Newsletter - Winter 2008-9
Contents of this edition:
All the hard work of our Fairtrade Town community groups, in Monmouth, Chepstow, Abergavenny and Usk, has been recognised as Monmouthshire has achieved Fairtrade County status. Monmouth Comprehensive School is a Fairtrade school and many primary schools are working towards this goal too. Together with the many faith groups, business, workplaces and individuals who are committed to supporting and promoting Fairtrade - the people of Monmouthshire are helping to make a real and positive difference to the lives of millions of people in developing countries.
We celebrated our wonderful award, with many of those who have been working so hard for so long to promote Fairtrade, by raising the Fairtrade Flag at County Hall on Thursday 20th November. Children from Usk and Raglan Primary schools came along to the event and spoke about what Fairtrade means to them.
Fairtrade is important because many people producing lots of the products we use everyday such as tea, coffee and chocolate are not getting a fair wage - currently many receive as little as 75p a day! This means people are living in poverty without enough money for, or access to, food, clean water, medicine, books and education.
Fairtrade ensures that producers in developing countries earn a living wage for their work. Buying goods with the Fairtrade Mark means that producers get a fair price for their goods and brings less visible benefits such as hope, dignity and ambition, to many too,
Buying Fairtrade goods has never been easier. There are now more than 2000 products FAIRTRADE Mark including; chocolate, coffee, fruit, spices, footballs and socks. Many of these are readily available in our local shops. In Monmouthshire, we have over 50 shops, cafes, pubs, B and Bs and hotels using and providing Fairtrade goods
Everyone can be involved in being part of the solution. It makes you feel great too! If you eat a Fairtrade chocolate bar you can feel good instead of guilty, because you know you're helping to make a difference.
To get involved or find out more about Fairtrade Town Groups near you or Fairtrade Schools, contact: Colette Mooney, Sustainable Communities Officer on 01633 644108 or by email: colettemooney@monmouthshire.gov.uk
Awards for Building Conservation
Buildings can be re-cycled by re-using original materials and using local materials for repairs. The Village Alive Trust is a community-based Building Preservation Trust which has secured grant-aid to restore or secure buildings on the Monmouthshire register of Buildings at Risk, through a partnership of owners, grant bodies and community action. It has, so far, focused on agricultural buildings and has shown how historic buildings can be repaired and re-used supporting the rural community as well as providing interest to local residents and the visiting public.
The Trust acknowledges that there is good historic building conservation being carried out by others across Monmouthshire, and is launching this series of Awards for Building Conservation to promote best practice and to give encouragement to those who have worked hard to complete a successful buildings project.
The Award will relate to specific buildings and is principally intended to commend the owner/person who commissioned the work - though by association, an Award will also commend the professionals involved in the project.
Any Monmouthshire building, or a specific feature of a building, is eligible for an Award if the work was carried out between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2008.
The first Village Alive Trust Awards for Building Conservation will be made in June 2009. Each winner will receive a Plaque for the Award-winning building and a Certificate. Applications for an Award will be assessed by an independent panel whose decisions will be final.
Application Forms can be downloaded from www.villagealivetrust.org.uk and sent to : Awards Secretary, Old Shop, Skenfrith, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire NP7 8UH by 28 February 2009. The Awards are supported by Cadw and Monmouthshire County Council.
Back to news index
Gwent Living Churchyards
Gwent's Living Churchyards Project has slowly been building pace over the last year having had contact with representatives from over 40 churches throughout Gwent, and beginning to work more closely with 15 churchyards.
The 3 year project, funding a part time project officer and hosted by Gwent Wildlife Trust, aims to highlight the fantastic wildlife and built and social heritage of our churchyards, and support local people in exploring the unique wildlife of their churchyards and how to encourage it. Often, people are unaware just how valuable their churchyards are for wildlife, or the variety of wildflowers that sometimes hide below a tightly mown lawn.
To help change this, the project is supporting training days and events to invite local people to learn more about their living churchyard. St Michael's, Glascoed held an 'orchid & cowslip spectacular' to celebrate its fantastic spring display of wildflowers, St Peter's, Pantside held a hedgerow planting event, whilst The Friends of Monmouth Cemetery held a 'Hay Day' to help care for the site's wildflower meadow area. Up and coming training days will look at churchyard archaeology and veteran yew trees. Such events provide the opportunity for local people to learn more about the wildlife and history to which their churchyard is home and hopefully join in helping record it, care for it and enjoy it!
The project offers baseline wildlife surveys and will be working with church groups on basic management plans to encourage wildlife friendly management. The level of involvement of each group is led by them. In some churchyards this means identifying appropriate areas for trial wildflower meadow areas, whilst in others it could be creating reptile refuges or in one case building a new compost bin, to replace an old pile located beneath a fantastic veteran yew tree.
Churchyards are first and foremost places of tranquillity, where people go to remember loved ones. Balancing the needs and expectations of visitors, with the needs of wildlife can sometimes be a challenge, but when achieved can have immense rewards for both. After all, who can fail to enjoy the spring spectacle of a host of golden daffodils (native ones of course!) or bats emerging from their roost on a warm summer evening?
A call for your churchyard wildlife records - Identifying what wildlife a churchyard supports is obviously an important first step to inform any changes to management. If you have any wildlife records for churchyards involved in the project please let us know.
Rebecca Price, Wildlife Projects Officer, Gwent Wildlife Trust. Email: rprice@gwentwildlife.org. www.gwentwildlife.org/livingchurchyards
Forthcoming Living Churchyards events: The following short courses and talks are available as part of Gwent's Living Churchyard's Project's training programme, intended to help local communities learn more about the special wildlife and history of Gwent's wonderful churchyards. Talk: Living Churchyards - The Graveyard Slot Thursday 12th March, 7:30pm, Tintern Village Hall, Tintern, FREE, no booking required. Join professional archaeologists, Colin Harris & Felicity Taylor, to learn more about the rich archaeological and historical interest of our wonderful churchyards.
Slide Talk and live Yew Harp Music - 'Wonders of Yew' Thursday 9th April 2009, 7.30pm start, Bettws Newydd Village Hall, nr Usk, FREE, contact Rebecca Price, 01600 740358 for more information. The yew tree is one of the most versatile life forms on earth, with a rich cultural and natural history. Today the UK is a Noah's Ark for the conservation of ancient yews worldwide. Eighty to eighty five per cent of these grow in British churchyards, where the Church is the guardian and custodian of this ancient heritage. Our speaker Fred Hageneder is a recognised authority on ethnobotany. His books include: The Spirit of Trees: Science, Symbiosis and Inspiration (2000) and The Living Wisdom of Trees: Natural History, Folklore, Symbolism, Healing (2005) and Yew - A History (2007).
Recycling in Monmouthshire
Residents who use recycling services were thanked by Monmouthshire County Council officers at a meeting in January.
Increasing numbers of people in the county are finding more and more things to recycle, as new systems are being tried out. In some areas this is leading to recycling rates that are better than any in Wales.
MCC has seen a steady increase in recent months in its recycling and composting performance, and a particularly busy Christmas and New Year period. One initiative recently introduced is a two-box pilot system for 2,320 homes in a mixture of rural and urban areas in the Wye Valley and the south of the county. It covers cardboard, plastics, paper, cans, glass and textiles and has been running for two months so far.
In a recent monitoring exercise nearly 90% of residents of the Danes area of Chepstow were found to be using the improved service over a three week period, and weights collected show that an average household is putting out well over a quarter of a tonne a year for the recycling crews. This is better than any district’s performance in Wales to date, according to official waste figures.
Dave Harris, MCC’s Head of Waste Management, said: “We offer a variety of services to help residents reduce, reuse and recycle, and we want to say a big thank you to the increasing numbers that are making use of them. This two-box service is one way that the council is looking at to keep more out of the bin. As a result of the current economic climate, some councils have had to stockpile materials as their value has dropped and they can’t sell them for as much as they used to. However, in Monmouthshire it’s good to know that we have a number of established contracts for materials that are holding up well in the economic climate.
But there are still residents out there who are not making full use of our recycling opportunities - people can recycle their food waste, their green & garden waste or dry waste such as newspapers& magazines, cans, bottles, and similar materials. We are providing weekly collections for all of these either with a box for sorting or sack for mixed recyclables, a food waste bin, or a green waste collection. There is plenty still to be done so we would urge every to take part and reduce the waste that has to go to landfill."
Monmouthshire Community Recycling operates some of the recycling services on behalf of MCC and they are following up with a customer survey to find out where there might be room for further improvement.
One resident of the pilot area, Di Smith from Caerwent [pictured] explained why they were using the new, improved service: “I think most people want to do their bit as long as it is not too much bother and they can see the effect. I have been using the black box for years, it’s second nature, but now that I have the second box and I can put my plastics and cardboard out too, I can really see the difference in my bin.”
Transition Chepstow - The Official Launch!
Transition Chepstow - THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH! Wednesday 25 February 2009 @ 7-9.30pm, Drill Hall, Lower Church Street, Chepstow, NP16 5HJ. This FREE event will mark the unleashing of Transition Chepstow, highlighting the progress made in the initiative's first year and will look forward to future opportunities!
We are delighted to announce that Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition movement, author and lecturer in sustainable living, will be joining us for our celebration and giving us a presentation on the phenomenon that is 'Transition'. We have a talk from Tom Rugg on his work with 'Polar Bears International', together with local produce stalls, music and a bar! To reserve a seat please contact Marcus via info@transitionchepstow.org.uk or 07944 468052. Back to news index
International Year of Astronomy
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy, aimed at stimulating interest in astronomy in particular and science in general. There will be events all over the country, and opportunities for schools to apply for 100% grants to buy their own telescopes. As Monmouthshire is a rural county with few urban centres, our skies are quite dark, with great views of stars, other galaxies, constellations, our nearest planetary neighbours and even the milky way being clearly visible under favourable conditions.
Recent events have been held at the Brecon Beacons National Park Centre at Libanus and at Newport Wetlands Centre. To find out about other events in 2009, visit www.astronomy2009.co.uk . There will be a Spring Moonwatch from 28th March to 5th April, when there should also be good views of Saturn. Alternatively, go along to one of Usk Astronomical Society's regular weekly meetings www.uskastronomicalsociety.org.uk
We should cherish our dark night skies, and the opportunities they provide to observe the heavens and gain inspiration from them. Light pollution wastes energy and contributes to climate change as well as making it more difficult to enjoy a starry sky.
The Severn Barrage
The new (Oct 2008) Department of Energy and Climate Change(DECC) headed up by Ed Milliband announced on Monday 26 January the shortlist of five schemes which are open to public consultation for the next three months.
They are:
Shoots Barrage - located near the Severn road crossings, estimated to cost £3.2bn to construct and generate 2.7TWh/year (TWh = Tera Watt hours, or trillion watts per hour) or just under 1% of UK electricity (roughly equivalent to a large fossil fuel power station)
Beachley Barrage - slightly smaller and further upstream than the Shoots Barrage (and upstream of the Wye), estimated to cost £2.3bn and generate 1.6TWh/year
Fleming Lagoon - an impoundment on the Welsh shore of the Estuary between Newport and the Severn road crossings, estimated to cost £4bn and generate 2.3TWh/year
Bridgwater Bay Lagoon - an impoundment on the English shore of the Estuary between Hinkley Point and Weston Super Mare, estimated to cost £3.8bn and generate 2.6TWh/year
Cardiff-Weston Barrage - located between Brean Down and Lavernock Point, estimated to cost £20.9bn and generate 16.8Twh/year or some 5% of UK electricity.
Media coverage has been fairly muted just nineteen articles in the national newspapers. Environmental groups National Trust, Save Our Severn etc have muttered rather general environmental concerns and the consensus appears to be a lobby for further investigation of alternative technologies. Sadly there appears an overwhelming amount of subjective opinion and very little objective presentation from all sides. Take the list above, taken from the official press release, which selectively states the capital cost and generating capacity. Through-life costs and hence a cost per unit of electricity would provide a more objective comparison.
The Save Our Severn Group favour turbine technology, and said -"A new generation of tidal turbines, being developed at Exeter University with funding from BERR (the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform), has the potential to match the output of any barrage proposal - with very low environmental impact. And, crucially, without damming the river." (italics added), but offer no objective figures. Other environmentalists deplore loss of habitat and hence species from the estuary while others assert that the hostile intra tidal region is sparsely populated anyway. Neither faction actually justifies their claims - would halving the intra tidal region mean that current populations of birds could be sustained, would be reduced or disappear?
If you believe these questions should be answered then post them on the consultation website http://severntidalpowerconsultation.decc.gov.uk/.
Winter Tree Hunting (and Hugging)
The Woodland Trust has been encouraging us all to find and measure ancient, veteran trees for several years now. Winter is one of the best times to do it, when undergrowth has died back and we can get a good view of the structure of our local trees. This year, the Woodland Trust have come up with a novel way to measure our ancient trees, by knitting a 1.5 metre long scarf; exactly the same size as the average British hug! The Trust has teamed up with knitwear designer Laura Long to design the scarves, and a pair of cosy mittens. There is a choice of a simple striped scarf or a more complicated leaf design, so you can pick whichever design suits your skill level (or not, as the case may be). You can download the stripy design here, the leaf design here, and the mittens pattern here. The Woodland Trust has also set up a Flickr page, where knitters can add photos of their successful creations (Flickr winter knitters group.). To find out about the Ancient Tree Hunt, and download the recording form click here.
Back to top
Tools news from Tanzania
Tools for Self Reliance Cymru have for many years run a successful project in Crickhowell refurbishing tools, which are exported to artisans and craftspeople in Tanzania. A new initiative is to send the tools in their unrefurbished state to Africa, where a workshop has been established that enables local Tanzanians to use their skills and learn new ones. Saidi Maguta (second left) has been appointed as Workshop Supervisor, and the photograph on the left was taken when Gwyn Dix, Chair of TFSR Cymru was visiting Tanzania to await the arrival of a container of tools that left Wales for Mwanza in October 2008.
Shabani Mlangi is a skilled blacksmith. He is applying cow horn to his work, which adds carbon to the metal and helps the finish. He received the anvil and other tools from Crickhowell a couple of years ago.
Usk Civic Society - In memory of HM Submarine Usk
A silver plaque was unveiled in the library of the Sessions House in Usk by the Mayor of Usk, Councillor Tony Kear, on 27th January 2009, in the presence of the President of Usk Civic Society, The Lord Raglan, Members of Usk Town Council, the President and the Chairman of the Usk and Raglan Branch of the Royal British Legion and members of Usk Civic Society.
The inscription on the silver plaque reads:
PRESENTED TO HMS USK BY THE INHABITANTS OF USK, MONMOUTHSHIRE JANUARY 1941
HM Submarine Usk was a U class submarine that entered service in late 1940 and was subsequently assigned to the First Submarine flotilla based in Malta. In January 1941 a campaign was launched in Usk to raise £20,000 to buy 10 torpedoes for the boat. Sadly, it was lost with all 31 hands on or around 29th April 1941 probably off the coast of Cape Bon, Tunisia. A wreck has never been found but it is believed to have hit a mine as no German or Italian records indicate any anti-submarine activity at the time. HM Usk was one of a batch of 12 U-class submarines ordered at the very start of World War 2. Losses were very high in this type of vessel and only 3 of HM Usk's sister ships survived the war.
LEST WE FORGET
Information provided by Mr Roger Davies BA ACIB APMP and from 'Usk at War' by Jan Barrow: 2006. Sadly we had forgotten and it was Mr Davies who was instrumental in rescuing the plaque which had at some point been consigned to the obscurity of a storage cupboard. He had seen the name of the submarine inscribed on a memorial on the Thames embankment and as he had connections with Usk was sufficiently intrigued to do more research. He informed Usk Civic Society who then arranged for the plaque to be re-hung. Back to top
Click here for Previous editions of the newsletter
