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PLANETSherborne

Incorporating the Repair Café and the Climate Café No.1 Spring 2024

The Repair Café Sherborne opened for business in October 2021 and has been thriving ever since. It was set up to encourage people to repair and reuse stuff instead of throwing it away. We also hope they might have a go at mending their own items with a little encouragement from the Repair Café.

Our team of volunteers are on hand to tackle all challenges: toys, ceramics, jewellery, electrics, clothes etc. We ask only for a donation.

Since we started, our repairers have been able to mend 612 items out of a total of 775 brought along.

Our aim is to help reduce the town’s total carbon footprint by saving stuff from ending up in landfill (652kg so far).

We also hope to encourage people not to view possessions as things to be simply discarded.

Our next session is on 16 March at the Cheap Street Church Hall, 10am-12.15pm. Free, all welcome.

Find us on Facebook repaircafesherborne

The Climate Café is a very young entity. We’ve had just three meetings. It’s an open, inclusive space for people to come together to express concern about the climate and get involved in local initiatives that help reduce our carbon footprint and encourage biodiversity.

We are creating a Green Directory showing where we can recycle those hard to place objects. From a recent presentation from Dorset Waste we learnt what actually gets recycled and where.

Did you know, for instance, that we have no landfill sites in Dorset and that there is only one Tetrapak recycling centre in the whole country!?

One of our next concerns will be car idling and what we can do about it.

Our next get-together is on Wednesday 20 March in the Cross Keys, 7-8.30pm. Free, all welcome.

Next talk: Saving Our Swifts and Building Urban Diversity. How Can We Help?, Edward Mayer, Thursday 18 April, 7pm Digby Hall, Hound Street. Free, all welcome.

Local Schools Tackle Climate Change

The future feels uncertain, leading to many of us feeling directionless and using social media to complain, rather than taking charge and working with our community to find a solution. This is how (and why) The Gryphon School UN Climate Change Conference (also known as COP), was born.

Twelve schools sent groups of delegates to represent different countries, ranging from the Marshall Islands to the USA. This section, which I chaired, mirrored that of a model UN and required students, as a collective, to agree to climate commitments (such as reducing carbon emissions). But most importantly, it taught us the importance of diplomacy.

Students also heard from four fantastic speakers: Doug Skinner, a marine biologist from Greenpeace; Peter Littlewood from Young People’s Trust for the Environment; Lola's Cupcakes’ MD Asher Budwig; and Seb Brooke from The Eden Project Portland.

Knowing that society will need a generation of adults who inherently think sustainably and can problem-solve, after the COP, I arranged a Sustainable Careers Fair. Students spoke with universities from all over the country, such as Cambridge University, who showcased their degrees that can lead to sustainable careers.

We hosted a range of companies such as The RSK Group, Footprint Architects,

Hawkers Farm, Stour Provost, is hosting the second year of this annual event. Defashion Dorset is an opportunity to celebrate local fibre growers and makers and a local clothing culture. For more information: defashion.dorset@gmail.com

LUSH, Jimmy’s Iced Coffee and Dorset Council, who talked to students about green jobs of the future.

We also introduced our throwaway Generation Z to the power of ‘make-do and mend’ thanks to the inspirational Sherborne Repair Café!

It isn't always easy being 'green'. It can be costly to make eco-friendly changes, and many who cannot afford to do so, or do not have access to helpful information, can feel excluded from the discussion.

The more we work together and share solutions, such as increasing the green skills labour market or repairing what we already have, the more people will feel able to participate in the conversation and community, lowering the temperature of both the planet and the dialogue.

Liv Bowditch, Y13, Gryphon School

Forthcoming Events

Fixing with Friends. Bring your textile and knitwear items. Wednesdays 19 April-1 May, 7-9pm. £10, including soft drinks. Old Yarn Mills, Westbury, DT9 3RQ Book at info@hawkersfarm.org

Wolfgang Grulke, Beyond Extinction Wednesday 24 April 19.30-21.30

Digby Memorial Hall, DT9 3NL sherbornesciencecafe.com

The Facts about Idling

The air quality in Sherborne may be better than in larger towns and cities, but pollution levels still exceed World Health Organization (WHO) limits across the town.

This is according to Imperial College London data published on the Address Pollution website (addresspollution.org).

Pollution hotspots include the area around the railway level crossing, Half Moon Street, and the bottom of Cheap Street.

PM2.5 describes microscopic particles that can enter our lungs and even our bloodstream when we breathe. Levels of PM2.5 exceed WHO limits outside every school.

This can have many impacts on our health, from worsening the symptoms of asthma in the short term to impairing children's lung development and increasing our risk of developing Alzheimer's disease over the longer term.

Needless pollution

A significant contributor to poor air quality is idling - leaving a vehicle's engine running when it's parked or stationary. Idling also produces more CO2, which contributes to climate change.

Spend some time in Sherborne and it won't be long before you see a stationary car or van with its engine running, whether it's a driver making a delivery, cars waiting at the level crossing, or someone simply sitting in a parked car.

Some people even leave their engine running when they just pop into a shop. This is despite the fact idling is illegalthe Highway Code states: ‘Drivers must not leave a parked vehicle unattended with the engine running or leave a vehicle engine running unnecessarily while the vehicle is stationary on a public road’.

Idling myths

There are various reasons why people idle their engines. For some, it's simply habit. Others might believe that restarting their engine uses more fuel or that the car's battery will run out with the engine off.

None of this is true. Research by the US Department of Energy shows that idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting the engine, while most modern car batteries are capable of holding charge for long periods with the engine running.

Taking

action

So what can you do to help, apart from not idling your own vehicle?

Firstly, spread the word about idling and air quality. Speak to family and friends about its dangers, highlight the issue on social media, and even politely challenge idlers if you're confident enough.

Next, write to your town and county councillors and ask them what councils are doing to raise awareness of the issue.

You could suggest signage at idling hotspots such as the railway level crossing and traffic lights. A study by the University of Kent found that putting signs at a level crossing instructing motorists to ‘Turn off your engine when the barriers are down’ cut idling by 42% and improved air quality.

If your employer has company vehicles, ask them what their policy is on idling. And if you have children at school, ask the school to remind parents about the dangers of idling and poor air quality.

Tom Hallett

What’s our Council been doing to help?

In 2021 Sherborne Town Council (STC) joined other UK towns in unanimously declaring ‘recognition of the climate emergency’.

In our Forward Plan (2019-24) we committed ourselves to developing a policy which ensured ‘being carbon neutral by, at the latest, the Year 2030’. STC’s pursuit of being carbon neutral is underway, most notably in the Terraces Project.

In November 2022 we completed our Energy Efficiency project at the playing fields. Despite delays caused by the pandemic and Brexit-induced supply chain issues, we met the December deadline for the 40% grant from Low Carbon Dorset.

42 PV solar panels were installed on the roof of the changing rooms and the Town Band practice room. A display panel on the wall shows that after one year the panels have generated 15.8MWh and saved 11 tonnes of CO2.

We also replaced the failing oil-fired boiler and its tank with five air-source heat pumps. Removing the boiler has saved us four tonnes of CO2 this year.

The insulation was also improved to keep the warmth in for longer. Showerheads were changed to mix air with hot water to give an effective shower with less water. And fluorescent lights were replaced with LEDs, which use half the energy, with an estimated saving of 600 kg of CO2 per year.

As well as the Terraces project, SDC has developed a new space to encourage biodiversity. The Lambs Field Sensory Garden, as well as being a visually beautiful space, features plants that appeal to touch, sound and smell.

The contemplative garden complements the updated children’s playground on Granville Way. Play equipment here is made from recycled materials, including sea-shore plastics we are so familiar with littering our Dorset beaches.

Our next project is the provision of fresh and free food, mitigating food waste as well as helping with the costof-living crisis. Look out for the Sherborne Community Fridge, managed by volunteers and hosted by The Pod in Cheap Street.

Funded by a grant from Hubbub, it will open in late spring, supplementing the work of the Food Bank and the Community Larder, by having fresh food available to anyone. Bring your own container!

The move towards fresh food has also been boosted by the addition of ten new allotments in the West End.

Cllr.

Margaret Crossman

Cllr. Jane Carling

The solar panels on the roof and the five air-source heat pumps in their cage on the right.