Shipton on Cherwell Quarry development

You may or may not be aware there are plans to turn the Quarry at Shipton on Cherwell into a housing estate for 5,0000 homes. If you want to read all about it then there is a full website at shiptonquarry.co.uk.

Homes without power

Homes in Kidlington and beyond were without power from 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon. Read more at the Oxford Mail.

Where the Thames meets the River Cherwell

There is an interesting background of the Isis Lock, the southernmost lock on the Oxford Canal just out on the waymarking site. Very interesting stuff.

Blow & Separate

One confusing thing about recycling is that we are all encouraged to put metal, paper and plastic together into our blue bins. The principle behind this is that it is simpler for us householders, and there is a claim that by doing this there is a greater success rate in the amount of household waste so collected. I am to privvy the actual technique used for separation but this image is one that may apply and give you some insights into the technology that is used to split apart items as they head for recycling.

Walking off those Christmas blues

When planning for Christmas you really should plan to get out, get some fresh air and walk off any excess food & drink. But also you don't want to drive anywhere, right? So this is a great time to think of doing all or part of the Kidlington Circular Walk (pdf), as published by Oxfordshire County Council. They have in fact a wide range of circular walks across Oxfordshire, see their North Oxfordshire Walks page for more details.

Taking a walk down the ecology street!

A new company that is worthy of your support is Eco-St. They stock a range of ecological products. Great news is they do Ecover refills so at last Kidlington ecover fans can reuse their plastic bottles time and time again... The best news is they are very local - you can find them in Yarnton Garden Centre.

A keystone example to us all

Recently the Bowood House Hotel (did I get that name right?) was knocked down and is now being rebuilt. Prior to the closure a clearance notice was put up to help dispose of goods. I wonder how successful that was, and how much concern there was for the environment. Without any knowledge I am not going to cast aspersions in any direction. What I will say however is that those with a concern for the environment can achieve a lot. Take the Inn at Keystone which has become a model for recycling in the hotel business. Even the beds are either sold or given on to employees, other even disassembled into metal and other materials suitable for recycling and then sent on to suitable recycling places. There is a message here, I hope that local businesses pick it up.

Cherwell District is 27th for recycling

In the national league table of all councils according to LetsRecycle, Cherwell District ranked 27th for the financial year 2006/7. Oxfordshire came 78th.

High St & Church St kerb resurfacing

Starting on 3rd December and running for over a month until 25th January next year Oxfordshire Highways is doing kerbing and resurfacing works. Weirdly the relevant Oxfordshire Highways web page does not list this imminent work, even though that is where it should be posted. The way I found out is with a letter through the letter box. Oh, and by the way if you live on either Church or High St, then you need to clean back any vegetation...

Who are our local bobbies?

If you want to know who is patrolling our streets then check out this page on the Thames Valley Police site.

Thames Valley Police computer systems to be run by a finance computer boffin

If I was to appoint someone to a job in the police force, whether it be IT or anything else then I think security would be one of my considerations. Not so Thames Valley Police, where it seems that they consider managing IT budgets is more critical. At least that is the message that I take from the appointment of John Hall as joint IT chief to both Thames Valley Police force and Hampshire Constabulary. And that budget cutting is obviously part of his remit if you see his job description which includes, "operational effectiveness and efficiency". In the UK the accountant rules once again.

How does Cherwell District bucking the trend so successfully?

According to The Taxpayer's Alliance blog, fortnightly collections do not in general reduce the amount of rubbish sent to landfill. And yet this is one reason, if not the main reason that Cherwell District council is to achieve its high levels of recycling. The principle as I understand it is to have the wheelie bins in which we chuck plastic, paper & tins etc on the premise that that is easy for the average householder to do, mixed with the technology that is at the recycling facility to sort all this out.

If you are wanting a taxi this weekend, think again!

It seems that taxis in the Kidlington area may be affected by a strike. So getting hold of one could be should slightly difficult! Check out the Oxford Mail for more details....

Well done to St Thomas More

St Thomas More school has come 15th in a national league table. Read more at the Oxford Times website. This reflects good work in all fields as recognised by Ofsted.

Putting the finger on Ardley Quarry

We all associate Ardley Quarry with it being a recycling centre. It wasn't always that way. If you look back in time, and I mean back in time. I don't mean a year, or five years. I don't even mean a hundred years ago. I actually mean 168,000,000 years ago. That is the time of dinosaurs, and if you check out this page you can actually see a dinosaur footprint. Actually to be precise the animal was a Megalosaurus.

Please support your LOCAL freecycling group

Here in Kidlington we are increasingly proud of our group. It starts, like all such groups in a small way, but is growing steadily. Many groups discourage members joining who do not live locally. That is not our policy.

We take the view that some people may wish to join our group because they work in the area, or even have relations who live here and perhaps those relations do not have access to the Internet.

Whatever the case we work hard to ensure that when an item is offered that both the person potentially taking that item and the offerer consider travel costs as part of the equation. There seems little point in spending a couple of pounds worth of petrol in a car, never mind the maintenance, and any associated ecology downsides such as carbon emissions, noise pollution etc if the item to be collected does not justify the journey.

If the journey is a "local" one then of course such issues pale into insignificance, and that is the main reason we ask people to add their location (a village name or the first 3 characters of your postcode) at the end of the subject.

This of course is only a guideline. Neither do we, nor do we wish to enforce this guideline. We leave it up to the offerer and the taker to decide in their own minds whether such issues are relevant and how important they are.

If you are concerned about travelling then we recommend you might also wish to consider joining other local groups. To the north we have Cherwell Valley group, to the south we have Oxford group, to the west we have the Witney group and to the east we have Bicester group.

Reflections over the River Cherwell

As the winter draws near and we have ever darkening skies I thought I would try to brighten us all up with a picture of the River Cherwell from the water meadows which I took over the summer whilst walking to Thrupp.

Will the lorries ever stop?

In my post Wasting our Countryside I reported that plans were afoot to turn the silo at the where the road between Oxford and Kidlington crosses the A34 (by the Water Eaton Park and Ride) into a waste recycling plant. You never get something for nothing in this life, and a Malcolm Baker of Long Hanborough has pointed to the increase in the number of lorries coming and going from that junction could rise by 372 per day. If that is the case that means almost one per minute, over say an 8 hour day. That figure is staggering and would turn the junction into a complete nightmare blockage of an already over-stressed part of Oxford's clogged up road system. (Malcolm, if you are reading this blog then please can you verify the number of lorries etc.)

Privacy

In a day when the UK government has announced a very serious breach of privacy for half the UK population with names, bank account and national insurance details simply "lost" on a CD it should act as a reminder to each and every one of us to take care of our privacy on-line, and that includes freecycling groups. As of today I would like to institute a policy that any personal details, other than name, general location and email address will be removed from all posts by your owner-moderator team. If the details cannot be removed then the post will be deleted. In all cases the originator will be informed and asked to repost as necessary, without any personal data. By personal data we mean details about your family, your home, including telephone number and actual address. Of course for you to actively freecycle you needs must tell someone where you live. That is generally not a problem since it is a communication such as one you would do if you sold an item in a newspaper. You are only telling one individual in this instance, rather than the group. We will continue to look at this issue and if we find other ways of helping members maintain privacy then we will discuss, inform and amend our guidelines and processes.

Can you survive without buying anything for six months?

On MoneySavingExpert.com there is a report of a new reality TV show that might interest freecyclers. The core question asked by the programme is, can you survive for six or even twelve months without buying anything, except basics. == VOLUNTEERS FOR BBC TV PROGRAMME == This came in to the York Freecycle mailbox the other day. It sounds like a great opportunity. .. "I am recruiting potential volunteers for a television show in which people agree not to buy anything (except basic food, toiletries and medicine) for 6-12 months. The show will investigate shopping addiction, consumer culture, debt, and the impact of consumerism on the environment. The volunteers would be encouraged to barter, forage, or trade skills to procure the extra things they needed. The presenter, Robert Llewellyn (currently undergoing his own year of not buying anything), would serve as an encouragement to the volunteers, providing any support and resources needed. This show is not meant to be an exploitive journalistic piece about irresponsible people - it is meant to help people all over the UK by encouraging them to stop unnecessary spending. This show is my baby: I have always dreamed of re-starting a bartering culture/economy and helping the environment. I know it could have a really encouraging impact on the UK." Do you know of anyone specifically who might be interested in participating in this project? If so, contact Amanda.Graham@ bbc.co.uk

49% of BT customers love Branson

A recent poll of BT's business customers put Richard Branson clear ahead of other household names such as Alan Sugar as the South East's business icon.

Nag, nag, nag, nag...

Actually in this case NAG stands for Neighbourhood Action Group is is an opportunity for people interested in supporting their community actively. Anyway we here in Kidlington have the proud title of being group 6! Wow. If you want to get involved then check our the relevant page on the Cherwell District website.

What happens to freecycle items when no-one wants them anymore?

I remember many years ago taking an extremely well used though now old and battered suitcase to a dump and before we knew what was happening some needy looking person picked it up and said that was exactly what they were looking for. In essence freecycling extends to life of an item, preventing it reaching the dump before its due date. When an item is not good for one person it goes to the next person. This person may either be adept at fixing issues with the item or able to reuse the item in a new way, or simply what were issues to you are not so to them. But right now there is a huge problem facing the world. That if digital TV, HDTV to be precise. We are all being told to "go digital", and in that same breath there is a complete hush around what happens to our old obsolete TV. An initiative is now gaining momentum to force manufacturers to be part of the recycling process. Visit TakeBackMyTV and see if this is where you want your old TV to end up. This scheme is focusing on the US but perhaps the same issues are relevant here in the UK. Right now Sony has signed the pledge to take old TVs back, so if you have a defunct Sony TV make sure they honour that pledge. Whatever the truth, I feel that all freecyclers should be aware of the full life-cycle implications and think about what happens to items when there are no takers.

What neither goes up, nor down?

Well if you're narrowboat is located in Kidlington then that's what. At least that is the case according to this blogger.

Weekly or fortnightly, that is the question

Close the the centre of Oxford residents have continually been up in arms about the change from weekly to fortnightly collections (or to be more precise alternate weekly). Whether people are recycling efficiently enough or whether such a thing will save them from rats is not an issue when you have sufficient land to store a range of wheelie bins, but in some parts of Oxford space is at a premium. Anyway a year on from the change residents are still battling for solutions as demonstrated by this thread on the Oxford Mail website - recycling one year on. In fact another entry starts by implying all is good, when in fact the opposite seems to be still the case for at least some. Much as I for one love the new system, I feel that more needs to be done for those in confined neighbourhoods.

Remembrance Sunday Remembered

A local blogger looks back at her day remembering...

New look for our co-op

As part of the re-organisation of Kidlington's local co-op which primarily was an initiative to incorporate the travel shop into the same building the new layout for the store looks good and certainly they seem to have a larger and better range of fresh veg, including at last organic carrots. The extremely tired car park has had a fresh face lift with both new tarmac and a revised layout. The layout seems odd with so many spaces reserved for disabled users - let us hope they are used well. Strangely there does not seem to be a notice board up yet - perhaps that is coming soon, or is it hiding in a corner?

Christmas is surely coming - on the 4th December

Well, at least that is when Kidlington switches on its Christmas lights. Hope to see you there.

Open EcoHouse Weekend across Oxfordshire

Around twenty five homes that have eco-friendly features are opening their doors over the weekend of 24-25th November. See the Ecovation website for further details.

What was Tesco's called?

On Kidlington's High St is its very own Tesco shop. This used to be a cinema and I always wondered what it was called, and what it looked like. Well now I have the answer. It was called the Sterling Cinema and if you want to see what it looked like in 1950, well the Frith Collection has exactly what you are after.

Wasting our countryside

There are plans afoot to build a waste treatment plant next to the Water Eaton Park & Ride - where the silo says the Oxford Mail.

Campsfield is a cause for concern

With only 29% of complaints at Campsfield handled effectively it seems that asylum detainees are not being treated fairly and need their rights protecting more fully. You can read more on the Oxford Mail website.

The WasteBook

In a fast moving industry a definitive resource is The Wastebook. Started in 1995 in Bedfordshire there is a wealth of information here for anyone interested in recycling.

Christmas really is coming

According to the parish website the 4th of December the lights will be switched on in the High St. The question for you is how you prepare for Christmas. With all the difficult news of mortgages keeping an eye on your family budget is more important than ever. Also if no-one likes a cluttered home. So why not join freecycling group and help sort out both problems. By joining you could get rid of some items that are just gathering dust and also perhaps obtain that trinket that may just be right for one or two family members, and almost all done without leaving your home.

St Mary's Church in the snow

Snow and Oxfordshire are not very synonymous. Looking back over my photos here is one from last year of that icon of Kidlington, St. Mary's Church spire. This one is rather unique in that the spire has something else around it other than just snow!

Eating locally doesn't just mean eating at home or in your local resaurant!

Eating locally doesn't just mean eating at home or in your local resaurant, it also means eating locally produced food. A very useful web resource called the 100-mile diet is available to help you think about this. Here in Kidlington we have at least the Co-op that supplies local produce regularly in what they call Local Harvest. Also we have the Wolvercote Farmer's market on Sunday's.

M&S flower power & plastic bags & training

While I am on the subject of plastic bags, I would like to name and shame Marks and Spencer. My mother is ill so when I visited last weekend I went to buy some flowers. The flowers were pre-wrapped in the usual plastic wrapping. Taking my flowers to the counter the assistant who served me called to a colleague, "get some more large flower bags, I need one here." What! This is M&S doing its worst for the environment, just in the name of a bit of branding. The flowers were completely adequately wrapped already. This is not just a sign of bad company policy it is also a sign of poor staff training. The plastic bag they wanted to supply is totally redundant. It is a sop. It makes the customer and M&S feel good. Once the flowers are delivered the M&S branded bag has absolutely no other function than going into landfill. M&S, as with other supermarkets should train their staff to discourage the use of new shopping bags. However how often at the checkout do you find your goods stuffed into new bags without a second thought. So often staff take it on themselves to make it seductively easy for you to use new bags. Often they even put your food into bags themselves, "just to be kind." Well it is not kind, it is destructive to our environment, especially when it is a single use bag.

Plaggy Bags

Will our kids or our kids' kids look back in time and think, "Yuck, they used those plaggy bags and actually put food in them!" Here (at least in the UK) we are wedded to the plastic shopping bag. We use it for carrying our shopping home, we use it for our rubbish and we use it for carrying things when we go away from home visiting friends and family. The plastic bag certainly is flexible. However though plastic bags are generally free they do have a cost to the environment. In societies increasing encouragement to be greener (including providing us with green plastic bags!!) we should all do our bit to work out how we reduce the demand for more bags. Wouldn't it be good if supermarkets found that these bags at the end of their checkouts simply were not being used? Would it be right for to have an eco-tax on plastic bags? Well, London (UK) looks like one place that might end up with less plastic bags. The Telegraph reports that in some supermarkets their will be a ban on the supply of new and free plastic bags for shoppers. Thirty-three London councils have a bill before Parliament set to be debated on November 27th this year. Read more here. For me, I think this is the wrong way to go about it. Legislation is never as good as education. Here's an idea. Why not ban advertising on shopping bags? The government enforces the tobacco industry to put deathly caveats on cigarette packets. Since many companies use shopping bags as a reinforcement of their brands if we remove that then we remove their incentive for distributing these. Essentially if plastic shopping bags are bad for the environment then robust steps must be made to counter the lethargy of that shopper who goes to the supermarket to get, say just one bottle of wine and a box of chocolates - and then pops them in a new shopping bag.

Giving Blood

Did you know that you can give blood regularly at the Exeter Hall? The next session is on 16th November and runs for most of the afternoon and early evening. For full details check out the Kidlington Parish Council website.

Welcome to our 10th Member!

From small acorns... We welcome Sara as our 10th member in just 10 days.

Kidlington to the Oxford Railway station by bus

Something that really irks me is the lack of a bus service from Kidlington down to the Oxford Railway station. Why is it we have to catch a bus to town and then fiddle about with a walk which could be very pleasant on a sunny day - if were are no exhaust fumes on Hythe Bridge St.

Britain sends same amount of rubbish to landfill as the 18 EU countries with the lowest landfill rates combined

According to today's news on the beeb (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7089963.stm), we are now the dustbin of Europe. Not a good track record. Here in Cherwell Valley we are justly proud of our recycling facilities which seem to be pretty good. But now is no time for complacency. We must all do our own efforts to recycle better.

Did you know that bus transport is possibly the most environmentally sound form or transport - even at 3am!

The excellent bus service in Oxford takes people to and from Kidlington up until 3am. Read here for more info.

Kidlington Railway Station

Did you know that there is an initiative to reopen Kidlington Railway Station? How good would that be for what is arguably England's largest village. See wiserearth for more details.

Local school gets praise

Please be upstanding for St Thomas Moore School, Kidlington which was praised recently by Ofsted for being outstanding.

Are you being lead astray?

According to the OxfordMail someone is going round stealing lead. Hopefully none of this turns up on our freecycling group. Can all members be vigilant and if anyone hears about this then I guess reporting to the police is in order.

Will Shipton's character be changed forever?

According to the Oxford Mail there may be plans to turn Shipton-On-Cherwell in something they describe as an Eco-Town. Weird is all I can say. Do we want S-on-C changing like that? If this project went ahead then the new "town" would be built in Shipton Quarry by 2020 at the latest.

Oxford Mail reports stealing of Power Tools

The Oxford Mail has reported theft of around £3,500 worth of equipment.

RealCycle

Kidlington Freecycling Network is now proud to be listed on the RealCycle network.

Kidlington Fireworks Night

At Stratfield Brake, near the Sainsbury's roundabout Kidlington again had its fireworks night. Whereas last year they had the excellent Phosphorus Morris Men, this year was a son et lumiere event, set to the music of Queen. The usual ooh's and ahh's therefore were rather changed to refrains of "Don't stop me now." All good fun, and thanks to everyone who arranged this event, a great addition to Kidlington life.

Grouply

For anyone who uses yahoo groups (as do most people who freecycle) then you might want to take a look at Grouply. This website is like an intelligent interface to your Yahoo Groups. I have been a beta tester of the site for some time, and they are very responsive to needs and seem to be working on features for freecyclers...

Reuseit Network

We are very hapy now to be listed on the Reuseit Network.

helphound

We're now listed on Helphound which mixes googlemaps with reviewing businesses.

Kidlington Parish Council Website

Yes, that definitive resource for Kidlingtonites is the Kidlington Parish Council, and they are linking to our group.

Kidlington Information

I am pleased to report that Kidlington Information has offered to list our freecycling group.

Kidlington Camera Club

Kidlington Camera Club have kindly accepted to cross-link.

Listed on Daily Information

The Daily Information, which is a definitive resource for Oxford has kindly accepted to provide a link to our group.

Freecycling moderator info

I run a blog called the FreeRRRs, which is both a support to freecycle moderators and a critique of the industry.

Oxfordshire Freecycling Cafe

If you want to discuss environmental issues, Oxfordshire has a freecycle cafe. Visit the cafe for chat, environmental advice, local news, community events and more!

The Freecycle Network

It is worthwhile explaining the relationship of this group to The Freecycle Network. The essence of this is that we are totally independent. There are many good aspects of TFN, but there are many constraints that we do not feel are appropriate. Therefore we intend to cut our own path.

ADMIN: General rules of netiquette

Freecyclers can often include people who are new to the Internet. If that is you, or even if you are an old hand it can be worth remembering the general rules of Internet "netiquette". Netiquette (the etiquette of the Internet) is essentially a matter of common sense and politeness mixed with the concept of treat others how you would like to be treated yourself. Sadly the Internet can often bring about the worst in people, so it really is worth while reminding yourself occasionally of what Netiquette is all about. Rather than restating what the principles and practice of netiquette are we will simply refer you to some definitive Internet resources on the subject. At the top of the tree is one of the most cited resources is the Albion Blog on netiquette. Also another resource is at Learn the Net. I could go on for hours listing resources for you to learn netiquette. I would much rather you spend time reading and digesting the above and if interested search out other resources on the same subject. Eadch one will extend your knowledge and help you become more proficient in Internet life for your own sake. What these do not cover is the concepts of netiquette that is pertinent to freecycling. However I will come back to that in another post.

Welcome

This blog is for posting anything to do with the Kidlington Freecycling Group.