The New Forest Nappy Library

The New Forest Nappy Library is up and running.  We are very grateful to Hampshire County Council for a grant that has enabled us to buy all our kits and to our wonderful team of volunteers, all of whom are cloth nappy experts, who are on hand to help other parents take the plunge!  For more details click the button below to visit the website.  Do you know anybody with a young baby who might want to give cloth nappies a go?  Please spread the word!

Have you got something that just needs a minor repair to keep it in use?  We held a very successful Repair Café in the Village Hall back in April.  All sorts of items were saved from landfill by our wonderful team of repairers.  Our next Repair Café is on Saturday 26th November, 10.30 – 12 noon.

Making Space for Nature

The Making Space for Nature Team has done a fantastic job of creating a little wildlife trail in the grounds of St Saviour’s church, just near the big gate on the main road.  Initially planned in time for the Eco Fair to showcase what can be achieved in gardens and small spaces to encourage wildlife and help nature recover, this space is now a permanent feature which we hope will inspire and educate.  Why don’t you pop in and have a look! Or perhaps join the team or one of their working parties to help maintain the site and transform other small spaces for nature around the village.

We have joined the nation-wide “Plastic Free Communities” campaign, calling ourselves “Plastic Free Brockenhurst”.  Plastic Free Communities is a grass roots campaign, started by Surfers Against Sewage, that helps communities to reduce the use of avoidable, throwaway plastic.  We are hoping to work with the Parish Council, local business, local community groups, our school etc on this.  There is so much to do …. Would you be interested in getting involved?

The Eco Fair

Our Eco Fair, jointly hosted by the church, was on a very hot Saturday in July.  Nevertheless, there was a great variety of local crafts and Eco ideas for all the family to enjoy.

The Lifting of the Sway Road Bridge weight restriction

I think the last time we emailed you, it was to ask you to write a letter to Hampshire County Council in objection to the lifting of the weight limit on the Sway Road Bridge, thus allowing HGV’s of any size to cut right through our village.

Well, many of you did write! Thank you so much!  And in addition, many of you came to support us in lobbying our Parish Council to also object to Hampshire.  We worked alongside Friends of Brockenhurst and the NPA and, I am delighted to tell you that there is good news to report!  Hampshire have just written to inform us that they have agreed to rescind the change.  Please see this link for full details of their decision making: https://www.hants.gov.uk/publicnotices?orgid=1&areaids=15%7C13%7C8%7C9%7C20%7C6%7C5
There is still work to be done as the issue of the Meadens Car Transporter off loading and turning on Sway Road so near the school, remains.

uture Events

1.     We plan to be out and about trying to see what our members and local residents think of what we are doing and should be doing.  To this end we plan to put up a Gazebo opposite Tesco’s on Saturday 1st October 10am – 3pm and be there to meet and talk to people.  Please come and see us and share your thoughts and ask any questions you have.

 

2.     Our AGM will be held on Wednesday 12th October at 7:00pm at the Snake Catcher pub.  It will be short and informal followed by a chance to chat about how we can continue to make Brockenhurst a greener, more pleasant place to live.   We would love to see you there!

Finally, congratulations to Welcome Store Brockenhurst who won two national awards in two weeks!

They won the Sustainability Retailer of the Year Award at the London National Award Ceremony on 13 September, then last week they also won the Most Sustainable Retailer Initiative of the Year Award for an Independent at the 2022 Retail Industry Awards. Well done!

Thank you for your support and for taking the time to read this newsletter.

With very best wishes for a greener future from the Greener Brockenhurst Team.