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March 2024

Willows on the Wey, Guildford

In this month’s newsletter

  • Green drinks
  • Tyndall talk
  • WhatsApp group
  • Restoring Woolbeding
  • Ed teaches veg
  • Apple tree tlc
  • Free energy advice
  • Climate crisis and mental health
  • Green coffee
  • Farmers’ market
  • Wild Fell
  • BVeech TPO

Green drinks
We will hear about Zero Carbon Guildford’s energy efficiency advice programme, look at what we should be doing in our vegetable patches now, and discuss other Spring activities and topics. In the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road, from 7.30pm on Thursday 7 March. Please join us.

Talk on Tyndall, climate science pioneer

At the height of his fame in the 19th Century, John Tyndall drew crowds of 2,500 or more to his public lectures on recent developments in science, including his own discoveries in atmospheric dynamics that laid the foundations of meteorology and climate science. We are not expecting quite such a crowd at our lecture on Tyndall’s life but it should be fascinating nonetheless. It will be given by former head of the Science Museum and Tyndall biographer Sir Roland Jackson. 7.30pm Wednesday 27 March, Haslemere Hall. Free entry. You can find out more and book tickets here, or just turn up on the night.

Join our WhatsApp group
Want to keep up to date between newsletters or join in discussion on current issues? Join our new Transition Haslemere WhatsApp group. Send your mobile number to info@transitionhaslemere.org and we will add you to the group.

NT restores Woolbeding
The National Trust is holding two events about its plans for its Woolbeding estate. On Saturday 9 March, lead ranger Dave Elliott and project manager Becky Hiorns will lead a walk across the common and discuss plans to introduce grazing livestock to help restore habitat that is home to rare and threatened species. Meet at 10.30am at the Older Hill carpark. An event on Wednesday 20 March at the South Downs National Park Centre will explain plans to create large areas of woodland and wood pasture, restoration of the common, river and floodplain, along with species recovery and reintroduction. There will be volunteering opportunities and to help shape access routes. For more information call NT on 01730 816638 or email info@transitionhaslemere.org.

Ed teaches veg
Edwin Brooks, agroecological farmer and founder of Ed’s Veg, is leading two courses on agroecological vegetable growing. An introductory course on Sunday 14 April on the basics of growing food, chemical-free, with foolproof ways to plan and execute an edible garden. The Agroecological Veg Growing Success course on Sunday 21 April, for experienced growers or those who have completed the introductory course, will look at ways to improve the productivity of gardens and the quality of produce in a natural way. Both courses are at Devil’s Lane Market Garden, Liphook. The cost per course is £80 or £140 for couples, including refreshments and vegetarian lunch. You can find more information here or email edsvegdevilslane@gmail.com.

TLC for apple trees
Gareth Matthes writes: “We are holding a pruning session in the National Trust orchards, meeting at Swan Barn Orchard House at the Base Camp for 9.30am, working through to 3pm on Wednesday 6 March. We will give trees and protective fences some tender loving care, with a quick reminder about pruning. If you have sharp, decent secateurs, please bring them. All welcome. Please bring a packed lunch, and suitable footwear – wellies may be best as it’s very muddy in places. Hot drinks and toilets available.” For further information call, text or email Claire on 07765 890484, clairematthes.copse@gmail.com.

Free energy efficiency advice
Zero Carbon Guildford is offering free thermal imaging surveys and in-person energy advice from its Home Energy Advice Taskforce to Surrey residents to help them cut their bills, ensure homes are healthy and comfortable, and reduce carbon emissions. They offer remedial measures for draughts and can point you toward energy efficiency funding. You can check if you’re eligible for a free home energy survey here.

Attachment and climate crisis
With increasing evidence of the profound impact of climate change on mental health, a conference delves into the crisis through the perspective of attachment theory and looks at the natural world as a vital source of comfort and healing. ‘Attachment, climate crisis and the natural world’ is an online conference organised by the Bowlby Centre with Professor Jeremy Holmes as keynote speaker. Saturday 10am to 5pm 20 April 2024. Cost: £150 for non-Bowlby Centre members. You can book here.

Green coffee
Can’t make green drinks? Join us for green coffee from 10am to 12 noon on Wednesday 20 March at the Courtyard Cafe off the High Street. Come along for a coffee and informal chat on all things green.

Farmers’ market and repair cafe
We will be at the farmers’ market from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 2 March on the High Street. The Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn from 10am to 1pm on the same day.

Book of the month: Wild Fell by Lee Schofield

“The author has been overseeing the ecological restoration of a Lake District landscape, including Haweswater Reservoir and two traditional hill farms, on behalf of the RSPB. Facing huge resistance from the local farming community and numerous agencies, the RSPB try to promote reduced sheep stocks and nature restoration. He highlights the loss of biodiversity caused by the huge sheep numbers, while acknowledging how governments have forced farmers into more intensive farming over decades. Schofield finds inspiration in traditional farms operating in bio-diverse landscapes in Norway and Italy. In the Lakes there is progress, a growing conservation movement and an increasing number of farmers embracing a new way forward. A fascinating and inspiring book” writes Jon Lissimore.

Tree of the month: Veteran beech

This veteran beech (Fagus sylvatica) is one in a line of beech, oak and other species, including an ancient beech, on the Midhurst Road that have recently had Tree Preservation Orders placed on them. The trees are threatened by a planning application for housing development at Scotland Park, a National Landscapes area. Our new tree warden group drew the attention of Waverley’s tree officers to the threatened trees.

February 2024

Moon over Swan Barn Farm

In this month’s newsletter

  • green drinks
  • Tyndall talk
  • wassail
  • green coffee
  • business advice
  • farmers market and repair cafe
  • finding the Mother Tree
  • Selborne oak
     

Green drinks
This month we will hold our AGM. The business element – chair and treasurer reports and electing officers – usually takes no more than half an hour, after which we can get down to more engaging discussion. Possible topics include new projects for the year and a debate on the value of individual action to reduce carbon emissions. In the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road, from 7.30pm on Thursday 1 February. Please join us.

Talk on Tyndall, climate science pioneer

John Tyndall, the 19th Century scientist whose investigations of the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide and water vapour underpin our modern understanding of climate change, meteorology and weather, spent the last decade of his life in Haslemere. Sir Roland Jackson, former head of the Science Museum and author of the definitive biography The Ascent of John Tyndall, will give an account of this brilliant but complex character whose scientific and cultural significance has not been given its proper due.
7.30pm Wednesday 27 March, Haslemere Hall. Free. You can book tickets here.

Wonderful wassail

A horde in a torch parade to the orchard. Gathering of all round the oldest apple tree. Drumming and noise to drive away last year’s shadows. Songs and cider to bless the trees for the coming year’s harvest. To all those who helped organise and run another memorable wassail. – Claire and Gareth Matthes, National Trust rangers, volunteers and musicians – a very big thank you.

Green coffee
Can’t make green drinks? Join us for green coffee from 9 to 11am on Wednesday 21 February at the Courtyard Cafe off the High Street. And continuing on the third Wednesday of each month. Come along for a coffee and informal chat on all things green.

Sustainable business advice

Surrey Hills Enterprises is holding a Sustainable Business Showcase at 6 to 9pm on 7 February in the Rik Medlik building, University of Surrey, GU2 7XH. It promises practical insights into how to integrate sustainability into business strategy and unlock growth opportunities. You can find out more here.

Farmers market and repair cafe
We will be at the farmers’ market from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 3 February on the High Street. The Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn from 10am to 1pm on the same day..

Book of the month: Finding the Mother Tree by Suzanne Simard

Subtitled ‘Uncovering the wisdom and intelligence of the forest’, this part memoir, part natural history tells the story of discovering how trees communicate through underground networks of fungi and create communities to help each other survive and thrive.

Tree of the month: Selborne oak

This oak (Quercus robur), storm-damaged but still standing, was planted in 1730 in the garden of Wakes, the home of natural history writing pioneer Gilbert White. He lived in the house as a boy and later inherited it from his uncle. White also built a ‘fruit wall’ at the side of the lawn to trap the heat of the sun to help to grow fruit trees.

January 2024

Black Down on Christmas Day

Happy New Year

In this month’s newsletter

  • green drinks
  • wassail
  • green coffee
  • temperate rainforest
  • business advice
  • farmers market and repair cafe
  • Gilbert White
  • box tree
     

Green drinks
We will start the year with some reflections on 2023, including COP28, and look ahead to the new year for our project and plans. In the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road, from 7.30pm on Thursday 4 January. Please join us.

Winter wassail
There will be a torch parade and incantations and blessings of the apple trees in the Swan Barn Farm orchard at the winter wassail on Friday 26 January, 6-9pm. After the ritual we will retire for cider, apple juice and hot food (note CASH ONLY) at the National Trust Hunter Centre in Collards Lane, GU27 2HU. Boots and warm clothing are advised as it’s likely to be cold and muddy. If you can help with preparations or on the night or want further information please contact Claire Matthes at clairematthes.copse@gmail.com

Green coffee
Can’t make green drinks? We are reviving ‘green coffee’. Starting Wednesday 17 January, 9-11am at the Courtyard Cafe off the High Street and then the third Wednesday of each month. Come along for a coffee and informal chat on all things green.

Saving our temperate rainforests
The Government has launched a strategy to revive the remaining fragments of Britain’s once vast temperate rainforests. Western Britain and Ireland’s wet, mild conditions are ideal for lichens, mosses and liverworts that characterise temperate rainforests but centuries of destruction have meant that only small, isolated pockets remain. The strategy aims to protect and recover existing fragments and commits £750,000 for further research and development. You can find out more here.

Sustainable business advice
Surrey Sustainable Business Network has a new website with information to help businesses decarbonise and become more sustainable. Free impartial advice includes sources of funding and helpful courses. Relevant to start-ups through to established organisations who may have already taken significant steps. You can find out more here.

Farmers market and repair cafe
There is no farmers’ market in January but we will be back on 3 February on the High Street from 10am to 4pm. Thanks to all those who donated to our Christmas market stall – we sold over 100 books. The Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 6 January.

Book of the month: The Natural History of Selborne, by Gilbert White

In the late 18th Century Gilbert White published his wide and careful observations of the natural world around Selborne, Hampshire, in this seminal work of natural history writing. His vivid and detailed account of local wildlife is delightful and fascinating but also sobering in that it gives us a measure of what we have since lost from our landscape: species such as corncrakes, ring ouzels and water voles; and the sheer abundance of creatures, for example flocks of woodpigeons would stretch a mile across the sky.  

Tree of the month: Common box

The compact form and dense foliage of small evergreen leaves of the common box (Buxus sempervirens) has made it popular for hedging or as a shrub, sometimes clipped into weird and wonderful topiary forms. In the wild, it is a small tree up to 12 metres that produces yellow-green flowers in the Spring. It has the hardest wood of our native trees and is traditionally used for engraving blocks, mathematical instruments and violin pegs. Such has been the demand for the wood that it is now rare in the wild, with Box Hill in Surrey having one of the few remaining populations (and where the photo was taken).

December 2023

Fungi and autumn leaves

In this month’s newsletter

  • green drinks
  • books wanted
  • green coffee
  • COP28
  • volunteering
  • Christmas market
  • Traffication
  • Sea buckthorn
     

Green drinks
We will talk about the impact of climate change on sub-Saharan Africa and the global south and hear from a diplomat who has just spent four years in Eritrea and seen the effects first-hand. We will also discuss setting up a local food directory and any other green issues that are raised. In the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road, from 7.30pm on Thursday 7 December. Please join us.

iBooks urgently wanted
Our stall at the Haslemere Christmas market is our biggest fundraiser of the year. We typically sell over a hundred secondhand books. We urgently need more paperback contemporary fiction and non-fiction as well as children’s books. If you have books to donate, please contact us at info@transitionhaslemere.org. We can collect.

Green coffee
Can’t make green drinks? We are reviving ‘green coffee’. Starting Wednesday 17 January, 9-11am at the Courtyard Cafe off the High Street and then the third Wednesday of each month. Come along for a coffee and informal chat on all things green.

Now we rise
As world leaders gather in Dubai for the UN’s climate negotiations at COP28, a climate summit presided over by an oil executive, there will be a coming together on 9 December to demand climate justice. You can find out more and the nearest event to you here.

Volunteer for climate projects
Surrey Climate Commission is offering volunteering opportunities in four projects for the climate – training for groups on reaching a larger number of their local communities, trialling a new community e-forum, workshops day on what’s stopping us from stopping climate change, and growing the network of local groups. Interested? Email info@surreyclimate.org.uk

Christmas market and repair cafe
We will have our stall in the farmers’ market section of Haslemere’s Christmas market on West Street from 10am to 4pm on Sunday 3 December – note there is no farmers market on the Saturday. The Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 2 December

Book of the month: Traffication 

It is not just through roadkill that traffic endangers wildlife. Noise and particulates from brakes and tyres are just as lethal, while habitat degradation and fragmentation are further consequences. Traffication marshals the evidence and offers solutions: some simple, such as if you cut your speed from 40 to 30mph you halve your car’s road noise. An important new book.

Tree of the month: Sea buckthorn


Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is native to Britain and widespread through Europe and Asia to China. As its name suggests, it is most often found near the sea as it is salt tolerant and its dense roots can hold it in sandy habitats. It is often used to stabilise dunes but can outcompete other plants and become problematic. More often a shrub, it can grow in a tree form to 8 metres. It is dioecious with the separate female plants producing bright orange berries that have long been used for food, traditional medicine and skin treatments. The male and female trees in the photos are in Farnham’s central car park.

November 2023

Fallen willow dams the Wey (Photo: Gareth Matthes)

In this month’s newsletter

  • green drinks
  • Tomorrow movie
  • orchard passion
  • wassail help
  • solar progress
  • farmers market
  • An Immense World
  • Turkish hazel
     

Green drinks
We will be discussing the issues arising out of the documentary Tomorrow which we are screening in association with the Haslemere Hall on 1 November. And any other green topics that come up. In the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road, from 7.30pm on Thursday 2 November, Please join us.

Inspiring, empowering movie

In association with Haslemere Hall, we will be screening the French documentary Tomorrow on 1 November. It follows the film-makers as they visit initiatives in 10 countries to solve environmental and social challenges in agriculture, energy, economics, education and governance, demonstrating it’s possible to change the way we live to benefit people and the planet. Hopeful and inspiring. You can watch the trailer and buy tickets here. Haslemere Hall, 7pm, 1 November.

Orchard passion project
In December, Community Orchard Project South East (COPSE) will premier a short documentary about their Witley orchard ‘passion project’. It follows the story of their friend John’s allotment orchard through the seasons. It’s a charming tale about supporting John to keep his old orchard alive and healthy into the future. The date and venue are to be confirmed but you can view the four-minute trailer here. Email clairematthes.copse@gmail.com to receive your free invite when the date and venue are confirmed.

Wassail needs volunteers
Claire Matthes writes: “The wassail at Swan Barn Farm in January was a huge success thanks to great volunteers and revellers. We are going to need lots of hands-on help to prepare and deliver another great event in January 2024. We will need cooks to make hearty stews, help set up the outdoor infrastructure and stewards for the torchlit parade. We are also looking for musicians to entertain. Volunteers get a free drink and food on the night. To find out more or get involved, email clairematthes.copse@gmail.com.”

Progress with solar
“Readers might be interested in the solar industry’s take on recent progress – see here. This is one example of very large projects (solar and battery) going live. While many of us wish capitalism could be ethical and act quickly around climate change, biodiversity loss, etc, at least the profit motive is driving the growth of renewables in Great Britain,” says Jon Lissimore.

Farmers market and repair cafe
The farmers’ market will be on the High Street from 10am to 2pm on Saturday 4 November and the Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn from 10am to 1pm on the same day.

Book of the month: An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us, by Ed Yong

The beings we share the planet with sense the world in myriads of ways, often beyond our human abilities. This includes not only more extensive frequencies of light and sound but electrical, magnetic, vibrational and other sensory media that enable them to interpret and navigate their environments. Ed Yong reports on the latest research from flies to whales, with astonishing discoveries on almost every page.

Tree of the month: Turkish hazel


The involucre, or whorl of bracts, that surrounds the nut of the Turkish hazel (Corylus Colurna) makes it appear like some exotic sea creature. The nuts are edible but smaller and with a thicker shell than than our native hazel. The tree is native to southeast Europe and into Asia. Its compact form has made it increasingly popular as a street or park tree, or as in the case of the one in the picture, car parks – this one is in Farnham. 

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