SENS Newsletter January 2023
If there’s anything you’d like added to the website, have items for the next newsletter, or would like to get involved in any of the current activities, we’d love to hear from you!
Important Dates
SENS AGM: Thursday 23rd February 2023, 7 – 8.30 pm at the Institute.
After a short, formal agenda there’ll be drinks/snacks and a chat about what SENS should focus on in 2023, and which projects SENS can support locally. All welcome. Please come along with your ideas!
Community Orchard Work Party: Saturday 28th January, 10am
Please contact SENS if you’d like to attend or need any further information at senstaveley@gmail.com. Bring gloves and any work tools you have such as loppers, saws, secateurs.
Clean River Kent Campaign:
– Next CRKC meeting to plan the 2023 programme: Tuesday 21st February, 5 – 7pm (Staveley Institute) – All welcome.
– Open event to present the 2023 programme: Tuesday 7th March, 4.30 – 6.30pm
– River Kent clean-up, in partnership with Lakeland Canoe Club: Sunday 2nd April, timings TBC
Contents
1. Staveley Gardening Project – volunteers welcome!
2. Apple Grafting Workshop
3. Community Ebikes
4. Clean River Kent Campaign
5. How to recycle your soft plastics locally
6. Partner news
7. Other items
1. Staveley Gardening Project – volunteers welcome!
You may have seen in a previous newsletter, news of the lovely planted containers at Jack’s Corner. These were created with students of Staveley School in partnership with The Green PLACE project, supported by SENS.
An aim of the Green PLACE work is to create more connections between the school and the
community with environmental and community-focused projects. To this end, SENS has
been in discussion with the Parish Council to see if there are any locations in the village that
the community could develop and look after as a more bio-diverse, green space.
The Parish Council has given their approval for the community to submit ideas to plant up a
piece of land alongside the road, near the Windermere Road end to the village.
Thanks to a community grant, SENS has the funding to pay for tools and plants, and is looking for volunteers to take the project forward. They will decide how to develop the space, what to plant and agree an on-going maintenance schedule.
With plenty of opportunities for this space, all ideas are welcome! It could be a
wonderful ‘Green Gateway’ to the village, created by and supported by local people.
If you / your family / friends etc. are interested in finding out more or getting involved, please email:
senstaveley@gmail.com.
2. Apple Grafting Workshop
We’re organising a workshop which will teach you how to graft your own apple trees onto root stocks. South Lakeland Orchard Group (SLOG) will be running the session.
Please reserve a place so we know how many people to expect. Adults only. Bring gloves & a bag to take root stock away in to pot up. All other equipment provided.
Saturday 18th March at the Pavilion, Main Street in Staveley from 9.30am – 12.00pm.
£2 – £5 suggested donation to SENS to cover the cost of room hire, equipment, tea/coffee and root stocks.
To book or enquire, email: senstaveley@gmail.com
Share the event with your friends on Facebook.
3. Community Ebikes
Staveley Cycling Buddy
In need of a bit of gentle encouragement to build confidence on your bike? Could you use a refresher on how to use your gears more effectively? Nervous about riding on busy roads? Maybe you’d like to ride over to Kendal but could do with some company on your first trip?
Staveley Cycling Buddy Daniel is an experienced cyclist who has volunteered his time to answer any cycling-related questions, guide you with some bike-based training and accompany you on local rides.
If you’d like to book a Cycling Buddy session with Daniel or if you’d like to become a volunteer yourself, please contact hello@communityebikes.org.
Community Ebikes January offer
Are your 2023 resolutions to get fit, cycle more, reduce your carbon footprint or to drive less? If you sign up to the Staveley Ebike share scheme this January, you’ll receive £10 off the subscription fees. Offer ends 1st of February. Contact hello@communityebikes.org to grab this new year’s resolution offer! For more information about the scheme, visit our website.
Christmas Competition and Raffle Prizes
In December, we ran a competition on Facebook. We were thrilled to reveal Heather Meek as the winner. Congratulations! Heather won a 2-hour ride for 2 people.
To Support Staveley Primary School, we donated a number of ebike vouchers as raffle prizes. If you were one of our lucky winners, please contact hello@communityebikes.org to redeem your vouchers and book your ebike induction. Congratulations to the winners!
To keep up to date on all things Staveley Ebikes, or for a chance to enter our next competition, like and follow Staveley Community Ebikes on Facebook.
4. Clean River Kent Campaign
NEW PROJECT! Discovering Priority Habitats Project: Citizen science project in partnership with the Freshwater Biological Association. There may be an opportunity for training coming up so keep your eyes peeled! Read the FAQ here.
Monitoring of the Kent over the summer has showed us that the river is polluted. You can read the full report here.
These results of the report gained wide news coverage, which you can read at the links below:
– BBC website
– Cumbria Crack
– The Westmorland Gazette
– There were also interviews on BBC Radio Cumbria, BBC North West and ITV News which are no longer available for viewing.
– Liz and Sue had a great chat (starts 34:05) with Beth Pipe of Lake District Radio on 31st December 2022.
– Jim McMahon MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, tweeted.
Get involved! Tell us why you love the river Kent 
Have you a story about our river, or a special experience that you want to share? Tell us why you love the river Kent and why it’s important to you to protect it. Share your videos, pictures or thoughts with us to prove how valuable it is to our local communities.
Finally, we’ve been in touch with an excellent charity – Stormwater Shepherds UK. Their UK office is based in Preston and we’re hoping to meet up very soon to exchange ideas and advice about how to investigate and control pollution from run-off into the River Kent.
Watch this lovely film, Riverwoods on Channel 5 which tells the compelling story of the inextricable relationship between fish and forest.
5. How to recycle your soft plastics locally
Hurray! A solution to soft plastic recycling has been found.
Aldi has this soft plastic recycling bin at its entrance, and it’s rumoured that Sainsbury’s has similar. Happy recycling!
6. Partner news
– Staveley Repair Café will be back in February. Get in touch if you have something you’ll be bringing along or if you’re an ace fixer of any sort – volunteers are always welcome.
– Warm spaces at The Institute, Staveley. Every Tuesday and Thursday from 1st November, 11 am – 3 pm. There will be hot drinks and lunch available at no charge. In this time of higher energy bills, visit The Institute to stay warm, chat with friends, meet new people, discover what’s going on, and maybe use one of the Community iPads. Drop in any Tuesday or Thursday to share ideas about how the space could be used going forward.
– Climate solutions for Cumbrian landscapes: Peatlands. Cumbria Action for Sustainability (CAfS) are holding this free online webinar on 17th January as part of a series. The next events will focus on Rivers (8th February) and Hedgerows (14th March). Find out more here.
7. Other items
– Read previous newsletters.
– Local talk by Kate Rawles on her adventure in the Andes by bamboo bike (which will also be present at the talk!): 7:30pm on Friday 20th January at Skelsmergh Community Hall. Tickets will be £6 including a hot drink.
– Support South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) to stop the Cumbrian coal mine decision. Pledge here.
– BBC article about water pollution in the UK and how citizen scientists are cleaning up our rivers.
– A film about local farm facilitator Danny Teasdale and his sustainable farming practices in Ullswater. Watch it here. This is the first in a series of films about the great work being undertaken in the area. Look out for future films on the DEFRA blog.
– Want to make sustainable new year’s resolutions? Find inspiration here.
– Discover picture books which will inspire kids to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
– £2 bus fares have been introduced across Cumbria for 3 months as part of a Government initiative.
Let us know if you’ve got anything to add to the next newsletter or for the website by emailing us: senstaveley@gmail.com.