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Welcome to our October newsletter and hope everyone has enjoyed the lovely weather we have been experiencing.
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Congratulations to Sophie Westby who is the winner of our bean growing competition. Sophie, aged 21 months, managed to grow her plant to a staggering 2.5 metres and her bean to 6 cm. Well done Sophie. A prize will be on its way to you shortly. Thank you to everyone who took part.
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Did you swap a plant or pick up some seeds? How did they do? We would be very interested to find out. Email your story to greeningchinnor@gmail.com. Also look out for our next Seed & Plant Swap which will be held in May 2017.
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Autumn Community Litter Pick
Our Autumn Community Pick will take place on Sunday 9th October. As usual, we will meet at White's Field Car Park, Mill Lane at 10:00, where we will split up into groups to litter pick footpaths and green spaces in Chinnor.
There are varying lengths of footpaths to be cleared so if you can only spare an hour, there will be a walk for you. We plan to finish by 12:30 latest.
For further information call Alan or Linda Brawn on 01844 352753 or check out our news & events page at www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.com
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This nicely bring me onto the important work that the Chiltern Society has done on our behalf.
As part of the Chinnor Parish Path Warden Team, Alan has been liaising with the Chiltern Society and during the last year the Parish has benefited from some extensive work on some of our local paths and byways which has been carried out by the South Chilterns Path Maintenance Volunteers (SCPMV).
This has ranged from work up at Sprigs Alley down to ongoing work in Henton. For more information on the sterling work they have carried out, their latest newsletter can be found here.
If any of the SCPMV team subscribe to our newsletter then we want you to know how much your efforts are much appreciated.
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Swap Shop & Bike Exchange
The Chinnor & Thame Friends of the Earth are holding a Swap Shop and Bike Exchange at the Village Hall, Chinnor on Saturday 12th November. Greening Chinnor will again be attending to do portable appliance testing (PAT) on electrical items brought to the swap to ensure they are safe to use.
The Bike Sale will be held between 10:00-11:00. If you have a bike you would like to sell, take it along and they will try to sell it for you. Friends of the Earth will keep £5 of the selling price and give you the rest. If you are looking for a bike or need a bigger bike, this will be a great place to start looking. You will also be helping the environment by recycling unwanted or outgrown bikes. Here’s what to do:
- Only bring good quality bikes, which are in working order. Sparkly clean ones sell better!
- Label each bike with your surname, phone number, and the price you would like to sell it for.
- Put the saddle down as low as it will go and put the stabilisers back on if it had some.
- Take bikes to the Village Hall between 9.30-10:00 and go back to collect your money or unsold bikes at 11:00.
The Swap Shop will be going on in the Village Hall, from 10:00-12:00. You can bring unwanted items or take items, or do both. No money is exchanged.
These are some of the things you can bring and/or take for free:
- books, clothes, bric-a-brac, baby equipment, toys and games, household items, CDs/DVDs/videos, electrical (only CE marked goods accepted)
- no large items please.
Recycle stations will be available for the following items:
- printer cartridges, mobile phones, light bulbs, spectacles, household batteries, CDs, used postage stamps, foreign coins
Cakes and refreshments available. If you need more information, please email Maureen on mdyroff@tiscali.co.uk or tel. 01844 352816.
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Thermal Imaging for 2017
Taking a thermal image of a house can show where the heat is being lost, in order that we can better insulate our house and thus need less energy to heat it, and feel warmer as a result.
Over the last 3 years, we have Thermal Imaged 80 properties in Chinnor and will once again be offering free thermal imaging for approximately 30 Chinnor households or community buildings during 2 weeks in the middle of January 2017. This involves taking a series of infrared thermal images of your property enabling you to see areas of heat loss. This normally takes about 20 minutes to complete. In March, once all the images have been processed and a household report compiled for each property, an open meeting will be held to enable you to come along and discuss your report on a one to one basis with one of our imagers. As part of the evening we will provide information to assist you in reducing unnecessary heat loss.
Energy bills continue to be a worrying part of our outgoings. We can keep these costs down by making sure our houses are well insulated and not losing heat to the outside. This will also help us to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and work to slow down Climate Change.
This is a free service offered by us. Our thanks to Chinnor Parish Council for sponsoring the open evening.
If you are interested please supply your contact details to Maureen Dyroff at mdyroff@tiscali.co.uk or telephone 01844 352816. Householders will be contacted with more details once we have compiled our list.
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Seasonal Garden Tips with an Environmental Slant - by Sweet Pea
We are starting to be dragged kicking and screaming into autumn and we are all inundated with useful and not so useful advice as to what we should be doing in our gardens – whatever happened to just sitting in it with a nice gin and tonic or relaxing glass of red wine!
The first thing about being an environmental gardener is not being too tidy. We are encouraged to clean up all of these little back of house areas to prevent slugs, snails and other pests having a home of the winter. This housekeeping is excellent but please make sure that you do not deprive some of our best friends in the garden their winter home. I am talking about slow worms and toads. If you do not often see them rest assured that Chinnor has lots of these friends and allies. In particular do not disturb your compost bins as these are a warm and snug refuge.
This time of the year set the mower blades a little high as this keeps a lot of nutrients in the grass and also does not cut off all of the daisies which are a necessary aid to bees and other insects.
There is a very rich crop of ivy flowers and berries this year. Ivy is extremely important for bees as it is one of the last opportunities for them to build up their food stocks as the days shorten and grow colder.
As the forecasters are predicting that October should be warmer than normal it is not too late to plant lettuces, onions, beet and numerous types of brassicas. It is nearly time to think about planting appropriate varieties of Broad Bean, over wintering onion sets, garlic and shallots to give you a head start on next year. Fleece is really cheap and gives good protection.
Good Gardening – Sweet Pea
Editors note; if you want more seasonal advice with an environmental emphasis from Sweet Pea please let Greening Chinnor know at greening chinnor@gmail.com
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Film Night
We are planning to hold a film night on a topical issue. Once we get a choice of film and a potential date we will share it with you.
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Next events:
9 October 2016 | Autumn Community Litter Pick | White's Field Car Park, Mill Lane | 10:00 - 12:30. All welcome
12 November 2016 | Swap Shop & Bike Exchange | Village Hall, Church Road, Chinnor, Oxon, OX39 4PQ | Bike Exchange - 10:00-11:00, Swap Shop 10:00-12:00.
January 2017 | Thermal Imaging | email mdyroff@tiscali.co.uk or telephone 01844 352816 to register interest
For more information on any of our events or items listed here, please visit our website at www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.co.uk
Linda Brawn
Greening Chinnor
email: greeningchinnor@gmail.com |website: www.greeningchinnor.blogspot.com
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Greening Chinnor are proud to be part of the Oxfordshire Community Action Groups network
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