April's Alive

You may know that around two-thirds of the 56 (yes, 56!) people who turned out to help with Saturday's 'Village Spring Clean' were Sustainable Hayfield supporters. A truly great turn-out on the first day of April. With others, we managed to collect around 40 full bags of discarded waste, some of which we were able to separate to aid local recycling. This is a great tribute to all concerned, to whom we've already extended personal thanks. It shows what can be done.....

And the month, which has begun in such impressive ways, continues in lively fashion. In the next week, for example (and not included in your recent newsletter update):

• on Friday, April 7th , 9-11.00a.m., Kinder Kids and St Matthews Church are hosting a 'Grand Log Sale' (with supporting coffee and cake) in St Matthew's Churchyard, to raise funds for the St Matthew's Community Garden. Logs can be sawn and split on the spot if required, to fit your fireplace or wood burner;
• on Saturday, April 8th, there'll be a commemorative opening of The Trespass Trail, a new set of installations providing information about the historic Kinder Mass Trespass in 1932, (85 years ago) supported by organised walks, talks, stalls and refreshments in The Royal Hotel. The day begins with a 11.00a.m. meet-up at The Royal, followed by a 11.15 unveiling of the 'Station site' information board and, from 11.30-1.30 a , returning via Bowden Bridge. In the event of poor weather, walks can be curtailed in favour of more events at The Royal.There'll then be a refreshment break at The Royal and, from 2.30p.m., talks, stalls and displays in the Royal function room, and;
• on Sunday, April 9th, at 7.30p.m., Hayfield Singers, with Chamber Orchestra, will be performing in their spring concert of Baroque and Renaissance music at St Matthew's Church, with a varied repertoire including pieces by Primavera, Palestrina and Bach. Tickets are £10 (£8 restricted view) and available in advance, until Thursday, from choir members or Hayfield Pharmacy. Any remaining tickets available on the door from 7.00p.m. 

A varied line-up of events, just this weekend! We hope you'll be able to give your support, to any event that appeals.

Newsletter - Spring 2017

Here’s our spring newsletter. We hope you find it of interest. If you’ve ideas for future issues, do let Laurie James (lauriejamesis@btinternet.com) know.

In this issue:

• JOIN US FOR A SPRING CLEAN
• IN THESE TIMES
• FERRETING AROUND FOOD
• EXPLORING ULTRA LOW ENERGY HOMES
• ENERGY EFFORTS
• SUPPORTING OLDER CITIZENS
• HELP TRANSPORT RESEARCH
• MANAGING OUR WASTE
• A CALL TO DISPLAY – ON APPLE DAY
• NEWS YOU MISSED..?
• FROM NATURE’S BOUNTY
• THE ‘GREEN LIFE’
• OUR COMMITTEE
• UPCOMING EVENTS
• THANKS!

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Dates for your diary

Three forward dates you may care to consider putting in your diary:

First, our open, free meeting tomorrow night (Friday, 17th March) at 7.30p.m. when Eco Architect Colin Usher will be giving a presentation, and answering questions on how to achieve (much) higher energy efficiency in our homes - whether you're interested in designing and building from scratch or, more likely, wanting to improve your your own home's energy footprint - and be warm and save money along the way! Colin's strapline is 'whether you've £500 to spend or £500,000......" Colin's talk and the Q and A is at The Royal Hotel. It should be good!

Second, Hayfield Civic Trust's next illustrated 'winter talk' is on 'The Work of Women and Children on the Canals', Wednesday 22nd March, 7.30p.m. at the Village Hall, with Bill Walker. Of course, people who worked on the canals often lived on the canals and that helped ensure an important - and sometimes leading - working role for both women and children. It's £2, with refreshments included. And, again, there should be lots to learn........

Third, advance notice of a Village Clean Up Day, Saturday 1st April, 10-3.00p.m. Hayfield Civic Trust and Sustainable Hayfield have teamed up, with the active support of the Parish Council and DCC Countryside Ranger Service, to tackle local grot spots, and leave the village more as we'd like it to be year-round. We hope for a good number of volunteers who don't need to be present throughout but can give an hour or two 'to the cause': could you be among them? Lots of us moan at litter and detritus around our village.......now's your chance to do something about it! We'll gather at The Village Hall and, hopefully, at Little Hayfield to start our efforts, and there'll be drinks available at The Village Hall throughout. Notices will go up shortly but, for now, please mark your diary and commit to giving an hour or so of your time.........for all our sakes.

Getting/Making Your Home (much) more energy-efficient?

Ever wondered what it takes to build a truly eco-friendly house? Or how you’d go about making your existing home more environmentally secure, without spending the earth?

Help is at hand! Sustainable Hayfield has arranged a free illustrated talk by award-winning Eco Architect Colin Usher on ‘Designing, Building or Retrofitting A Low Energy Home - & Saving You Money!' It’s at the Royal Hotel, Hayfield, next Friday week, that's Friday 17th March, starting at 7.30p.m. and is open to all.

Colin has been involved for many years in the design and construction of houses which are economic to build, very cheap to run and don’t hurt the planet. He was profiled recently in The Guardian for his work, which includes his own family home in Merseyside. Colin’s also a source of much useful information about how to make changes to existing homes to ensure they have a low(er) energy footprint, and are economical and comfortable to run.

Much of the UK’s housing stock is, sadly, fairly energy-inefficient and requires costly effort to keep comfortably warm. Although the situation is improving, the number of truly eco-friendly homes is still very small. But Colin is aiming to provide plenty of advice about what’s best to do, and in what order, whether you’re looking to spend £500 or £500,000. He’ll set out the key things to consider, but is keen also to answer questions his audience might have.

This should be a good evening, with much to learn, and good tips to take away. Make a diary note now. We hope to see you there!

Upcoming Events

Here's three forthcoming events/activities, all of which have a 'plant' theme, which may be of interest to you:

• first, Friday February 10th, Kinder Kids Pre-School is holding a coffee morning 9-12noon at St Matthews, with home-made cakes etc., as a fund raiser to help bring the planned St Matthews Community Garden project into being. The garden, complete with herbs etc. will be an added resource for the youngsters attending Kinder Kids but also for the wider community and will brighten up the currently dull riverside aspect from St Matthews. Kinder Kids have had some grant success for the project, and done a good deal of work, but need more resources and aim to have termly coffee mornings as part of the effort to raise more funds. A poster's attached. It's going to be a cold morning so why not cheer yourselves up, in good company, and support this worthwhile project?
• second, Hayfield Civic Trust is hosting a talk, after its brief AGM at 7.30p.m., at the Village Hall Wednesday 22nd February, by Elaine Radford on 'Flowers of the Peak District'. It's often not appreciated just how varied the Peak District flora is: this is your chance to find out - and maybe highlight some recent discoveries of your own!
• the following Saturday, 25th February, Sustainable Hayfield is organising a work session at the community garden, surrounding the library, 11-1.00p.m. The focus will be on seasonal maintenance tasks, pushing on with the composting area and pruning of raspberries. Do join the volunteers if you'd like, and contribute a little time and your ideas: just turn up or, if you wish, contact Ellen Bennett on 01663 747627 in advance.

Happy New Year!

Thank you for your support through 2016, and best wishes to you for 2017! Just published, our winter newsletter, brings you up to date with what we're doing, and related matters. If you've any comments/suggestions, we're always pleased to receive them!

Special good wishes go to Ruth Wilson who, after several years, is standing down as a Sustainable Hayfield committee member, to pursue some other interests. We all wish you well with those, Ruth, and thank you for all you've done to help get us to where we are.

And if you'd like to get a little bit more involved in what Sustainable Hayfield does, contact any of us (names/tel. nos. are in the newsletter) or, if it's easiest, just respond to this email.