July’s Resource Thoughts – 2026

Our next Zoom meeting is on Tuesday 11th August 7pm – Please contact simongibbon@casav.uk for further details.

Full notes below, after a quick summary – follow links for the detail:

  • Waste
    • Children will be Reading to the Beat using instruments made with upcycled waste this summer
  • Big Picture
    • World’s on Fire is a fantastic community choir using the thoughts and experiences of local people.
  • Energy
    • How do we get enough renewable energy when on the one hand developers aren’t installing solar/heat pump at build and on the other politicians are blocking wind turbines.
  • Food
    • The new Eco cafe at the ARC in Stockton uses nearly out of date fresh food.
  • Textiles
    • Coop want to be the pre-loved uniform drop off point this summer
  • Nature
    • Wheat and fruits are small this year due to the heat and drought.
  • Reduce / Reuse / Recycle / Circularity
    • The Reuse Corner at the Repair Cafe is the embodiment of the circular economy making sure things don’t go to waste – next month its stationary for back to school/college/university/office
  • Communications
  • Volunteers

Actions

All: Contact Simon to volunteer to help at:
– Bilsdale Show – August 29th

All: Contact Kate to donate for Repair Cafe Reuse Themes:
– August & September: back-to-school/college/university/office stationery and textbooks.

Pete contact Carlton School & Kate contact Kirby & Great Broughton School to mention Co-op uniform collection suggestion.

Wendy contact Stokesley Community Care to looking into the Thursday pensioners’ lunch adopting the food nearing its expiry date model.

Kate arrange to collect stationary from Robert’s Northallerton office.

Robert co-ordinate scavenging event in September.

Actions from Previous Meeting

All / Helen: Please contact Helen Herring with donations of clothes etc and reusable packaging (such as shoe boxes and sturdy envelopes) to help her granddaughter sell donated clothes on Vinted to fund a volunteering trip.

All: Contact Simon to volunteer to help at:
– Repair Cafe @ Festival of Thrift – July 4th and 5th
44 people from 6 repair cafes helped to repair over 80 items and spread the repair message to more than 1000 people over the 2 days
– Bilsdale Show – August 29th

All: Contact Kate to donate for Repair Cafe Reuse Themes:
– June & July: Focused on travel/leisure books and outdoor games.
– August & September: Shifting focus to back-to-school stationery and textbooks.

Updates

Michelle

“Read to the Beat” summer reading challenge at NYC Libraries will have sessions which focus on teaching children to make musical instruments from waste: Great Ayton 30/7 2-3.30pm, Stokesley 4/8 2-3.30pm, and Northallerton 5/8 10.30am-12pm. Children can then sing along or read to the beat with their upcycled instrument.

“Feast” (Food. Entertainment. Arts. Sports. Together. – targeted at low income families) activities are currently focused heavily on the Richmondshire area due to the new harmonised bin roll out.

The Co-op reached out to propose using their stores as donation drop-off points for pre-loved school uniforms over the holidays. A good idea but emphasized the need to coordinate with existing school-run swap shops (such as those in Stokesley, Carlton, or Kirby & Broughton) to ensure they are not duplicating efforts or taking away from the schools’ programmes. Timing is also tricky as all schools are closing in the next couple of days.

Action: Pete – contact Carlton School & Kate contact Kirby & Great Broughton School to mention Co-op uniform collection suggestion.

Now funding for free reusable period products has ended, users are now directed to High Street shops.

Kate

The Reuse Corner at the Repair Cafes currently has a surplus of travel books, but still needs play equipment.

August and September Repair Cafes will feature a “back to school/college/office” theme, collecting items like stationery, folders, and textbooks.

Joy and Kate have joined an inclusive community climate choir called “World’s on Fire” organised by Little Cog at the Arc in Stockton. The performance is being created bottom up – people’s concerns on Teesside about climate change and what they are doing / able to do. Still looking for volunteers for “climate choir” – performances on 15/16/17 October – ARC – along with a Climate market place which will include organisations such as CASaV from across Teesside also North North Yorkshire.

There is an inspiring catering model at the Arc, which trains people to cook pay-as-you-feel community meals using fresh food that is nearing its expiry date.

Wendy

Recent Guardian article pointing out that the vast majority of press reports on the June heatwave completely failed to mention global heating or net zero. Out of 2500 articles about heatwave – 72% left out climate change, only 5% mentioned Net Zero – coverage best to worst – FT, Guardian, Independent, ……, Sun the worst

The extreme dry heat has resulted in much smaller fruit this year, like gooseberries, and can still be used to make cordials or jellies rather than letting them go to waste.

Will investigate if the Thursday pensioners’ lunch run by Community Care could adopt the Stockton model of cooking with food nearing its expiry date.

Action: Wendy contact Stokesley Community Care to looking into the Thursday pensioners’ lunch adopting the food nearing its expiry date model.

Robert

Would like to hold a community fruit and nut scavenging event (for walnuts, hazelnuts, apples, and grapes) during the first two weeks of September.

Action: Robert co-ordinate scavenging event in September.

Can donate unwanted files, picture frames, and stationery from closing Northallerton office to the Repair Cafe’s Reuse Corner.

Action: Kate arrange to collect stationary from Robert’s Northallerton office.

Anne

Local strawberries are also exceptionally small this year due to the weather.

The local Labour Party meeting passed a motion urging the government to adopt a national climate resilience plan to prepare for weather extremes and global catastrophe. Sad realisation that we have had to move the focus from mitigation to adaptation.

Pete

Observed how extreme heat has severely dehydrated local wheat crops, resulting in minute grain heads, even though already ripe, will mean far more grains per tonne which means farmers will get less payment per field.

Shared positive feedback from a Rob Hopkins event in Middlesbrough, which encouraged attendees to imaginatively “time travel” to 2036 to picture a thriving, nature-friendly future to inspire action today. Sent a postcard to myself from 2036, creating memories of the future, seeing the empty department stores in Middlesbrough filled with caravans for the homeless.

Great experiences at the Repair Cafes @ Festival of Thrift, impressed by how many young children already knew about making gardens nature-friendly, such as creating hedgehog highways.

Simon

Discussed the issue of grid constraints preventing the installation of solar panels on large portal frame sheds and new estate houses.

Shared his experience attending the Northumbrian Water innovation festival (“turning the Tees tide”), which looked at improving the river for nature and unlocking business developments.

Stokesley and Villages Repair Cafe along with 5 other repair cafes had a great success with the Repair Cafes @ Festival of Thrift, where we repaired more than 80 items over 12 hours and engaged with roughly a thousand people. Also great for all the repair cafes to meet and learn from each other.

Matters Arising

Energy Infrastructure & Local Resistance: The group discussed the UK’s energy grid constraints, the disparity in energy pricing between regions, and the failure of developers to maximise solar panel installations. They also discussed a local campaign, supported by a newsletter from Rishi Sunak, opposing a proposed wind farm at Hope Moor.

Visions of the Future: Inspired by the Rob Hopkins event, how do we incorporate an imaginative “time travel” exercise into future community events (like the Billsdale show) to help the public envision a positive, thriving climate future rather than just focusing on survival and adaptation.

Repair Cafes: Swainby 18th July and Stokesley 8th August

Upcoming Festivals: Volunteers are needed for the Bilsdale Show on August 29th, and the multi-group Repair Cafe at the Festival of Thrift on July 4th and 5th.

    Next Meetings

    • People’s Emergency Briefing (PEB) Screenings: Upcoming local screenings are occurring in Saltburn on 30th July 7pm and Great Ayton Discovery Centre on 9th September 7.30pm, link to the screening map screening map.
    • Climate Action Stokesley and Villages: annual general meeting Tuesday 21st July 7pm Stokesley Community Library.
    • Repairer Gathering: A summer lunch for Repair Cafe volunteers will take place after July’s Swainby Repair Cafe 18th July.

    Next Meeting

    Tuesday 11th August via Zoom (https://zoom.us/j/96341121802).