Charlbury Green Hub

www.charlburygreenhub.org.uk

REPAIR NETWORK

FARMERS MARKET PRODUCE IN CHARLBURY EVERY WEEK

Since the start of the covid-19 restrictions we have been organising the safe collection of fresh fruit and veg etc from outside the Community Centre. Styan Family Produce usually have a stall every three months at our Farmers Market but since the beginning of April 2020 they started selling online and dropping boxes off for collection in Charlbury EVERY SATURDAY. The produce comes from our nearest market gardening area near Evesham in Worcestershire. Their website also includes produce normally available at our Farmers Market -  Stainswick Farm oils and dressings, Charlbury honey, preserves, free-range eggs and a range of Smarts cheeses. Anyone can order and pay online each week, there is no minimum spend, just select individual items from their website. When checking out specify "collection from local volunteer/farmers market", enter your postcode and then select Charlbury and the date for the coming Saturday. Your order will then be ready for you to collect from outside the Community Centre between 9.30-10.30am.

For more information about the wide range of local food available near Charlbury please see the Local Seasonal Food page on the Charlbury Green Hub website

Weekly drop-off and collection for refilling SESI Household Cleaning Products at the Community Centre OR at the quarterly Farmers Market

We are providing a drop-off and collection service for refilling SESI household cleaning products every Saturday morning 9.30-10.30am alongside the Styan fresh veg collection for collection the following week. Bottles can also be dropped off for refills at the quarterly Charlbury Farmers Market for collection the following Saturday at the veg collection.

We have their full range so you can also buy a full bottle for refill another time if you order in advance by emailing sesi@charlburygreenhub.org.uk.

FREE GARDEN PRODUCE including apples, plums etc AT THE CORNERSTONE AT THE CORNER HOUSE

After 12 years, the COVID-19 rules about social distancing meant that the fortnightly Big Apple Take-Aways had to be cancelled in 2020 BUT the good news was that apples, etc became available at The Cornerstone at the Corner House as soon as they were picked. The Cornerstone is open Monday - Saturday from 10-1. The growing weather this year in 2021 has been dreadful so garden produce is very late in becoming available - please bring along any spare produce from your garden or allotment - you can be sure that other people in Charlbury will be delighted to eat it. Please contact sharecroppers@charlburygreenhub.org.uk or phone 811057 if you would like to arranged for your spare fruit to be picked.

SECURE PAPER SHREDDING

BRING & TAKE

• During COVID-19 restrictions we organised two garden gate Bring & Takes throughout the whole town, but we were pleased to be back in the Memorial Hall (and more spaced out) in May 2022

• Electrical items always have to be PAT tested in advance so items are already tested and available at the event.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Use our website to find out more about environmental issues. Each page has relevant links to external sites, BBC radio & TV programmes, and relevant books which can be shared locally. The site is continually updated with interesting items.

COUNTRYSIDE PAGES

Information about our local Countryside including:

• Local Wildlife showing what you might see month by month in Charlbury.
• Blenheim Farm Nature Reserve showing what's been found on the reserve next to the Centenary Woodland.
• Footpath Network for local walks around Charlbury.
• Nearby Places to Visit near Charlbury and Oxford which are all beginning to be at their best as the flowers emerge.

Sites listed include several lovely fragments of ancient woodland nearby which were once part of the more extensive Wychwood Forest and which are good for bluebells in the spring like Knighton's Copse in Wychwood Forest (below).

OXFORD REAL FARMING CONFERENCE

ORFC is held in early January every year, it is always an uplifting start to the year, and Christine from the Charlbury Green Hub always attends so she can pass information on to people in Charlbury. Because of COVD-19, the 12th annual conference in 2021 was held online with thousands able to attend from all over the world - the recordings are available on YouTube.

The Farm Gate podcasts from FAI Farms at Wytham are good to keep you up to date on various farming and environmental issues.  If you want to understand better the current debate about methane emissions then please listen to Episode 1: Ruminant Methane, GWP* & Global Warming.

See Charlbury Green Hub website for a good summary of local food suppliers

OUR AIMS

The aim of Charlbury Green Hub is to help local people and groups find their way around environmental issues, to share their experiences and to spread Charlbury's good ideas to other communities in Oxfordshire. The website is a good starting point for you to find out more about our local countryside, food, energy, travel, and the wider implications for our planet's limited resources and climate change.

The pandemic has meant we are having to reinvent all the events that we normally run. So far, we have set-up the collection of Styan fresh veg every Saturday morning, we have also replanned the SESI refill arrangements for household detergents and our Farmers Market stall, the Tool Sharpening, the Secure Paper Shredding, the Big Apple Take-Aways, and the Bring & Takes. We have also launched a repair service within the town. We have had to suspend collecting things like bras, spectacles, batteries, water filters, printer cartridges, lightbulbs for reuse or recycling. Every winter we borrow the thermal imaging camera from WODC to carry out heat loss surveys for houses in Charlbury - contact us if you want to book a free survey.

In 2013 we changed our name from Charlbury Area Waste Action Group which had started in 1997 and was one of the first members of the Oxfordshire Community Action Group network which originally concentrated on waste. But times and issues move on, and now we are one of about 60 community groups in the Oxfordshire network all taking action on climate change, including waste reduction, carbon reduction, sustainable transport, and food, energy and water issues, to live a more sustainable and less resource dependent life in our local communities. More about us