Sustainable Kirtlington

Our community group was set up in 2007, with an initial focus on energy: energy efficiency and energy generation. We have worked with the Eco Reps at the local primary school since that time. We have involved the community in various projects and regularly through talks and films and articles in every issue of the Village News. We have held an apple-pressing day in the autumn and until recently we had wood-processing days, where we chopped and split wood donated by villagers for sale as firewood, generating funds for various projects in the village, such as improving the biodiversity of the pond and promoting the Hedgehog Street initiative. We are currently focused on two major projects: our community orchard, with regular maintenance activities (weeding, mulching, scything and watering) and setting up a community shop and café. These two initiatives have their own action groups, but Sustainable Kirtlington acts as an umbrella organisation. We have followed the growth of the Transition Network with great interest and feel that becoming part of it would give our activities a new focus and release new energies in the community.