Month: April 2019

Children show us the way at Cumbrian youth climate summit

Ninety young people and their teachers from thirty Cumbrian schools came together in April for the county’s first youth summit on climate change.

Organised by the head teacher from Robert Ferguson School in Carlisle, it was a moving and uplifting event that gave young people a chance to voice their concerns about climate change and other environmental issues.

CAfS chief executive Hazel Graham went along to take part in a question panel and to listen to young people’s views and the actions they want to see.

“It’s so obvious that young people have a good grasp of the science behind climate change,” Hazel said. “Children expressed fear, anger and frustration at the summit and set out some clear ideas for the action they want to see. They feel they are being let down by leaders and they have a strong desire to meet with people in power and share views with them.”

Students from each of the schools gave a short presentation. They flagged their main environmental concerns: the impact of climate change, plastic waste, deforestation, loss of habitat, approval for a new coal mine in Cumbria and pollution.

Here are just a few of the students’ comments that sum up the feelings they expressed:

“We live in an amazing world, full of amazing animals, beautiful blue oceans, interesting towns and cities, beautiful woods and forests. Will it still be beautiful when we are older? We can save our world but we all need to do something.”

“Lack of action on climate change is making us unsafe. If an adult does something that makes you feel unsafe, what do you do? Tell a trusted adult. Call for help. We all need to shout as loud as we can for help.”

“There is too much time dwelling on differences. The planet is what unites us all. Let’s save our world.”

“It’s scary to think that our future generations will never see the world as it is now. Speak up children. We hope to inspire people today to reduce pollution.”

“Our biggest concern is that we destroy other habitats. Our precious world is dying in front of our eyes. It is up to us to protect it.”

The momentum from the summit looks set to continue. Two students from Cockermouth who attended the summit have now set up a new climate change network for young people from across Cumbria. Read more >

Nationally and internationally, youth action continues this month, with the next youth strike for climate taking place on 24 May.

30 April 2019
CAfS supports exciting Fellfoot Forward project

CAfS is taking part in an exciting landscape programme that will benefit communities in the north east of Cumbria.

We’ve been asked to share our expertise on improving the energy efficiency of community buildings and supporting community energy, as part of the Fellfoot Forward project.

The project aims to “forge creative connections between people and landscape, conserve habitats and key species and celebrate this beautiful area with its communities”. The area stretches along the Cumbrian side of the North Pennines AONB and UNESCO Global Geopark, reaching out as far west as the River Eden, and running north from Melmerby to Hallbankgate.

CAfS will carry out audits at five community-owned buildings, looking at how the building fabric and energy efficiency can be improved, and how the wider community could be involved.

We’ve also been asked to explore options for community-owned renewable energy in Castle Carrock.

Fellfoot Forward is run by the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership and is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

To find out more about the work we’ll be doing, visit our Fellfoot Forward project page.

There’s more information about the overall Fellfoot Forward scheme on the North Pennines AONB website.

30 April 2019
Students launch youth climate network for Cumbria
Two students from Cockermouth have set up a new network for young people in Cumbria who want to help prevent climate change.

The group, UK Student Climate Network (UKSCN) Cumbria, has three main aims, to:

reduce the use of single-use plastics and other non-reusable materials in schools

discuss the impacts of the proposed new coal mine with the community and Cumbria County Council, and encourage them to take the necessary steps to prevent it going ahead

pressurize Cumbria County Council to declare a climate emergency

Students from several schools across the county have already joined the group. The organisers, Isabella and Clare, would love to see as many young people as possible get involved.

They envisage that the network will meet online initially, and they’re already planning their first activity to raise awareness about the group – a county-wide poetry competition for schools.

The group is linked in with the national UKSCN, which will offer some support to the Cumbrian group.

Isabella and Clare are encouraging any other young people who’d like to take part to get in touch with them via Instagram (@ukscn_cumbria) or email [email protected].
26 April 2019
Food-growing plans for Alston Moor take root after drop-ins

A community orchard and a community farm have emerged as the tastiest options for food growing on Alston Moor, after residents shared their views at drop-ins organized by CAfS in April.

The two sessions at Alston Town Hall attracted a constant flow of people who are keen to see opportunities for community food growing.

The consultation was part of the Alston Moor Greenprint, run by CAfS and funded by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation.

“The consensus is that there’s real enthusiasm to get community growing projects up and running, as opposed to private allotments,” said Roe Baker, Greenprint manager.

“The most popular option was a community orchard, which has the advantage of being relatively low maintenance and would provide the community with hard and soft fruit that people could freely harvest. Any surplus could be used for jam and chutney making. Training in pruning and grafting would be provided and there could be annual events.”

There was also support for a community farm or enterprise. This would be a longer-term project on a site that could support fruit trees, soft fruits, polytunnels for vegetable and salad production and the development of biomass for coppice. Growing mushrooms could also be a possibility.

“There’s a need for training in vegetable growing and how to grow in polytunnels,” Roe said. “We’ll offer some training sessions during the CAfS Cumbria Green Build Festival with visits to growers included in the programme. The great thing about community growing is that we can learn from each other and share skills.”

The consultation also revealed that growers would benefit from a way of connecting with each other. One idea is to create an online space where they could swap information about shared land and garden options, offer to share tools and equipment and take advantage of economies of scale in joint purchases for materials like top soil.

The drop-ins were part of a feasibility study on community food growing and enterprise. The study is nearly finished and the findings will help decide on a way forward, including applying for funding to make things happen.

Community food growing, in whatever form it eventually takes, is identified in the Alston Moor Community Plan and will be embedded into it.

To find out more, visit the Alston Moor Greenprint section on our website or contact Roe Baker: [email protected].

26 April 2019
On the road again for food study team

There are lots of different ways to grow food as a community, and some of them are being explored as part of the Alston Moor Greenprint, with a view to setting up community-led food growing in the area. Lynn Barnes from Vista Veg, who’s leading on the research, has been out visiting interesting sites around the region, along with enthusiastic volunteers from the Alston area.

The group headed to the south of Cumbria for their second day of visits, on 20 March 2019. Roe Baker, the Alston Moor Greenprint manager, tells us more…

“Our first stop was at Growing Well, at Low Sizergh Farm near Kendal, to look at the well-established veg growing project and crop share scheme that supports people recovering from mental illness (using a referral scheme). The project also delivers accredited horticultural training, cookery courses and educational visits for schools and community groups.

Growing Well made for a really inspiring visit, beautifully maintained growing spaces and lovely staff. James Smith gave us a lot of his time and expertise while showing us around. There was a lot of learning for us on Alston Moor about the initial set up, making sure that infrastructure is in place to accommodate growers comfortably, including undercover meeting spaces and a strong social aspect, with collective meetings and shared responsibility.

It was off to Ford Park in Ulverston next. We had a lovely lunch in the Coach House Café and a look around their kitchen garden, where food is grown for the café. Ford Park Community Group is the charity that manages the resources in the park. It has a paid, experienced gardener in charge and a volunteer work force, and invites in school groups. There’s a fantastic view over Ulverston from the garden!

Lower Allithwaite Allotments was our next port of call. It’s a lovely small allotment site in Lower Allithwaite, right in the heart of the community and next to a play park area – akin to potential for community growing at Nenthead Play Park and Fairhill.

Our last stop was at Grange-over-Sands Community Orchard. We met Judith Shapland a representative from South Lakeland Orchard Group, on site to talk about how the orchard was established and managed. The orchard was planted in 1998 by Grange Civic Society. The orchard is managed organically and wildlife is encouraged by allowing areas to grow as a wildflower meadow and by planting native hedging with hawthorn, sea buckthorn and hazel along the walls. There are over thirty varieties of apple tree, damsons, plums, pears and medlar. It’s such a great site, right in the heart of Grange-over-Sands. It would be a fantastic low-maintenance option for Alston Moor.

A huge thanks to all the sites and James and Judith for their generosity in showing us around and offering so much advice and encouragement.”

11 April 2019
Alston Moor food group takes to the road

The team behind the feasibility study into community-led food growing on Alston Moor has been out on the road looking at some inspiring community food-growing sites and potential management models we could replicate.

The Alston Moor Greenprint manager, Roe Baker from CAfS, tells us more…

“A group of us visited Gibside Community Farm, Burnopfield, near Gateshead on 8 March, to look at a community-supported agriculture scheme on National Trust land. At the community farm, everyone who works takes a share of the crops produced. For just £52 a year or £1 a week you can take home a fresh seasonal veggie bag.

It was a work day for the Gibside volunteers, who were on a mission to get things planted, despite it being a very cold and blustery day! We are very grateful to Mick Marston, part of the growing collective, who gave us a tour and talk about the project, which has been going for five years. Gibside Community Farm is constituted as a Community Interest Company and organised as a worker’s co-operative.

The co-op attracts a diverse demographic, including young families, and they are establishing vegetables, fruit and also biomass and mushrooms on the 14-acre site. They have future plans to develop an inspirational covered courtyard area for storage, community gatherings and cooking and training, built from old shipping containers.

We enjoyed lunch in National Trust café at Gibside and took a look at the walled garden, where there are crops by the community farm. It’s a beautiful setting.

From Gibside, we headed to Ravensworth Nurseries, near Scotch Corner to visit their greenhouses, which are heated by a biomass boiler fuelled by waste wood from shipping pallets. The boiler also supplies heat to four dwellings adjacent to the site, on a district heating scheme. It was a long and fruitful day, lots of inspiration, shared ideas and conversations.”

Watch this space next week, to find out where the team’s next fact-finding visit took them.

5 April 2019