Event Updates
- Big Tidy Up
Sunday 5th November from 10am at Susannes yard in the Borough. - Repair Cafe
Saturday 11th November. Please let Steve know if able to help. Volunteers needed for help in the café and baking cakes. - Terry’s Community Orchard
Sunday 3rd December at 10.00am. There will be a work party to do some pruning and replace some tree stakes. Thanks to Adam for all his work. There will be a follow-up planting session in January for trees in memory of Rob, Liz and Rosie. Details to follow - Wedmore by Lamplight
Wednesday 13th December 6pm. It was agreed we would have a joint stall with the Village Farm. Cookbooks and soup to be sold. - Warm in Wedmore
GW have undertaken to host a Wednesday/Thursday during the winter. The Wedmore Community Power Co-op are funding the Masonic Hall rental.
Zero Carbon Group Reports
Transport
Still little news on the 20mph this month. Several letters have been written by local residents to local publications recently which helps the cause. Rupert believes Alistair Smith (PC) is writing a response in next months’ IOW News which may have some update on the Pilcorn St footpath.
Somerset Bus Partnership held a stall outside the Village Store recently, lots of interested visitors and momentum for bus improvements. Better connection locally to rail is needed.
Food
The Wedmore Community Farm: Leases to be signed very soon. Men’s Shed have already re-located and have started clearance work. Tristan is developing plans and looking at the CARE Farms model, a community tree nursery among other ideas. Huge thanks to Wedmore Real Ale Festival who granted £1,500 to the farm project. A new, separate bank account to be set up.
Energy
No update from Emily this month. Boost planned with some press coverage.
Ben updated that Bagley Baptist Church have now installed 45 solar panels, generating 18kw. This was funded with money from the sale of Wedmore Baptist Church, and it is hoped that more funding can be secured to add more to the array.
Nature & Carbon
SERP (Eel Project)
Geoff updated the group on developments. Lots of momentum and national press coverage. The charter is now live on the website https://somerseteelrecoveryproject.co.uk/ There will be three main focus workstreams:
- Community engagement and education – including a plan to have 50 glass eel tanks in schools around the area next Spring.
- Story capture project – focussing on the history and social importance of eels in the locality.
- Overcoming physical barriers – the recent straw rope workshop and work with the Drainage Board and landowners.
SERP having discussions with EA to try and secure permissions early for next spring for a capture and release assisted migration project.
SERP will be having a stall at SWT AGM on 18th November in Taunton. Plans for an Eel Conference in July 2024, and talks in progress to capture sound recordings of eels.
Wilder Wedmore Future
There will be a meeting soon to discuss possible one-off events to maintain the momentum.
AOB
Anthony mentioned the firm Essential Trading, based in Bristol. He suggested people interested in purchasing organic produce could group together as a buying group to gain wholesale prices. A minimum order of £300 is required. https://www.essential-trading.coop/
Going to be an on-site meeting to discuss maintainence issues at Worthington Woods.
Proposal for change of workstreams
Steve presented some ideas to the group to change things up and freshen up how we report our actions and progress. PowerPoint presentation is here. The group discussed and while broadly in favour, there were some concerns about how understandable this language would be to the wider community, and a fear they may tune out. Who would take the lead for each group? Also, how would we share our monthly updates in IOW News and how would we share key information on the website. It was agreed to use the new titles of ‘Mitigation’, ‘Adaptation ‘and ‘Resilience’ but include straplines to aid understanding and tie them to current workstreams.
Next Meeting
Next meeting – Thursday 30th November 7:30pm at our new venue The Bluebird Café.