Category: Wenvoe Forum

Considering tomorrow today

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Danger and uncertainty or creative energy?

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In a speech in Cape Town in June 1966, Robert F Kennedy said: ‘There is a Chinese curse which says ‘May he live in interesting times.’ Like it or not we live in interesting times. They are times of danger and uncertainty; but they are also more open to the creative energy of men than any other time in history.’

We are again living in interesting times:-

• The consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine is pushing up the cost of living throughout most of the Globe
• The supply of energy, particularly to highly industrialised Europe, has been shown to be insecure and there is a real chance that this winter may bring power cuts and restrictions
• The Covid pandemic has left “Governments” internationally with fewer resources to provide public services or support its most vulnerable population groups, and one suspects that SARS-CoV-2 isn’t done with us yet!
• In the UK inflation is at its highest level since the 1970s and forecast to rise. Coupled with other factors we face an Economic scenario that has no precedent with no tried and tested roadmap to improvement
• The “Climate” has thrown up some extreme weather events as if Gaia (Earth Goddess) is reminding us we must act to protect her.

 

Potentially depressing isn’t it? But please read on as we can together, hopefully take steps along the “creative energy” path to a climate friendly and more mutually prosperous future.

In recent decades in Britain natural gas has been at the heart of both energy generation and domestic heating. With growing awareness of the need to develop more renewable energy sources policy interventions appeared, e.g. the purchase of solar panels for provision of household electricity was made viable but as the policies began to achieve their effect, interventions were withdrawn and investment in solar at the domestic level had a much longer term payback. Currently however quite suddenly the sums have changed again and interest in alternative energy is once again picking up.

• However several elements of the process create barriers to decision making:-
• Technical detail of equipment is unfamiliar to many
• Schemes are set up differently so it’s hard to compare
• Some householders have not been made properly aware of the impact of such installations on resale of the house
• The market is now growing quickly and there isn’t a big cohort of reputationally reliable providers
• Some apocryphal horror stories abound and pitfalls can be hard to see.

 

The same could be said for the installation of heat pumps to replace gas central heating

The community could actively help each other with some of these issues particularly through sharing their own experiences. Without getting into the legal minefield of making commercial recommendations or technical specifications those who have already installed alternative energy systems could share stories of what went well and what disappointed them, what they would have done differently, and report on whether they actually got the amount of electricity they were promised etc. The information would be invaluable to those making difficult decisions. Even buddying up with someone else who is also considering an installation to talk things through could be helpful.

The Forum is exploring how it can facilitate this process. If you have experienced the purchase and installation of a solar panel scheme or a heat pump that you are willing to share in conversation or as an anonymised written case study, we would like to hear from you. Please e-mail gwenfo.forum@ gmail.com; your e-mail address will go no further without your permission. You may be able to help someone else get on the road to a more climate friendly future. We look forward to hearing about your experiences good or not so good.

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We will be at the Village Show on 10th September, please do come and see us. There will be a stand with information, competitions, art activities for children and an opportunity to tell us what you think about Wenvoe and its future.

To join our Facebook group, please ‘friend up’ with the Gwen Fo account @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1 and then jon the Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

Some further information and updates, blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, which are normally held 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to join.

 

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Considering tomorrow today

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Nuclear Power – Discussion Part 2.

Forum member Glenys Stone presents some ideas.

Are there any sustainable options?

The UK has some unique problems caused by inconsistency in the climate, little space to build and a NIMBY mentality in some of the population. It is difficult to grasp our detrimental effect on the planet without personally seeing the physical effects. While we will for a time reflect on the very high temperatures in July by September it will likely have been forgotten. This human failing is proven as we are only now, slowly taking notice of what scientists have been saying for years. Wildfires, drought, rising sea levels, crop failures, famine – and the consequent economic hardships – are increasing. Who can afford to install solar power or heat pumps? Is all property suitable? Will private landlords accept regulation requiring their property to be converted, with no personal benefit from the financial outlay? Higher rents make poor families poorer. Can local councils afford such expenditure without government grants? Europe now has economic concerns due to fuel shortages, blamed on a war that started in early 2022, but energy firms were going ‘bust’ before Christmas 2021. Huge profits are paid in dividends to those that don’t need the money while the poorest are asked to pay more for fuel and increasingly living in ‘fuel poverty’. We are exhorted to economise, implying that the profligacy of our consumption is causing our dire financial state and destroying of the planet. However, when making comparisons with our childhood are we extravagant? Economising was second nature; use as little as possible, waste nothing, replace only when beyond repair. We were frugal to finance upward mobility. Did the urge to give our children more opportunities and a better standard of living than we experienced, lead to us being thriftier.

TATA Steel in partnership with local universities, are developing an intriguing system to repurpose and reuse their waste whilst creating a saleable by-product used in the manufacturing of, amongst many other things, filters. This has financial and environmental benefits; and possibly more widespread industrial use if the investment is forthcoming. Imagine all factories recycling their waste while making money?

There is a cheaper, safer, and more efficient form of nuclear power – Fusion, but it could be 30 years before we have a viable system. This begs the question-“WHY?”. Covid vaccines were successfully and speedily developed when the ambition, resources and talent were made available.

The “developed world” is, throwing vast sums of money at the energy problem while the “undeveloped world” with no existing power grids, has the opportunity, but no finance, to start from scratch. Unfortunately, the COP 26 climate conference in Glasgow was unable to devise an urgent and unified approach. If rich countries financed the ability of poor nations to harness power from their natural, reliable resources, could we buy-back power, improving standards of living and offsetting our carbon footprint? Could offshore wind and wave farms in our territorial waters, or hydroelectric power (such as the 28 sites in Scotland and the Huka Falls in New Zealand) be more reliable and suitably NIMBY-proof solutions?

All governments’ decisions are made from a political and economic perspective. More jobs and lower living costs, sell well on hustings. But do we have influence? Could adjusting our personal actions have a ‘domino effect’ bringing about changes at local, national and ultimately global levels? Undoubtedly, actions by individuals and communities will have a personal and local benefit. So, can community projects make a difference to the country’s future, overall, domestic electricity consumption?

I try to have as little reliance on electricity as possible. I minimize my global footprint, reducing my direct and indirect use of fossil fuels by “Buying British” wherever possible and from companies that have Eco, Environmental or Climate-friendly symbols on their labels. I vote with my feet when considering purchases; is it planet-friendly or even necessary? I exercise my right to vote, then send emails or letters to whoever wins, making them aware of my opinions, regardless of my politics. They represent us all and must listen.

Lastly, and obviously, can we morally just do nothing? There is a proverb regarding hundreds of stranded starfish on a beach, they are all dying, it’s horrible. What can you do? You START by putting ONE back into the sea, and then, you put back another, and another, and another…

The above article and the previous part 1 of the discussion are on our Blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/ If you have any comments on the articles please contact us via the blog site or e-mail.

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In the Forum we often say “Doing nothing is not an option”. If you have ideas about activities, projects, education opportunities that could turn Wenvoe into a Climate Conscious Community then please come and join us. We usually meet on the second Thursday of the month at 19.00 via Zoom – e-mail Gwenfo.forum@gmail.com for the link. All are welcome.

We are also on Face Book Contact us by befriending Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and joining Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

 

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What Can We Do?

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Nuclear Power – Discuss.

Part 1 – Forum member Glenys Stone sets out a problem

Energy prices are through the roof. ‘In the short- and long–term, which if any of the available power sources is most practicable, safest and least harmful for the planet’? Is a cheap, sustainable solution even possible?

I am of the generation for whom this sort of “discussion piece” was routinely set by teachers. The idea being that, limited by a set number of words, the subject was addressed from both sides of the argument. No conclusions drawn, just “Food for Thought”. The style was set by which subject was involved, either one of the Sciences or one of the Arts. This one could be addressed from many perspectives, but will probably be one of emotion, so, is this a Scientific or Emotional problem? Column inches are also a major consideration so I will try to limit this enormous subject to just two parts.

I abhor nuclear energy.

The radiation leaks caused by the Tsunami in Japan and at Three Mile Island in the USA (and the subsequent cover-up) were to me, a wake-up call. Then there’s the concern shown by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), (during the recent Russian occupation) over the continuing need for micro-managing the huge amount of radioactive contamination in the area surrounding the damaged Chernobyl Plant in Ukraine. The nuclear fallout from this explosion spread, literally, all over the globe, notably for us on our Brecon Beacons and the resident sheep. Welsh lamb dinners were off the menu for many years. There are several hugely informative documentaries on this subject. One was aired very recently on Channel Five. Then last but by no means least, Germany! They closed their nuclear power plants in the wake of Chernobyl and solved (or so they thought) the problem of the obsolete fuel rods by storing them in their disused salt mines. They then proceeded to store (at a price) nuclear waste from other countries. Unfortunately, the damp salty atmosphere is corrosive and is now destroying the nuclear containers well before their original life expectancy. No-one seems to have a solution to this urgent problem, which is a potential environmental disaster for Germany and, if not contained, for the rest of the world, costing millions to resolve.

I am not reassured by small amounts of fallout being neutralised in a comparatively short time. Some areas already are and will be “no go” places for humans and domestic animals for tens of thousands of years. Most of my apprehension is about the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods. No one has currently come up with an effective way to dispose of, or even store, this nuclear waste. I have heard comments such as “Well someone, at some point in the future will find a way”. But is this a morally defensible position? I’m afraid that, to me, this cannot be the case.

So, my concern over this form of power is not only for our immediate safety but for the sake of our children’s, children’s, children ad infinitum: – What mentality assumes that storing anything as dangerous as spent nuclear fuel rods – for a future generation to deal with – no matter how far into the future, is an acceptable thing to do? But the aims of the Anti-Nuclear movement would appear to have been largely swallowed-up and forgotten, in the very real concerns about the planet’s immediate welfare.

The UK Government British Energy Security Plan includes increasing the proportion of our energy generated by nuclear power to 25%, touted as the cheapest immediate option (kicking the can down the road again?). This includes some Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) that can be quickly built, have a relatively short lifespan, estimated to be around 10 years. At which point they will need replacing as they will no longer be guaranteed as safe or capable of delivering enough power for our needs. Therefore, this cannot possibly be considered a future-proof solution! This little nugget of information was dropped unsuspectingly during an early BBC Wales news report about Wylfa on Anglesey, I notice that no one has mentioned it since the UK government’s sudden and wholesale embracing of the nuclear option. But if this solution is not future proof from a physical safety perspective, how can it be future proof economically?

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Should nuclear energy be part of the picture in Britain? Is it just too hazardous or can we “not manage without it”? Please leave a comment on the Forum’s Blogsite – https://wenvoeforum.wordpress. com/

Next month the discussion continues.

New Forum members are always welcome to join. Contact us on :-Facebook: Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook. com/groups/635369267864402. twitter @ForumGwenfo e-mail us on gwenfo.forum@gmail.com

 

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What Can We Do?

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Considering Today and Tomorrow and this time Yesterday too.

With curious crowns adorning the letter box and our revered red phone box, the Jubilee celebrations gain prominence. Inevitably those of a certain age look back and several Forum members can reflect on the early years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign. We are normally a forward thinking group, keen to do our bit for the environment, so is there anything we can learn from those memories about securing a more climate friendly future? Most of our memories are of a time that was considerably less comfortable and sometimes just as bad for the environment but hidden amongst the memories are some useful tips.

Dominant in my memory of the 1950s is the call of the rag and bone man. His voice rang out sonorously and effortlessly in a 4 note repetitious call, but what he called I could never work out. What he did was take away unwanted and broken items, scrap metal, wood, stones and bricks and sometimes lost items than had ‘fallen off’ something or somewhere. It was a serious recycling service. Single bricks of use to no one gradually became a neat pile in his yard that was enough to build a garden wall. The scrap metal went to be melted down and lengths of wood are always handy. When I moved to Wenvoe, a few years ago, there was that call again, amplified now by electronic means, still totally incomprehensible but nevertheless quite clearly the all-purpose recycling centre.

Memories of washing day seem to loom large. All the week’s washing was done on one day, either by hand or in a tub washing machine.

“My Mum wrung out washing by hand and had a grip that would beat most navvies. Clothes drying was weather assisted on a double washing line with a fixed low line and a high line that pulled up to the top of the posts and into the wind. When she had her first ‘washing machine’ it had an electric mangle which she always complained never got enough water out.” GS2

“During most of the Winter, the washing line had frozen clothes on them. In honesty, I don’t know how my mum managed to dry clothes every week in those days.” DP

These days we use tumble dryers which gobble up electricity and money and fewer people have that high washing line in the garden to make use of the sun and wind which come for free. Clothes dried in a breeze are easier to iron too, making an extra saving on electricity, something to note for today. I think I’ll contact Monty Don and ask Gardeners’ World to feature how to fit a washing line into modern gardens. It may do as much good for the environment as their campaign for peat free compost.

“I can remember my mother’s snort of derision during an early East Enders episode. The characters were bemoaning their poverty. She said ‘Well, if they stopped buying kitchen rolls that would save a pretty penny. What’s wrong with an old rag for those jobs? (We used to have rag bag of them) Rinse them out, dry them off and you can use them again!’ I have to say that when a leading manufacturer of kitchen rolls advertised their product as ‘rinse-able and strong as bull’ I recalled her with a wry smile.” GS1

Ice on the inside of windows, layers and layers of clothes, getting dressed and undressed under the bedclothes … there were lots more memories and maybe more lessons for another day

 

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What Can We Do?

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“ … while the sun is shining!”

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining”

[State of the Union Address January 11 1962] – John F. Kennedy

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Wise advice from JFK who used this saying to introduce a programme of spending that he intended would rebuild the US economy. The suggestion behind it is that it is prudent to prepare and repair while there is no pressing need. In the same vein, despite the lovely recent spring sunshine, we should all be looking forward to the cold weather of next winter and considering now what we can do to keep our homes warm and comfortable, our food hot and nourishing and our bills manageable. The Wenvoe Forum can offer some help with that preparation.

On Thursday 12th May we will be hosting our second Community Zoom meeting. Local resident Emmanuel Ebubedike (Manny) who works as a consultant in the energy industry has kindly agreed to share his expertise with us all. Manny will give us his suggestions for things we can do to make our lives and our homes more energy efficient, and we can ask questions about our own ideas.

In principle, we need to reduce our unthinking use of energy. When we do use it, we need to make sure we are using it efficiently and if we can use energy that is generated sustainably, so much the better. There is a plethora of energy saving ideas in the media but many of them require investing time and money before they yield results. It can be confusing and difficult for any one individual to work out what is best for them in their circumstances. Most people won’t be able to do everything they can or want to do, so, how do we choose what is best?

After the presentation there will be a Q&A and discussion. Some of the practical changes may be individual actions, other may be community based. Please send your questions or ideas, in advance if you can, and we’ll try to find answers together, either on the night or through follow up research. We are holding this meeting in May, while the days are longer and the sun sometimes shines to give time to try to put them into practice before grey and cold November rides up.

It is just over a year since the first meeting of the Forum raised, as part of addressing the climate crisis, that we try to encourage the community to be energy aware. Little did we know then how much more important that sentiment would become. Join us while the sun shines to prepare for winter, which if we do it well, will support our precious environment too.

To book your place or send a question please e-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com with UNSHINE in the e-mail title. We look forward to seeing you.

Emmanuel Ebubedike, is a Chartered Engineer (C Eng MMMIM CEMI) with over 15 years experience in initiating and implementing energy conservation projects

 

 

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WENVOE FORUM

What Can We Do?

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Read that short question several times, with the emphasis on different words, and you will hear that the answer is not straightforward. One of the ideas behind setting up the Forum was that action is needed at local level to tackle what are worldwide problems, so do nothing is not the answer.

Gareth, who wrote last month’s contribution to WO, mentioned the expected increase in our gas and electricity bills. In the 4 short weeks since then many of us have had written notice from suppliers about just how frighteningly big that increase was forecast to be. In those 4 short weeks Russia invaded Ukraine with huge impacts on economies, the environment and security and the bills are likely to be higher still.

I noted that one of the WO much loved little writings came directly below Gareth’s optimistic and practical article:

No sense in being pessimistic

It would never work anyway.

Whether that was pure serendipity or editorial wit I don’t know but just as do nothing is not an option, we will maintain our optimistic approach, knowing that, just as we should do what we can, others are doing what they can.

Challenging situations provoke, and people rise to the challenge in their own ways. Some clever engineers are researching a product that could modernise building techniques, make the construction industry more sustainable, make use of recycled glass and provide building materials with better insulation. (https://tinyurl.com/yck4un8p) The seemingly simple idea of replacing the sand used to make concrete with ground up recycled glass has wide ranging benefits. When you add in the fact that this new material can be used in a 3D printer, the building materials can be much more attractively shaped than the concrete block or beam, it sounds like a winner to me.

On a completely different path, professional storyteller Carl Gough is putting his energy into developing Nexus 100: creating change through story, a network of creative people who will find ways to encourage individuals to think about the environment with a positive approach and highlighting what we will gain by paying attention to it.

So what can we do as a community to help with the rising costs of everything as a result of more expensive energy, while tackling environmental problems at the same time.

In earlier WO articles we have suggested many ways to reduce energy use particularly associated with the reduction of carbon emissions. In May we plan to hold a session where experts will present some very practical energy reduction tactics and strategies, focused mainly on the home. There will be an opportunity for questions. Final details are to be confirmed but we hope it will be on Thursday 12th May; Look out for details in next month’s WO, on the Wenvoe Community Facebook page, on our Facebook page and on our blog.

When we carried out our initial survey of community views last summer/autumn, one of the most popular suggestions was a Community Energy Scheme. Forum members have been working on exploring feasibility and making some progress. However, we could use some help to take this forward. Anyone who is enthusiastic about the idea is very welcome but in particular we would benefit from adding to the team:-

• A business planner with experience of long term financial planning
• Someone with legal expertise
• People with experience of alternative sources and methods of household heating and or energy generation

If you are interested in helping or want to know more please e-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com

Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, held at 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to come along

We put information on our Facebook page Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402 and Blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

 

 

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WENVOE FORUM

Considering Today and Tomorrow

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Global gas prices have seen record increases over the last 6 months, with wholesale prices quadrupling in the last year. They are set to rise further, and with the knock-on effect to electricity production, the Ofgem energy price cap is due to increase by £693 from 1 April for around 22m UK customers. This will impact all of us to a greater or lesser extent, and Government is looking at a range of packages to help alleviate the financial situation.

A recent article sparked in me a degree of hope. Oxford scientists announced that they had smashed a previous record for generating fusion energy, hailing it as a ‘milestone’ on the path to cheaper, cleaner power and a cooler planet.

Nuclear fusion is the process that the sun uses to generate heat. By forcing together atomic nuclei, at high speed, energy can be released and used to generate electricity. Operating the power plants of the future based on fusion would produce no greenhouse gases and only very small amounts of short-lived radioactive waste. Proponents believe it could one day help address climate change by providing an abundant, safe and green source of energy.

The team at the Joint European Torus (JET) facility at Oxford generated 59 megajoules of energy for five seconds during an experiment in December, more than doubling a 1997 record according to the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

That is the equivalent energy needed to power 35,000 homes for the same period of time, or boil 60 kettles. The UKAEA claim the results “are the clearest demonstration worldwide of the potential for fusion energy to deliver safe and sustainable low-carbon energy”.

Great news I thought, except that the article went on to say that the practical benefits would not be realised for 20 years, at the earliest, more likely during the second half of the century.

In the slightly nearer-term, wind and solar-power generation is developing along with better insulation projects, heat pumps, hydrogen boilers, energy efficiency schemes and community energy generation, they are expensive but will eventually ease the economic problems and help to address global warming.

So, what can be done to help bridge the gaps in the meantime? Various websites offer a range of energy- (and money) saving tips that can help.

The Which website offers 10 key ways to save on energy bills, see below (with more detailed information on their website). The eco-friendly habits website (also below) offers 37 specific tips for both money-saving and energy conservation, and the

U-switch website (also below) offers a staggering 98 tips. We hope some of these will help.

1. Review your energy bills: small savings are available
2. Choose energy-efficient appliances
3. Add to your insulation
4. Consider a new boiler
5. Replace light bulbs with low-energy options
6. Install / make use of your central heating controls
7. Fit draught proofing
8. Use less hot water
9. Find out if you could get energy efficiency grants or free cash

10.Consider the wider range of quick energy-saving tips

 

Finally, if you want to be part of the ongoing Forum discussion and help to shape any future schemes for Wenvoe, please get in touch, via gwenfo.forum @gmail.com.

For further reading / information:

https://phys.org/news/2022-02-scientists-britain-fusion-energy.html

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/price-cap-increase-ps693-april

https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/cutting-your-energy-bills/article/how-to-save-on-your-energy-bill/10-ways-to-save-on-energy-bills-aX2RS8b8llMR

https://www.ecofriendlyhabits.com/how-to-conserve-energy/

https://www.uswitch.com/energy-efficiency/free-energy-saving-tips/

In the meantime we’ll be keeping a look out for schemes available in Wales to help those finding energy price increases difficult to manage. We will put information on our Blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, held at 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. Next meeting 10th March. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to come along.

 

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WENVOE FORUM

Considering Today and Tomorrow

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A belated Happy New Year!

Our apologies. We hadn’t realised that the New Year WO copy date was early and we missed the deadline for the January issue. However, our article on Making 2022 happier can still be read currently on the home page of our blog site. Happy reading https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

For February let’s have a quick look at what the Forum has been up to recently.

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Welcome Pack

The ‘Welcome to Wenvoe’ pack that has brought together information provided by many of our community organisations and services, is ready for distribution. If at any time you have new neighbours who have moved into Wenvoe from elsewhere please let us know and we’ll deliver you a printed Welcome Pack to take to them. (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com). The pack will also be available on the blog site (see above) to download. If we have missed anything out or you want to update the information, please get in touch.

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From Happiness to Hoppiness

A couple of Wenvoe residents have been involved in the Cardiff Community Hop Growing Group. Members grow one or two hop plants in their gardens and then in mid-September the hops are picked and the harvest pooled to create the Taff Temptress beer brewed by Pipes Brewery in Llandaff. Contributors are entitled to some free or reduced price beer. We were thinking that it would be nice if a few more Wenvoe residents grew some hops and we were able to harvest enough for a ‘Wenvoe’ brew.

Hop rhizomes can be planted in the next couple of months and should produce a small harvest even in their first year. They are very easy to grow, and like to climb, (up to 20ft!) but need not take up a lot of ground space. Dwarf versions are also happy climbing along a fence as long as you give them a bit of encouragement to follow the route you want them to take. Current growers can provide growing advice, though all are beginners.

If you think this is a fun idea please join in. Steve and Sian Jones (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com) are willing to coordinate the link to the Cardiff community while we recruit enough growers for a Wenvoe Beer in the future – suggestions for good name anyone?

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Community Energy Scheme

Forum members have met with some Vale of Glamorgan Council officers who are working on reducing carbon footprints to discuss potential community energy generation and other energy efficiency schemes. Ideas are beginning to develop and we hope to hold a meeting with wider community representation soon.

If you want to be part of the discussion and help to shape any future scheme please get in touch. (gwenfo.forum@gmail.com)

 

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WENVOE FORUM
Celebrate Consciously Today to Preserve Tomorrow

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If each of us changes just one or two things to cut pollution, waste and carbon emissions during the Christmas celebrations and into the New Year, together, it adds up and makes a difference. Here, some of our members share their ideas.

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Hello, I am Diane and I’ve joined the Wenvoe Forum as I feel that we can all help the cause. This Christmas I’m aiming to send Christmas cards that have the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) mark. This can be found on the back of the card and guarantees that the paper has been produced sustainably and ethically. After Christmas I will recycle my cards or pass them onto friends who will turn them into present tags or decorations for next year.

 

Gareth and Glenys Stone. We have lived in Wenvoe for almost 10 years now. We joined the Wenvoe Forum with a view to doing ‘our bit’ and working with others to build on the existing, strong community spirit. Our family have festive fun with the e-bay challenge. We set a price limit and a theme for family presents to be bought second hand on e-bay. We have a lot of fun buying the best present for £5 and in the past they have included Lego, headgear and even original works of art. As we open them together at Christmas we can also enjoy the stories and adventures of e-bay auctions won and lost, as well as the presents themselves. Reducing, reusing and recycling whilst having a fabulous time.

Hi. I am Heulwen and I shall be making my own Christmas present labels from handmade seed paper embedded with various flower seeds for recipients to plant. No waste card to deal with and I’m looking forward to a spring and summer full of flowers that will also encourage pollinators.

My name is Nicola Starke and I am the Headteacher at Gwenfo Church in Wales Primary School. My green festive tips include:

• Donating old Christmas dressing up costumes to the school to loan to other children during our Christmas concerts.
• Make a funny Christmas video to send friends and family instead of a card
• Over the festive period swap your car for a lovely walk around the village to spot the advent windows
• Shop locally and support small businesses when buying gifts and festive food.

 

I am Sian Jones and live in the village. I am a member of the Gwenfo Forum because I want our Wenvoe Village to be a cleaner safer environment in which to live. I think it would be good for us to embrace the New Year 2022 by thinking of ways to help our carbon footprint, less pollution in the village. For example think about ways to dispose of our Christmas wrappings and cards. Look at buying gift wrapping paper that can be recycled. Christmas cards being bought without glitter and buy from charities to support their cause. My goal for 2022 is for all of us to think and act now before it is too late!

 

 

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More environmentally friendly ideas on our blog see below.

The Forum is always open to fresh suggestions, creative ideas and especially to new members and contributors.

Twitter @ForumGwenfo, Facebook: Gwen Fo @ https://www.facebook.com/gwen.fo.1/ and Wenvoe Forum @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/635369267864402

Blog site https://wenvoeforum.wordpress.com/

Any Wenvoe community member is welcome to join the Forum meetings, via Zoom, held at 19.00 on the second Thursday of each month. E-mail gwenfo.forum@gmail.com if you wish to come along.

 

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