Date & location
The Cross Keys, 6:30pm Thursday 12th January 2023
Agenda
- Update from PACE
- Project Updates
- Farms and gardens hub
- Community Fridge
- Cae Bodfach
- Community energy
- 20 minute neighbourhoods
- Seed swap
- Community days
- Key dates for the next year (PCC climate event, Welsh Climate Week etc)
- Ideas for new projects
- Upcoming meetings
- January meeting programme & advertising
- Ideas for future meetings
- Funding
- Financial Update
- Local Giving
- Town Council fund
- Insurance renewal
- Powys Green Guide
- Facebook page
Attendees
- Diana Allen
- Fiona Slater
- Colin Hargis
- Maggie Holmes
- Alison Alexander
- Lesley Sweet
- Jackie Langston
- Alan Bridger
Apologees
- Sue Dolman
- Paul Mason
Town Council Fund
There is £8,000 available to apply for from funds distributed to councils throughout Wales to aid community initiatives. Alison proposed writing an application with Diana to fund “Come Dine with Me” sessions for groups of five children to learn to cook, where they could invite friends and family to come and eat with them. General consensus that this was a good idea and that an application should be made, and a discussion that we could link this in to produce from the community garden. The closing date for the application was the following day (13th January).
PACE Update
Diana gave an update from the PACE meeting on Tuesday, where there was a proposal for a Powys-wide community energy group, coordinated by Duncan Burwood from Zero Carbon Llanidloes. This should be well-received by Powys County Council, who are apparently keen to get solar PV onto municipal buildings. Alan agreed to contact Duncan Burwood and try to link up the BRACE community energy group with the new Powys one.
PACE is going to become a partner of Climate Cymru, working with the Welsh government on behaviour change. BRACE could also partner with Climate Cymru, which would allow attendance at regular online meetings.
There will be a Big Green Week event from 10th to 18th June. Powys County Council will also be running a Spring/Summer climate conference on 14th June in Llandrindod.
Powys County Council will also be focusing on rural transport this year, so this may tie in well to discussions that BRACE has been having around transport issues.
Powys Green Guide
BRACE now has a profile on this, and we can add events. Diana will share the login details with the steering committee.
Farms and Gardens Hub
BRACE appears to have been entered to be a local green hub. No one on the steering committee knew of this though, so Alison will try to clarify this.
Y Pantri
The launch of this is happening on Wednesday (18th January). The fridge, freezer and shelving all exist and have been set up, and a leaflet drop will be taking place over the next week to every house in Llanfyllin. Food is coming from Spar, who are keen to help out, and have offered to freeze produce and store until the community fridge can collect it. Morrisons in Llansantffraid are also keen to contribute, and Diana will be collecting produce from them.
Volunteers will need to book in all food, which will be weighed in and out. Cooked food can only come from professional kitchens due to hygiene regulations.
Shan Mayor is currently coordinating everything, but has asked if BRACE can look at funding for a long-term project manager in future. The overlap between BRACE and the Cross Keys will need ongoing discussion to ensure that everyone is happy with the arrangement.
Cae Bodfach
Wassailing was a success and people are keen to do this again next year. There is a pruning day coming up on Sunday 22nd January from 10am to 1pm.
Community Energy
The report needs to be added to the BRACE website; Alan agreed to do this. Much of this had already been discussed as part of the PACE update. It was agreed that there would be a meeting at 6:30pm on Monday 16th January to discuss community energy.
Next General Meeting
This will be focused on energy. Diana will speak to Imran about giving a talk about options for domestic renewable installations, and answering peoples’ questions. Diana will give a talk about the experience of having solar PV installed, and the funding options available. Alan will give an update on the community energy project.
Alan will advertise this on the BRACE mailing list and WhatsApp group. Fiona will advertise on Facebook.
20 Minute Neighbourhoods
The final report for this is on the BRACE website; we just need to direct people to read it. Arts Connection has done some follow-up work on this, so it would make sense to have a joint meeting and discuss both projects. Everyone agreed that this would be a good subject for the March general meeting.
Key Dates
- We need a date for a seed swap. Alan agreed to talk to Sue about this.
- Everyone agreed that the mini-festival in Cae Bodfach was a success and was keen to do this again. Good Friday falls on 7th April this year, and everyone agreed that this would work well.
- Welsh Climate Week: 21st to 25th November.
- COP28: 30th November to 12th December.
- Llanfyllin Show: no date yet
Everyone agreed to bring other key dates to the next steering committee meeting.
New Projects
Diana wants to lead on setting up a Library of Things, and will organise a small group to get started on this.
February General Meeting
It was agreed that the February meeting would focus on new members with a project fair.
Insurance Renewal
There appears to be sufficient funding available for this.
Fundraising
Alison needs to sign the form to allow Diana to finish the setup of LocalGiving. We can then use this for fundraising.
Lesley will send Fiona the list of questions that XR Oswestry and Borders uses on its Facebook group, which should be sufficient.