Centre for Alternative Technology Revisited

In his latest blog Sean looks back at visits to the Centre for Alternative Technology

It must be about 16 years since I was last at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) near Machynlleth in Mid Wales.

For those that don’t know of it, it’s a pioneering education charity based in a former slate quarry, which has used the site to trial a number of alternative technologies over the years, and today it is using many of them still to power the site.

When I visited the Centre for Alternative Technology in the early days of Ethos public relations it was to discuss an ethical online web portal, which one of our clients was involved in. Times have certainly changed as far as the internet is concerned and, no doubt, that’s true in the field of alternative energy technologies too.

I remember arriving at the site of CAT the first time, after a beautiful train journey from Manchester, and being impressed by the water-balanced cliff railway which takes you from road level up to the visitor centre.

As with many of the technologies showcased at CAT, the cliff railway works using the simplest of technologies, namely gravity. The two carriages are linked by a steel rope and when one goes down due to the combined weight of its passengers and water tank, the other carriage travels up the cliff face, with some stunning views.

On my recent visit, another ancient technology was being displayed, though with a modern twist. Burning wood for cooking and heating can hardly be described as an alternative technology, given that millions of people around the world rely on it day in and day out, but at CAT there is an innovative display of boilers that use wood pellets to produce both electricity and heat. Obviously, managed properly wood is a sustainable fuel and so provides an alternative to fossil fuels. If we want to work towards a zero carbon economy, then this might be part of the solution.

For many years, I have thought that solar panels for domestic and industrial premises should be fitted as a matter of course instead of roofing tiles, rather than on top of an existing roof. At CAT, that’s what they have on the café.

Over the past 16 years many things have changed dramatically in the field of low carbon energy generation, whether that is the growth of offshore wind energy generation or the increasing number of homes with photovoltaic cells on their roofs, but what we still have not seen is a widespread belief in using alternative technologies from the start of a project rather than as an add on.

But there still seems to be a lot of antipathy to wind and solar, in spite of their obvious benefits. Ethos public relations has worked with community biodiesel and community wind energy operators in the past and have, in a very small way, helped get the message out about the benefits of reducing carbon dependency. There is still much to be done.

So keep up the good work CAT, keep promoting the alternatives and helping to put sustainability into practice…

Preston man aims to reboot memory of POW grandfather

James Housden from Preston is running a half marathon to raise awareness of the plight of Far East prisoners of war in World War Two. Monday 15th August sees the anniversary of Victory in Japan (VJ Day) and is an important date to James as that was the day his grandfather became a free man again.

James Housden

James Housden is taking part in the Great North Run in September to raise money for national charity, COFEPOW, which manages the Far East Prisoners of War Memorial Building at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire and works to preserve the memory of the Far East Prisoners of War.

The charity is fundraising to replace the computer equipment at the FEPOW Memorial Building. The Memorial Building has many computer generated displays to enhance the visitor experience, but most of the equipment is now 11 years old and desperately needs replacing.

James is the son of COFEPOW trustee Paul Housden and last year completed the Coast-to-Coast cycle ride with his Dad to raise money to help COFEPOW commemorate the 70th Anniversary of VJ Day, when Japan finally surrendered, brining an end to the Second World War.

More than 200,000 Allied civilians and service personnel were taken prisoner by the Japanese in February 1942. By VJ Day on 15 August 1945, some 50,000 of these people had died.

James said: “My Grandfather was one of the lucky ones who returned after being a prisoner of war. The story of all the captives is told at the National Memorial Arboretum and, by raising funds to help replace the outdated computer equipment at the Far East POW Memorial Building, I can help keep alive the memory of what my Granddad and his fellow captives went through. It is really important that future generations remember what happened during the Second World War.”

If you would like to sponsor James, please visit https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/james-housden2 and to find out more about the Far East Prisoners of War visit www.cofepow.org.uk.

International recognition for Islington Council and London Capital Credit Union

Islington Council and London Capital Credit Union recognised

Islington Council’s work in support of its local credit union is to gain international recognition as it hosts a group of senior managers from Singapore this week.

The group from the Singapore National Co-operative Federation will be greeted by the Leader of Islington Council, Councillor Richard Watts, at Islington Town Hall, before visiting the offices of the credit union in Archway.

The delegation will meet with representatives from Islington Council and London Capital Credit Union at the Town Hall and will hear how the council has supported London Capital Credit Union to become the success it now is and how this benefits residents across the borough.

The group will then visit the credit union to speak directly with members and staff about the credit union’s mission and the way it encourages saving and responsible lending to residents in Islington and beyond.

Cllr Watts said: “These are difficult times for hard pressed families in Islington and beyond, as many people deal with the rising cost of living.

“Multiple loans from payday lenders are a pathway to deeper poverty, and the council has taken action to support residents to avoid getting into problem debt.

“Part of this work has been to support London Capital Credit Union, as an accessible and affordable way for people to deal with their finances.

“I am very pleased to be supporting this organisation and the excellent work it does in Islington, and I look forward to meeting our colleagues from Singapore.”

Islington Council supports The London Capital Credit Union Ltd with a one-off grant of £250,000 and annual revenue support funding of £25,000.

Martin Groombridge, Chief Executive of London Capital Credit Union, said: “Credit unions are an ethical alternative to banks and other high street lenders and their way of working is designed to benefit all members.

“We are always pleased to be able to share our knowledge with others around the world and we look forward to meeting the delegation from Singapore and welcoming them to London, and to Islington in particular.”

Credit unions in Britain have been growing consistently over the past few years as they become better known and they now have almost 1.3 million members across the country.

Added Martin Groombridge: “Over the last ten years, London Capital Credit Union has seen a huge 1,400% increase in members’ savings from £436,000 to over £6 million. And as a co-operative, we are proud that London Capital Credit Union is owned and controlled by its members – not outside shareholders.”

Find out more at www.credit-union.coop.

Shropshire losing out on millions from foreign tourism

A Shropshire based tour operator which brings foreign tourists into the county believes Shropshire is losing out on millions of pounds from foreign tourism.

Janet Redler

According to calculations by Janet Redler Travel & Tourism, if just 10% of the 4.15 million visitors who currently visit the Brecon Beacons National Park came to visit the Shropshire Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, this could result in extra income of £8.23 million to the local economy.

The Brecon Beacons, just over the border in Powys, is one of Britain’s most popular National Parks, with over 4 million visitors a year. If 10% of these visitors made the 25 mile journey up the road to the Shropshire Hills, they would be bringing over £8 million pound a year more into the Shropshire economy. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, if some of the other tourists passing through the county visited one of Shropshire’s many beautiful, but often overlooked, attractions.

Shrewsbury-based Janet Redler Travel & Tourism specialises in bringing groups from overseas to Britain and is doing its bit to boost tourism in Shropshire.

Chief Executive Janet Redler says: “Our calculations are a very conservative estimate of how much money the Shropshire economy is missing out on from tourism. If a fraction of the visitors to some of the country’s other major tourist destinations chose Shropshire instead, we would see millions of pounds more flowing into the local economy.

“Just next week Janet Redler Travel & Tourism is bringing a group of visitors from France to the Shropshire Hills for a seven day walking tour. This tour in itself will bring in over £10,000 to the local economy, which has to be good in terms of local jobs, but we are also very happy that we are giving more people an opportunity to enjoy the magnificent Shropshire countryside.”

The French walkers will take in many of the gems of the Shropshire Hills, including the town of Clun, made famous by the poet A.E. Housmann, the Stiperstones (Mary Webb country) and Stokesay Castle, considered to be the finest fortified manor house in Britain.

Janet Redler adds: “We know from the feedback we get that foreign visitors to Shropshire are pleasantly surprised by what they find when they get here and are often puzzled as to why they don’t know more about the area. As a tourist destination, Shropshire needs to do much more to shout about itself, not only to boost tourism but to benefit the wider economy of the area.”

Shropshire schools encouraged to increase recycling

Schools across Shropshire are being encouraged to follow the example of Oxon C of E Primary School in Shrewsbury and increase the amount of their waste that is recycled – whilst at the same time helping a charity get local people into work.

Photo shows (from left to right): Cllr Peter Adams (also a School Governor); School Head, Mark Rogers; Cllr Nick Bardsley, Trustee of Cae Post and Glyn Lewis, Cae Post vehicle driver.

Waste from Oxon C of E Primary School in Racecourse Lane, Shrewsbury, is collected weekly by Cae Post, a local social enterprise based in Trewern, near Welshpool, which exists to encourage recycling and help disadvantaged people into work.

Mark Rogers, Head at Oxon Primary School, said: “As a school with a caring ethos at its heart, we are proud to be working with Cae Post, as it helps them provide meaningful employment to disadvantaged people.

“Since working with Cae Post we have collected nearly seven tonnes of waste from the school which Cae Post has recycled – and at the same time helped people who are struggling to get work find useful employment.”

Cae Post is an innovative social enterprise based in Powys, providing waste management and recycling services across mid-Wales and North Shropshire.

As a social enterprise, the income generated from its business is used to fulfil its objectives to give more people a chance to be part of the working world.

Nick Bardsley, a Shropshire Councillor and Trustee of Cae Post, said: “Cae Post has been involved in providing opportunities to disadvantaged people and promoting environmental awareness for over 30 years.

“There are nowhere near enough places in Shropshire and Mid Wales where people who find it difficult to get work can get training and meaningful employment. Cae Post is an asset to Shropshire as well as Powys.

“By working with Cae Post, Oxon Primary School is keeping recyclable waste out of landfill or incineration – and helping local people find work at the same time.”

Cae Post is keen to encourage more schools in Shropshire to get in touch and arrange a visit to their plant to give pupils a better understanding of the importance of recycling and waste management.

Photo shows (from left to right): Cllr Peter Adams (also a School Governor); School Head, Mark Rogers; Cllr Nick Bardsley, Trustee of Cae Post and Glyn Lewis, Cae Post vehicle driver.

Cae Post receives Green Compass Award

Cae Post, the Welshpool based recycling and waste management social enterprise, has won its fourth Green Compass Scheme award.

Sue Packer with the Green Compass Award

Cae Post has been successfully accredited to PAS402:2013 through the Green Compass Scheme, which recognises waste management organisations that have made a commitment to improved efficiency and performance reporting as well as achieving a significant environmental credential.

Says Sue Packer, General Manager at Cae Post in Trewern, near Welshpool: “As a business with a social agenda, we are proud to have been inspected under the Green Compass Scheme and to have been awarded membership of the scheme.

“Our commitment to recycling, waste management and the people who work with us, defines how we do business and this recognition is for everyone at Cae Post.”

The Green Compass Scheme was developed by Constructing Excellence in Wales (CEW), and in conjunction with UKAS accredited inspection bodies provides independent verification of the performance data reported by waste management organisations against PAS402:2013 (Waste resource management – Specification for performance reporting). PAS 402:2013 requires a waste resource management organisation to report how it conducts its waste management activities and the landfill diversion and materials recovery rates it achieves. The Green Compass Scheme verifies this data.

The Green Compass Scheme is applicable to all waste management organisations in Wales that process construction, industrial, commercial or household waste.

Speaking about the award to Cae Post, Paul Jennings, CEW’s Construction Waste Programme Director, said: “Construction and demolition waste remains a problem in Wales, but with organisations like Cae Post joining our successful Green Compass scheme, we are continuing to educate and inform the entire industry from site workers and their bosses through to major customers and the public.

“The best starting point is the actual handling of the waste itself and it is great that Cae Post is going to work alongside the network of Green Compass companies throughout Wales”.

Cae Post currently collects kerbside in North Powys as well as offering recycling and trade waste services to a wide range of businesses, schools and other organisations in Shropshire and Powys.

To find out more, visit www.caepost.co.uk. More information on the Green Compass Scheme is available at www.greencompass.org.

Happy birthday to Ethos public relations

We are 18 – again.

Ethos public relations is celebrating 18 years in business today. Over the past 18 years, we have worked with a huge range of businesses, charities, individuals and others to help them get their message out to a wide variety of audiences.

We have helped our clients launch new products; deal with a number of crises; produce videos, magazine and leaflets; create new websites; manage social media; prepare for newspaper, TV and radio interviews and engage with their employees.

The list of clients we have worked with over the years is a long one and the number of passionate individuals even longer. With hardly an exception it’s been fun, fulfilling and worthwhile.

We have helped raise awareness of issues as diverse as knife crime, disability, co-operation, Fairtrade, products made in the UK, tourism, credit unions, social enterprise, vegetarianism, local food, recycling, social housing and the closure of pubs.

Each of these issues required differing approaches but we hope we dealt with them all with the same commitment both to the subject, and as importantly, to the ethics with which we were founded back in 1998.

Our ‘ethical’ approach was adopted to try and counter some of the perceived negativity towards the public relations industry. Our approach was based on honesty and having an open dialogue with clients and the media. At times this was tested and back in 1998 we couldn’t have imagined how it would be the media itself that would become the focus of unethical practice. It seems both sides of our industry have work still to do.

We have written before about how things have changed, almost unrecognisably, since we first started trading. Posting out press releases and photos being replaced by email, faxes now defunct, far fewer local (and a couple of national) newspapers, not to mention the rise of bloggers and social media – the PR landscape is very different now.

However, our honest and ethical approach to the way we undertake PR has remained the same, and is so much part of who we are that it will remain. As we get near to the end our teenage years, we are wiser and a very different ‘person’ to the Ethos public relations of 1998, but hopefully our friends and colleagues will still recognise us.

So thanks to all our previous and current employees, clients and suppliers. We’ve had a great first 18 years. Time to crack open the fizzy wine – Fairtrade of course.

Haringey resident says join your credit union to support your community

A member of London Capital Credit Union is calling on Haringey residents to join their local credit union to help strengthen the local community.

“Unlike high street banks, credit unions are owned by local people and work for their best interests,” says Sue Hoyle.

Sue, a former care worker, has been a member of London Capital Credit Union for 20 years and says that credit unions are such a good idea that more people should know about them.

“I believe passionately in our local community and debt is a serious issue for many people. Credit unions can be part of the solution as they keep more of the money in the local community with local people.”

Credit unions work by offering loans on affordable terms to local members and the interest raised is then made available to lend to more people locally.

“I joined London Capital Credit Union to get a loan and thanks to the way the loan was structured, I was saving at the same time as paying the loan back.”

Encouraging saving and greater financial awareness is key to the way credit unions work. Says Sue, “I had a 0% transfer credit card some years back and paid back the minimum balance by standing order each month, but basically it was like giving them money for nothing as I was mainly paying off interest, so I used my credit union loan to pay off the credit card.”

Over the years Sue says she has saved a fair amount of interest by using the credit union and has used the savings to pay for car repairs and even a holiday.

“I am just one person,” says Sue, “but, across Haringey, local people have saved over £2.9 million in loan repayments by being members of the credit union. That’s something to shout about.”

Powys social enterprise to relaunch websites and increase brand awareness

Cae Post, the Powys based charity and social enterprise working to provide opportunities for disadvantaged people in Powys and Shropshire, has appointed Oswestry-based Ethos public relations to relaunch its website and to help increase recognition of its trading brands.

Cae Post is based in Trewern, Welshpool, and operates the Council’s recycling collection service in North Powys, as well as commercial recycling collection and processing in Powys and North Shropshire. The charity has also recently launched a hydrographics print business in Mile End, Oswestry, called Liquid Print Factory, to help support their ethos of providing work and training for people with disabilities or disadvantages in the jobs market.

Speaking about the link up, General Manager Sue Packer said: “Cae Post is a well regarded charity based in Powys, with 20 years’ experience working with people with disabilities and those who are disadvantaged in the jobs market, offering them useful and worthwhile work opportunities.

“We are a business just like any other, but the income we generate helps us to fulfil our charitable objectives to give everyone a chance to be part of the working world. We are looking forward to working with Ethos public relations to relaunch our websites, to help us gain even more recognition of our work in Powys and North Shropshire.”

Shaun Fisher, a Director at Ethos public relations, said: “As a business with a social conscience, we are looking forward to working with Sue and her team at Cae Post to help promote the charity and its commercial objectives. We have worked with a wide range of charities and social enterprises over the past 18 years and we have a real empathy for the work carried out by Cae Post for their beneficiaries.”