what a venue! July Friends of the Earth meeting

Our July Friends of the Earth meeting is at Linthorpe cemetery Thursday 29th July, 7pm a 53 acre nature reserve, the biggest treed area in Mbro, which is jam packed with wildlife, flora and fauna and what wonderful, beautiful 100 year old trees.
Follow the link below to see a map and further venue details, but we are in the education centre that used to be the old Hebrew prayer house, a squarish building opposite where the old General hospital on Ayresome Green Lane used to be.
http://www.keepbritaintidy.org/GreenFlag/GreenFlagAwardSites/NorthEast/Default.aspx?parkID=240
If you are interested in green issues, animals, allotments, cycling, renewable energy, food . . . . come along,please take this opportunity to get involved or give us a ring/email.

Boro Mela big success

The Middlesbrough Mela in its 20th year was very busy, and a big success. The Friends of the Earth's stall concentrated on getting new members, but we also had a colouring carbon footprint competition for the kids that went down well. It was great to meet the public and chat with other stallholders. Estimates are that some 7000 people came on the Saturday but there were many more on the Sunday.

The delicious smells wafting from the food stalls, the hubbub of the market, the rhythm of bangra music and the bright colours of the crowd were a heady mix, and it all went off with no trouble at all! The stalls varied from the council and fire brigade, to food stalls and fancy goods, to jewelery and clothes. On the Sunday morning the wind had picked up which made it difficult to put up banners and display boards but the stallholders all helped one another out and by mid-day it had died down and the sun came out and brought out even more people.

Here's looking forward to the 21st boro Mela!

Greener Living Roadshow

In Holland over 30% of journeys are made by bicycle - thats a stunning fact. In the UK its only about 2% bike-it website and there is not any real reason why it is not higher in the teesvalley. FoE actually ran two stalls one to reduce cycle crime and the other to try and recruit more people to start a Friends of the Earth just for Stockton.

Apart from being able to try out lots of different types of bike there were other stalls included the 10:10 campaign, CTC, the carbon trust, the real nappy people and things like solar panel and insulation companies.

The day went well and the new venue of Ropner park was lovely.

Cycle theft puts off cyclists

Imagine if people left their mobile phones unattended outside a shop for 5 minutes, would you be surprised if they were stolen? Well this is what happens to hundreds of bikes, an opportunist thief will zoom off with your bike given the chance and because they are usually untraceable you are unlikely to get it back. This happened to two of my friends and it certainly put one off cycling again.

But what about the lady who locked her bike up outside a Berwick Hills supermarket in plain sight and came out to just the cut lock? What can you do especially if you have a nice bike? Its not just David Cameron with this problem.

Advice is that you use two locks, a shackle and a chain, that thieves would use different methods to break - its unlikely that they would have bolt cutters and a hammer and chisel. Lock it to a proper bike stand if possible so that it cannot be lifted off (Dave Cameron take note!). Have a look at the bikeoff website We are liaising with Cleveland police to see if FoE and Middlesbrough Environment City can help with this problem.

Seamer & Hilton windfarm given green light

After at least 3 years and 7 expensive inquiries/meetings, the Seamer and Hilton wind farm has finally been approved. Five turbines 125m high and about 600m from the nearest residence will be built astride a lane that joins the two villages. Stringent conditions on safety, abnormal load delivery and monitoring were made by Stockton and Hambleton councils.

Friends of the Earth attended two of the council meetings supporting the application which were packed out with protestors. "SWAG gave a number of reasons to reject the wind farm and did a good job I felt highlighting how big an operation it is to install a wind farm and what is involved. I thought that this and their opinion that it would spoil the view were their only realistic objections - everything else, noise, distracting motorists, impact on wildlife etc were very dubious" Rob Tucker, co-ordinator said. "Friends of the Earth cannot be at every windfarm application meeting and each project should be looked at individually, but the amount of time spent on applications must be speeded up, its no wonder that wind energy companies decide to relocate abroad taking jobs with them when it takes this long to get permission for just 5 turbines!"

Gazette article

Redcar Question Time Hustings packed out

Friends of the Earth in Partnership with Redcar churches Together held a Question time style meeting with the parliamentary candidates Vera Baird (lab), Steven Mastin (Con), Ian Swales (Lib Dem) and Hannah Walter (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition). With only days to go before General election 2010 the electorate had a real chance to weigh up the candidates side by side.

Extra chairs had to be added to the aisles and there was standing room only as the Rev Catey Morrison expertly put questions collected from the audience on topics ranging from the MP expenses scandal, to Corus and empty shops, to youth and discrimination.

"Vera was very good in the debate, Steve proved to be a surprisingly nice teacher who gave some insightful views, Ian had the better green policies in my opinion and Hannah obviously cared passionately about what she had to say" said Rob Tucker co-ordinator of Mbro & Redcar Friends of the Earth. "it was a pleasent and interesting event. We learnt a lot from the previous Hustings in Middlesbrough and the format was changed to allow for the large audience - a number of people said how professional and well run the meeting was".

Gazette Article

Middlesbrough question time hustings big success

Over a hundred people attended a "Question time" Hustings at St Barnabas church at Linthorpe road on the 29th April, just before the 2010 general election. Four candidates were invited John Walsh (con), Chris Foote-Wood (lib-dem), Sir Stuart Bell (lab) and Independent Joan McTigue. Sir Stuart Bell could not attend as he was on Church of England commisioner business and Middlesbrough labour councillor Barry Coppinger stood in for him.

Kendra Ullyart from Darlington Friends of the Earth chaired the meeting which ranged from questions on Corus and unemployment, to the arms race.

Evening gazette article