Hello Eco members!
We hope you are all keeping warm and well. There is lots of exciting things going on across Arran this time of year we’d love it if you would read on for a little of the latest with us!
This newsletter will share:
(1) Eco Savvy Christmas Pop Up
(2) Volunteer Val to become Shop Manager
(3) Work Experience Opportunity on the Eco Savvy Energy Challenge
(4) Welcoming Hilary
(5) Climate Change Article: UN Environment Emissions Gap Report
(6) Arran, the Solar Island
(7) Coop/Eco Savvy Food Share
(8) Article: Food Surplus and Waste in the UK-Key Facts 2018
(9) Join the Eco Savvy Food Share Group(10) Christmas Events Calendar so Far
(1) Eco Savvy Christmas Pop Up Shop
Thanks to the hard work of our volunteers, Eco Savvy has it’s very own Christmas pop up shop. Some might know it as the old weigh station, some may know it as the “hauff” but until the 14th of December, it will be a festive Christmas pop up! It will be open the same times as our main shop so pop along and don’t miss out on some unique Christmas decorations and cheer. Special mention and thanks needs to be given to our volunteer Elizabeth, who has put in a lot of work to make it look so wonderful as illustrated in the pictures below:
(2) Volunteer Val to become Eco Savvy Shop Manager
We are delighted to announce that Val, who has volunteered at the Eco Savvy shop for years, will become our shop manager from mid December:
(3) Work Experience Opportunity on the Energy Challenge
We are excited to announce we hosted a visit from the Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce who approved us to offer work experience opportunities on our energy efficiency project. Below is a small overview, head to our website for more information, or click the box below. If you are or know of a student that might be interested, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with us.
(4) Welcoming Hilary
As many of you know, we recently welcomed a new trustee to the board: Hilary Maguire. She has been invaluable and we feel very lucky to have her support in the role of Treasurer.
Hilary is a chartered accountant; trained with Price Waterhouse Coopers and when newly qualified, worked in audit in Rome, then in London as financial controller of a hospital for women and children and after that as a manager with Grant Thornton. She has run her own practice which has mainly featured the provision of an outsourced finance function for new technology companies for the past twenty years.
I can’t deny I had been hoping to escape from accountancy, moving towards retiring, but when Eco Savvy needed a treasurer, it would have been very hard to hide away and not help when my skills are needed! Volunteering as a trustee seemed a natural progression as the way I can make a difference having been passionate about the environment and having supported environmental causes for most of my life. The sad thing though is that it’s so easy to feel helpless about how little we can do individually to change the world. Coming to Arran, I’m so inspired by the knowledge that here we canall make a positive difference and having seen all the fantastic work that Eco Savvy is doing on Arran – through the brilliant shop with all the dedicated shop volunteers, through the wonderful team working on the Climate Change Fund projects such as the energy audits, through workshops and education – I’m delighted to be able to play my part and contribute to making Arran a more sustainable island.“
5) Please Click Here for Climate Change Article: UN Environment Emissions Gap Report
(6) Arran, the Solar Island
Since we started visiting homes with energy efficiency advice in May, there have been many residents expressing an interest in solar PV. The first installs will take place very soon with a list of 25 residents lined up.
At this point in the project, we thought it might be a good idea to hold solar surgery social day where people thinking about Solar PV or already in the process of getting it can speak to other locals in the same position! We will also be helping people fill out online PV checks, informing and providing detail on which solar installers we have spoken to far, and helping you plan and organise your project.
It would be useful if you could prepare with information on the shading near your roof, and pictures of your roof as well as your monthly electricity bill.
We will be rewarding anyone who remembers to bring their current meter reading with a free LED light bulb!
The event will be held from 10am-3pm. If you are keen to come for the purpose of speaking to other residents please come between 1-2pm. For anything else regarding Solar PV pop in anytime between 10am-3pm.
We look forward to seeing you!
(7) Coop Food Share Partner
We were recently approved as a Food Share partner with the Coop and as of last week, have started to collect surplus food as a part of the Coop’s new, national food redistribution program. This enables the Coops’ donation of good quality food directly to local community groups such as ourselves, who can then redistribute among anyone interested.
The Coop: “As a part of running our busy shops, there’s usually some food that we aren’t able to sell to customers at the end of each day. This food can be offered for free to approved partners that can put it to good use feeding people in the community.”
We are starting small, with one collection day a week with a view to eventually expand once we have the volunteer power. From our little bit of experience so far, the amount of food that we have the opportunity to redistribute for use is significant.
How can you get involved
1. Come and collect food between 9-10pm on Thursdays at the Ormidale Pavilion, Brodick or it will have to go in the bin!
The scheme will be starting from TOMORROW (Thursday 6th of December ). We will post pictures and information on our newly formed Facebook forum (click the box below to join). We will post pictures and information on this forum before 9pm so you can see what is available and unnecessary journeys are not made. Please don’t hesitate to join the group and we will keep you posted!
We collect the food from the Coop at 8pm, and we will be sorting through it to make available for pick up from 9-10pm. We have to distribute on the day and at that time because the majority of what we are taking from the coop has the “use by” date of the day we collect.
2. Help support the scheme by Volunteering
The other way you can get involved is by volunteering to support us with pick ups and redistribution. If we have enough volunteers there is the potential for us to do this more than one day per week.
We can’t stress enough how beneficial this will be if this food ends up being used by households across Arran instead of going to landfill, so please don’t hesitate to pop in to collect.
(8) Please Click here for Article: Food Surplus and Waste in the UK-Key Facts 2018
(9) Please Click here to Join the Eco Savvy Food Share Group
(10) Christmas Events Calendar so Far
Otherwise, we are all getting geared up for the festive season. Here is our events list so far. We will be sharing eco tips on our social media groups regularly in the hope that we can help people have a greener but equally as festive and wonderful Christmas.
Thank you for being part of the Eco Savvy journey!
Till next time!
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