Core Meeting – 2nd October 2013

Apologies: Rosemary

Greenpeace demonstration Saturday 5th October: this will be in Fore Street, possibly outside Argos, from 10 to 12, to draw attention to the arrest of the 30 Greenpeace members protesting about Gazprom’s intentions to exploit the Arctic. TT members are invited to join in.

Rowan Jackson’s dissertation: Rowan thanked us for helping him with his research, and agreed to send us a copy of his dissertation when it’s complete. He also asked each of us to email him a photo which symbolises our feelings about the environment, together with a short explanation of our choice.

Directors’ meeting on September 12th: Gillian summarised the discussion that had taken place (minutes to follow). An open meeting with Ann Lawson will be held on October 17th (time and venue to be arranged).

Edible Hexham: there will be planting in the spring on 5 sites throughout the town. Both the West Northumberland Food Bank and Hexham Community Partnership are involved. There is to be an article about the project in this week’s Hexham Courant.

Anyone who wants to be involved should email Rosemary or Gillian.

Car club: contracts have been signed between Co-Wheels and the County Council, and it’s hoped that the club will be launched in November. Jane and the rest of the car club team will organise this before next monthly meeting. There was discussion about coinciding the launch with Children in Need but this was decided against.

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Apple-picking/pressing: there’ll be a picking session in Leazes Orchard on Saturday 5th starting at 10.30, in preparation for apple-pressing at the Farmers’ Market on October 12th. Pat will do a risk assessment for both the picking session and the market itself, and send a notice round asking for people to bring their own apples direct to the market.

Richard had investigated the possibility of Easyhire buying and letting out an apple-crusher, but it wasn’t feasible.

Laura has use of a crusher at work and will look into whether she can bring it to the market on 12th.

Sam Gilchrist (Food Bank Coordinator) had drawn Gillian’s attention to an elderly couple who needed help with picking their apples and other fruit – please contact Gillian for details if would like to do this. It’s hoped that TT members will be able to offer help earlier next year.

Farmers’ Market September 28th: the focus of the stall was bees. David and Barbara had arranged for Bill Hunter, another member of Hexham Bee-Keepers Association, to bring a hive and join them in talking about bee-keeping, and this drew a lot of interest. Jo and Debbie had prepared displays about the importance of bees/bee-friendly plants and laid the groundwork for making homes for solitary bees early next year.

Community Garden at Hexham Middle School: a new member has joined the group. Chris and David had investigated the state of the roof of the store and it looks as if it can be mended fairly cheaply (not by the Middle School). Next session is apple-picking on Saturday 5th, then normal gardening session on October 19th.

Dukeshouse Wood: this woodland is now registered as a community asset, and has to be offered to the community first. Jo told us about her time finding out about agro-forestry at Dartington in Devon, and has volunteered to contact Andy Bates and Claire Lindsay about current plans for Dukeshouse Wood and TT’s possible involvement, either as individuals and/or as a group.

The business part of the meeting finished at 8.30 and was followed by a discussion of TT’s aims and objectives, to be amended and updated as required.