Annual Report 2024/25
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Low Carbon Day ——
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A Message from David Matthews, Chair
Climate change is here and we’re now starting to see the implications in the Strettons. Increasingly unpredictable weather has led to more intense rainfall, flooding incidents, and periods of hot dry weather. It seems new temperature records are being set almost every year in the UK.
At the same time, we are all witnessing the loss of nature, whether it be fewer insects, loss of bird species locally, or the worrying deterioration of our local rivers.
Scientific predictions made over the last 30 years or so are coming to fruition, and many of the changes we now see are “baked in” to our climate for many years to come. We urgently need to take action now for future generations, and it’s essential that we meet our international commitments to reduce carbon emissions if we are to encourage other countries to follow suit. So, it is particularly disappointing to see how some of our politicians are being taken in by the web of disinformation spread by the fossil fuel lobby which promotes its short-term commercial interests at the expense of the planet.
Sometimes the challenges seem overwhelming, and I greatly admire the persistence and determination of our members who founded Stretton Climate Care locally and have continued to stay involved in our work.
We often underestimate how much we can do as individuals to make a difference. In the West we have a disproportionate impact, much greater than a citizen of China or India for example. We already have the solutions we need to address climate change and save nature. We need public and private organisations to act, but in the UK around a third of the changes needed will come from the actions of individuals.
We have choices every day. Are we happy to buy petrol and diesel from companies that put their profits before our health and well-being? Do we want our money invested in new fossil fuel projects or could we switch to more ethical banking and investments? Do we want to continue burning gas or oil to heat our homes? Do we really need a new outfit, or could we repair what we have, or buy second hand? Do we speak up for action on climate change?
I am immensely proud to be involved in Stretton Climate Care, and our annual report describes the wide range of activities we’ve taken over the last year. All our work is community focussed, encouraging and advising local people to make a difference. If you’re already a member, thank you for your support. If you’re thinking of joining, please come along to one of our advice centres, repair cafes or events to find out more about how you can help us and your local community.
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Review: April 2024 to March 2025 - Our Key Activities
=e| We ran 10 Repair Café sessions during the year, 'fieprocessing 220 items with a repair success rate of 84%. Based on a calculator from Farnham Repair Café, we i ait ya estimate this saved over 6.1 tonnes of carbon dioxide SS a Sp } ‘ emissions. We also incorporated a Seed Swap and Energy Advice at several sessions.
We continued to assist households and others to implement recommendations on energy saving measures and renewable energy, by giving them suitable and impartial advice and introducing them to appropriate agencies and suppliers and promote Government and other support.
We provided advice through our website, by email, telephone and face to face and at weekly Energy Advice sessions at the Health & Wellbeing Centre, which included 25 drop in visits.
The Duck Race was held on the 18th May 2024. The event was very successful, with all but the first race sold out. Jon Cooke handed out cards at the event, which asked where the 20mph signs are in Church Stretton. Most people did know about the limit but didn’t know where the signs are, so it was a useful exercise.
Thank you to our Duck Race sponsors
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Review: April 2024 to March 2025 - Our Key Activities
In September 2024 a street campaign was carried out in Longhills Road and Burway Road in Church Stretton. Leaflets were delivered to 60 homes offering a free Home Energy Survey and general advice. 15 Home Energy Surveys were requested, providing opportunities for in-depth discussions with householders about insulation, heating systems and other ways of reducing carbon emission.
The five volunteers who carried out these surveys were trained to test the new data collection form drafted by Shropshire Climate Action and the Marches Energy Agency for use by voluntary groups across the county. The forms were then amended in the light of the street campaign experience.
During the winter months nine requests were received for thermal camera imaging, and these were carried out early on cold mornings before the sun rose. The images enable householders, in discussion with our volunteers, to see the places where heat is escaping from the building, and to identify those where simple remedies are available, and those where professional advice is needed.
Thermal image of a local home. The yellow shows the warmer areas which may be sources of heat loss.
We pressed Shropshire Council to complete the installation of the EV chargers at Lion Meadow and Essex Road to include signing , lining and Traffic Orders to prevent other vehicles blocking the chargers. So far, no Traffic Orders have been made, and the Essex Road chargers are often unusable as a result.
We held a successful event on plastics recycling at the Coop, encouraging local residents (and visitors) to avoid plastic packaging, and making them aware of the local recycling facilities now available.
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Review: April 2024 to March 2025 - Our Key Activities
Stretton Climate Care members played leading roles in the 2024 Shropshire Climate Conference, and Sally Farrell designed the conference banner
Stretton Climate Care successfully secured a grant via Crowdfund Shropshire to install two mobile-app controlled cycle storage hangars at the railway station. Funded from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (Community and Place and Rural Fund), SCC had to raise 30% of the total cost of the project. With 40 backers including Church Stretton Town Council and Stretton Focus, a total of £15,650 (less crowdfunding costs) was raised by 25 March 2025.
In consultation with the station Pride of Place team, the Town Council and the supplier, SCC will work with Transport for Wales Active Travel Manager and the Station Manager, who initiate the request to Network Rail for Landlords Consent.
Secure cycle storage hangar
The Marches Energy Agency (MEA) supplied us with free low-cost energy saving measures, which we have been passing on to users at advice sessions and other events.
Items include draught proofing tape, letter box draft excluders, low energy lamps (BNC, ES and G10 fittings), radiator heat reflectors, portable room thermometers and pipe insulation.
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Review: April 2024 to March 2025 - Our Key Activities
We held our AGM in November, followed by a talk by Colin Preston, MBE, chair of the Marches Nature Partnership. His talk was entitled “Restoring Our Natural Environment: Combating Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change”.
We responded to the Garden Waste Charging and Household Recycling Centres (HRCs) Consultation, which covered the consequences of closing two out of five HRCs and the implementation of charging.
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Arthur Potts Dawson
Photo courtesy of "The People's Supermarket, a co-op: Lamb's Conduit St London" by mermaid99 is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
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David Matthews & Colin Preston
In February we had a talk by Arthur Potts Dawson, who has set up several sustainable restaurants in London, has presented the “People’s Supermarket” on Channel 4, and is the UN World Food Programme chef advocate. In his role for the UN he has been exploring how food worldwide can be more sustainable.
He talked about the need to focus on health, technology and nutrition, how we need to buy ingredients grown with respect, that improve bio-diversity, and buy food from local producers.
We published two Newsletters, which are printed locally, in the Spring and Autumn, which volunteers delivered to most households in the Church Stretton area.
Autumn 24 Newsletter—our Jargon Buster explained what a carbon footprint means with a link on our website to measure our own. A summary of how the street survey works and One Small Step was about the carbon costs of imported food and how we could encourage buying more local produce.
Spring 25 Newsletter—our Jargon Buster explained what carbon offsetting means but suggested just to reduce our own carbon footprint is better and offsetting should be a last resort. One small step was about encouraging a wild patch in the garden to grow as it creates a beneficial habitat for many small creatures.
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Review: April 2024 to March 2025 - Our Key Activities
We responded to the Government’s call for ideas on a National Integrated Transport Strategy.
We participated in the Hustings for the general election candidates and asked a question on climate change issues.
I n August, Andy Munro joined our General Management Committee meetings as the representative of the Town Council. His participation has contributed to enhanced communication and collaboration between Stretton Climate Care and the Town Council.
In December, we participated in the town Advent Calendar, creating a display for Rural Charity Furniture shop window. Carols were also sung!
We launched a survey to map improvements in the state of biodiversity and carbon reduction measures in the Strettons. The results are displayed on a number of maps, showing whether individual households have a garden pond, a wild area, a bird feeder, a bee/bug hotel, bird boxes, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, air or ground source heating or an all-electric car. We continued to add new data to the maps and added 128 households this year.
Biodiversity Maps Project at the Family Fun Day
We provided a stall at the Family Fun Day in July, where we displayed the Biodiversity Maps project, and signed up more local households.
We had a display at the Church Environmental Conference and conducted two workshops. We talked about the Home Energy Surveys, the Repair Café and the Lifestyle Challenge paper.
We held a very well attended meeting in Little Stretton where Derrick Tapscott talked about the retrofit of his house. Jon and Ann Cooke’s film about the retrofit of their home was also shown.
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Stretton Climate Care: Organisation and other Facts
Charity Name and Number and address
Stretton Climate Care is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Registered charity number 1159816. It was established in 2015, replacing a charity of the same name which was established in 2008.
Address: Mayfair Community Centre, Easthope Road, Church Stretton, Shropshire, SY6 6BL email: info@strettonclimatecare.org.uk Website www.strettonclimatecare.org.uk Tel 07528 493181
Finance
We have adequate funds although these have been depleting over successive years and the Trustees have taken action to reduce our annual losses by raising more funds in a variety of ways. It is the policy of Stretton Climate Care to operate with a financial reserve equivalent to at least 9 months of our annual expenditure, and we exceed that. The Committee receives a Report analysing expenditure and income at each of its meetings and controls expenditure accordingly. We do not undertake any significant fund raising and we are compliant with Charity Commission Fund Raising Guidelines and do not need to register with Fund Raising Regulator. We comply with Charity Commission guidelines for our financial controls.
We extend our thanks to Graham Vince, the Independent Examiner of the 2024-25 Stretton Climate Care accounts.
Summary of Charitable Objects
for the benefit of the public in the Church Stretton area: a) the conservation, protection and improvement of the environment b) education about use of energy to reduce or eliminate carbon dioxide emissions c) the relief of fuel poverty by promoting the efficient use of energy
Public Benefit
The Trustees of Stretton Climate Care have had regard to providing public benefit in delivering our services in accordance with advice from the Charity Commission. In particular our main service is to assess and advise on the carbon footprint and energy use of households and provide advice where appropriate on reducing this. This includes information on the choice of transport modes and vehicles and diet. And we have also supported the development of renewable energy in our area. We encourage reuse and recycling and the Repair Café continues to be successful. Our services are provided free of charge to any household in the community and we do our best to give priority to households in fuel poverty. We provide subsidiary activities and services, such as lectures and talks that are either free or subject to a small charge to cover costs. Other activities such as the duck race are intended to attract additional households to our service although there is small charge for entry to the duck race. Our activities also generate opportunities to advance education about conserving, protecting and improving the environment.
Trustees
The new Constitution provides for the election or appointment of up to 12 trustees. The current 9 Trustees are Jane Edwards, Mike Hymas, David Matthews (Chair), Christine Shipman (Secretary), Lorna Taylor, Roger Thorpe, Phil Walker (Treasurer) and Jane Wrench. Our Trustees are elected annually at the Annual General Meeting.
Other Information
We are dependent upon our dedicated and enthusiastic Volunteers who undertake all the functions of the organisation. There are no employees. We continue to review our data security arrangements in the light of the General Data Protection Regulation. Our Privacy Policy is on our website and we have registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office.
We have reviewed our Organisation against the Charity Commission’s Governance Code and are addressing a number of issues raised. In particular some Trustees have served for more than 9 years and our Board is not as diverse as it should be.
Structure of Stretton Climate Care
Our Board of Trustees makes the key decisions for the organisation and comprises all our Trustees. It has delegated many of its responsibilities to the General Management Committee which comprises all of our 9 Trustees and Mike Bourke, Becca Cartwright, Jon Cooke, Sally Farrell and David Howard.
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Our Volunteers are an essential element of our organisation.
Without them we could not deliver our services. So here we list the names of those who are not Trustees who made Stretton Climate Care effective during the last two years :
Anne Alderson, Liz Bourke, Mike Bourke, Brian Bradley, Richard Briggs, Isabel Carter, Becca Cartwright, Marcus Cash, Ann Cooke, Jon Cooke, Sally Farrell, Chris George, Barry Gwynne, Chris Head, David Howard, Trish Howard, Rob Humpherson, Victoria Hurn, Moira Matthews, Andrew Middleton, Valerie Morris, Sandy Ogden, Sue Pinsent, John Ramage, Helen Sansom, Roger Seal, Liesa Shigan, Graham Shuttleworth, Derrick Tapscott, Julie Tapscott, Vivienne Thorpe, Claire Tocknell, Mark Tocknell, Sue Walker, Richard Walker, Ken White & Jamie Wrench, plus many other occasional volunteers who make our services happen. We are very grateful for their actions, support and dedication.
Our Supporters and Funders
We also received funds and/or support from a number of companies and organisations, including Agilent Technologies, Ambercouch, Burway Books, Chocolate Haven, Energy Zone, Go Green Systems, Kaboodle, Jemima’s Kitchen, The King’s Arms, Marches Energy Agency, Marshbrook Print, Mid-Counties Cooperative, The National Trust , Rainbow’s End, Salts, Shropshire Green Energy Centre, Stretton Print & Vine & Co.
We are very grateful to the numerous individuals and bodies who helped achieve our work, especially our volunteers, funders and donors.
OUR VISION
A sustainable and equitable local community, where people and nature thrive, resilient to the impacts of climate change. Our environmental footprint is in balance.
OUR MISSION
To advance environmental protection and improvement through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, reduction of pollution and restoration of the natural environment.
OUR AIMS
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To raise awareness of issues concerning climate change and the need for action
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To promote a culture of climate care through reducing energy consumption, encouraging the generation of local energy, and advancing a more sustainable lifestyle
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To support local people in reducing emissions, and eliminating fuel poverty
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