Greening Silchester
We have an exciting programme of activities planned for the year.
Join our Bioblitz on Saturday 17th May. Led by Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, we are doing a spot check survey of the animals and plants around Silchester. Please help by coming along to the Village Hall between 10am and 4pm, collecting a spotter sheet, and surveying a small area of the village. No knowledge needed – all the information that you need is on the spotter sheets or you can just take a photo and our expert can ientify it for you. Please help and contribute to this important piece of research. Suitable for all ages.
On 13th January, we had a really interesting Meet the Energy Experts event in the Village Hall Club Room with presentations on the state of the UK heat decarbonisation program, how to make your home warmer and more energy efficient, support available from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, and the forthcoming Hampshire Retrofit scheme. Everyone really enjoyed the evening, which finished with a lively Q&A. If you missed it, or would like to re-visit any of the presentations, three of them are now available on our website at Meet the Energy Experts
Thank you to all who committed to the Pledges on the Challenge Card. We managed to count 48 cards displayed.
Just a reminder of the challenges:
- Space for Nature Create a 1m square garden space/window box for nature. Some suggestions here
- Cycle of the Seed Grow your own salad on the windowsill or in the garden and eat it.
- Health Impacts of Climate Change Have 3 conversations about climate change. Talk about how you feel and the concerns you may have. Advice on Getting Started with Conversations.
- Energy Efficient Warmer Homes Only fill the kettle to a level of water you will use and save £37 a year.
- Waste Prevention Reduce your food waste by storing food correctly. Check your fridge is set to the correct temperature, keep all fruit and veg apart from onions, unripe bananas and whole pineapples in the fridge.
The Greening Campaign have recently won National Lottery funding to support communities across Hampshire to tackle and adapt to climate change. Silchester are delighted to have been selected as one of just twenty communities that they will be helping.
At our recent public meeting the 1st Silchester Guides gave a very moving presentation on why the campaign was important for their future. You can read everything that they said here.
Other News
In August we were delighted to welcome Kelly Jones, a local bat expert, to lead a Bat Walk on the Common. More here: Bat Walk 2023
Do you know a local business that would like to develop its green skills? Innovation South Virtual Campus have a set of new free training courses on topics such as carbon literacy, building retrofitting, sustainable resource management, rainwater and grey water harvesting or tree planting and climate change. See their website https://em3.isvc.co.uk/ for details.
We now have two plug in electricity monitors available for residents to measure the electricity usage of individual devices. It’s a great way to track down those energy hungry appliances, work out how much you are saving by turning things off stand-by and the only way to find out how much intermittently used appliances (such as fridges and freezers) are really costing you. To borrow one, just drop us a line via the Contact Us page.
Please recycle anything you can in the Ali Recycling scheme at the Pavilion on a Friday, or at the Village Market. Everything you leave raises money for the Playground and the Village Hall. We can no longer collect pet food packaging, crisp packets or coffee pods (except Lavazza ECO pods). Soft plastics (plastic bags, pet food pouches, crisp packets etc) can now mostly be recycled at Sainsburys in Tadley. The collection point is by the windows behind the tills. You can however continue to recycle your coffee pods yourself through the Podback Scheme. For full details of what can be recycled through Ali Recycling including details of four NEW schemes and for a copy of the A-Z of local recycling facilities, see Reduce and Reuse
Basingstoke and Deane have just launched their Climate Change Toolkit full of useful advice on things that you can do to reduce your carbon footprint.
If you would like to get involved with Sustainable Silchester, or would just like to come along to a meeting, please Contact Us, follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter .
About Us
Sustainable Silchester is all about encouraging and supporting Silchester residents to take practical actions to live more sustainably and improve bio-diversity. We are joining people and communities across the world in taking positive action and being part of the solution. Together we can make a difference.
Meetings
Meetings are open to all local residents, or people who work in or around Silchester. The next meeting will be on 14 March 2024, at 7:30pm in the Village Hall. The aims are to lead positive action and to enjoy meeting each other. We would welcome more people! Or if you have any suggestions, please use the Contact Us form to let us know. All are welcome.
Explore our Website…..
…for infomation about local activities where you can get involved, local recycling and re-use services, and local services. Also information about the Common and local flora and fauna, ideas for seasonal recipes and much more. If you think of anything else that we should add, please let us know.
Sustainable Silchester is a working group of Silchester Parish Council