Congleton Sustainability Group, 2011 events

Seedling Swap Sunday 8th May at Astbury Mere Visitor Centre:

Between 2pm and 4pm bring along all your spare seedlings, cuttings and spare plants and swap/barter/trade with everyone else! As ever with these events plenty of apple juice for sale, refreshments and good natured banter, come and join us even if you have nothing to swap there’s plenty to gain.

Bear Mania – our Eco-Bear:

All the fun of the bears – we just had to be part of this awareness raising campaign in the town, so Eco-Bear was born you’ll have to see how Petra Lea and Mike Dixon decorate her but we’re sure it will amuse you and link in with all our sustainability work. She’ll take up residence by the side of The Old Mill weir waiting for the hydro scheme to become a reality, let’s hope she doesn’t have to wait long!

Cheshire Show 21st/22nd June at Tabley House:

Come and find us showing off the town’s fine Eco-Schools cluster in the Education Tent, lots of fun things to do and your opportunity to make your green pledge and hang it on our ‘recyclables’ tree. Of course Eco-Bear will be having a day at the Show too!

Congleton Food Festival Sunday 26th June:

Last year we took over the Community Garden and it quickly became the place to chill out to the wonderful sounds of Mbollou’s African drums; a place of peace amongst the wonderful atmosphere of the festival. Mbollou are with us again this year, local food growers and producers too; the much loved Congleton Rhubarb Chutney and Apple Juice too. Lots of recycling, Love Food Hate Waste, sustainability stalls for your education too!

Congleton Apple Juice:

2010 was a great year for Congleton Apple Juice, you gave us 3.2 tons of apples and we made 1820 bottles of juice. So, what can we do this year? If you’ll bring us even more apples we’ll make even more juice and really put Local Congleton Food on the map.

We’ll do exactly as we did last year, bring your apples to Astbury Mere Visitor Centre, with your contact details and you’ll get free bottles of juice; any old apples other than bad ones will juice brilliantly. If you need help picking call us and we’ll arrange something!

Congleton Local Food:

Our jams and chutney maker, Purple Laura, has gone onto great things winning a national award for her marmalade and now a supplier to Fortnum and Mason’s but she’s said she’ll make for us again this year. So, we’ll start with Rhubarb Chutney in June and then make jams and chutneys with whatever abundant produce is given to us!

Seed Swap Sunday 16th October at Astbury Mere Visitor Centre:

Bring along any spare seeds, plants and produce you have and swap/trade/barter with everyone else between 2pm to 4pm. By this event we should have lots of apple juice and other local food so make a date in your diary to come and shop with us at this very informal event in the wonderful setting of Astbury Mere, to whom we are enormously grateful!

Congleton Apple Week:

We’ve decided that our wonderful Congleton Apple Juice gives us all the excuses we need to celebrate wonderful English apples. There is a national apple day on the 21st October so we’re organising Congleton Apple Week with our shops, cafes and restaurants celebrating in style with apple juice and apple recipes.

News?

• We and Dane Valley Renewable Energy Projects are working hard to make the hydro scheme on the River Dane a reality, planned for installation in Autumn 2012.
• We are publishing a carbon reduction plan for the town with lots of practical projects to help us all to save energy and reduce costs.
• We are working together with Congleton Cycling Campaign, Cheshire East
and Sustrans to implement a £120,000 scheme to our improve cycle paths.

Email us at peteraston@btinternet.com  for more information.

Call us at 01260 280212.