Caring about the future of our community
in Thornbury and the surrounding villages

ST Bulletin

Contents

This Bulletin includes news about:

• The EcoFair;
• A Creative Recycling competition;
• The new Thornbury Give'n'Take website;
• The AGM;
• The Energy Project;
• Get Growing Day;
• Thornbury Community Plan meeting;
• Forthcoming dates.

EcoFair, Saturday 19 May 2012

Come and enjoy all the fun of the EcoFair on 19th May at The Chantry in Thornbury. Find out how you can do the green thing and save £££s, how to reduce those soaring energy bills, how to keep your favourite clothes fashionable, how to grow your own food and make your own compost. We've even got a 20% EcoFair-only discount on HotBox Composters!

We are planning a fun event just like last time, whatever the weather. There will be family activities and a performance stage for local talent. There will be an opportunity to question experts at our gardener's question time and the energy forum. See our EcoFair pages for details of stalls, activities and demonstrations. Come and bring your friends for some serious fun!

Download the EcoFair leaflet (PDF 740KB) and EcoFair poster (PDF 251KB).

All this will need a lot of help on the day. We particularly need help between 7:30 and 9:30am; if you can help and you haven't yet told us, please give Margaret a ring on 01454 416778 or email ecofair@sustainablethornbury.org to let her know.

Creative Recycling competition

We are running a Creative Recycling Competition alongside the EcoFair with prizes awarded at the EcoFair. There is still time to enter before the closing date of 17th May. The competition is to make something useful from stuff that would be thrown away. Can you have fun and save money? The competition is open to all with age-appropriate prizes for everyone from under 5s to adults. There is an entry form on the website, or you can pick up paper copies from the Town Hall or library. Winners will be announced at 1pm at the Ecofair. So let's see what all our artistic and engineering members can come up with!

Thornbury Give'n'Take website

The Sustainable Thornbury waste group is working with the MyThornbury website people to create a local Give'n'Take website. The idea is to help with finding new homes for useful but unwanted free items, similar to our Give-It-Away Take-It-Away Days.

It will be a bit like Freecycle or Freegle, but covering only the Thornbury area, and much easier to use. This means less travelling to collect things, so if you want you can put on items that are bulky or of low value but usable. Steve Webb MP will be launching the website at the EcoFair around 1:30pm.

We are looking for items to put on the site before the launch. If you have an item you would like to put on please contact the waste group.

Annual General Meeting

Sustainable Thornbury will be holding its Annual General Meeting on Wed 23 May at The Chantry starting at 7:30pm. All members are very welcome. The business part should be fairly short, and will be followed by refreshments and socialising. If you want to stand for office, or nominate someone, then please contact us.

The Energy Project

We are planning some work on energy topics. The details are still to be agreed, but we expect it to include:-

• publicising energy matters;
• learning about energy;
• offering basic advice;
• publicising grants, loans and sources of more detailed advice;
• setting up demonstration homes;
• helping community groups;
• working with Gloucestershire and Bristol community energy groups.

If you would like to offer your home as a demonstration home or help define, plan and set up this project then please email energy@sustainablethornbury.org or ring Alan on 416778.

Get Growing Day

Thornbury is joining in with Get Growing Day on Sunday 10th June with three community projects - Thornbury Harvest Co-op, the Thornbury community orchard and Filnore allotments. These three sites will be open from 10am until 3pm. If you could help at the Orchard that day, please contact Barbara. The day is part of a weekend of events being organised by the Bristol Food Network.

Thornbury Community Plan public meeting

Thornbury Town Council is drawing up a Community Plan for Thornbury. They are holding a public meeting at 7:30pm on Thursday 10th May (postponed from 15th March) at the Cossham Hall to gather ideas for the plan. ST is encouraging members to go to the meeting to make sure the plan is sustainable.

Facebook

We have a Facebook group and a Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, do have a look, join the group, like the page and share with your friends. If you are not on Facebook, you can still see the Facebook page.

Discussions and planning

We have discussions and plan what we are doing at meetings on the fourth Wednesday of most months at 7:30pm at The Chantry. The first hour or so is often a talk or general discussion that we call Sustainability Forum. Then we have a tea break and talk about what the project groups are doing. All are welcome.

The next three meetings are on Wed 23 May (the AGM), Wed 27 June and Wed 25 July.

Grow Your Own Food

The Grow Your Own Food group has a meeting most months, usually on a Thursday at 7:30pm. The next meeting is Thursday 10 May, potting on plants for the EcoFair. Please ring 412165 for more details. Click here for meetings after that or ring 01454-412165. The Grow Your Own Food group also has an email group; to subscribe email gyof-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Dates

Thu 10 May: Grow Your Own Food, potting on for the EcoFair, 7:30pm. 44 Castle St.

Thu 10 May: Thornbury Town Council public meeting at the Cossham Hall, Thornbury, 7:30pm to discuss the Thornbury Community Plan.

Wed 16 May: EcoFair stewards meeting, 7:30 to 9:30pm at The Chantry.

Fri 18 May 2012: EcoFair preparation in the evening, at The Chantry

Sat 19 May 2012: EcoFair, all day, at The Chantry

Wed 23 May: ST Annual General Meeting, 7:30pm, The Chantry.

Sun 10 June: Get Growing Day at Thornbury Harvest CSA, the Thornbury community orchard and Filnore allotments. These three sites will be open from 10am until 3pm.

This email was sent by info@sustainablethornbury.org, telephone 01454-416604. To unsubscribe, email info@sustainablethornbury.org.