Interview by Kath Jenkins
Continuing our series of interviews connecting with other organisations in Wales which share our core values of waste reduction, skill sharing and community cohesion, I recently had the pleasure of meeting Holly Cross, director (secretary) of Cwm Arian Renewable Energy (CARE) based in North Pembrokeshire. Holly is a founding member of CARE with a background in community development and educational support. CARE will shortly celebrate its 10 year anniversary and is a community benefit society striving towards a low carbon economy in an area where access to services is poor, housing stock is old and fuel poverty is of real concern.
In an attempt to address these issues, Holly has worked with the community to install a wind turbine for their benefit. This was eventually installed 18 months ago and was generating energy as we spoke. The electricity is fed into the national grid and the income received is invested in the local community.
I was keen to find out more about this amazing enterprise and started by asking Holly how CARE’s activities result in waste reduction, one of our key aims at Repair Cafe Wales (RCW) as we like to repair things rather than throw them away:
“Through our ‘Growing better connections’ initiative, we have begun a landscape regeneration and community engagement project which holds events such as ‘A walk in the woods’. These events raise awareness of nature’s worth and the value of us, as individuals, caring for the environment. When people understand the effect of their own actions, they are more likely to act in ways to protect the environment, including waste reduction.
We have also bought a fuelling station in the local village which we are converting into a studio for creative engagement. We will only be using sustainable and local materials in the build and we are engaging the local community in a hands on way, demonstrating the importance of sustainability.
CARE is also partnered with ‘Smarter Energy GB’ and have funding through a local sustainable development fund to research best practice to encourage energy efficiency which includes the installation of smart meters. In doorstep conversations we are finding out how people use energy in their homes and how this changes with increases in efficiency and costs being reduced.”
Wellbeing Walk
I was eager to find out more about how CARE promotes skill sharing, another of our prime objectives at RCW. Our visitors are invited to sit with their volunteer repairers, COVID-19 restrictions permitting, to watch and discuss the repair, enabling skills to be passed on:
“Through our ‘Growing better connections’ project, we are holding a series of events in local community woodlands. This includes how to manage land sustainably as well as imparting traditional skills such as coppicing. We are also a signposting organisation and through our blog we outline where people can find out more if we don’t know the answer ourselves.
We also aim to share skills in our studio for the community project, which we hope to start building in the summer. The contractors that we will engage know that part of the time will be spent upskilling volunteers who will help on the build.”
Directors at Turbine Foundation
Although Holly had already given many examples of how this community group promotes community cohesion, which RCW’s pop up sessions aim to do by inspiring and connecting local residents from different backgrounds, I was keen to find out more:
“We try to make our events as accessible as possible. They are usually free to attend. At the moment we are also supporting local residents in Hermon to acquire land to create their own woodland. People from many different backgrounds come to our events and we offer our support whenever it is needed.”
Bugs Day
This led me on to my final question regarding governmental policy which meant that RCW was unable to hold public events for a number of months, although we are thrilled to be up and running again now. During the restrictions we streamed virtual repairs which can be watched here and we also offered a drop off and pick up collection in Cardiff. Many of Holly’s projects are, of course, outside, so I wondered in what ways CARE’s activities were restricted:
“The restrictions began when the ‘Growing better connections’ project was in its infancy. This did mean that we had time to consolidate our approach, but by the summer of last year we were all quite frustrated. We have turned to social media a lot more and have set up a blog to share information and to engage with our community. We also mapped out several routes for self-guided walks which can be found on our website.
As the restrictions have eased, we have been able to do much more as our events are outdoors. We closely monitor the Regulations and make the most of our outdoor activities, currently for 30 people, which are mostly open to anyone.”
So, if you’ve been inspired, as I certainly have, and would like to find out more, why not have a look at CARE’s website: www.cwmarian.org.uk/.
Join us next time to find out more about another Welsh organisation which shares our core values.