Happy New Year and welcome to January’s Update from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Thank you for playing your part in taking urgent action globally and locally on climate breakdown.
Diary dates
(event details below)
- Tuesday 9th January 1 – 3.30 pm Yatton House Community Garden working party, Great Ayton
- Friday 12th January 10.30 – 12.30 Energy Open Home, Great Ayton (part of the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator project
- Tuesday 16th January 11 – 1 Guided walking tour of Rosedale peat bog restoration (natural carbon capture) by Yorkshire Peat Partnership
- Tuesday 16th January 7.30 – 9 pm Whole group meeting at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
- Saturday 20th January 10-12 noon Repair Cafe at Swainby Village Hall
- Tuesday 23rd January 2-2.45 pm Community Energy England zoom meeting (see website)
- Wednesday 31st January 2pm Allerton Waste Recovery Park guided visit
Newsletter
Our online newsletter / magazine focuses on our group’s values and purpose, summed up by our motto ‘Think global, act local’, beginning with global / national issues including ways in which you can influence policy, followed by local news and activities you can participate in that develop our relationship with the environment and fight climate change.
“Think global”
Veganuary
In our December Climate Column in the Darlington and Stockton Times we suggested the super-six ways in which we can take action to address climate breakdown, the
first of which focused on food. Following a largely plant-based diet can be healthier and produce less carbon emissions. Choosing local produce benefits our local farmers and also cuts food miles. Look at our website for where to buy local/sustainable food plus recipes for tasty plant-based treats and using every part of your veggies and fruit to reduce waste, as well as tips for growing your own.”
Why not try some plant based meals in January as suggested by Veganuary and check out the new Seasonal Eating section below?
Veganuary is a non-profit organisation that encourages people worldwide to try solely plant based food for January and beyond. There are three main reasons people give for wanting to try this and all are equally valid and evidence based: to improve their own health, to better protect animals and to reduce the impact on our planet (climate breakdown, deforestation, pollution, and wildlife decimation). More information here: veganuary
EU has now agreed that ecocide is a crime
The EU has recently agreed to create new offence that aims to punish the most serious crimes against the environment. There will be a new law aimed at preventing and punishing “cases comparable to ecocide”. This landmark decision comes after months of negotiation between the European Council, Commission and Parliament and reflects the European Parliament’s recommendation earlier this year to tackle “ecocide-level crimes”.
More information here
Here in the UK, you can make the most of a rare opportunity to directly influence the legislative process and respond to the public consultation on a new ‘ecocide bill’ for Scotland.
The consultation process takes less than 3 minutes and is a hugely impactful way for you to speak up for nature. The consultation will run until Friday 9 February 2024.
The ecocide bill includes substantial sanctions designed to deter individuals in the positions of power from making decisions that directly result in the most severe cases of environmental harm.
More information here: stopecocide
RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch 2024 26 – 28th January
It’s 45 years since the first Big Garden Birdwatch. Last year, over half a million people looked out for birds, making Birdwatch the largest citizen wildlife survey in the UK.
Although some species are showing signs of increasing in numbers, several are showing serious decline. The reasons behind the declines in garden bird sightings are complex and continue to be investigated. Fewer green spaces, pollution and a changing climate are just some of the challenges faced by many birds. By better understanding what is happening we are better equipped to find solutions. Looking back over the last 45 years, one thing Big Garden Birdwatch has revealed is that for some birds, our gardens are increasingly seen as places to find food, water and shelter during the winter.
You can use this opportunity to feel more connected to nature and contribute towards gathering key scientific data. More information here: BigGardenBirdwatch
“Act Local”
This month’s local activities to promote care for our environment and fight climate breakdown
CASaV January Monthly Meeting at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Tuesday 16th January 7.30-9pm
Our next whole group meeting will be on Tuesday 16th January, in The Globe Community Library, North Road Stokesley, from 7:30 – 9:00 pm. As well as hearing updates from the various sub-groups we will focus on the next steps in the United for Warm Homes and Local Area Demonstrator campaigns. All welcome!
NB If you have any spare seeds for our March Seed Stall Giveaway (see below for details) please bring along to the meeting.
Yatton House Community Garden working party – Tuesday 9th January
Amazingly given all the recent rain, Tuesday 9th January looks dry for the first working party of the year between 1:30 and 3:00 pm. Given it is forecast to not be windy or freezing cold we could prune the apple tree in the community garden along with any weeding that needs doing. All welcome to come and help.
Apologies for late notice of this event but if you miss this there is opportunity to join the next community garden working party on Tuesday 13th February (and thereafter the 2nd Tuesday of each month).
Energy Open Home Great Ayton – Friday 12th January 10.30 – 12.30
As part of the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator project (see last month’s update), Caryn and Mike are holding an open home in Great Ayton on Friday 12th January between 10:30 and 12:30. Come and find out why they chose to heat their home with a ground source heat pump and how they made the house more energy efficient over a number of years.
A photographer from North Yorkshire Council will be coming along to take some photos for LEAD project promotional material. To book a place email Caryn or phone 0777 3048250. If you can’t make it, you can read a case study about the work.
More information here: here
Rosedale guided walking tour of peat bog restoration Tuesday 16th January 11am
What has climate change got to do with peat bogs? Peat bogs play a crucial role in the carbon cycle. Peat bogs in good condition have the potential to offer a significant nature-based solution to tackling climate change as they are capable of absorbing and storing large amounts of carbon dioxide known as “carbon sinks”. Sadly we are in danger of losing this valuable resource as much of the UK’s peat bogs are in decline. The Yorkshire Peat Partnership (YPP) is doing important work locally in restoring eroded peat bogs.
On Tuesday 16th January there will be a fantastic opportunity to see this important restoration, guided by staff from the YPP. If you would like to join this guided walk, please contact Bridget Holmstrom for more information or to book a place.
The plan is to meet at the lay by on Knott road, Rosedale at this location 54.402227, -0.927967 (W3W takeover.swordfish.clinic) at 11am for introductions and a quick briefing followed by a walk along a section o f the Lyke Wake Walk to look at some of the restoration work that has happened. It’s about a 15-minute walk from the layby and it will be very wet and boggy under foot in places, so it is recommended that people wear either wellies or good walking boots with gaiters if people have them. Also recommended are water-proof trousers if you have them, even if it is a dry day, it can get bitterly cold this time of year and the more layers the better!
After about an hour and a half at this site, there will then be a quick break for lunch then drive down through Rosedale Abbey and over to the second site, Low Row Mires. We’ll park in a layby here, 54.385699, -0.855547 (W3W eyeliner.graceful.unstated) on the road to Egton. There will be a 15 minute walk from here across to the Lyke Wake Walk and see the erosion that is happening, this site hasn’t had the restoration work done yet, it is planned for the new year, and there will be a chance to talk about the erosion and what will be done etc. with up to an hour and a half on site.
This is a suggested outline for the day by YPP staff and will depend on various interests and discussion points and it will of course all be very weather dependent! If weather is particularly inclement just the morning part may take place.
Sophie who is involved with the “Eyes on the bog” monitoring plots will be one of the YPP team coming across for the day, if you have any questions on this then this would be a good time to have a chat in person about it.
If you would like to join this guided walk, please contact Bridget Holmstrom for more information or to book a place.
You will need appropriate footwear and plenty of warm layers, including hats and gloves. We will stop for a quick lunch break between sites so would recommend that you bring a packed lunch, flasks with a warm drink if you have them, and plenty of water to drink.
Repair Cafe Saturday 20th January 10 – 12 noon Swainby Village Hall
Our first Repair Cafe of the new year take’s place on Saturday, 20th January at Swainby Village Hall 10 – 12 noon. Our friendly pink T-shirted volunteers will be on hand to fix your broken household items (electrical appliances, clothing and textiles, computers and mobile phones, crockery and ceramics, blades in need of sharpening) or give advice if we can’t.
Our feedback notes that this is always a friendly, welcoming event as well as an opportunity for you to save money, save our earth’s precious resources and save waste going to landfill or incineration. Refreshments included all for free (donations to cover costs of the repair cafes and towards other waste reducing activities are welcome).
New repair and reception volunteers are always welcome – please contact.
Wednesday 31st January 2pm Allerton Waste Recovery Park guided visit
Following a number of successful and interesting previous guided visits to our local waste recovery park near Thirsk, we have arranged another opportunity to see at first hand how our household waste and recycling is managed. For more information and to book a place, please contact Bridget Holmstrom
Take part in research into decarbonisation solutions for off grid (and partially off grid) communities
Are you off the gas and/or electric grid? If so, you might like to take part in some new research. Sheffield Hallam University are undertaking research into decarbonisation solutions for off grid communities looking at reducing the environmental impact of heating and powering homes not connected to the gas and/or electric grids. The research includes an energy use survey which will ask questions like, for example: how many rooms does your home have? How many people live there and what ages are they? What fuel do you use to heat the home? Do you plan to switch to an EV and if so over what timescales? As opposed to questions like: How many KwH did you consume last month? So, it should be easy to complete without specialist knowledge or having precise information to hand.
They also request that participating households take part (if they’re able to) in a more discursive one-hour interview about how they feel about their current energy arrangements and what they enable and what they restrict in terms of lifestyle, work, family life etc. And how they feel in principle about the various low carbon options that exist etc. They also ask participants if they can return to them later in the project to get their views on the solutions they are proposing in terms of future energy solutions for off grid or partially off grid homes.
They are aiming to start our engagement with occupants in February 2024 and that phase of the research may go on for several months.
If you are interested, please contact here
Seasonal eating: January
Eating food in season (local as far as possible) can have substantial positive impact on climate breakdown by reducing high-energy input from artificial heating or lighting needed to produce crops out of the natural growing season. In this new monthly section we will look at what foods are in season together with a seasonal recipe.
Tasty fruit and veggies available now include apple, beetroot, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chicory, horseradish, Jerusalem artichoke, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, parsnips, pear, potatoes, rhubarb, salsify, shallots, swede, turnips.
More information here:
If you have bought or grown a stalk full of Brussel sprouts, the little ones at the top (or indeed any) make a delicious salad.
Or why not try a warming celeriac soup which uses in season celery and celeriac:
celeriac-soup-with-toasted-hazelnut-crumble
Local Energy Advice Demonstrator (LEAD) project
LEAD is a £1.2M scheme to stimulate demand for energy efficiency measures in homes across North Yorkshire. The funding has been received from the Department of Energy Security and NET Zero and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and will be focusing around retrofitting homes to reduce energy consumption
The project will be piloted in a number of neighbourhoods including around Stokesley.
Led by North Yorkshire Council, the scheme will be focused on specific streets, villages and neighbourhoods where studies have highlighted priority areas and where interest in tackling climate change through retrofitted schemes has been shown.
Households in these pilot areas will be offered a free ‘whole house plan’ – a survey of their homes with advice on what would be needed to make them more energy efficient such as new windows and doors, or cavity wall and loft insulation.
About 325 plans will be facilitated through the project, comprising in-house assessments, whole house plan development in collaboration with the householder, and elements of design work, leaving the resident with a clear plan of action and next steps to implement their retrofit project.
CASaV is actively involved in facilitating this project and Mark Lewis, one of our CASaV members interested in Energy, gave a presentation at the November whole group meeting where he outlined the group’s role to:
Build awareness of the project and encourage residents within the neighbourhoods to have a plan developed
Promote the project and ensure residents know how to register their interest
Work with the team to support the running of specialised events for the project
Support the team to facilitate 325 plans during the project
If you would like more information or to participate in this project, please check our website for updates – LEADproject
Community Quilt Update: United for Warm Homes
Thank you to all of you who created (knitted, appliqued, embroidered) 56 beautiful squares for our United for Warm Homes Community Quilt, our creative ‘petition’ calling for (1) urgent support for those unable to afford energy bills, (2) a new programme to insulate our heat leaking homes and (3) an energy system powered by cheap, green renewables. Our youngest square creator was aged 9!
To spread the word as far as possible and for biggest impact we presented the completed quilt to Yvonne Peacock, the chair of the North Yorkshire Council parliamentary constituency councillors group to pass this on to Rishi Sunak on December 19th at County Hall and also spoke at the meeting to raise awareness of United for Warm Homes but also to discuss how our organisation can work more closely with the North Yorkshire Council on climate change strategy etc. We were well received and the opportunity for our organisation to contribute to was discussed. More information to follow.
More information here: United For Warm Homes
Reduce – Reuse – Recycle: current local actions you can take to prevent waste and benefit our community
Whether household waste goes to landfill or incineration climate damaging carbon gases are produced. Here are some current local options for your unwanted or waste items that will not only cut carbon emissions but in some cases benefit those in our local community. It’s a big win / win.
Christmas sweet tubs – reuse or recycle for charity
After enjoying your Christmas sweets, make the most of the (free!) quality plastic container by reusing it as handy storage for bits and bobs around the house. Too many containers? Green King pubs around the country are collecting the tubs to recycle and donate the proceeds to Macmillan Cancer Support. Our closest Greene King pub is the Kings Head in Newton Under Roseberry but check the website for others near to you.
Crisp packets into waterproof and warm sleeping bags!
Metallised crisp packets, as with all composite packaging are very difficult to recycle and usually go to landfill or incineration. However, they can be upcycled into valuable waterproof and warm emergency sleeping bags for homeless and vulnerable people. Nite Light CIC in Middlesbrough, where our Food Group take surplus food to weekly (see below), is still appealing for your metallised (i.e. foil on the inside) crisp packets.
There is a collection point in the Globe, Stokesley or you can take directly to Nite Light at units 3 & 4 North Street, Southbank, Middlesbrough (just opposite Asda Southbank). They are currently being made up into emergency sleeping bags and being distributed as the need is increasing with this colder weather.
Recycling for Good Causes: household items needed!
The CASaV Waste Group are collecting unwanted items which will raise funds for MacMillan Cancer Support via the Recycling for Good Causes scheme whilst saving them from going to waste in landfill. The scheme has provided us with a large collecting bag and free collection of a minimum of 10kg of items, with funds going to support people affected by cancer.
Items we are collecting are:
Jewellery and watches
Any currency UK or foreign of any age / unchangeable currency (banknotes and coins)
Mobile phones, video / film / digital cameras, computer games and accessories, MP3 players, ipods, tablets, computers of any age or condition
Stamps (loose /single stamps, first day covers, presentation packs)
Please have a look through your household and if you have any of these items going spare, please bring them along to our next Repair Cafe on January 20th in Swainby and the bag will also be available at the next CASaV monthly meeting on January 16th.
More information here: Recycling For Good Causes
Last month’s events & updates from the sub groups
Reducing waste and reducing energy bills information stall at Stokesley Market Friday 8th December
Led by Anne Mannix, the Waste group arranged an information stall at the weekly Friday market. Volunteers were joined by Tracey Flint, Recycling Officer for North Yorkshire Council, and recycling queries were discussed as well as ideas on how to cut waste including upcycling materials into Christmas decorations and gift wrap. We also shared information on reducing energy use at home including the Local Energy Advice Demonstrator project which will provide a free retrofitting survey (details of the project above) and gave away a dozen draught excluders made at our recent upcycling crafting workshops.
Further information stalls are planned to raise awareness and engage with the public on all matters to fight climate breakdown and prevent biodiversity loss. Please contact if you have ideas and would like to join us.
Our next Stokesley market stall will be the Food Group’s Seed Giveaway stall in March, information in February’s Update but donations of seeds welcome now at any of our Repair Cafes or whole group meetings.
Nature Group
– meets regularly by zoom (see separate emails for information)
The Nature Group decorated a (25 year old!) tree with decorations made from upcycled waste to promote sustainability for the Stokesley Parish Church Christmas Tree Festival which ran throughout December until 5th January. At time of this email the results were not yet published but our tree was very much admired and prompted discussion on sustainability. In addition to the Peat Bog restoration tour on January 16th, further opportunities to learn more about our changing environment and how to fight biodiversity loss are planned.
Waste Group
(page) – monthly zoom meetings, next meeting Tuesday 9th January 7.00pm, please contact if you would like to join
December’s Repair Cafe
The December Repair Cafe took place at the Globe Community Library in Stokesley on Saturday 9th December. As well as the volunteers wearing festive headgear vegan mince pies and hot mulled juice were served and over 80 household items were brought in for repair and advice and most saved from going to waste. After the event volunteers headed to a local vegan cafe for a sociable Christmas lunch. As always, a big thank you to all volunteer repairers, reception and refreshment volunteers. New volunteers are warmly welcome!
We combined the event with a Climate Justice Meet Up and had discussions and computer simulations on the impact of climate breakdown with visitors from Northallerton Climate Action and Castleton. A ‘Postcards to Rishi’ table was available and several postcards were written to our local MP / PM about our concerns of the impact of climate breakdown on the most vulnerable communities in the world.
Allerton Waste Recovery Park Visits
Last year the Waste Group organised several popular visits to the Allerton Waste Recovery Park to see at first hand how our black bin waste is dealt with, including incineration. Due to demand, further visits are now being arranged, if you are interested please email or contact Bridget Holmstrom.
Food Group
(site) – monthly zoom meetings, next meeting Thursday 18th January at 18.00, please contact if you would like to join
Co-op Foodshare Every night, every week Jenny Earle, joint Food Group lead, organises volunteers to collect surplus food from our local Co-op stores and resdistributes it locally to those in need, not only reducing food waste which produces carbon gases affecting our climate but also providing a benefit to the community.
New volunteers are always welcome, please contact.
Stokesley U3A: Food, glorious food, veggie style!
This veggie food group meets on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 1:30 pm to 2:30 pm in Stokesley Town Hall. The group is for collaborative folks who are interested in sharing ideas, knowledge,recipes and enthusiasm for veggie style food. Wendy Smith, joint Food Group lead, attended and spoke at the November session.
Signing off
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (February) update please email Kate Gibbon by the end of January.
Kate will also be helping promote activities via Facebook and Instagram so let her know if there is anything that you would like shared via our Facebook page and Instagram if you are not a Facebook / Instagram user.
Hope to see you at the first CASaV whole group gathering of the new year on Tuesday 16th January, 7.30 at the Globe Community Library, Stokesley
Kate Gibbon,
on behalf of the Climate Action Stokesley and Villages Steering Group Steering group:
Bridget Holmstrom, Caryn Loftus, Jack Turton, Ron Kirk and Simon Gibbon
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 