Welcome to May’s Update from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Supporting local action for a sustainable, greener and more resilient Stokesley & surrounding villages
May is National Walking Month so our bimonthly talk focuses on car-free ways to explore the North York Moors including accessing wonderful walking routes, we have a guided walk themed around recognising birdsong plus Walk to School Week encourages supporting school children to walk or use other forms of active transport to get to school. Plus we will be cooking up a storm at the Repair (Reuse & Recraft) Cafe Kitchen & Cooking Special
Diary 1: CASaV / local (details below in newsletter)
Tuesday 19/5 19.30 North York Moors Walking & bus routes talk & whole group meeting at Stokesley Community Library
Monday 11/5 17.00 – 19.00 Stokesley Mending Circle, Stokesley Town Hall
Saturday 16/5 10.00 – 12.00 4th Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe with focus on the kitchen & sustainable cooking, Swainby Village Hall
Tuesday 12/5 13.30 – 15.30 Brighten Up Great Ayton: Yatton House Community Garden Working Party
Tuesday 12/5 19.00 – 20.30 Rethinking Resources (formerly Waste) group meeting by zoom
Thursday 21/5 15.00 Nature group meeting Stokesley Community Library
Thursday 21/5 19.00 Food group meeting by zoom
Sunday 24/5 11.00 Annual Great Ayton Floodplain Meadow Walk “Bird Song”
Looking ahead – save the date!
Saturday 6/6 – Saturday 14/6 Great Big Green Week – local events include People’s Emergency Briefing film – Thursday 11/6, Stokesley and Repair (Reuse & Recraft) Cafe with theme of Fun & Games, Stokesley 13/6
Saturday 20/6 14.00 – 16.00 Stokesley Summer Clothes Swap, Stokesley School
Saturday & Sunday 4 – 5/7 Festival of Thrift, Kirkleatham featuring local collective Repair Cafe
2: Regional, National & Global (follow links)
1 – 31/5 No Mow May – help the environment by letting wild plants grow nomowmay
1 – 31/5 No Meat May – try plant rich eating for 31 days nomeatmay
3 – 9/5 Compost Awareness Week – promoting the benefits making & using compost to build healthier soilcompostfoundation
16/5 Endangered Species Day – raising awareness of endangered species worldwide endangered-species-day
18 – 22/5 Walk to School Week – Living Streets campaign to promote active travel to school walk-to-school-week-2026/
23 – 31/5 Schools Gardening Week – inspire children to get growing childrensgardeningweek
Tuesday 19/5 19.30 Car-free ways to explore the North York Moors: talk at Stokesley Community Library
At our May CASaV monthly meeting Wendy will share ideas on how to make the most of the fantastic Moorsbus service, Caryn will share ways to use the Esk Valley Railway, starting at one of the three stations in our area to explore the Moors and Coast, and Dinah will tell us about the work of HarBus, the bus user group for Hambleton and Richmondshire. This will be followed with an update on plans for Great Big Green Week and the work of our sub-groups.
Monday 11/5 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 12/5 13.30 – 15.30 Brighten Up Great Ayton: Yatton House Community Garden working party
All welcome to join our monthly community gardening group. Bring a drink and a treat will be provided to go with it.
Last month we launched Brighten Up Great Ayton as a sub-group of CASaV by holding a successful working party in the Village Hall garden followed by a visit to the Royal Oak after to discuss plans. It is a while since we have had a group working there and uncovered some of the plants that were added a few years ago including two gooseberry
bushes and rescued the black elder from bindweed. This year we will be focussing on tending the Village Hall, Cook Family Memorial and Yatton House Community Gardens and the herb planters at the GP surgery plus organising the annual walk round the Floodplain Meadow.
Saturday 16/5 10.00 – 12.00 Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe with focus on the kitchen – cooking equipment & recipe book give & take, hands-on crafting dishcloths & soapsavers, sharpening kitchen blades & scissors
As always, our friendly pink T-shirted volunteers will be here to fix your beloved household items – electrical appliances, toys & bikes, wooden furniture, clothing & textiles, clocks, glass & ceramics, electronic items including laptops and phones as well as sharpening household blades.
This month we invite you to have a kitchen refresh by bringing cooking equipment & recipe books you no longer use and taking away items you do want.
You can also learn how to crochet a sustainable dishcloth (or soap saver) in our crafting corner to reduce plastics in the house (all materials and know how provided).
There will be delicious home baked cakes and barista coffee and this is a great opportunity to meet with friendly, like minded people and learn new repair as well as crafting skills. New volunteers are always welcome – come along, have a cuppa and a chat or email Simon Gibbon. If you are not sure come and / or bring an item to be repaired to get a feel for the Repair Cafe.
24/5 11.00 ‘Bird Song’ walk with ornithologist guide
The theme for this year’s Floodplain Meadow walk is Bird Song on Sunday 24 th May. Meet at 11am in Waterfall Park, Great Ayton (opposite Suggitts on the High Steet). The walk is less than a mile but the ground is a bit uneven and there isn’t much shelter from sun or rain so come prepared. Learn how to recognise birds from their song on a walk around the Floodplain Meadow. The walk will be led by Ali McLee from Teesmouth Bird Club. We will also undertake a survey of birds seen and heard as part of the British Trust for Ornithology’s Greenspace project mentioned in last month’s CASaV Update. No need to book. Families welcome.
Coming up – save the date!
6 – 14/6 Get Involved In Great Big Green Week
The Great Big Green Week (GBGW) is the UK’s largest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature. This year’s theme is “Together for good,” highlighting how everyday, collective community actions create real, practical benefits for our planet and our shared future.
This year we have two main events you can be part of:
Thursday 11/6 19.30 People’s Emergency Briefing film, Stokesley Community Library
If you haven’t heard about it yet, this is a new film featuring leading UK experts – a climate scientist, ecologist, economist, emergency medic and a national security advisor – all being pretty frank about where things are heading and more positively what can be done about it. CASaV will be hosting a free screening of this film, followed by a discussion on the impact the film has on those present and what we can do next. We will be inviting our MP and local politicians to see the film and be part of our discussions. Watch the trailer and then book a free ticket.
Saturday 13/6 10 – 12 Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe with theme of sustainable fun and games for all the family.
Please get in touch if you want to help or have another event you want to come under the GBGW banner – gbgw@casav.uk
20/6 14.00 – 16.00 Stokesley Clothes Swap, Stokesley School
Following two successful clothes swap events Jane and Jo now bring you the summer edition! The perfect opportunity to get a wardrobe refresh and some new to you preloved clothes for the warmer months.
News, campaigns & subgroup updates
Ideas & news from the groups: Rethinking Resources (Not the Time to Waste) including Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe
This subgroup focuses on rethinking resources: rethinking & reducing consumption; repairing, repurposing and recycling materials that might otherwise go to landfill or incineration. Please join us at this month’s zoom meeting on Tuesday 12/5 19.00 – 20.30: contact email Simon Gibbon for a zoom link
Second life for unwanted stuff!
The average household possesses a staggering amount of unused items, with studies estimating that between 20 and 80% of items in homes are never or rarely used, whilst due to the cost of living crisis more and more families are struggling to afford basic household necessities. Since January this year our successful monthly Repair Cafes have included opportunities to reuse and repurpose unwanted household items and resources which might otherwise go to waste, giving them a second life. Items are given freely and all go to good homes where they put back into use. In January surplus craft supplies were recirculated, in March & April dozens of items of gardening equipment & books were brought in and snapped up by keen gardeners with any remaining being given to our planet protecting compatriots at the Nest, Guisbrough’s eco community group for their garden swappery. This month we aim to get unwanted kitchen equipment being used again and for June and July we will do the same for toys, bikes and outside games. We would love to hear from you about other categories of household items we can give a second life to.
Simpler Recycling – changes to your bins
You may have seen some new red lidded bins across the area, this is part of the changes North Yorkshire Council is making to collect our recycling as part of the national “Simpler recycling“:
“From 31 March 2026, by default, waste collectors must collect the following types of waste separately:
- food and garden waste
- paper and card
- all other dry recyclable materials (glass, metal and plastic, including cartons)
- residual waste (non-recyclable waste that is sent for energy recovery or to landfill)
All these types of waste must be collected from all households (including flats).
Plastic film packaging and plastic bags will need to be collected with plastic recycling from 31 March 2027.”
To do this economically North Yorkshire Council is only introducing simpler recycling when the current collection vehicles are replaced. If a smaller truck collects your recycling, you will already have a new red lidded bin to go with your blue lidded bin. The rest of us will not get the new bins until late 2026 or 2027 when the larger trucks are replaced.
We also won’t get separate weekly food collection yet, as North Yorkshire has a dispensation due to the contract with Allerton Waste Recovery Park, where the food waste from the black bin is used to generate biogas. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long. While food waste is currently used in the anaerobic digester, its presence means that the quality of any material recovered for recycling from the black bins is very poor due to contamination.
YouTube video on new North Yorkshire recycling collections – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxomM7mhymU
YouTube video on how simpler recycling will make recycling better – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuwaOiTHl7U
Links from above:
North Yorkshire Council – Simpler Recycling – https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/bins-recycling-and-waste/simpler-recycling
Government – Simpler Recycling – https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-household-recycling-in-england
Local recycling / repurposing collections
Medication blister packs – collection boxes now at Stokesley Community Library & the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton collected for recycling at Boots stores in Northallerton and Guisborough (or better still use the recycling points in these Boots stores directly).
Since restarting the collection box in Stokesley Community Library last November our group has ensured that nearly fifty standard bin bags full of blister packs have now been saved from waste.
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 the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton and Hutton Rudby GP Surgery as well as Mowbray House Surgery, Northallerton.
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
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 21/5 15.00 at Stokesley Community Library, Stokesley. Contact Bridget Holmstrom for more information.
Butterflies
Following last year’s walk round the Floodplain Meadow, at the recommendation of Martin Partridge from Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire branch, Caryn has started using the irecord Butterflies app. Trying to use it raised a couple of questions: Is it helpful for the data to record every time I see a butterfly or is it just the first time in a particular place?
Does this data inform the picture in Yorkshire or do I need to submit the data another way? Martin replied: “I always record each sighting if it’s a few mins apart in the same location I tend not to as it’s likely to be the same one. This app is our primary source of data now as it is easily retrieved by the county recorders. This data informs the Yorkshire Butterfly Atlas as well as the Annual Reports.” For more information on butterflies in Yorkshire and links see
Water quality – Great UK WaterBlitz
Here are the results from the water testing in the River Leven, from the Floodplain Meadow bank on Saturday 25 th April: “Your results: Nitrates: 0.2-0.5 (mg/L); Phosphates: 0.02-0.05 (mg/L) Feedback: Your dataset indicates that this waterbody has a very good ecological status. Nutrient concentrations are low. These values are expected to vary
throughout the year as a result of weather patterns and changes in land use.” Caryn said that “We haven’t had any significant rain for a while so I’m not sure if this is a typical representation of the levels of nitrates and phosphates. You can view a map showing the results of the testing that took place” : great-uk-waterblitz-map
Himalayan Balsam Management
This project has been set up to control the invasive species Himalayan balsam which is destroying biodiversity on the river Leven and tributaries from its source in Kildale to Crathorne. People are already working to reduce the extent of balsam on the river but there are significant areas of balsam for example between Great Ayton and Stokesley that need to be worked on. The group is working with the Tees River Trust to deliver training on species identification prior to ‘balsam bashing’ sessions – dates for both coming soon! If anyone is interested in joining the group please contact balsam@casav.uk.
Cod Beck Project 2026
The Nature Group is working on a larger project at the Cod Beck Reservoir and events held throughout 2026 may include bat walks, butterfly and moth walks, and fungus forays. We will be giving a training session on using the iNaturalist app with the help of representatives from the wider Cod Beck Discovery Project. More details will be given on Facebook and through the Balsam group. If you want to find out more please contact codbeck@casav.uk
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 will be Thursday 21/5 at 19.00, 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.
Growing your own – good for you and the planet
Young wild garlic leaves make wonderful pesto but now the flowers are coming out, sprinkle some on your salad. When remaining flowers have produced green seeds, these too are delicious but do leave some to increase the number of plants for next year.
Wendy has been busy stocking up the Seed Share at Stokesley Community Library – pop in to pick up free flower and vegetable seeds. Growing your own not only benefits you physically, it’s also good for your mental health too, read more here why-gardening-is-good-for-your-mental-health
There is also a Seed Share / Swap at the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton and at this month’s Repair & Reuse cafe.
Ideas & news from the groups: Energy
This subgroup focuses on using sustainable energy sources & energy saving in the home
Help Us warm Up Our Community!
Do you have an eye for detail and a passion for planet-friendly living? Climate Action Stokesley and Villages (CASaV) is launching an exciting new project to help our community beat the chill and lower their energy bills. We are planning to apply for a National Lottery “Awards for All” grant to fund a thermal imaging camera, allowing us to show residents exactly where their homes are leaking heat. By identifying these “cold spots,” we can provide practical advice on making local homes cosier, cheaper to run, and much greener.
Before we hit “send” on our grant application, we need you!
We are looking for enthusiastic volunteers to join our Energy sub-group to help coordinate and carry out these surveys. You don’t need to be an energy expert or a tech wizard—we are going to be learning from other areas’ local groups, who will provide all the training you need to use the camera and interpret the results. Whether you can spare a few hours a month to visit homes or prefer to help with the behind-the-scenes organising, your contribution will make a tangible difference in our community’s fight against climate change. If you can help please email energy@casav.uk
Powering Stokesley and Villages: Now is the Time for Community Energy!
Recently, CASaV attended the “Seeing is Believing” community energy event hosted by the North East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub. The event brought together experts and local groups to showcase how ordinary communities are taking control of their local energy systems—and the main takeaway is that there has never been a better time for us to launch our own local energy initiatives.
Why Now? The national momentum behind community energy is growing at an unprecedented rate. Through the recently announced Local Power Plan, the government has pledged £1 billion to support over 1,000 local and community energy projects. Additionally, there is now an abundance of tailored support, one-to-one expert surgeries, and grant funding specifically designed to help community groups get their ideas off the ground.
Successfully setting up community energy projects allows us to generate clean, renewable power, but it also does so much more. It keeps financial benefits circulating within our local economy, builds community resilience, and significantly lowers energy bills for vital community buildings.
What Are Our Next Steps? We already have great local ambitions. We want to acquire thermal imaging cameras to help residents identify heat loss in their homes, and we are eager to get solar panels installed on the roofs of our local schools. While we have faced some roadblocks in the past—such as navigating school trusts and Church of England approvals—the event opened new doors. We have connections to specialised net-zero officers and successful sustainability groups from nearby areas who are ready to help us break through these specific barriers.
The key lesson from the event is that we don’t need to start with anything big. Other highly successful community groups started with something as small as two solar panels on an allotment. Starting small builds confidence, allows us to test our ideas, and proves to future funders that we can deliver.
Get Involved! We are looking for enthusiastic community members to help us turn these energy ideas into reality. Whether you have professional experience in planning or finance, a bit of spare time to help with community engagement, or simply a passion for making Stokesley and our villages greener and more resilient, we need you.
Let’s harness this momentum together. Please get in touch with CASaV today to find out how you can get involved in shaping our local energy future! energy@casav.uk
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 content, news or any event / activity you would like promoting on next month’s (June’s) update please email Kate Gibbon no later than Sunday 18/5
Hope to see you at the whole group meeting Tuesday 19/5 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 