Thank you for everyone who attended our first group meeting in Upper Bucklebury. We had a fantastic turnout of 20 people, who were keen to find out more and get involved. After introductions (and tea, coffee and cake), the second half of our meeting was spent brainstorming ideas. There was a wide range of suggestions, and we are already getting some underway - with your help!
A popular suggestion was for the group to help inform people about what is going on locally, to promote local events and initiatives and to have a definitive guide on recycling opportunities locally. We have agreed to produce a map on our website of everything relevant in the parish. If you know of anything that should be on the map or have any details, please let us know. There is demand to get more recycling opportunities by increasing what can be recycled at existing drop off points.
Newbury and Thatcham repair cafe attended our meeting and have offered some great advice. We are keen to start a quarterly repair cafe in Bucklebury. This will need a group of volunteers happy to give up some time to come along and help with repairs and admin. If this is something you would like to get involved with, please let us know.
Making local homes more energy efficient was also discussed and making use of solar energy for water heating. With more keen volunteers we would like to set up a working group for energy efficient homes.
The involvement of the next generation is vital to work on sustainability and representatives of Friends of Bucklebury School are keen on getting the school involved in Sustainable Bucklebury. The school already has recycling in place and would like to get their children involved in our activities.
Discussion on the reduction of food waste was a popular topic. Other communities have set up zero waste stalls or pick up/drop off points where surplus food from home and gardens can be distributed, along with donation points. It would be great to get this going in Bucklebury.
All these plans need people to make them happen so let us know if there anything you would like to help get started. Please also help spread the word so we can reach more of our community who would like to get involved.