All events are at the Colwall Park Hotel in the room on the left of the entrance hall. Talks start at 19:00, but we will be there from 18:30.

Tuesday 16th April
How to make your house more energy efficient Herefordshire Green Network - Building Sense

"Building Sense" is an initiative from HGN to bring together people, information and professional expertise to help with the challenge of making homes (and workplaces) comfortable year-round in the face of high heating bills and the need to cut carbon emissions.

Tuesday 21st May
Herefordshire Council - Net Zero

Elissa Swinglehurst (Cabinet Member Environment; Deputy Leader of the Council) and James Marsden (Chair of Herefordshire Climate and Nature Partnership Board) on the Council’s plan to reach net zero. Herefordshire Climate and Nature Partnership Board was set up just over two years ago as a key part of Herefordshire Council's mission to deliver a net zero and nature-rich county.

FutureEvents

8th June
Colwall Orchard Group’s annual wildflower meadow picnic
9th November
Retrofit Festival at Colwall Village Hall – follow up to our successful Eco Festival.
16th November
Drop-in session at Colwall Library’s Millenium Room with a focus on recycling in view of the forthcoming changes to Herefordshire Council bin policy. We will also be introducing our Spring 2025 Festival plans on the topic of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”.

Tuesday 19th March
Climate Fresk

Climate Fresk

Our March meeting will be a Climate Fresk workshop. Climate Fresk is a fun, collaborative activity by which participants increase their understanding of the causes and effects of Climate Change. It is suitable for every-one regardless of whether you know nothing or a lot about the causes of climate change. Join in and find out what 1.5 million people in 156 countries have already learnt. Discover the Climate Fresk.

If you would like to attend this meeting, please email us so we know how much equipment we need to provide and set up.

Thursday 22nd February
Celebrate Our Hedges at Colwall Village Hall

Celebrate our Hedges

Tuesday 16th January
Ledbury Repair Cafe (Susanna Perkins)

A talk about Ledbury Repair Cafe

Tuesday 19th December
Christmas Social at Colwall Park Hotel 19:00

Christmas Social with eco-games and mince pies

Tuesday 21st November: AGM

AGM and Social – "People, Planet, Pint".
2023 AGM Report

Saturday 21st October:
Live Green at Colwall Library Community Hub 10:00-12.00

Drop In

Come and meet members of Colwall Greener

Friday 20th October:
2040 at Colwall Village Hall 19:30

You tube 2040 Film screening of 2040 in conjunction with Flicks in the Sticks.
2040 follows the writer's imagining of a future for his four-year-old daughter, where climate change has been solved. It is a journey to discover what the future could look like if we simply embraced the best that exists today.
This will take place in Colwall Village Hall with the film starting at 19:30. £5 entry (£3 entry for children). There will be a break in the middle for ice creams

Tuesday 19th September:
An Introduction to Doughnut Economics (Raechel Kelly)

Economists usually look at the world in the way which means growth is more important than anything else. Kate Raworth's doughnut model of econmics looks at what else we should be considering. This will a gentle and thought-inspiring introduction to the subject.
"At last - an economic model that won't destroy the plant"- George Monbiot.
Raechal is sustainability consultant, based in Cheltenham, who is involved with several local and national groups including the advisory board for the Cheltenham Science Festival.
At the talk, mention was made of a podcast by Kate Raworth titled "Doughnut Economics and thriving in balance". It is episode 22 (June 12 2023) in "The Rest is Politics Leading" series. I could not find it on the main "Rest is Politics" listings, you have to search for the "Leading" ones.

Saturday 24th June:
Joint Picnic with Colwall Orchard Group

Lugg's Mill Orchard From 12:30. Location: "https://what3words.com/swims.lift.snap"
We’re getting together with Colwall Orchard Group to hold a celebratory Meadow Picnic at Luggs Mill Orchard on Saturday 24th June from 12.30pm. We’d love you to come along, bring your picnic and join in the fun. If you’d like to find out more about orchards and wildflower meadows we’ll be on hand to talk about these important parts of biodiversity. But, don’t worry, you can just lie back, relax, and listen to the grasshoppers and crickets instead!
If you can not make the picnic, the signposted meadow walk will be open to visitors from Saturday 10th June through to Sunday 9th July. Colwall Orchard Group’s Wildflower Meadow Walk starts at Colwall Village Garden on Old Church Road, then along Old Church Road to Brookmead where there are two further meadows, and then along the footpath to Lugg’s Mill Orchard. The walk is signposted with notices describing the flora and fauna in these beautiful wildlife habitats.

Tuesday 11th July:
Linking landscape history to biodiversity present and future (David Lovelace)

Colwall Park Hotel (Beacon Room) 18:30 for 19:00

In the early 1980s ’ancient woodland’ was given legal protection aimed at preventing commercial forestry turning native woodland into conifer plantations. Local Authorities and English Nature (now Natural England) produced county-wide Ancient Woodland Inventories based on historic maps. However, the definition of ’ancient woodland’ excluded all parkland, wood pasture etc:
In 2019 Natural England drastically reduced the numbers of trees required to define what is now called ’Long Established Woodland’ (LEW). This now includes even very small fragments of former woodland, parks or wood pasture if they can be shown to have historical continuity to a former more extensive woodland, park or wood pasture.
This new inventory of LEW is made possible by the availability of digitized historic maps, high resolution aerial photography and advances in digital mapping software which can carry out in-depth analysis at the level of individual trees back 200 years or more.

Tuesday 13th June:
An Introduction to Doughnut Economics (Raechel Kelly)

Postponed - will be rearranged

Economists usually look at the world in the way which means growth is more important than anything else. Kate Raworth's doughnut model of econmics looks at what else we should be considering. This will a gentle and thought-inspiring introduction to the subject.
"At last - an economic model that won't destroy the plant"- George Monbiot.
Raechal is sustainability consultant, based in Cheltenham, who is involved with several local and national groups including the advisory board for the Cheltenham Science Festival.
We are also able to lend Kate’s book “Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st Century Economist” from our new Lending Library - contact us to make a borrowing request.

9th May:
Social – "People, Planet, Pint"

A chance to get to know members of the group and generally talk about climate change, biodiversity and what is going on locally.

11th April 2023:
System Change Now! (Richard Priestley)

Climate protesters chant "System Change Now!", but what exactly do they mean?
Richard Priestley will talk about his new book "System Change Now!" which seeks to portray a possible future, where we heal the many inter-related crises facing humanity (Climate, Ecological, Social & Political). The book, and the talk, explore many exciting opportunities and possibilities, from global trends to personal actions.

14th March 2023:
The Climate and Ecological Emergency and what we should be doing about it
(Johnny Birks)

Dr Johnny Birks is a local retired ecologist and a member of the Malvern Extinction Rebellion Group. He gave a talk on why governments need to be confront the climate and ecological crisis. Some links from the talk are

14th February 2023: Hidden Herefordshire (Tim Kaye)

Tim Kaye is the project officer for "Hidden Herefordshire: discovering its wildlife and wild places" project. He gave a talk on how the project has been engaging with individuals and groups to record more of Herefordshire ecology. To discover more about recording Herefordshire species visit the Herefordshire Biogical Records Centre (HBRC) website. There you will resources on how identify plant and wildlife species along with recording forms.

10th January 2023: The John Muir Trust (Sheila Wren)

You can catch up with the lovely short film on the John Muir Trust's work on YouTube. The talk included information about the Award scheme that is open to all ages.

The talk was followed by a discussion on the Survey of Potential Group Activities

6th December 2022: It's Christmas - How to have an eco friendly Christmas

Discusion led by Liz and Hannah including what is the carbon footprint of your Xmas Tree, how to decorate your house and wrap your presents, including a hands-on practise of wrapping presents with fabric using the Japanese Furoshiki method.

22nd November 2022: AGM

Colwall Village Hall: 19:00 (Doors open 18:30)
The AGM was followed by a debrief of the Eco Festival, to collect any lessons learned before we forget them, and a social evening.

The AGM calling notice and request for new Committee members can be found here

Winners of the Eco Festival Art Competition

12th November 2022: Eco Festival 11:00-16:00

Stalls, Talks, Children's Activities.
What a marvellous day - We handed out free teas vouchers in the main hall to 508 adults and 82 children.
Click here for all that went on or read our festival programme.

18th October 2022: Talk and Discussion

What can I do about the climate and nature crisis? A talk and discussion led by Helen Heathfield of the Green Party.

23rd August 2022: Meeting

The Colwall Greener Group meets approx. every quarter. The next meeting will be on 23rd August May 2022 in the Colwall Orchard Group Apple Packing Shed, starting at 6.30pm. If you would like to come along you will be very welcome but please let us know by messaging us via the Contact Us page.

24th May 2022: Meeting

Meeting discussed the way forward

Topic groups on environment, energy, transport, zero waste and campaigning will meet in between times to discuss and progress projects.
A proper re-launch of Colwall Greener is being planned for the autumn so please look out for details on our Facebook Page!

5th April 2022: The Great Collaboration

Beth from the Herefordshire Green Network has kindly agreed to come and give a special presentation to Colwall Greener about The Great Collaboration. Beth will share with us the guidance, tools and techniques that have been rolled out and are already being used in other villages and communities in Herefordshire to engage people and help them on their journey to Net Zero.

The presentation will be on 5th April 2022 in the Colwall Orchard Group Apple Packing Shed, doors opening 6.30pm for a 7pm start, with a voluntary contribution of £1 towards refreshments.

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28th November 2021: Relaunch of Colwall Greener

The relaunch of Colwall Greener at Colwall Orchard’s Packing shed was attended by 20 people with apologies from 5 others. Previous members of Colwall Greener talked about the projects that have been achieved in the past, not least the Colwall Orchard Group, Village Garden, Car Club and energy surveys.

Looking to the future, the brief “round the room” revealed that there are many areas that people are interested and/or have expertise in. These included: wildlife protection and conservation, land management, electric bikes, car chargers, climate change campaigning, recycling, carbon neutral buildings, “green” renovations, renewable energy, environmental law, tree wardening, orchard management, repair cafe, etc:

Topic Areas which could lead to further projects (in no particular order):