Sustainable Blewbury
Sustainable Blewbury is concerned with climate change and other environmental issues. We must end our dependence on fossil fuels because of the increasing levels of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. We need to explore ways in which we as a village can adapt to a low carbon and more sustainable way of living, while maintaining a good quality of life. SB places the highest priority on raising awareness of climate change and communicating urgently how it affects all our lives.
Our Project page has more on Sustainable Blewbury’s origins, a list of our projects and who to contact for more information.
Sustainable Blewbury Activities
Thermal imaging of houses: Get your home thermally imaged for free in January
Seeing where heat is leaking out can help you make your home more comfortable, save you money and reduce your carbon footprint by showing what can be done to improve your insulation. Sustainable Blewbury volunteers have imaged and provided short reports about well over 200 homes in Blewbury since 2009. To be on our list, or for more information, email
info@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk or phone Eric at 07935 232 296. (We need more helpers. It’s interesting work and little experience is needed to help take the images. Just contact us as above.)
Annual footpath leaf clearing – DIY this year!
A big thank you to all the public-spirited people who have been taking part in the Great Blewbury Rake-Off by clearing leaves from our footpaths. By pure coincidence we started during the Vale’s Extra Recycling Week, so the brown bin men took away many of the black bags piled up around the village.
It is hard work once the leaves have got soggy, and they were under water in Watts Lane one weekend. So well done! Most of the leaves have now been cleared, but do feel free to tackle any patches left behind. If you do this please bag up the leaves, stack them at the road end of the footpath, and post where you have left them on BVS Facebook so that people who want leaves for mulching know they are there. (Or if you do not use Facebook email me at jolakeland@blewbury.uk so that I can post them). The Parish Council (BPC)will clear any bags remaining, but we want to give you the opportunity to help yourself before they do so.
Thank you again, from SB/the BVS/BPC who (with volunteers) arrange the leaf clearing in a more normal year. (I think leaf clearing may officially become the Great Blewbury Rake Off from next year!)
Thank you for helping to keep Blewbury beautiful! Jo Lakeland
Hedge laying
We have now laid the hedge along the southern border of Blewbury allotments. This has had a transformative effect on the allotment plots alongside the hedge, allowing in much more light and probably adding up to a metre of extra useable ground. We were originally asked to lay 80 metres of hedge and, with some stakes and binders cut from the hazel growing along the road boundary we have extended this to over 100 metres. The small length of hedge remaining has been cut down to the same size. We welcome suggestions for further hedges to be laid. John Ogden
In normal times, we have a substantial programme of activities in and around the village. Getting involved is fun and can make a very positive contribution to village life and the local environment. If you’d like to get involved, or to receive our free Newsletter, email us at info@sustainable-blewbury.org.uk or phone John Ogden at 01235 850372
Newsletter 42 – November/December 2020
Our latest Sustainable Blewbury Newsletter is available here.
Local SB activities: A Blewbury nature reserve? Annual footpath leaf clearing; Thermal imaging of houses in January; Permaculture orchard garden: medlars; Hedge-laying progress. Then: Revised timetable for 94/94S bus in the New Year; Climate jargon and climate change explained; Environment is to benefit from ‘biggest farming shakeup in 50 years’; So, what can I do to help the climate NOW? A small, sensible British hydrogen-powered car; An important point to discuss: is net zero good enough? 1% of people cause half of global aviation emissions. Finally, some longer articles: A Christmas that cares for people and planet; The UK’s 10-point climate-change plan, with some comments
Earlier newsletters and their contents are available on our newsletters page.
Blewbury Climate Action (BCA)
BCA is a group formed by Sustainable Blewbury
at the request of Blewbury Parish Council.
Our aim can be summarised as: ‘acting
locally in a global climate emergency’ and this heads every
page on our BCA blog.
We can see with our own eyes that our climate is changing, and scientists from all over the world agree that the world is facing a climate emergency. But governments are failing to address the crisis, so we must tell politicians that we expect them to do better for ourselves and future generations, and we ourselves must also do what we can to help.
It is naturally more difficult to get going on your own, and also to know what to do that’s most effective, so the BCA group was created to provide unbiased information and to help people do things large or small that will make a difference to the global climate emergency.
Our Ideas meeting on January 8th was a great success. Plenty of people came and they had masses of ideas about what we should do. I ended up with well over 150 ideas on post-it notes to sort into groups, then the people who came to the meeting will be able to decide which ideas they were most concerned about and which they want to follow up.
Subscribe to our blog: blewburyclimateaction.com, or follow us on Facebook: facebook.com/BlewburyClimateAction
Blewbury buses: Revised timetable for 94/95S in the New Year
We have been hoping since 2016 for reinstatement of earlier and later 94 weekday buses and a Saturday service. And this is what is happening from 4th January! It could reduce the carbon footprint of the villages and will give village residents without cars much improved access to both Didcot and the Harwell Campus.
The revised service will run linearly from Didcot through East Hagbourne, Blewbury, Upton, Chilton to Harwell Campus and back again, but unfortunately West Hagbourne’s only stop will be at the Horse and Harrow. A pdf copy of the new timetable can be downloaded from the Thames Travel (TT) website at thames-travel.co.uk/routes/94. There will be no changes to the 94S buses on school days.
It is important to remember that in July 2016 when Oxfordshire County Council decided to withdraw all funding for local bus services we could have lost all our buses had TT not managed to keep the 94 service running by transferring some pupils that they had previously taken to school on a dedicated coach service onto the 94/94S instead. The requirement to carry school children continues to provide a significant portion of the revenue for the service. This commitment to getting children to and from school on time (using a single bus for both the 94 and 94S route) determines the availability of the single vehicle that provides both the 94 and 94S service.*
It means that the first direct bus to Harwell Campus does not arrive there until 9.32 am. If you need to get to Harwell Campus before then you have to take a bus in the opposite direction to Didcot Parkway and transfer to the X32 service.
* Children from eight villages (Blewbury, Upton, the Hagbournes, Astons and Moretons) are transported to and from St. Birinus and Didcot Girls School on the 94S bus.
The current timetable is available here.
Jo Lakeland
Please also try the Friday morning minibus to Wallingford run by the Downland Villages Transport Group (DVTG) – it’s great for doing errands or just having a quick break in Wallingford on market day. If you haven't already signed up or need more information, contact dvtgbus@gmail.com, or ring 01235 851763. You can buy tickets at Blewbury Post Office or Savages.
Click on these links to find out:
- why we need Sustainable Blewbury;
- what we are doing;
- how to help; and
- how to contact us.
Our activity is organised around five main themes:
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The travel and transport theme promotes public transport and encourages cycling and walking, with more cycleways and footpaths, in order to reduce car dependency. |
The Blewbury Energy Initiative aims to reduce energy consumption in buildings, encourage the use of renewable energy resources and use much less coal, oil and gas. |
The food and farming theme supports and promotes local food production and marketing in order to reduce food miles, as well as encouraging fair trade. |
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Natural Environment & Heritage The natural environment and heritage theme is to promote protection of Blewbury's history, architecture and special characteristics – such as its springs and streams, trees, and village fabric. |
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The reduce, reuse, recycle theme aims to reduce the amount of waste, and to encourage reuse of items and recycling to recover raw materials. It promotes water saving, local recycling and household composting. |