Welcome to January’s Update
from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Supporting local action for a sustainable, greener and more resilient Stokesley & surrounding villages.
Wishing you all a very happy new year, a big thanks to you for all you have done to protect biodiversity and the climate throughout 2025 and a warm invite to a range of further activities in 2026.
Diary 1: CASaV / local (details below in newsletter)
Tuesday 20/1 19.30 Talk on Local Flooding Resilience by speaker from the Environment Agency and whole group meeting at Stokesley Community Library
Thursday 1/1 10.30 – 12.30 New Year’s day nature walk & bloom hunt, Cod Beck main car park
Monday 12/1 17.00 – 19.00 Stokesley Mending Circle, Stokesley Town Hall
Tuesday 13/1 13.30 – 15.30 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party
Tuesday 13/1 19.00 – 20.30 Waste & circularity group meeting by zoom
Wednesday 14/1 19.00 Himalayan balsam Group meeting, Stokesley Town Hall
Thursday 15/1 15.00 Nature Group meeting Stokesley Community Library
Saturday 17/1 10.00 – 12.00 New Year Repair Cafe with focus on saving resources through reusing and repurposing, Swainby Village Hall
Saturday 24/1 14.00 – 16.00 Stokesley Clothes Swap, Stokesley School
Diary 2: Regional, National & Global (follow links)
All January: Buy Nothing New Month – prevent waste & protect earth’s resources buy-nothing-new-month
All January: Veganuary – planet positive eating veganuary
23 – 25/1 Big Garden Birdwatch – gather valuable data, connect with nature big-garden-birdwatch
26/1 World Clean Energy Day clean-energy-day
Tuesday 20/1 19.30 Talk on local flooding resilience by Frayer Fletcher, Environment Agency followed by whole group meeting at Stokesley Community Library
All are welcome to fascinating and pertinent illustrated talk and discussion on local flooding resilience by Frayer Fletcher from the Environment Agency followed by a short whole group meeting.
Thursday 1st January 2026 10.30 – 12.30 New Year’s day nature walk & bloom hunt, Cod Beck main car park
Members of the nature group will be at the main Cod Beck car park between 10.30 and 12.30 to provide help to those wishing to participate. Please take photos of any flowers in bloom (or anything else from the natural world that you find interesting) that you see on the Drovers Road or the footpath round Cod Beck Reservoir. Please send them to CodBeck@Casav.uk For more information contact bridgetholmstrom@casav.uk or just turn up on the day wearing suitable clothing for the weather and location.
The New Year Flower Hunt is a national event, taking place every year between the 1st and 4th January. You can find more details on website of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland website if you would like to participate in the event at a location closer to home. new-year-plant-hunt
Monday 12/1 17.00 – 19.00 Stokesley Mending Circle, Stokesley Town Hall
All are warmly welcome to join the Mending Circle which meets every second Monday early evening. Learn sewing / mending super powers from scratch or get help and inspiration with your current sewing project. Mending clothes has a significant positive climate impact by reducing waste and conserving resources, as extending a garment’s life by just nine months can lower its carbon, water, and waste footprints by 20–30%.
Tuesday 13/1 13.30 – 15.30 Yatton House Community Garden Working Party
From January we are going to finish a bit later to give time for a mid working party break. Please bring your own hot or cold drink and cake will be provided!The focus of this month’s working party will be pruning the apple and pear trees in the Yatton House orchard, weather permitting. Meet in the car park at Yatton House, Guisborough Road, Great Ayton at 1:30pm. It would be great to have as much help as possible. If you are not sure how to prune fruit trees, come and learn about the 3 Ds and an X and have a go. Tools available but great if you can bring your own gardening gloves.
Thursday 14/1/26 time 19.00 Himalayan balsam group meeting, Stokesley Town Hall
Following the interesting talk on invasive species at November’s whole group meeting, a group has been formed of those interested in managing Himalayan Balsam which has been reducing local biodiversity. The group’s first meeting will make plans for the year ahead including identifying areas along the river Leven and elsewhere where volunteers can use a range of strategies for reducing the impact of this invasive species. If you would like more information or to join the group please email Bridget.
Saturday 17/1 10.00 – 12.00 New Year Repair Cafe with focus on protecting earth’s resources through repairing, reusing & repurposing with free crafting kits, Swainby Village Hall
Start the New Year more sustainably by extending the use of what you already own instead of buying new. Our friendly pink T-shirted volunteers will be on hand to fix your household items – electrical appliances, toys & bikes, wooden furniture, clothing & textiles, clocks, glass & ceramics, electronic items including laptops and phones as well as sharpening household and gardening blades for the new year and beyond.
There will be a display on how to tread more lightly on the earth this year through reducing our consumption of the world’s limited resources through reuse, repair and remaking as well as a ‘Circularity Crafting Corner’ where you can pick up free patchwork and knitting kits to start a new year’s hobby using materials which might otherwise go to waste.
Running monthly now for nearly four years, well over 2000 household items have been saved from going to waste – saving our local community the cost of buying new, allowing them to carry on using their cherished items for longer as well as reducing carbon emissions from manufacture & landfill waste or incineration.
Everything is free including sweet treats and Fair Trade tea and coffee. A great opportunity to meet with friendly, like minded people and learn new repair skills.
Our Christmas Repair Cafe at Stokesley was super successful with over 60 people bringing over 70 items to mend, 30 volunteers assisting & refreshing our visitors and fixing their items. Joy records every session and here is her latest video: December Repair Cafe
New volunteers are always welcome – come along, have a cuppa and a chat or email Simon Gibbon. If you are not sure come and bring an item to be repaired to get a feel for the Repair Cafe.
Saturday 24/1 14.00 – 16.00 Stokesley Clothes Swap, Stokesley School
We already have enough clothing for the next six generations and textile waste is a huge source of carbon emissions. One solution is to swap not shop! Following last September’s fantastic inaugural event, Jane and Jo have organised another Clothes Swap extravaganza for the new year.
Now sited at Stokesley School TS9 5AL with loads of free parking bring along up to 5 items of clean, good quality clothing and exchange these for up to 5 items new to you. Entry is £2 and includes refreshments. Find your new collection for 2026 without costing the earth!
CASaV in the national media!
We were contacted by Positive News, a national media platform, to contribute towards an article on sustainable events supporting local communities and we featured in their online magazine in December which highlighted our Circularity Christmas stall, eco crafting sessions, daily foodshare and blankets for those affected by homelessness. Read all about it here: 8-grassroots-ideas-powering-christmas-2025/
Ideas & news from the groups: Waste & Circularity (including Repair Cafe)
https://casav.uk/waste
This subgroup focuses on reducing waste through circularity: rethinking & reducing consumption; and repairing, repurposing and recycling materials that might otherwise go to landfill or incineration.
Please join us at this month’s zoom meeting on Tuesday 13/1 19.00-21.00: contact email Simon Gibbon for a zoom link
Local recycling / repurposing collections
Medication blister packs – collection boxes now at Stokesley Community Library & the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton collected for recycling at Boots
Plastic milk bottle tops – Rea Funeral services, Stokelsey, raises funds for cancer research
Spectacles – Cooper & Barr, Stokesley collects unwanted spectacles to repurpose for good causes
Bras – donate usuable condition bras to raise funds for breast cancer research, collection boxes at Hutton Rudby GP Surgery as well as Mowbray House Surgery, Northallerton. We are hoping to launch a bra collection point in Stokesley or Great Ayton this month so look out for updates!
Used postage stamps, used but clean aluminium foil, children’s wellies, good condition underwear – all being collected locally for good causes contact Louise
Small electrical appliances – the Mind charity shop, Stokesley collects these for sale after safety testing
Reusing and Repurposing in December
After the successful Halloween Switch, our two local community libraries kindly hosted an Xmas Xchange where the community dropped off used Christmas jumpers and accessories which were given a second life and worn again by people new – saving money, waste and reducing the need to buy new. Some jumpers were even brought back again after being worn to office parties etc and these were donated to local charities supporting individuals affected by homelessness in time for Christmas. Both community libraries also hosted eco Christmas decoration workshops where waste materials were transformed into unique creations. Participants at the Stokesley workshop enjoyed the event so much they have requested that this become a regular session throughout the year. Look for news of the next climate crafting event! Volunteers from the whole group staffed a Circularity Christmas stall at a Friday market in Stokesley in early December promoting reducing, reusing and recycling.
Ideas & news from the groups: Nature Group
This subgroup focuses on discovering more about and supporting biodiversity and our living environment. Face to face meeting Thursday 15/1 15.00 at Stokesley Community Library, Stokesley. Contact Bridget Holmstrom for more information.
Nature Group Events 2026
The Nature Group are starting a larger project at the Cod Beck Reservoir and events held throughout 2026 may include at bat walks, butterfly and moth walks, and fungus forays. We hope to see you there. Please keep an eye on the CASAV facebook page and remember to read the newsletter.
What to see in nature in January
There are many birds that come to the UK overwinter. These include Fieldfares, Redwings, Whooper Swans, Bramblings and Waxwings. Many, or more likely most, of us are unlikely to be able to identify these from a distance but we can all be helped with the Merlin App. Merlin helps to identify birds from their calls and song. It is free to download and easy to use. The Woodland Trust have provided a short list of birds that you may see, or hear, during the winter months.
Stokesley Christmas Tree Festival
The Nature Group’s sustainable tree at the Stokesley Christmas Tree festival was greatly admired but what was particularly heartening was seeing so many other trees entered by local community groups which also had put sustainablity at the heart of their creations. Sustainability is spreading!
Ideas & news from the groups: Food Group
This subgroup focuses on food & its impact on climate change – from growing your own and eating seasonally to reducing food going to waste. Meetings held bimonthly, next meeting online January, date tbc contact Wendy Smith for a link to join
Foodshare – nightly food redistribution
Foodshare is a joint initiative by the Food and Waste groups and is organised by Jenny. EVERY evening at 9pm a Volunteer collects surplus food from the Ayton Coop and Premier supermarket and both Stokesley Coops and takes it to various distribution centres (often in Middlesbrough) such as Nitelight (for homeless) for use/distribution to those in need. This is fresh food such as fruit, veg and bread, NOT tins and dried food that are needed by Food Banks. Our group collects 40-60 kilos of food every day with a value of approx £250, worth £78,000 every year.
What can I do now? Jenny is always keen to recruit more volunteers to support the foodshare so if you feel this is something with which you could help, please contact Jenny here Jenny Earle.
Start thinking about growing your own!
Remember to check out the Seed Bank in Stokesley library for free seeds – vegetables and flowers.
Ideas & news from the groups: Travel
This subgroup focuses on low carbon travel solutions
Suggest locations for electric vehicle charging points
Do you know a good spot for an on-street electric vehicle charger? If so, North Yorkshire Council wants to hear from you. You can submit your suggestion through their request tool (below) and they’ll consider it when planning future installations.
Barry Warrington is following up with the council to see when we should expect the planned EV chargers in Stokesley and Great Ayton to be in operation that were stalled due to the installation company going bust but if you know know of other suitable places please use the council’s request tool: roads-parking-and-travel/electric-vehicle-charging
Ideas & news from the groups: Environment & Climate Osmotherley (ECO) Group
Environment Climate Osmotherley (ECO) meets regularly and holds events which raise awareness and address local environmental issues such as becoming a Dark Skies Village and increasing local biodiversity.
Contact Becci Wright for more information
Signing off
If you have any news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (February’s) update please email Kate Gibbon by Sunday 25th January
Hope to see you at the flooding resilience talk and whole group Tuesday 20/1 19.30 at Stokesley Community Library
Kate Gibbon,
on behalf of the Climate Action Stokesley and Villages Steering Group Steering group:
Bridget Holmstrom, Caryn Loftus, Ron Kirk, Barry Warrington, Helen Almond, Simon Gibbon
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 