Damian Connor who manages Integrate’s ‘The Woodhouse’ in Preston gave an inspiring talk about this social enterprise which is a member of the National Community Wood Recycling Network. It collects and reuses waste wood in the most environmentally beneficial way whilst creating jobs and training for people who’ve faced barriers to work – due to disability, addiction recovery or homelessness,

Rigorous adherence to Health and Safety and Safeguarding requirements mean that employees and volunteers can access construction sites to hand-load wood being rescued from the waste stream. Wood is collected in 3¹/₂ ton trucks which makes it a service 20-30% cheaper than how much firms pay for skips. When returned to the Stocks Road, Ashton depot it’s sorted by type, dimensions, its suitability for internal or external use.. Everything is stored undercover to retain its condition.

The Woodhouse makes items such as planters, birdboxes, kindling, tables, etc so that the people learn skills and grow in confidence and self-esteem. Some of the wood is sold on for reuse in DIY projects, schools, ‘Men’s Sheds’ and prisons. A small proportion is sent for recycling into wood chip, animal bedding or made into briquettes for use in power stations. Reusing wood is 10 times more carbon efficient than harvesting, milling, and transporting virgin wood.

Considering that deforestation is a major cause of climate change and that current timber certification schemes are inadequate for the protection of environments, social enterprises such as The Woodhouse based on a circular economy have much to offer.

Climate Action Preston invites you to come together to prioritize our planet over profit locally and globally.

Description: Join us for an inspiring event focused on putting the planet first!
Hear from Damian Connor of Integrate’s Woodhouse wood recycling and employment project saving carbon and changing lives. Helen Rimmer the NW Organiser for Friends of the Earth will tell us about the ‘Planet Over Profit’ campaign.
ALL WELCOME to this FREE EVENT where there’ll be lots of chance to solialise with like-minded people who are passionate about creating a greener future.
Drinks will be provided.
You are invited to bring a small dish of food to share at lunchtime.

Location: St George the Martyr Church Date: 8th November Time: 10.30am – 3.00pm

There’s no disputing that government and industry has most responsibility for avoiding ecological breakdown but, as the ‘Take the Jump’ initiative tells us, people are not powerless in making a difference.
Research by the University of Leeds School of Earth and Environment, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group representing almost 100 of the worlds biggest cities and the global engineering consultancy, Arup  found that 27% of the changes needed can be made by individuals. But the focus for reductions in consumption isn’t on everyone as greater wealth leads to greater consumption.
‘Take the Jump’ suggests 6 different shifts are necessary whereas the relaunched ‘Preston Green Pledge’ offers up to 7 different areas in which either reductions in consumption or positive actions can be made to help make Preston a cleaner, healthier and greener city. These are under the themes of water, waste and recycling, transport, sustainable food, energy, nature and spreading the word with many suggestions for each category.
Everyone is invited to choose just one theme or up to seven then fill in the form to register their pledge.

After several months of planning, a Sustainability Festival took place at the end of May. Annie Wynn the Development Director of Let’s Grow Preston provided the logistics to the planning group for the festival to happen alongside the well-established annual Spring Fair at their Walled Gardens base next to Ashton Park. Funds were raised from a variety of sources including a People’s Postcode Lottery grant via Friends of the Earth to pay for a Marquee for stalls and the tech for short presentations from a range of speakers.

Topics covered the basics of climate change, the work of the Preston Climate Jury, tips for householders to be more energy efficient, the ambition of Trampower for a new local tramline and the progress of Retrofitplus as it works on the Brookfields estate to provide mentored green construction skill-sharing for young people. An update from Preston Pedals Ltd shared their expanding success in running led social rides, fixing bikes at a variety of community bases and passing on donated bikes. Community Energy Preston presented on the project to install rooftop solar financed by a community share offer. Cllr Suleman Sarwar PCC’s recently appointed Cabinet Member for Climate Change spoke of his vision for the role.

Several community organisations including a Ribbleton craft group had stalls. ‘Cosy Homes’ which advises householders and landlords on all funded schemes for saving energy were busy throughout the day. As well as promoting national Friends of the Earth campaigns, the CAP stall had a display of posters submitted by primary schools on ‘Our School’s Steps to Sustainability’.

The Sustainability Festival was a successful outcome from the recommendations by Preston Climate Jury to ‘harness the power of community to bring about change’.

CAP’s meeting all about our rivers, lakes and coasts was held on Saturday 15th March at St George’s Church Hall in Preston. It was the first CAP event with nature as its key theme, other than the practical volunteer session at Andy’s Bee Meadow last September. The turnout was great – thanks to all who supported the day!

Two talks were received very well by the attendees, the first from Dr Barbara Kneale representing Fylde Coast against Sewage and the second from Chi Gerrard, CAP committee member. Barbara explained the group’s citizen science work in testing for levels of bacterial growth from various locations along the Fylde Coast, including Fleetwood and St Anne’s North beaches, to detect whether there was evidence of sewage pollution. You can learn more about the group from her presentation which you can view here part1 and part2

Chi gave an overview of why our freshwater bodies i.e. rivers, streams and lakes are important to us, why they are in crisis and what we can do to help. See here for more information.

The talks were followed by a brief AGM at which a summary of CAP activity over the last year was given and committee members elected. 

The event finished with a vegan buffet lunch which, along with the fantastic, welcoming venue, was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

The meeting hopefully highlighted some of the most pressing problems affecting our waters and our natural spaces more generally, and presented various ways in which we can all step-up to help fight the issues.

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Last week I spent a few hours with a group of volunteers planting native trees – oak, hawthorn, alder, blackthorn, lime – at the Pope Lane Tree Planting site. There were about 15 of us plus two members of staff from the Ribble Rivers Trust and it was estimated we planted about 800 saplings that day. It was a satisfying and sociable day and I went home feeling tired and a bit achy but happy to have contributed towards making Preston a cleaner, greener place for the future.

The Pope Lane Tree Planting site is a big project being run jointly between Preston City Council and Lancashire Wildlife Trust. The Ribble Rivers Trust have been tasked to get 7000 trees planted here, starting last winter and into this winter. The planting area is just across the footbridge over the M6 from Grange Park near Ribbleton, and North of Boilton Wood, part of a strip of ancient native woodland (Red Scar and Tun Brook Woods) and one of the only SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) woods in Lancashire.

Here is the location – an easy walk from Grange Park and also right next to the Guild Wheel for those of you who are cyclists and walkers.

It is hoped that this new woodland will help protect Boilton Wood and connect it to Brockholes Nature Reserve and with nearby Red Scar Wood to provide a bigger, better area of habitat for wildlife. In time, these trees will also help absorb carbon and so help the climate. It is fantastic that Preston has such a valuable site for nature and for people on its doorstep in addition to its several lovely, accessible parks and of course the River Ribble. We all know how being outdoors, especially in nature, is great for our physical and mental health. It felt good to be able to give something back by planting a new woodland to help protect and sustain our natural environment.

To find out more about the Pope Lane tree planting project see this Blog Preston article

There are still plenty more trees to be planted on this site. The Ribble Rivers Trust are running at least 4 more volunteer days this month, starting this Wednesday 6th November. To volunteer on one of these tree planting days see here in order to book your place. Be part of something that’s great for you, for Preston’s future and for the planet!

Article by Rosy Townsend

Our well-attended day at Plungington Community Centre was full of interest. 
Information about the ‘Better Buses‘ campaign was brought to us from South Yorkshire by Fran Prostlethwaite. 
See here for that and for details of the input we had from Friends of the Guild Wheel and Community Energy Preston. Julie’s presentation about Preston Pedals is attached here.
We also heard from Alex Conroy about the experience of being part of Preston’s Climate Jury and the satisfaction of having its 24 recommendations accepted by PCC.
A BBC North West news item featuring members of the Jury was broadcast on Tuesday 22nd October. You can read about this here. Some members of the Climate Jury are now planning to hold a Climate Festival in association with Let’s Grow Preston’s Spring Fair on May 31st. The next planning meeting (some CAP members are part of this) takes place at 6pm on November 6th at the Town Hall, Lancaster Road, PR1 2RL 
Helen Rimmer from NW FoE once more facilitated the day, drawing out points of achievement and challenge from CAP’s activities of the last year. 

Overall, an energising and useful day!

Article by Wolfgang Kuchler

CAP members were out on Preston’s Flag Market this Pride Saturday with a stall highlighting the impact of arms spending and warfare on the environment as well as people round the world. In particular we were showing solidarity with PENGON, our sister Friends of the Earth group in Palestine, with information – including facts about local arms company BAE – and an online petition. We also had a “what would you spend the money on?” sheet.
Despite the rain and the other attractions we engaged with at least ten people, some of whom expressed an interest in CAP. A teacher from Chorley said that local people were leaving jobs like teaching and auto repair to get more money at BAE, and that had a real impact. She suggested people could be trained in making and installing wind turbines – currently being done by Dutch companies [using low paid non union labour we think – CAP]
We gave away a few stickers, told people about other CAP events, and would like to thank Dave at the Oxfam bookshop for the loan of their stall. A worthwhile outing.

Last Saturday 21st September, ten volunteers spent a couple of hours with Chris Taylor, Horticultural Project Lead for Let’s Grow Preston, raking the recently mown Andy’s Bee Meadow on Broadgate. The weather was lovely and had been all week – really lucky for those of us raking and then moving all the grass away from the meadow!

In the dual Climate and Nature crisis that we face action to address both is crucial. Britain is known to be one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world so anything that can be done to restore nature, even in urban areas, is important. Chris started by giving a short talk on the significance of allowing grasses and wildflowers to grow tall in areas such as this to change it from a sterile lawn to a haven for bees, butterflies, other pollinators and their larvae, beetles, spiders, small mammals, reptiles, etc etc. He also covered different methods of converting areas of grass that had been regularly mown (be it in public-owned land such as in a park or in your garden) into a wildlife-friendly area which was really interesting. Part of the regular maintenance of a nature-friendly meadow is a once-a-year cut followed by raking and removing all the mowings so that the soil nutrient level stays low. This helps native grasses and wildflowers which provide habitat and food for our wildlife to thrive, instead of the area being dominated by a small number of species which provide very little support for biodiversity. The raking and removing was where the volunteer group came in!

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To learn more about meadows, see this presentation kindly shared by Chris who led our session. You’ll see how different types of meadow are created and maintained, their importance in providing habitat for wildlife and, perhaps most helpfully, how we can all do something positive to help enable more meadows to be created, even in urban areas.