Monthly Archives: May 2016

Balsam Bashing June Dates

28 Saturday May 2016

Posted by in Biodiversity, Events, Plants

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balsam bashers

We are into our third year of trying to clear the New Mills area of the invasive alien Himalayan Balsam which is swamping our native flora. We know it is going to be a long haul but we are already winning in some areas. So we need to renew and redouble our efforts this year

We are concentrating on 4 main areas : the Torrs, Goytside, the Picker and Mousley Bottom. We have already had 3 sessions and removed a lot of small balsam plants in the first three of these areas, allowing native plants to continue growing without getting shaded out. This year we have also been removing litter encountered at the same time.

The next organised bashes are scheduled for the following dates :

Monday 6th June  6.30 – 8.00pm  The Picker   Meet at junction of High St, Dye House Lane and Hyde Bank Rd  Leader : David Blowers

Monday 13th June  6.30 – 8.00pm  The Torrs   Meet at Torrs Hydro Leader : Jill Hulme

Saturday 25th June  10.30-12.30  Mousley Bottom  Meet at DCC Rangers Hut Leader: Julian Ashworth

Wear stout footwear. Gloves and long sleeves are more comfortable; we have some gloves for loan if you don’t have any yourself.

If you can’t join us on any of these dates, please help by coming on a future organised bash, pledging to Pick a Patch of your choice or just pull as you walk.

Pick up one of our new handy pocket guides on Himalayan Balsam from the Heritage Centre, Spring Bank Arts, or St Georges Parish Hall to help you.

Contact us at transition.newmills@gmail.com, or visit us at transitionnewmills.org or facebook.com/transitionnewmills

FREE RETROFIT ADVOCACY TRAINING OFFER

22 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Energy, Training

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Transition New Mills is offering to cover the cost of training up to 4 New Mills residents to gain the knowledge and skills needed to motivate others in our community to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, reducing carbon emissions, improving comfort and reducing fuel bills. The course is being hosted by the Carbon Coop, Manchester.
All we ask is that you undertake to help spread good practice back here in New Mills. Let us know if you’re interested before you book!
WHAT: Retrofit Advocacy Training
WHEN: 9.30-12:30pm, Sat 11th and 25th June 2016 (as this is a two-part course you need to attend both dates)
WHERE: URBED offices, 5th Floor, 10 Little Lever Street, Manchester, M1 1HR
COST: Members – FREE, Non Members – £10 (To be reimbursed by Transition New Mills)
LEADS: Helen Grimshaw, sustainability consultant, URBED and Julian Tomlin, consultant, Carbon Co-op committee member, and householder.
This simple, two-part, participatory course will enable local green volunteers to confidently discuss energy efficiency and inspire others to find out more about retrofit, whether on a stall at a local event, in a meeting or workshop, or with friends and family.
Delivered by a specialist retrofit consultants URBED and a householder with retrofit experience, the fun sessions will involve presentations, a quiz, group activities as well as a bit of homework.
The training has been designed to comply with the Carbon Literacy Standard and all successful completers will receive a Carbon Literacy Certificate
This training is for volunteers to provide first stop advice and support to other householders. It will not replace the technical expertise provided by industry professionals.
Please book early as spaces are limited.

Food and Climate Change

21 Saturday May 2016

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The next meeting of the Transition reading group is Monday June 27th, 8pm at Jill’s.
The topic will be food and climate change – here are links to some articles (most are short but with links if you’re interested in further research):
https://www.chathamhouse.org/publication/livestock-climate-change-forgotten-sector-global-public-opinion-meat-and-dairy
It has been suggested that, for subsequent meeting/s, rather than all reading the same book we try something new! We each bring books we’ve found interesting to the June meeting, lend them out and then members of the group choose a book to read and present a ‘book report’ to the next meeting/s to provide the discussion topic. For example, Rick has several books on economics that he would be happy to lend out.
Please let Sue Cooper (suecoopernewmills@hotmail.com) know if you are planning to come to the June meeting.

Balsam Bashing Starts This Weekend!

20 Friday May 2016

Posted by in Biodiversity, Uncategorized

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Balsam Bashing 2016

We are into our third year of trying to clear the New Mills area of the invasive alien Himalayan Balsam which is swamping our native flora. We know it is going to be a long haul but we are already winning in some areas. So we need to renew and redouble our efforts this year.

We shall continue to concentrate on four main areas : the Torrs, Goytside, the Picker and Mousley Bottom.

The balsam is already popping up so we are starting to bash while it is still small. We hope you can join us on one of the first three organised bashing events :

Saturday 21 May  10-11.30am   meet at Torrs hydro

Sunday 22 May   10-11.30am   meet at Torrs hydro

Monday 23 May  6.30 – 8.00pm  meet at junction of High St, Dye House Lane and Hyde bank Rd

If you can’t join us on any of these dates, please help by coming on a future organised bash, pledging to Pick a Patch of your choice or just pull as you walk.

Please wear stout footwear, long sleeves are more comfortable

Contact us on transitionnewmills.org or facebook.com/transitionnewmills

Important Dates for your Diary

15 Sunday May 2016

Posted by in Events, News, Uncategorized

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Photo-AH3

There are 3 important dates coming up where we would really like to see you:

  1. New Mills Carnival; afternoon of Saturday 11th June
  2. AGM & Speaker(tbc);   7.30pm Thursday 30th June, Volunteer Centre
  3. One World Festival;  afternoon of Saturday 2nd July

We intend having a stall at the Carnival and One World Festivals, but we really need your help staffing it. If you are able to give even just an hour on these days it will help make this possible. It’s fun, and just involves finding out what people are interested in, telling them what we’ve been doing, and discussing what we’d like to do in future. And the weather has always been lovely!  Please let us know at transition.newmills@gmail.com if you can be of assistance.

This year’s AGM will be on the evening of Thursday 30th June, and we are lining up a topical speaker for the event. There will be 2 vacancies on the Administration Group, so we are keen to receive nominations from anyone who is interested in helping to run the group and make our town stronger, cleaner, fairer and more resilient. Let us know at transition.newmills@gmail.com to find out more or register your interest in these posts.