Welcome to June’s Update
from Climate Action Stokesley & Villages
Supporting local action for a sustainable, greener and more resilient Stokesley & surrounding villages
June brings us the Great Big Green Week (GBGW), the UK’s biggest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature, with several events being run by our group for all ages and interests.
Diary 1: CASaV / local (details below in newsletter)
Tuesday 16/6 19.30 Whole group meeting at Stokesley Community Library
Monday 8/6 17.00 – 19.00 GBGW Stokesley Mending Circle, Stokesley Town Hall
Tuesday 9/6 13.30 – 15.30 GBGW Yatton House Community Garden Working Party
Tuesday 9/6 19.00 – 20.30 Rethinking Resources group meeting by zoom
Wednesday 10/6 Last date to complete the public consultation on the Y&NYCA Strategy for a Sustainable Future
Thursday 11/6 19.30 – 21.00 GBGW People’s Emergency Briefing community film screening, Stokesley Community Library
Saturday 13/6 10.00 – 12.00 GBGW Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe with focus on travel, fun & games, Stokesley Community Library
Thursday 18/6 15.00 Nature group meeting Stokesley Community Library
Saturday 20/6 14.00 – 16.00 Stokesley Summer Clothes Swap, Stokesley School
Looking ahead to July – save the date!
Saturday & Sunday 4 – 5/7 11.00 – 17.00 Festival of Thrift, Kirkleatham featuring local collective Repair Cafe including Stokesley & Villages Repair Cafe
Tuesday 7/7 19.00 Rethinking Resources garden gathering face to face meeting & refreshments, Swainby
Saturday 11/7 10.00 – 16.00 Community Climate Conference – organised by North Yorkshire Climate Coalition, York FOE & Village Green – a day of speakers & workshops to share learning, make connections & address the climate crisis with community groups across York & North Yorkshire including CASaV
Saturday 18/7 13.00 Stokesley & Villages Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe volunteers / supporters garden picnic, Swainby
2: Regional, National & Global (follow links)
9-15/6 UK Bike Week: Cycling UK’s annual celebration of cycling cyclinguk/bikeweek
6-14/6 Churches Count on Nature: citizen science recording wildlife in our church yards and burial grounds churches-count-on-nature/
16/6 World Refill Day: highlighting the importance of reuse & start of the 5 day challenge to cut single use containers WorldRefillDay
22-28/6 UK Insect Week: run by the Royal Entomology Society “Stand Tall for the Small” insectweek
Tuesday 16/6 19.30 – 21.00 Whole group meeting, Stokesley Community Library
An opportunity to gather & reflect on events of GBGW and plan future whole group activities
Monday 8/6 17.00 – 19.00 GBGW 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 9/6 13.30 – 15.30 GBGW Yatton House Community Garden Open Afternoon
The monthly community garden working party welcomes all to celebrate Great Big Green Week with a blooming June special. Come and explore Yatton House Community Garden in all it’s early summer growing glory, take away some fresh produce and, if you would like, give a hand with some gentle gardening tasks
Wednesday 10/6 Last date to complete the public consultation on the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority – Strategy for a Sustainable Future
The York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority has developed a strategic framework to transform the region into England’s first carbon negative area by 2040. This comprehensive plan focuses on three core pillars: securing energy independence, transitioning to a circular economy, and restoring the natural environment. By targeting high-impact sectors like sustainable transport, renewable power, and energy-efficient housing, the initiative seeks to lower living costs while boosting economic competitiveness. The strategy emphasises a shift from merely reducing environmental harm to actively generating positive social and ecological impacts. Ultimately, the document serves as a roadmap to create thriving communities through green job creation, improved public health, and climate resilience.
The documents are detailed, but they need to be to address for the scope of the challenge we face and so the survey will take over 20 minutes to complete.
Strategy short version – https://yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/YNY-Strategy-for-a-Sustainable-Future-Consultation-Draft-Executive-Summary.pdf
Strategy full draft document – https://yorknorthyorks-ca.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/YNY-Strategy-for-a-Sustainable-Future-Consultation-Draft.pdf
Survey formal consultation (you should really read the summary before tackling the survey) – https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/YNYCA_SFSF/
Thursday 11/6 19.30 GBGW 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 with refreshments, 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 10.00 – 12.00 GBGW Repair (Reuse & Recreate) Cafe with focus on summer fun & games – toys, bikes, outdoor games & travel books give & take, hands-on creating toys from scrap materials
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 join in summer fun & games by bringing toys, bikes, outdoor games & travel books you no longer use and taking away items you do want to keep useful items in circulation and out of landfill whilst conserving our planet’s limited resources.
Bring the whole family to enjoy crafting toys and outside ornaments from scrap resources that might otherwise go to waste and relax with delicious home baked cakes and drinks. Everything is free although donations to cover costs are welcome.
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.
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.
The fashion industry accounts for 8–10% of global carbon emissions. Swapping curtails the demand for newly produced items, directly decreasing the carbon footprint tied to manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. The UK sends over 300,000 tonnes of used clothing to landfills every year. Keeping garments in active circulation instead of throwing them away avoids the release of greenhouse gases like methane during decomposition.
More info here: clothes-swap
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 9/6 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 unwanted household items and recreate with 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. May’s theme was cookery & the kitchen with free tomato plants given away (thanks Pete!) and dozens of kitchen items including recipe books finding new homes and all remaining items going to a bric-a-brac stall to fund a young person’s DoE trip. This month and next we are doing the same for toys, bikes, outside games & travel books and in August and September we will have a ‘Back to School / College / Office’ special to reuse unwanted folders, plastic wallets, stationery, office supplies and text books. We would love to hear from you about other categories of household items we can give a second life to, please email kate@casav.uk
Local recycling / repurposing collections
Medication blister packs – collection boxes now at the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton and restarting mid June at Stokesley Community Library which are taken 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 18/6 15.00 at Stokesley Community Library, Stokesley. Contact Bridget Holmstrom for more information.
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 has arranged with the Tees River Trust to deliver training on species identification prior to ‘balsam bashing’ sessions – dates proposed are:
Tuesday 9/6 am or pm, Thursday 11/6 am or pm and Friday 12/6 from 1pm onwards.
Please contact balsam@casav.uk to book your place at any of these slots.
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 on zoom, next meeting online will in July, date TBC contact Wendy Smith for more information.
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
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
Wendy continues to stock the Seed Share at Stokesley Community Library – pop in to pick up free flower and vegetable seeds. There is also a Seed Share / Swap at the Discovery Centre, Great Ayton.
Our green fingered friends at Sow Northern also arrange seed swaps across the area so find one near you now! sownorthern.co.uk/seed-swap
Beans is How
Beans is How is an campaign to double the global consumption of beans (as well as peas, lentils and other pulses) by 2028. A coalition of over 140+ diverse partner organisations across 70+ countries, ‘Beans is How’ is using the power of collective action, to amplify and make visible the importance of beans as a simple, affordable solution to our global health, climate and cost of living challenges. beans-is-how/
Warming in the colder months, beans also make super summer salad dishes such as this delicious grilled radishes with royal corona beans (uses up radish tops too which areoften disgarded)
grilled-radishes-with-radish-top-mint-dill-sauce-royal-corona-beans/
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 (July’s) update please email Kate Gibbon no later than Sunday 21/6
Hope to see you at the whole group meeting Tuesday 16/6 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
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%.
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. 
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).
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.
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.
You may have seen some new red lidded bins across the area, this is part of the changes 
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 and gardening blades. 
To help re-launch the Brighten Up Great Ayton, now a sub-group of CASaV, we will be holding a Spring Clean session in the village hall garden on Saturday 18th April, 2-4pm. If you would like to help give the Village Hall garden a spring clean and meet others interested in brightening up the village then email 
Caryn is acquiring a water testing kit to monitor the water in the River Leven near the Floodplain Meadow in Great Ayton on Saturday 25/4 during the Spring Great UK WaterBlitz 
Get ready for Great Big Green Week (GBGW), the UK’s largest celebration of community action to tackle climate change and protect nature, returning this year from the 6th to the 14th of June! This year’s inspiring theme is “Together for good,” highlighting how everyday, collective community actions create real, practical benefits for our planet and our shared future. Whether you are an environmental expert or just want to make a local difference, there are endless ways to get involved—from organizing a simple clothes swap, community walk, or a local climate conversation cafe, to simply bringing an existing sports club or choir event under the GBGW banner. By hosting an activity, no matter how small or “low effort,” you will be joining a massive national movement to show politicians that we urgently care about a greener, fairer world. Start thinking now about what fun, local activities you or your community groups could organize to help us come together for good! Our Repair Cafe on 13th June will be part of GBGW activities. Please get in touch if you want to help or have another event you want to come under the GBGW banner – 
Kate represented our Repair & Reuse Cafe at the Parliamentary Repair Cafe at the invitation of Helen Hayes MP (spot our signature pink t shirt!). Over 100 UK Repair Cafe representatives and several national reuse organisations attended to hear talks by Mary Creagh, Minister for Nature (biodiversity, net zero, water quality, and environmental sustainability). Repair Cafe representatives talked directly to nearly 100 MPs who attended and persuaded them to sign the 
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is launching this survey to understand how many birds use and rely on our greenspaces. Open to all experience levels, with simple and flexible methods, BTO would like us to record the location & how long we spent there, and which birds and how many observed. There is a free app (Birds in Greenspaces) or
This is an annual celebration of Britain’s wild mammals, and the people working to monitor, protect and restore populations of these vital species. Find out about local organised activities as well as projects you can do as an individual 
The recent warmer weather has brought out the first butterflies of the year. The website 
This month we have a talk on ‘Seed Sovereignty’ by Catherine Howell from the Gaia Foundation & co-ordinator for northern England. Seeds are kernels of life. They support our entire food system: providing sustenance and nutrition for all those we share the living world with. For millennia, small-scale farmers have freely cultivated, saved, and shared a vast diversity of seed, the source of the majority of food on our plates, and those of our ancestors. But today seeds have become one of the most controlled commodities in the world. Come and find out what seed sovereignty is and why it matters. More info here 
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%.
Last month we moved some of the perennial veg plants into a border so that they are easier to maintain and be more obvious for picking. The plants include Welsh Onions which make a great winter alternative to spring onions, Turkish Rocket which has leaves you can use like spinach and Common Sorrel with leaves that add a lovely lemon flavour to dishes. This month we will create a ‘pot luck’ area to sow the seed from the out-of-date packets from the Discovery Centre Seed Share Box. It will be interesting to see which are still viable!
Every second Saturday each month there is a gathering in the methodist church hall serving refreshments and a source of local information, guidance and support. CASaV have been invited to showcase what we provide for the community and how people can take part in our activities. There will be a special focus on home energy saving and a hands on activity. Pop along to find out more.
This month we celebrate four years of our Repair Cafe – reducing waste and extending the use of what you already own instead of buying new. Come along for a slice of birthday cake whilst our friendly pink T-shirted volunteers show you how 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 and gardening blades. 
CASaV is affiliated to Friends of the Earth. They have recently published some useful articles considering the evidence and challenging widespread disinformation about climate breakdown. Read more here 
Following a discussion with Great Ayton Parish Council and CASaV’s steering group, the Brighten Up Great Ayton group will become a sub-group of CASaV to help formalise its status. There will be a re-launch of the group in April to hopefully attract a few more volunteers.
There are now two interpretation boards at the Great Ayton Station 
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.
Climate Action Stokesley and Villages 