanessa discussed some ideas to help visitors get the most out of their time at Worthington Woods and help them connect with nature. Possible info boards or a QR code system. Mike B offered to tackle the brambles and a date was agreed for a work party to meet on 27th December. Mike also reported back that advice received from Prickles was that it was ok to release a family of hedgehogs into Worthington Woods.
Following the formal meeting we had an interesting and informative talk from Ellie, Ops Director at Lendology.
Next Meeting – Following a Christmas break, the next meeting will be 30th January, 7:30pm at St Mary’s.