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Bulk Buying Saves Notts Residents nearly £19,000

A Nottinghamshire bulk purchasing oil scheme has saved residents nearly £19,000 since it began. The scheme, which is run by Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire (RCAN) and negotiates a bulk purchasing discount for households who use oil for their heating, saved households buying 1000 litres of oil £71 on normal prices the last time it placed an order.

Households can currently join at a discounted cost of £10 (normally membership costs £20). If people would like to volunteer to co-ordinate orders in their area they can join for free. Co-ordinators simply bring together all the local orders in their area and pass them to RCAN, before letting households know the price and delivery date. They don’t have to deal with money or payments.

01623 727600 / oil@rcan.org.uk / www.rcan.org.uk/downloads/A5Membershipbooklettemp.pdf

Shares available in Derbyshire Community Woodland

Whistlewood Common Melbourne Area Transition

Whistlewood Common Limited is selling shares in a community-owned woodland, based in Melbourne, Derbyshire, which will be used for local good production.

This exciting 10 acre initiative will see the creation of orchards, forest gardens, productive woodlands and a space for events and education on Melbourne Common, all for the benefit of people living in the area.

The project has already received a grant of more than £50K from the National Forest Company and £18K of shares has already been raised. However, a further £32K is needed as soon as possible to secure the purchase of the land.

Sarah Spencer, of Whistlewood Common Ltd, said: ‘We must secure the rest of the investment quickly, in order to secure the land - which is currently for sale on the open market. ‘As a shareholder you will have membership of the society, may stand as a director, and can influence its activities, but this is not a speculative or money-making investment and shares will not be tradable. You will be investing in building an innovative land-based community project of potentially national significance, not simply in a company.’

An information event will be held on Wednesday 24th July at 8pm at Church House, Melbourne (next to Melbourne Parish Church). This will be an informal event to ask questions and find out more about the project and the investment opportunity.

A share prospectus and application forms are on the project’s website: www.whistlewoodcommon.org.

Twitter: @ediblewoods

Schools in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire to Install Solar

Two schools in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire are hoping to install solar panels on their roofs thanks to the generosity of local people. Crossdale Primary in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire and New Mills School in High Peak, Derbyshire have both raised thousands of pounds from the local community towards the cost of their panels and are hoping to soon reach their final targets and start generating energy from the sun. Anyone can visit their websites to contribute and donations start from £5: www.solarschools.org.uk/crossdale/ www.solarschools.org.uk/newmills/ Aside from providing free electricity for the school, Feed-in-Tariff payments to fund other school activities, and cutting carbon the panels have other benefits. They provide a great way for pupils to learn about energy and climate change, strengthen links between schools and the local community through fundraising, and create new skills and confidence amongst pupils. Schools wishing to take part in the next round of solar schools should register their interest on the website: www.solarschools.org.uk.

Biomass Community Energy Share Offer in East Midlands

 Green Fox Community Energy, in partnership with John Cleveland College, has launched Leicestershire’s very first community energy share offer. Aiming to raise £986,473 from the general public, the capital will be used to install new wood-chip boilers at the College.
 
Investors in the project will become Members of the John Cleveland College Community Woodheat Co-operative, and we would like as many people in the East Midlands as possible to benefit. With a minimum investment of £250 and a maximum of £20,000, investors are projected to receive a return of between nine and nearly 13%.
 
This innovative renewable energy project, which is collaboration between three not-for-profit organisations Green Fox Community Energy Co-operative, Transition Leicester and Sharenergy, aims to use sustainably harvested wood from local woodlands to fuel wood-chip boilers that will heat John Cleveland College in Hinckley, Leicestershire.
 
Richard Halsey, a founding Director of Green Fox Community Energy Co-operative, comments: ‘The John Cleveland College Community Woodheat Co-operative is launching a share offer to raise the capital required to install the boilers. By using this model, we hope to attract local people to invest and benefit from the project. A co-operative is run on a one share, one vote system, every investor gets an equal say in how it is run.’
 
Richard continues: ‘Investors in the Co-operative become its members and they will be contributing to the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from the College by an estimated 400 tonnes annually. Furthermore the project will seek to source the woodchip locally from The National Forest which will in turn sustain local jobs.’
 
Download the Share Offer document: www.greenfoxcommunityenergy.coop

Sowing Sherwood

Sowing Sherwood is a community gardening project in Sherwood, Nottingham, which aims to transform unloved and disused areas of land into bee-friendly and edible landscapes. The group is currently looking for volunteers to get involved. Volunteers don't need gardening skills as there will be volunteers on hand who can guide anyone - if you do have knowledge & skills, then this would be useful. The group are also looking for tools to use for the working party sessions.
 
Please get in touch if you are interested and can help - sowingsherwood@gmail.com.