Dear TDEG Friends – We wanted to share with all our members the presentations and discussion from our last whole group meeting on 15 November (more on this below), so we’ve also taken the opportunity to provide a few updates from our project groups. We hope you find all these activities interesting and, as ever, our thanks to everyone who has been involved.
How can we support our farmers to help nature recover?
We had a great turn-out for our last TDEG meeting on 15 November, when we had some fascinating presentations about the work to help nature undertaken by some of our local farmers . We also watched the short film “Save Our Wild Isles – Hungry for Change”. The presentations and the film provoked a lot of discussion at the end of the meeting. A summary of the whole event, and links to the film and the presentations can be found on our web site here.
Supporting Environmental Action in our Local Schools
Several of our members have been working closely with our two local primary schools – Bishop Pursglove School and Litton School.
The Litton School Eco-council is well-established and this term the Eco-council has focussed on biodiversity – in particular on hedgehogs as endangered animals. They have built hedgehog homes in the school grounds, and they invited Kirstie from the Ashford Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation to give an excellent presentation on hedgehogs. Kirstie brought in a rescued hedgehog to show the children (called…… Bambi! Of course!). At their Christmas Fair, we supported their Eco-school stall with a wooden hedgehog stacking game and sale of pre-loved games and jigsaws. We raised £54.80 for Ashford Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation.
We were also pleased to connect the school with Kate Wilson (our Peak District National Park Engagement Ranger). We are hoping Litton School will join the Peak District Ambassador Schools scheme in 2024 and Kate will also be able to support the school in their environmental activities.
At Bishop Pursglove School, our TDEG member, Andrea led an assembly to present the school with a range of Eco-books and also to launch their Eco-council. Lots more activities should follow.
We are also planning more activities with the 1st Tideswell Scouts and Cubs. Their ideas include a litter pick, and working towards their badges in environmental conservation, forestry and farming. All very exciting opportunities.
Successful Litter Picking Event
A large group of local residents gathered in the Pot Market on a damp Sunday in November, before heading off armed with high-viz jackets and litter pickers to tidy up their local community. Whilst chatting and making new friends, our intrepid team collected around 15 bags of rubbish along local lanes and public land in the village. Litter was divided into pink bags for recycling and blue bags for ordinary rubbish. Sweet wrappers, coffee cups and drink cans remain the most common items collected.
The strangest bit of litter found? A wall plug socket! And of course the main message to everyone is – please take your litter home!
Tideswell HEAT Hub
Derbyshire’s first HEAT Hub was held in Tideswell Community Hall last month. The event, supported by TDEG, attracted 32 local residents to hear specialist advice for properties off the gas grid, situated in Conservation Areas, or with an Energy Performance Certifcate in classes D to G. You may qualify for a free energyplan – go to the Home Energy Advice Team for more information.
A Call for Action on International Repair Day
Our Tideswell Repair Café had its most successful day ever on International Repair Day in October. As well as many repairs, we also invited all our local political representatives to sign up to the UK Repair & Reuse Declaration. You can read more about this new campaign here.
Over 250 organisations, politicians and other local repair cafes have already signed up to the new declaration across the UK, including TDEG. We were delighted when our local District Councillor, Neil Buttle, responded to our invitation and added his signature. Through this campaign, TDEG hopes that more of us will consider repairing and reusing household items, rather than buying new stuff, as a real gain for the environment.
As well as our usual great voluntary repairers, we are also pleased to have the Peak District Nappy Library attending these events. You can read more about this new project here. This is a local service designed to support parents and carers in using reusable ‘cloth’ nappies, to help them save money and the environment.
Our next Repair Cafe will be on 20 January.
New and Improved Bicycle Maintenance Club
The TDEG Cycling Group are delighted to announce some changes to our monthly Bicycle Maintenance Club. We are joining forces with Tideswell’s very own bike shop, Peak Tri Store, where we will now hold our maintenance sessions.
As well as an inside venue with shelter and light, we will be able to provide:
- an expert-led demonstration of a scheduled non-specialist maintenance topic, and
- flexible time for you to practise our scheduled topic or maintain your own bike with our kit and support.
The Cycling Group believes this will be an excellent partnership with a local business and make best use of all their skills and expertise.
The group also wants to find out if it would be helpful to offer maintenance sessions more regularly than monthly on the 1st Saturday. So if the usual time (3-5pm on the first Saturday of the month) doesn’t suit you, but you would like to attend maintenance support sessions, please fill in this survey.
And most importantly – Season’s Greetings from our Chair, Sue Barber
During the current UN Climate Conference COP28, it seems appropriate to quote Christiana Figueres, a veteran COP negotiator hailed as the architect of the Paris Climate Agreement. Christiana uses the phrase “Outrage and optimism“, emphasising the need to harness both in all our actions. TDEG members have done so much this year and we shall remain optimistic for the New Year. The committee would like to thank everyone who has taken any action – either individually or with others. Together we can make a difference.
Finally, our Chair, Sue Barber would like to wish all our members, of all faiths or none, “A Happy Christmas and Healthy, Peaceful New Year.“
Best Wishes
Lynn Crowe
