Community shop opening - Sarah's report

aturday 6th March saw the official launch of the Community Shop in Ashton Hayes. Delighted villagers from Ashton Hayes and Mouldsworth cheered and watched with pride as Postmistress Helen Rimmer cut the ribbons to the shop. With the prospect of losing the much loved village store on Kelsall Road, volunteers have worked hard to preserve it for their community. Also present when the ribbon was cut was Neil Ritchie, Deputy Mayor of Chester. He made a sterling speech praising the efforts of the volunteers in the community, singling out Lisa Allman among others,

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Nøtterøy, Norway and Ashton Hayes link up

Roar Jonstang, Mayor of Nøtterøy, has informed us that the committee of Nøtterøy Municipal Council passed the following unanimous resolution on 20 January 2010.

"Nøtterøy enters into a collaboration with the village of Ashton Hayes on combating climate change. The aim is to exchange ideas and experiences on how to combat climate change through grass roots involvement. The agreement to collaboate implies no economic obligations for either party"

Thanks to everyone in Nøtterøy from everyone in Ashton Hayes!

See the formal letter from Nøtterøy Council here.

DECC selects us to be one of 12 Low Carbon Communities

Ashton Hayes is one of 12 communities from across the UK celebrating after winning up to £500,000 each to help install new green technologies such as solar panels, hydro turbines and energy saving insulation.

The grant money, awarded through the Government’s Low Carbon Community Challenge, will be spent on a range of green measures which will cut carbon, save money on energy bills, and could even see some communities make cash from generating their own energy – thanks to the Government’s new clean energy scheme.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Joan Ruddock said:

“The huge enthusiasm for the Low Carbon Communities Challenge demonstrates that local people are passionate about building a low carbon future in the UK. Today’s winners will act as a test bed for green action, and show us all what a greener future looks like.

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Community shop open for business on Monday 25th January

The community shop officially takes over the premises at the village store this week. The shop will be closed for refurbishments from Thursday to Sunday (although Helen will still be providing Post office services, bread, milk and newspapers from the rear of the premises).

We hope you like the changes we are making. Please bear with us over the next few weeks as new suppliers are established and final display fittings are delivered.

Please come and visit your new store next week and tell us what you think! We are grateful for any suggestions you may have, or requests for items you think we should keep as this is your Community shop and its success is dependant on its use by Community members.

Remember - unless we use it we will loose it!

Lisa Allman
On Behalf of the Community Shop Steering Committee

Blacon wins Phase 1 LCCC funding, Ashton Hayes awaits Phase 2 decision

Congratulations to Ged Edwards and his team in Blacon for winning Phase 1 funding under the UK's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Low Carbon Communities Challenge. We are disappointed that the Ashton Hayes microgrid and green vehicle plan failed to secure DECC funds but hope we can secure the finance in Phase 2 of the programme in 2010.

We are now planning our project strategy for the coming years and will be announcing some changes in the New Year after consultatation with our volunteers.

Happy New Year to everyone!