Buck the Trend

Free Energy Course – Thursday March 25th

As part of the Green Communities programme,  Buck the Trend (BTT) will be hosting a free one-day course on how to energy audit a building. This will be presented by the Energy Saving Trust.

The course will be held at Buckfastleigh Town Hall on Thursday 25th March from 9.45 til 4.30.

See here for more details…

Help to make Buckfastleigh & Buckfast Devon’s ‘Green Community’ – and cut your energy bill too!

You may have heard that Buckfastleigh has been chosen as Devon’s ‘Green Community’ by the Energy Saving Trust. This means that we have a chance to show the rest of the county what can be done to make a difference to the environment, cut carbon emissions, and save energy.

On Tuesday 23rd or Wednesday 24th February,  every household in the town will receive a ‘Home Energy Check’ form. This simple form, that takes about 15 minutes to complete, asks questions about fuel bills, heating system, insulation and windows etc.

You can get phone help if you need it, or you can fill in the form on-line (if you are not in the Buckfastleigh area then this is the way to do it ) on the EST website here.

You will then be sent specific details of what you can do in your home to cut energy use and reduce your fuel bills, and what government help might be available.

What’s more, you will be helping to build a picture of energy use in the town, and how to start reducing it – which is essential for us all to make a brighter future for our children, and build a community where we would want them to live.

Many Thanks,

Andy Stokes
Secretary, ‘Buck the Trend’

Successful Brainstorming Meeting

Buck the Trend would like to thank everyone who attended the public meeting on Wednesday 25th November.

Andy Stokes, Buck the Trend’s secretary, said:

It was great to see such a wide range of people coming along to support us and generate some good ideas for how we can make Buckfastleigh a more sustainable place to live and become a stronger community as a result. It was also encouraging to receive support from the Town Council, with the Town Mayor Councillor Peter Clarke and Councillor Ann Armstrong (of the Buckfastleigh and District Society) both attending the meeting.

The meeting was also attended by members of related groups in neighbouring towns. Andy Stokes said:

We really appreciate the fact that representatives from Sustainable South Brent and Transition Newton Abbot came to the meeting and gave us the benefit of their experience. We look forward to working more closely with them and the other groups that showed their support, including Ashburton Futures and Bovey Climate Action.

Tony Merrick from the Energy Saving Trust said:

The meeting was a great start to the project and it seems that the group contains some very knowledgeable, keen individuals. After this first meeting I am very much looking forward to progressing with Buck the Trend in their action plan. Thank you to the other community groups for coming and sharing their previous experiences and good practice with us.

Buck the Trend are now working to finalise their plans for the Green Communities programme over the next year.

Tony Merrick (EST), Councillor Peter Clarke (Town Mayor), Robert Byrnes (BTT Chairman) and Andy Stokes (BTT Secretary) at the meeting

November Public Forum

The next forum will be held at Buckfastleigh Town Hall on Wednesday 25th November at 7:30pm. This public meeting will launch the partnership between Buck the Trend and The Energy Savings Trust ‘Green Communities’ Programme (see previous post).

It is also a chance for everyone to help to plan what we will do over the next year and beyond. We welcome your input, so please come along to hear what this means for Buckfastleigh and to contribute your ideas.

If you are not within walking/cycling distance of the Town Hall, please consider using public transport or using Car Share Devon.

Buck the Trend Wins Green Communities Programme

Buck the Trend has won a competition to take part in a Green Communities programme run by the Energy Saving Trust (EST). We have been selected from communities across Devon to work with an EST staff member to develop an initial carbon reduction plan for our town. This is wonderful news! It validates all the hard work we’ve done so far, and it means we can move on to the next stage of developing specific projects with professional support and resources.

Tony Merrick from the EST based in Plymouth said:

It was clear that Buck the Trend is all about the community. They had already done some great work in the area and had some good ideas they wanted to bring forward over the coming year. We were enthused about working with the group because of their genuine approach to community life and the potential of what we can achieve by working together in the town.
At the EST advice centre we have always been committed to helping individuals to reduce their carbon emissions and save money on their fuel bills. Although we offer a number of services for community groups, the opportunity to work with an entire community in this tailored way is really exciting.

We’re still brainstorming ideas for the programme and would really welcome your input so get in touch if you’d like to take part in this process.

See http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/cafe for more info on the Green Communities programme.

Tony Merrick (second from right) from EST and members of the BTT Committee

Lamb Pie Day

We did a stall at this year’s Lamb Pie Day, giving out some Buck the Trend info, entertaining people with Toby’s music, and selling lots of raffle tickets for our excellent prizes – a voucher for Jenny’s Farm Shop, a voucher for the Buckfast Abbey shop, a cream tea for two at the Singing Kettle and a basket of organic fruit and veg from Nature’s Round.

As can be seen from the pictures, rain meant that the whole stall – apart from one hardy lettuce – had to be covered up at times but we had a good day anyway!

Buck the Trend backs Green Fingers at Buckfastleigh school

Last week we donated a brand new compost bin to Buckfastleigh school to support the school’s vegetable-growing plans.

Children at the school have launched a Green Fingers Club to work on a veggie patch, look after the school grounds and do gardening work in the town’s Millennium Orchard. The weekly club is led by teacher Jo Woods and is open to all classes, involving children from 4 to 11 years old.

Nick Banwell, headteacher at Buckfastleigh school, said: “Thanks to Buck the Trend for supporting the Green Fingers Club. It is great to see the community once again supporting the school.”

The club, the green fingers and the veg bed

the new compost bin

A walk on the wild side!

On Bank Holiday Monday, 25th May, Buck the Trend went wild!

Well, to be honest, we went on an amazing wiold food walk led by Fiona Campbell who collects wild food nearly every day.  She  is extrememly knowledgeable having lived wild not only here but also having spent time with Australian Aboriginals and the Bushmen of the Kalahari learning how ancient peoples live from the land and treat it with respect. Fiona explained how our ancient ancestors would have spent a nomadic existence moving from the moor to the sea and back again as the seasons tunred. At this time of year we would have been leaving the moor and moving down to the coast living on the cleansing leaves that we were introduced to and encouraged to taste and to pick.

Many of the group had already tasted the wild garlics that abound near us but thistles was a new experience for many. Useful cooking tips and ideas of how to eat the leaves were incorporated as well as what not to eat (poisonous plants). My favouirie discovery was pennywort, very mild and with a lovely crunch!

Fiona forages most days and would be happy to take people out with her if they want to find out more (there is a cost), if anyone is interested please contact the group and we can put you in touch.

Seed and Plant Swap

The seed and plant swap last Saturday (25th April) went really well. We carried a table from the Town Hall and set it up in the Victoria Woodholme car park, next to the Council’s compost giveaway, with a fair selection of plants and seeds.

The car-park was very busy. An advert (including BTT plant swap) had gone out in the Mid-Devon Advertiser and also on the radio.

The Council’s compost was gone by 11.00 but we stayed until about 12.15, as did Eric from Go Green Devon. Eric gave us a pack of marrow seeds to swap. His company collects garden, green waste and timber, composts it, makes wood chip or veg frames, planters etc. They now also have young adults with learning difficulties working with them. See their website – www.gogreendevon.com

Free lightbulbs on Fore Street!

On Saturday 21st March some members of Buck the Trend handed out free low energy lightbulbs on Fore Street and near the Co-op, accompanied by Toby’s beautiful flute music and, later, Iona on violin.

We met a great response – the point of it was to promote the Energy Fair the following Saturday so, even though quite a few people said they already had enough low energy lightbulbs (”a cupboard full of them” in one case), most people were interested in the Fair, and a lot planned to come along!

our stall by the Co-op