Launch of Haslemere Vision

Haslemere is one of 500 communities taking the opportunity to have more say in how its local area develops in the future under powers given by the Localism Act of 2011.
Haslemere Vision is a community-led organisation set up by a group of local residents who are passionate about Haslemere and the surrounding area. The not-for-profit organisation will act as a vehicle to gather and represent the views of the local community in designing the future for Haslemere. Anyone who lives or works in Haslemere and surrounding villages can get involved, have their say and influence the way the area develops. Haslemere Vision is fully supported by Haslemere Town Council and our MP, Jeremy Hunt.

The launch of Haslemere Vision will take place in Haslemere Hall on Saturday April 27th, between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm. This is a walk-in event open to all, so if you have an interest in shaping the future of Haslemere do come along, visit the exhibition and share your views. For more details see http://haslemerevision.org.uk.
Haslemere Vision are looking for more people to help on the day so if you have an hour or two to spare, please get in touch with Stewart Brown at stewart@stewartmbrown.co.uk.

Sustainability – National Curriculum

Debate about climate change has been cut out of the national curriculum for children under 14. The latest draft guidelines for children in key stages 1 to 3 have no mention of climate change and a single reference to how carbon dioxide produced by humans impacts on the climate (in the chemistry section). There is also no reference to sustainable development, only to the “efficacy of recycling”, again as a chemistry subject.
We, among many organisations and educationalists, believe this to be a very retrograde step given the importance of sustainability to the future generations. We are therefore urging all our supporters to sign a petition drawn up by  ”Sustainability and Environmental Education”. SEEd is a registered charity that identifies, promotes, enables and supports environmental education and education for sustainable development in the UK. www.se-ed.co.uk.
Sign the petition here

Chiddgreen

Chiddgreen are holding their Spring Swap-it day, 10 am Saturday 11 May in Village Hall, Chiddingfold, or in the car park if fine.

“The Spring Swap-it day on May 12 (2012) was well attended, and although it is difficult to estimate the amount of ‘waste’ that is diverted from entering the waste stream, we think we had about 75 visitors, and passed up to 20 cubic meters of previously loved items to delighted new owners. It was great to see so many things carried off to be used afresh by new owners. And after identifying items suitable for the jumble sale, and to be gifted to charity shops, the pile at the end was really quite small.”

Local Economic Blueprint

We started this newsletter with Haslemere Vision – an important first step in ‘localisation’ – and end it with another perspective on some of the many positive rewards localism might bring.

Totnes, probably the most advanced Transition Town in the world, has just published a ground-breaking publication: ‘Totnes & District Local Economic Blueprint’. The report highlights the potential of a more ambitious localisation – quantifying it in terms of money retained or generated in the local economy. (Such localisation will also bring associated reduced carbon emissions, sustainability planning and other benefits – although these are not the focus of the report.) Totnes’ Economic Blueprint is an attempt to map the local economy and to put a value on localism in its broadest sense. You can download it for free here.

Transition Haslemere is taking the first early steps towards producing its own such document through our local food mapping and promotion of local food production and shopping.

Green Drinks 

Finally – Don’t forget Green Drinks at 7.30 pm on Thursday 2nd May at the Royal Oak, Shottermill. 

Earth Hour 2013 – March 23rd

Earth Hour focuses the world’s attention on our planet and how we need to protect it.

At 08.30 on Saturday March 23rd hundreds of millions of people will turn off their lights for one hour, as a symbolic show of support.
Last year 6,950 towns and cities in 152 countries took part. New countries taking part included Libya, Bhutan, and French Guinea.
In 2012 in the UK 7.6 million people participated. Lights were switched off on iconic buildings such as St Paul’s, Big Ben, Edinburgh Castle and the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
Haslemere is part of Earth Hour so do please join in and switch off your lights for an hour to support this global campaign to make our planet a better place for our children and generations to come. You can find out more about Earth Hour by clicking here.

Visit us at the Farmer’s Market

On the first Sunday of every month you can find us on the High Street at Haslemere’s Farmer’s Market. If you haven’t been down recently then you may not know that we have an excellent selection of recycled books on offer; fiction, reference and non-fiction, we even have a few classics.
Apart from aiding Haslemere’s recycling efforts we are raising money for fruit trees in the National Trust’s Swan Barn orchard. Come down and have a browse, have a chat and find out more about us. You will find us outside Costa Coffee.

Transition Haslemere News

With the success of our monthly ‘green drinks’ evenings, we have decided to move to bi-monthly steering group meetings. Much of our general discussion has migrated to the less formal and more open environment of green drinks, held on the first Thursday of each month from 7.30 pm at the Royal Oak in Critchmere Lane. We’ve had more than 20 people at our last couple of evenings.

In March, Francis Gimblett came along to talk about the Haslemere 30 local food and drink event he is organising in September and which Transition Haslemere is supporting. We invited some local food producers along, and were joined by two local ice cream makers (who are yearning for the sun more than most of us).

We’ve also had visitors from Transition Farnham, and had some interesting discussion about their local vegetable box scheme, cycle routes and other projects. In April, we will have visitors from the Greening Godalming group, as well as Surrey Council’s waste reduction and green network support team.

Do The Green Thing

There is an entertaining and informative website called Do The Green Thing . As a run up to Earth Hour they have been releasing daily posters, of which the picture on the left is one. This surely strikes an important chord in all of us.
Artist and illustrator Andrew Rae wanted to convince people to choose tap water by highlighting the sheer madness that is mineral water. “It bugs the hell out of me how many mineral water bottles are clogging up the oceans and being transported around the world when water is readily available from any tap. Stupid!”
Sometimes the obvious just needs stating!

Green Drinks

Finally – Don’t forget Green Drinks at 7.30 pm on Thursday 4th April at the Royal Oak, Shottermill.

It was a difficult year for our community vegetable growers on their plot at Roundhurst Farm. A storm brought down an oak tree destroying two-thirds of the polytunnel. There was too much rain and too little sun. Nevertheless, a hardy group of gardeners produced a reasonable harvest of potatoes, marrows and other vegetables.

The local food group held an open meeting together with the Campaign to Protect Rural England to launch its report on Haslemere’s local food web, which TH helped research. The meeting was well attended by producers, outlets and caterers and looked at how to take some of the recommendations of the report forward. As part of this, TH is starting a listing of local food enterprises on its website, and is supporting the Haslemere 30 local food initiative planned for the Haslemere Food Festival in September.

A number of TH supporters attended the Haslemere Vision meeting in September that launched an initiative to draw up a neighbourhood plan under the new Localism Act. Our former treasurer Ann Finlayson acted as facilitator – a role she is continuing to play – and other TH steering group members are part of the action committee taking the initiative forward. TH will support efforts to make sustainability an integral part of the neighbourhood plan.

We pitched the TH stall at the monthly farmers’ market, the Charter Fair, the Christmas Market and some other local events. Our continued aim is to engage the community in promoting sustainability in Haslemere, to sign up supporters and to raise funds. Our new venture in selling and exchanging secon-hand books has proved particularly successful – part of the proceeds of which are sponsoring a fruit tree in the National Trust orchard.

Our ‘green drinks’ informal gatherings on the first Thursday of each month, now at the Royal Oak, have become a regular institution with over 20 people attending on some evenings. Other TH activities included giving a talk to the Haslemere Society, supporting Haslemere’s ‘well dressing’, publishing a monthly newsletter, maintaining our website and generally providing a support network for all those interested in community and personal efforts towards a green and sustainable Haslemere.

Transition Haslemere continued its activities in raising awareness of climate change and peak oil and with projects to increase the resilience and sustainability of Haslemere through 2011.

Awareness raising activities included hosting a talk by international peak oil expert Dr Mamdouh Salameh in March and a regular presence at the monthly farmers’ market as well as the Christmas market and the Fringe Festival. We had regular columns and press releases in the Haslemere Herald.

We lent our support to the National Trust’s Speckled Wood volunteer centre project, including raising over £800 pounds through sponsored roof shingles.

In May, we introduced ‘green drinks’ – an informal gathering held on the first Thursday of the month at the Georgian Hotel. It has proved a good way for supporters to meet, new people to find out about TH, and even get some TH business done.

We saw an early draft of the Campaign To Protect Rural England’s survey of Haslemere local food network, which we helped research. We anticipate that the report will be published early in 2012 and TH will look at ways to use the information and platform to further the local food network.

We enjoyed a fine Sustainable Harvest Picnic in the medieval barn on Imbhams farm, attended by around 70 people.

Our community garden group based at Roundhurst Farm changed its name to the Haslemere Community Veg Growers and produced a range of fruit and veg from the Spring to the autumn.

We are helping the Town Council with research on using the Hoppa Bus as a commuter bus during rush hour.

Towards the end of the year a group of TH members proposed a project on local food and heritage and made an initial enquiry into funding. This is ongoing. Meanwhile, in December Owyn Prandle and Clive Ardagh drew up a proposal for a local wood fuel/energy efficiency project and submitted it for first round funding. We are awaiting the outcome. These two proposed projects, perhaps combined in some way, offer exciting opportunities for TH to explore in 2012.

I would like to thank all TH members for their support through 2011. I want to make special mention of Adrian Wimbush for his excellent work on our website and efforts in running TH’s stall wherever it appeared, Ann Finlayson for keeping our accounts, Caroline Gowing for her deputy chairmanship and generally getting us organised, as well as all other steering group members.

Clive Davidson
9 January 2012

With petrol prices showing no signs of falling back, it’s a good time to develop more fuel efficient driving habits. This is especially true if you are about to set off on your family holidays and have a long drive to your destination. And saving fuel means saving carbon emissions, so it’s good for the environment too.

Here are some tips for greener, more fuel efficient driving.

• Watch your speed. Driving at 50-60 mph is usually most efficient. Driving over 70mph rapidly increases your fuel consumption and your carbon emissions. It can cost up to 25% more in fuel to drive at 70mph compared with 50mph.
• Try not to accelerate or brake sharply. Harsh acceleration and braking can use up to 30% more fuel. They also add to the wear and tear on your car.
• Switch off the engine if you think you will stationary for more than two minutes – for example, while you are waiting at the Hindhead traffic lights.
• Drive when the traffic is lightest if you can. Avoid rush hours and the school run, as well as congested routes where the traffic is stop-start and your journey time is longer. Sometimes just a twenty minute delay can enable you to miss heavy traffic.
• But don’t adjust your driving time if it means you’ll be in a hurry. If you’re stressed you will tend to drive more erratically and less economically.
• Try to combine errands so you only have to make one trip.
• Arrange to car share with work colleagues or for the school run.
• Remove any unnecessary items from your car. Extra weight means extra fuel consumption. If it is not inconvenient, only half full your tank for the same reason.
• Remove your roof rack unless you need it. Roof racks increase wind resistance, which can make a significant difference to your fuel consumption.
• On warm days, driving with the windows open increases the drag on your car and your fuel consumption. But so does using the air-conditioner. So which should you choose? The general rule is for slower driving – under 45mph or so – open the windows. On motorways and faster roads, use the air conditioner.
• Keep your tyres at the right pressure for your load and for the season. Under-inflated tyres increase your fuel consumption.
• Have your car serviced and checked regularly to make sure it is performing at its optimal level.

Finally, relax and enjoy the trip – you’ll probably drive better and more efficiently.

As we enjoy the glorious Spring, it is a good time to review our energy bills and look at ways of reducing our winter costs and of keeping them down through the summer. Now is a good opportunity to investigate some of the bigger measures you might take to improve energy efficiency if you haven’t already taken them, such as loft or cavity wall insulation, double glazing or installing a wood burner.

Figuring out the comparative cost effectiveness of each of these measures can be tricky so we have provided some analysis and guidelines on our website at www.transitionhaslemere.org. There are a number of grants and subsidies available for some of the measures, such as free loft and cavity wall insulation for the elderly. You can find out information about these at the Energy Savings Trust website at www.energysavingtrust.org.uk, or call them on 0800 512 012.

You don’t have to spend a huge amount to conserve energy and reduce your bills. Here are some other things you can do that will save you money while also cutting your carbon emissions.

• Hang washing outside to dry instead of using your dryer. It’s also kinder on your clothes, especially those with elastication or printed patterns or logos.
• Turn down the temperature of your water heater now that outside temperatures are higher.
• Turn off your towel radiators.
• If you have empty space in your fridge or freezer fill it up with used milk cartons filled with water. Your fridge or freezer will have to work less hard, and therefore use less electricity, to maintain its temperature when you open and close the door.
• Eat more salad – which avoids using energy for cooking.
• And while we are on the subject of food, shop locally and buy local produce wherever possible. A good place to do this is at the farmers’ market, which takes place from 10am to 1.30pm on the first Sunday of each month in the High Street – next one on Sunday 5 June.
• Walk or cycle to the shop if possible. It’s surprising how much you can carry comfortably in a rucksack. Waitrose also lends out a bicycle trailer to take your shopping home.
• Grow your own vegetables. If you don’t have the space at home, or the time or the confidence to do it all yourself, then you can join the Haslemere Community Veg Growers – who you can find on Facebook or this website.