Saturday 7 August 2010

Earley Green fair Saturday 7th August 10 am to 3 pm at Maiden Erlegh Nature Reserve

I went last year, and am going to this one too.

Its 10 am to 3 pm at Maiden Erlegh Nature Reserve Beech Lane, Earley.

Come and join in the fun!
Visit the variety of stalls including –
Environmental – RSPB, BBOWT, Ramblers, Reading Ornithological Club, Sustrans, Friends of the Earth, Earley Environmental Group, Recycling, ECONET,
Butterflies and moths
Craft and charity stalls
Refreshments – have a cup of tea, cakes etc
Spinning demos
Face painting for the kids and other activities
Cakes & Jams
Second-hand books
Garden Plants
and many others
This event is organised by the Park Rangers Service. For more information
please phone 0118 9868995

Update:
It was a fun afternoon, lots of people enjoyed themselves. It was hot then wet then hot again. I was wearing my solar powered hat fan, which got a certain amount of comment.

I spent the afternoon helping at the Friends of the Earth stall, mostly talking about the Rushey Mead Wind Farm. Most people liked the idea, the turbines would be next to the M4 so the slight sound they make would not be heard over the car noise. But a small number of people have formed an anti group, calling themselves HARM. They even came to the Green Fair, though there message is NIMBY and anti Green.

Like many people I like the look of turbines, but a few people think that turbines do not look good. I pointed out that motorways look worse, but that gets ignored. The main point I made was to encourage the undecided to stand under the Green Park turbine, and judge for themselves.

We also talked to people about what can be recycled on the Kerbside, a disappointing list of things can not. Most plastics, glass, timber etc.

6 comments:

NickJ said...

Shame I only learned about this today, I'd have liked to go.

Again we're in agreement, this time on wind turbines - my brother lives quite near one, and is also a keen advocate (I nearly said, 'is a big fan' there!).

Also, totally in agreement with you on the lack of kerbside recycling - plastics, glass, juice cartons, food waste, etc. Also of concern/bafflement to me is the disparity between what can be recycled at Smallmead or the local supermarket but not collected from our homes. Surely if Re3 can recycle it then RBC can collect it from my home?

Some Councils just seem more switched on than ours - my parents put hardly anything in landfill, yet we bin almost as much (by volume, anyway) as we recycle.

Nice hat, by the way :-)

Adrian Windisch said...

Once again cheers Nick, we seem to be in agreement on many issues.

Its a mystery why we dont collect things like glass. And why every council seems to have slightly different rules. Some people carry stuff from one area to the next to recycle it.

NickJ said...

I can understand Councils in dramatically different parts of the country having different collections - especially for the more specialist items - but why Tilehurst and Reading differ is beyond me.

We save stuff up and take it to Smallmead when we're passing, but some people are too lazy to even sort their kerbside collections properly, so I know we're in the minority.

Adrian Windisch said...

I would have thought most councils would offer a standard service. Why will some collect glass and others not for example is a mystery.

Cant be H&S as some do it and others dont. And why some wont do cardboard?

NickJ said...

For a good example of where we should be headed with kerbside recycling, look at http://www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk/rubbish_recycling_waste/New_waste_collection_service/DetailPage-7773.asp There is also a garden waste collection, not listed on this page. Note also how it points out which common household items can be recycled at Council centres.

South Oxfordshire have a similar collection scheme.

In Reading (not very far at all from these two Councils) the list of items you can't recycle is longer than that of items which you can - http://www.reading.gov.uk/communityandliving/wasteandrecycling/GeneralR.asp?id=SX9452-A781C6E5

NickJ said...

An interesting link for you on waste and recycling - http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/consult/waste-review/