It has been a while since we were last in contact with you and very much hope that you are all keeping well in body, mind and spirit. These are testing times for us all on many levels but within our committee we have been actively involved (all be it remotely), in looking at ways in which we can adapt our approach and continue to keep you informed about, and engaged with, our aims and objectives.
We’d like to keep you abreast of the progress and plans we have been making. As you know, we had to postpone our main event, which was due to take place this March, as well as our regular monthly open meetings. We have now taken the decision to move the event to June 26th 2021, as we feel a gathering before the end of this year will not be feasible or safe.
Which leaves us with one big challenge - how do we finds ways that we can continue to engage and support one another in our mission towards a more sustainable community.
Our aims for online education and information:
Create a new blog page on our website where we will be sharing more online content during this period. DONE !!!
The Sustainable Living Event - possible plans for a virtual event for 2020
Future open meeting possibilities perhaps online
Possible virtual delivery of talks and other ways of bringing a virtual event to the community
If we can create a virtual online event to you, we would very much like to hear what you might like to see included in terms of content
Continuing and expanding information relating to products that offer affordable alternatives to single use plastic - New videos are in the pipeline to go on the website and on Facebook
Sharing ideas for reducing food waste through inventive cooking in lockdown
Encouraging a reduction in meat consumption and a move to more sustainable sources of meat - e.g. locally produced & high welfare/organic options
Sharing ideas for sourcing sustainable food options particularly from local outlets, and how to maintainaffordability whilst making those choices
Please do keep follow us here on our new blog page, as in this current situation it is our best tool for reaching out to you with support and keeping you informed. We would also welcome contributions of ideas on all of the above as well as input into further developments you would like to see. This Community Action Group is for all of us and sharing ideas and information will keep us moving forward and help us to include, welcome in and get people engaged and involved from right across the entire community
Other plans in the pipeline:
Future clothes swap events once we have fully considered the possibilities of organizing in a way that maintains social distancing
A Pop-up refill station offering cleaning products. We are looking to find a space which we can use to move forward with this. If anyone has a suggestion for available options, or possibly knows of a van we might be able to park up centrally to use as a mobile alternative, please do get in touch.
A tabletop/pavement bric-a-brac give away. We know that for lots of you, this time at home has led to opportunities for a big sort through in the home. Frustratingly there are limited ways to donate or dispose of these items in the current circumstances, many of which still have plenty of life in them. We are looking to get people who want to participate to sign up. We will then provide a list or map of the streets participating for locals to refer to and take advantage of on their days out. Once we have a date, we will be inviting people to sign up and will clarify information re maintaining safety, hygiene and social distancing. Keep a look out for further information.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank Charlotte Carter for her valuable input whilst serving on the committee for the past 8 months. Charlotte is stepping back due to other commitments but remains a member of Sustainable Shrivenham. We welcome Steph Muir who has stepped up to join us on the committee.
This change over has prompted us to review and clarify our roles as Committee Members as well as clarifying your roles as members. We really want to build your involvement as we are certain that within our community there are a wide array of talents that you all bring with you. We will be sending out a separate email with regards to that. We will be holding our first AGM in November and will provide more details closer to the time.
We would like to invite you to join us in that reflection.
Here are the pledges made in our first few open meetings.
Finally, we as a committee have been taking this time to reflect on our journey so far. We feel sad that having achieved so much with your support in such a short time, this virus has rather stopped us in our tracks. However we have picked ourselves up and stepped outside the box to think and as per the above, feel we are able to find new ways to keep moving forward so that when the time comes, we can make the most of the many positives for the environment and our community, that may come out of this difficult time.
We would love to hear from you with any of the following:
New pledges
What new actions you have taken since we started Sustainable Shrivenham
