Welcome to Northfield Ecocentre’s April newsletter. This monthwe introduce the Birmingham Green Commission, a new Bike Hubfor South Birmingham and Northfield Food Bank, and ask for yoursupport to continue our successfulNorthfield Orchards project.

April Newsletter

All the best,

2013

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We would like to send out a huge thank you to all the volunteers that put in so much hard work and madeour Big Dig event such a success by helping us clear a large area of our site by clearing weeds and felling someof the trees that had to be removed, in preparation for our 2 bottle greenhouse workshops.

The greenhouse workshops will take place on Saturday 13 April and Wednesday 17 April. Apologies to thosewho missed our grafting workshop which was cancelled due to snow. A new date will be announced on ourwebsite, twitter and facebook soon.

www. northfieldecocentre.org/foodgrowing/community-food-growing

Thank you!

A word from Damien - our Northfield EcocentreApprentice who works on our communitygarden project:

GardeningWorkshops

Free

Workshops take place

at our Community

Garden

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse Building- Sat 13 April & Weds 17 April.Container Gardening - Saturday 4 May, 1 - 3pmForest Gardening - Saturday 11 May, 1 - 3pmPractical Permaculture - Saturday 18 May, 1 - 4pmEarth Oven Building - Sat 25 May & Sun 26 May

Booking Essential. Call Jackie on 0121 448 0119

The Big Dig took place all around the country duringMarch, including at our Masefield CommunityGarden on Lindsey Avenue in Northfield, inpreparation for the growing season andforthcoming gardening courses.

Birmingham GreenCommission

Birmingham has an ambitious target for2027 to reduce carbon emissions by 60%against a 2005 baseline. The next step forthe Green Commission, in October, will beto publish a Carbon Roadmap that willfocus on four priority areas:

In March 2013 Birmingham’s GreenCommission published its VisionStatement, described as a programme ofwork to make Birmingham one of theworld’s leading green cities.

� To create a low carbon green economyand a place where businesses want to

invest and are encouraged to do so� Maintain and enhance our vital

environments and ecosystems� Reduce our CO2  emission levels and

increase local, low carbon energygeneration

� Deliver social and environmental justice� Improve quality of life and wellbeing.

Through the Vision Statement, the Green Commissionsets out the aims for Birmingham as:

“Our research shows the benefits of becoming aleading green city are enormous for Birmingham.

Jobs are already being created locally in green industries but we need to ensure Birmingham is atthe cutting edge, so it becomes a place that businesses want to invest in. And if we can developlow carbon vehicles, energy efficient homes and new ways of generating energy, citizens will savemoney and enjoy a better quality of life.

This Vision Statement lays the foundationsthat will help turn these aspirations intoreality in the months and years to come.”

2. Preparing a Mobility Plan toimprove how we travel

3. Improve the energy and affordablewarmth of buildings

4. Create more localrenewable energy.

1. How Birmingham should be heated &powered, developing an Energy Plan

The Commission will work with businesses,the Third Sector, and the City Council todevelop the vision collaboratively. Monday15 April will provide an opportunity forinterested groups and individuals to begincontributing to this process at theSustainability Forum.www.birmingham.gov.uk/sustainability

Northfield EcocentreManager, Georgia Stokesis a member of the GreenCommission and will be chairinga discussion at the SustainabilityForum in April.

Cllr James McKay,Cabinet Member fora Clean, Green &Smart City said:

When many people think of the green agenda, they thinkof things like carbon emissions and global warming – andwhile these issues are clearly important it is also vital forus to get things right on this agenda because there areeconomic and social gains.

VISIONSTATEMENT

www.northfieldecocentre.org I Email: georgia@northfieldecocentre.org I Call us on: 0121 448 0119

We planted 1600trees in 18 Months.

That’s 20 CommunityOrchards!

pearapple

cherry

plum hazelalder

maple

beech

The project was part funded by the Big Tree Plant but the fundinghas now expired. So, we are looking for ways to keep the projectgoing, from sponsoring a tree for £15, to corporate sponsorshipand team building days planting a local community orchard.

Help us continue our project and plant more trees on communityland across Northfield including parks, schools and localbusinesses, and provide a source of fresh, nutritious food for localpeople.

Daniel Bryson-Peart, Secretaryof the Friends of Manor Farm

“We think our community orchard will help bring thecommunity together. It will help keep vandalism downby getting people involved with the park. The orchardwill provide somewhere for local people to come andget free fruit. Nothing will get wasted – the stuff thatisn’t collected will be used in other ways. We hope it

will be a major success.”

Adopt a tree!

The orchards are amix of fruit trees &broad leaf whips &include :

Community Harvesting Projectensures fruit does not go to waste. Staffand volunteers pick fruit & distribute it tothe community, on the high street, andat children’s centres for healthy eatinginitiatives.

Help extend our

Project!

Garden Fun - Sat 30 March, 10.30am - 12.30pm

Seed planting, paper pot making and Easter activitesat Masefield Community Gardens (Lindsey Avenueoff Bunbury Road, B31 2LB). Followed by:

For more information visit our websitewww.northfieldecocentre.org

Family Activities - March/April

Learn new skills, save money andprotect the environment

Starting Saturday 14 April: Northfield toBournville Circular. Meet at 10.30am atthe multi-sport area in Victoria Commonin Northfield.

2nd Sunday of each month from April –October 2013. Children and Adultswelcome.

Bike Hub

Family Cycle RidesEaster Family FunSaturday 30 March

A day packed full of family fun!

Easter Chick Factory

Saturday 30 March, 2 -4pm(repeated on Tues 2 April, 2 - 4pm)

We’ll be making lovely Easter chicks andthen hunt for chocolate eggs in VictoriaCommons to fill them up! And we’ll bespotting early birds with the help of abird spotting dial Booking Essential. 0121448 0119. £1 donation per child. Adultsto accompany.

Northfield Ecocentre is delighted to have been grantedsome funding through Northfield Ward Community Chestto begin the development of a bike hub. There are anumber of bike hubs across the north of the city but noneso far in the south of Birmingham.

Bike hubs provide a vital service for people wanting to startcycling or get back on a bike by offering short (one day) orlong term (six month) free hire of a bike. For example, thefantastic Bike North Birmingham offers bike ability lessons,group and led bike rides and bike maintenance workshops.(http://bikenorth.birmingham.gov.uk/)

The Ecocentre will be working with other localorganisations to explore development of a bike hub overthe coming months. For more information contact Georgiaon 0121 448 0119

South Birmingham

REMINDER!

Save the Date!

Big Lunch

Picnic

Sat 1 June

●Be there for thosesuffering financialhardship

●help local people getback on their feet with agift of essential fooditems

Northfield Ecocentre is collectingfood for the Life Line Food Bank

Please donate any organic, fair tradeor Low package produce to helppeople in need such as

●TinnedFruit/vegetables

●Tea

●Coffee

●Sugar

●Long Life Milk

●Juices/Squashes

●Rice

●Pasta

●Cereals

Northfield Ecocentre53 Church RoadNorthf ie ld ,B i rmingham. B31 2LB0121 448 0119enqui r ies@northf ie ldecocentre .orgwww.northf ie ldecocentre .org