Action Group April Report

Minutes 

Burton Joyce Climate Action meeting 

April 2021

on zoom, 19-4-2021

Present: Paul S, Phil C, Julia D

Apologies: Bobbie

1.     Logo competition

Closing date to design a logo for the group was April 1^st. 

Paul informed Scouts, Brownies and primary school. 

Over 30 entries, 

Phil has posted them on our Facebook page. 

Paul has contacted Vernon Coaker who has a greed to judge them. Paul may be able to sort a prize with Lowdham Book Shop voucher as he knows the owner.

We discussed how spellings may need correcting and small adjustments made to pictures to make them bolder. Plan is to use logo on posters, village magazine etc.

 

Julia will write to the villages magazine to let them know about the competition.

 

2.     Monthly meetings

Enquiry on FaceBook about whether our meetings were closed or not. Phil will post the date of the next meeting on our socal media and also to the group email list and ask people to email Paul if they’d like a zoom invite.

3.     Flower planters

Paul has made the flower planter and has some flower seed and will take it down to Coop and ask them to water it. Julia to write an A4 poster to display with it, including thanking the Coop in advance for watering it, and send it to Paul.

4.     Parish Council environment plan 

Cadent have agreed to pay for replanting of the area near the Millenium sundial which will go ahead in the autumn when its better to plant things. Some pollinator friendly plants, shrubs and small trees have been requested. 

The Parish Council are interested in getting some volunteers to manage this area as it’s not Parish Council land. 

They are going to seed the newly created beds in the cemetery as they haven’t yet set up how they will offer them to volunteers yet.

5.     Banner 

Phil isn’t sure how many people photographed themselves with the "BACK THE CLIMATE AND BIODIVERSITY BILL" banner displayed outside the Community Church in Meadow Lane, but reported that Anna Alls the vicar did and put it on her FaceBook page. He is going to put it up again now that Easter is over, for the local elections.

 

6.     Local elections

There is a Gedling hustings on 29-4 on Zoom on Climate and Nature, FOE would like us to encourage the candidates to pledge support for the CEE bill. Julia is going to attend and will send the link for posting on our social media to Phil.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gedling-149155294501

We discussed how it would be good to contact the candidates about areas we are interested in-CEE bill, cycle paths, etc. Phil will do this if he has time.

7.  Friends of the Earth    

Phil and I are thinking of attending an FOE social media course in June-no dates set yet though.

 

Any other business:

Phil has found some reasonably priced wild flower seed from Boston seeds ltd called Landlife seeds. 

 

Next meeting on Monday 17^th May 2021 on Zoom. 

Contact ps66paulsmith@gmail.com to get a zoom invite.

 

Action Group February Report

Wednesday 10th February 2021

Paul, Julia & Phil met via Zoom 

This is a summary of our discussion

1. Phil has set up a Website (this one), a Facebook page and a Twitter account. The Burton Joyce Climate Action & Biodiversity Group on Facebook has 34 members. The Twitter timeline is reflected on the website (You will see it down the right hand side of the screen). Phil would be grateful for feedback on any of these.

2. Julia suggested asking village kids to design a logo for the group. Paul will set up a competition and publicise it to Scouts, Guides and the village school and more widely around the village.

3. We agreed to try and contribute an article to The Magazine (aka The Parish Magazine) each month. Julia will write one this month.

4. Julia is continuing discussions with the Parish Council about improving the village environment. One possibility is (re)creating a wildflower meadow at the Grove. Another idea is planters outside the village shops. Julia is going to look into a source for wildflower seeds and Paul volunteered to make some planters.

5. Paul suggested he could hold an Open Garden event when circumstances permit where we could publicise the group and our objectives, demonstrate ideas for wildlife friendly gardens and engage with the village, especially youngsters.

6. Julia recommended Friends of the Earth webinars and courses. You can find some details HERE

7. We agreed to follow up on a previous approach to Gedling Borough councillor Steve Smith about the Friends of the Earth Climate Plan for Councils

If you can help with any of these, please get in touch

What are we doing? A review

 October Review

1.  Julia attended the last Burton Joyce Parish Council meeting & raised the issue of mowing: Could we leave some areas unmown to encourage wildlife? It was suggested she could meet up and walk round the village to see who mows what and when. A date has been proposed for this. Check here for further reports and updates.

This Plantlife document on verge management is very useful.

You can also read about No Mow May here.

 

We have thought about which areas could be targeted for reduced mowing, adding wild flowers or seeding a meadow. 

These are our initial suggestions:

• Area on the far side of the railway line between the Trent Lane railway crossing and the Lee Road crossing used by dog walkers etc. or other areas mown by Severn Trent
• We noted that the verges on the farm road seem to have been mown later this year giving more time for cow parsley etc to blossom
• The flood bank with path on way to Poplars - mown by Severn Trent
• Somewhere inside or just outside Roberts recreation ground
• Bigger area in the Grove?
• Area on the grass verge between Rhubarbs and Roberts rec.
• Area outside library on corner with A612.

We have also considered: 

Current flower beds in village being planted with plants good for pollinators, 

Adding new planters in village, perhaps outside the shops 

Asking if the school would like to get involved.

 

2. Julia also mentioned the proposed new planning laws to the Parish Council. She has forwarded them this Friends of the Earth link to voice our concerns about these laws.

We have since talked about circulating this link to our group mailing list.

3. Julia attended an East Midlands Friends of the Earth (FOE) climate groups meeting. They said well done for keeping our group going as many had folded due to Covid.


4. Julia plans to attend a webinar with FOE about how to get the most out of your group! 


5. Phil is developing this website and posting on our Facebook page and Twitter account.


6. We are very pleased to see the new shop Zest for Life is plastic free!! Bobbie mentioned our group to the people in the shop. We wondered if we could make a poster for the group to put in the shop (and maybe elsewhere, eg library, cafes, etc.?)


7. We discussed writing more articles for the online Parish Mag as there is a new editor.  

Julia, Bobbie, Paul & Phil