About the Group
In March 2005 Hamish Wills, a local resident, hand delivered a letter to hundreds of Redland households asking if anyone else was concerned about climate change, CO2 emissions and environmental destruction. We held a meeting and the group began.
So far we have;
- established the regular Whiteladies Road Farmers Market
- established an email forum on Yahoo with 120 members
- established a Redland CRAG (carbon group), as part of a national network of similar groups
- secured a group deal for solar domestic water heating, and at least twenty households now have this installed
- made big personal changes in home energy, car-free travel, less or no flying and shopping differently
- held meetings with speakers (see Events on home page) to learn more about problems and solutions
- linked up with other groups in Bristol through the Transition Bristol project
- agreed a Sustainable Redland Constitution and set up a bank account with the Co-operative Bank
- responded locally and nationally on consultation and planning matters affecting the environment
- raised awareness in Redland through leaflets to households, stall at the May Fair, articles in local magazines and newsletters, and through local radio
- joined in with the Metford Road Community Orchard, a wonderful venture run by some exceptionally knowledgeable and committed horticulturalists
- planted 99 apple trees in 2008 as part of the Transition Fruit trees project
All our work is achieved by people giving up their own time. We cover costs of room hire and printing from small donations. We received a small grant from the Frances Wood Trust that funded the initial costs of this website. Jake McMurchie who designed the site has given us lots of help with managing it. We are very grateful to Maryam Saleem, year ten student at Cotham School who has designed our Farmer’s Market leaflet, and to Morgan Beddoe Estate Agents of Whiteladies Road who very kindly organised the printing and covered all the costs. We are grateful also to local businesses for practical help and support with the Farmers Market, particularly Dreweatt Neate Auction Rooms and Rossiter Smith and Co.
We have a chair, secretary and treasurer and around a hundred and twenty people on our Yahoo mail group. Basically anyone who wants to help with guardianship of the planet is in effect a member of Sustainable Redland, and you don’t have to live in Redland.