The Sky is Falling

“The Sky is Falling!”

Henny Penny calls. An acorn has just landed on her head and, panicking, she hurries of to warn all her friends of the impending doom. The beginning of this well known children’s story has passed into the English language as indicating a hysterical or mistaken belief that disaster is imminent. There are some that believe the news of recent years about global warming and climate change and how it will effect peoples around the world is just one such mistaken belief. They deny it is happening and even if it is, we had nothing to do with it and couldn’t change things even if we wanted to.

Down on the Edwardian Farm

Last week, Westden organised a group of Year 8 students from Tavistock College to spend a day in the life of Edwardian children down on the farm at Morwellham Quay. The day was part of the BBC series Edwardian Farm which is the sequel series to the highly popular Victorian Farm broadcast last year on BBC 2.

The weather was wet but it didn’t stop the 15 boys from getting stuck in. Once dressed in period (and most likely itchy!) costume, they were filmed having a traditional and rather strict Edwardian school lesson. Morning exercise, writing on slates, being caned, being made to stand in the corner for fidgeting made for some good filming and a great experience.

The afternoon brought more rain however the boys mucked in on the farm and worked well to bring in the potato harvest for washing and sorting.

Sue Jerrett, who accompanied the students to the shoot, said: “It was a great day and the lads were an absolute credit to the college; they rose to the occasion on all counts.

“The actors and film crew said they had never worked with such a fantastic bunch of kids and each take was a success first time.”

Teacher Pete Keegan, who transported the students and photographed the day, said: “They were selected due to their excellent enthusiasm for history. They had a fantastic time dressing up in period costumes and being taught in a strict Edwardian classroom while the cameras rolled. The students gained a very valuable insight into Edwardian life and really embraced the opportunity. They literally transformed into Edwardian farmers, taking the tasks very seriously, and thrived on the learning experience.”

The series is scheduled to appear on BBC2 from November 18 in 12 weekly episodes. Tavistock College’s students will appear in episode 11. A book will be released to accompany the series which will feature photographs taken by Mr Keegan.

Lobbying crackdown in government under threat

Remember back in May when the new government announced their secret lobbying crackdown? Now it looks like they’re trying to cook up a back room deal to water down the new rules. The government minister in charge of writing the new lobbying rules has set up meetings with professional lobbyists. But he’s ignoring requests to meet anti-lobbying campaigners.

Felt workshops..

Upcoming Felt Workshops with Mary Toon

Nuno Felt Collage/Landscape: Tue 27 Jul AM or Fri 30 Jul PM – £20 incl. materials.

Felted Bowls: Tues 27 Jul PM or Fri 30 Jul AM – £20 incl. materials.

To book please contact The Duchy Centre for Creativity on 01822 890 828

The Big Lunch 2010

At noon on Sunday, we braved the swirling mist and pitched the first tarpaulin on the banked grass in Bannawell Street Park ready for our Big Lunch 2010. Armed with local homemade or Fairtrade food, an assortment of games and stubborn optimism we laid out our fare. It was great to see the first of our neighbours coming around the corner handling their hamper up the hill.

Before long we had around thirty people lunching on a giant patchwork of picnic blankets. Children played freely and safely on the recreation equipment whilst others adventured down the stream bisecting the park. Our star guest finally showed up, parting the clouds and turning the afternoon into a perfect little community event.

Thanks go to all those who braved the grey and made the effort. We all felt that it is the start of some regular neighborhood gatherings. Thanks also go to Roger Howard and Wayne Southall from the Tavistock Town Council for permission to hold the event in the park which proved to be an excellent venue and somewhat of a secret garden to many.

The Big Lunch is an Eden Project initiative which encourages communities to slow down for one day, get together and enjoy our environment and each other. Westden promoted the first big lunch last year in the Meadows which unfortunately was rained off. 2010 has been much more sun-friendly and was for the residents living around Bannawell Street Park. All who attended agreed that we should try and make them more regular.

For more information about the Big Lunch visit: www.thebiglunch.com

Autumn talks by Dr Ann Pulsford at the Wharf in Tavistock

Big Lunch 2010 – this Sunday….

Click on the Big Lunch 2010 tab at the top of the page…

Using herbs as medicine

Learn how to use herbs safely to treat yourself & your family for simple ailments & first aid. Take home your own ointment and herbal tea mixture.

Westden volunteers – Thank you!

Volunteering is a wonderful way of spending spare time. Here at Westden, we  rely on volunteers for our projects and for that we are very thankful.

Currently we have around 25 volunteers working at the Tavistock Community Primary School on our pilot project for the Community Landscape Network (CLaN). We are about to start working again at Tavistock College and we would be interested to hear from any new volunteers who would like to get involved in this exciting new project.

You can also volunteer on the office side performing tasks like campaigning, fundraising, administration, web management etc.

If you would like more information, please contact Max.

If you would like to volunteer but you are not near Tavistock, please contact the West Devon Community and Voluntary Services.

Community Project Officer wanted for CCD

COMMUNITY COUNCIL OF DEVON
Helping communities help themselves
Charity No: 1074047
Company No: 3694095

COMMUNITY PROJECT OFFICER (LOCAL FOOD)

4 days (29 hours) per week Fixed Term Contract to Sept 2012
Salary £22,001 – £22,221 pro rata + benefits (pension, flexi-time, 25 days holiday pro rata)

Change your world from Sustrans

Take a walk. Get on your bike. Choose the bus or train. Pledge a journey and let’s see how many times we can get around the world by 4 July.

Join in Change Your World. Make a journey by foot, bike or public transport and help us clock up enough miles to complete our virtual trip around the world. Show your support by pledging one of your journeys – then tell Government they must act too.

38 Degrees: people, power, change

A law for the Earth

Two distinguished British barristers are campaigning for changes to the global legal system, which would see greater environmental protection and justice for those affected by climate change.

International climate change action (? or spin)

The first formal United Nations climate change talks since Copenhagen have concluded in Bonn, Germany last week. Detailed discussion progressed between over 180 countries on key climate issues such as mitigation, finance and governance.

Tavistock Town Council remove their support for TaVi

I have just heard that Tavistock Town Council have removed their support for the Tavistock & Villages Development Forum (TaVi). The TaVi committee provides vital funds to third sector organisations like Horrabridge Youth Club and Tavistock Rugby Club and also hosts a monthly Open Forum for Tavistock and the surrounding villages to be able to air their concerns and plan for the future together.

GrowTavi was a recent open forum which I ran in conjunction with TaVi and Westden and we saw 31 members of our community representing over 17 organisations show up to discuss all aspects of local food growing. From it two projects have spawned: GardenShare and a potential CSA. It was a great success and a perfect example of what we could have regularly in Tavistock.

The point is that all three tiers of local governement sat on the committee including Tavistock Town Council, West Devon Borough Council and Devon County Council. The other two are maintaining their support for TaVi as the only space that Tavistock has for the public to meet and discuss local issues. Also, as national government are talking about decentralization and empowering local communities I find the decision from the Town Council quite counter-productive. Mutual support is what these times demand, not back turning.

Admittedly, TaVi is going through a process of working out what it wants to be and how it wants to get there but I am disappointed that at this time when optimism and aiming high are required of our wonderful town, that the Town Council have decided to pull their support.

More on this anon….

Maxim Laithwaite
Environment Portfolio Holder, TaVi

New website for the Tavistock Peace Action Group

Buckland Abbey Community Garden Meeting

World Environment Day 2010 – Sat 5 June

Westden endorses the United Nations’ World Environment Day (WED) 2010 which is aimed to be the biggest, most widely celebrated, global day for positive, environmental action.

Commemorated on 5 June since 1972, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the UN stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and encourages political attention and action. But how many times have you heard about it. And what does just one day mean?

Chagford Energy Fair – Sat 12 June 2010

Save money, get grants, earn income through the new tariffs and avoid cowboys in the fast changing world of renewable energy. Read more about the Chagford Energy Fair….

Where do the words ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environment’ appear in the Coalition’s Programme for Government?

Our in-house politico [sic], Maxim, has been probing further into The Coalition’s Programme for Government. He wondered how many times key words showed up. Words like ‘sustainability’, ‘sustainable’ and ‘environment’. Well here are the results…