19 January – Bromyard Seed Swap
Category: Bromyard
If you live nearby and wish to get involved, please contact Roger Pugh : 01885-483425 / 07779-694615 bromyard@greenherefordshire.org.uk
7 May: Bromyard Green Party Forum
7.30pm at the Falcon Hotel, Bromyard, for friendly conversation with like minded folk.
Non-party members welcome.
Meetings on the first Monday of every month.
5 March: Bromyard Green Party Forum
We meet in the Lounge Bar of The Falcon Hotel , Bromyard at 7.30pm for drinks and friendly conversation with the like minded on the first Monday of every month
Electric vehicles: confessions of a former petrolhead
Gordon Coppock will be talking about the future of electric vehicles on February 6th, 7.30pm at the Falcon Hotel in Bromyard. Tickets can be obtained from the hotel itself, or by phoning Roger Pugh on 01885 483425, or emailing bromyard@greenherefordshire.org.uk. The event is organised by North Herefordshire Green Party – all welcome.
Traffic calming for Bromyard
In the early part of the Summer, we carried out a survey, asking a cross section of the residents about traffic calming ideas in the High Street and Broad Street. They voted in favour of a 20 m.p.h. speed limit and to restrict H.G.V.s in this area.
We documented the results and passed them onto our two County Councillors, Alan Seldon ( It’s Our County ) and Nigel Shaw ( Tory ) the local police neighbourhood team, our M.P. Bill Wiggin, and in October, we presented our findings to Bromyard Town Council, asking them to discuss the issue at the next full Council Meeting, which they failed to do.
The Police Neighbourhood Team did not respond at all. The Councillors said that they would pass our results on to relevant people from Herefordshire County Council. If they have, nobody has contacted us. Bill Wiggin said he would pass the results on to The Leader of the Council and would let us have his reaction. We’ve not heard from him since.
This is very frustrating because, though we may have carried out the survey, the results are the comments of the very people, who our MP, Town and County Councillors and the Police Team are supposed to represent.
Hopefully, the exercise has raised our profile a little. Bromyard is an extremely Conservative Town and raising any great interest here will be a hard nut to crack. We’ll soldier on anyway.
Electric cars in Bromyard
At Bromyard Greens meeting on 1st February, we have invited Gordon Coppock, who has an interest in and has invested much time in various alternative energy projects, which includes producing an electric car, which he put together here in Bromyard. Some of the parts were made by a local firm.
We have a Speed Festival here in April, which, at present does not include vehicles run on alternative fuels. We have approached the organisers, asking them to include such vehicles this year. We have had no official response yet but they were making interested noises. We will invite a representative along to our February meeting.
New Year in Bromyard
Our next meeting is on Wednesday Jan 4th at The Falcon Hotel at 7.30. We have invited Ellie Chowns, our Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC) and, hopefully the next M.P. for North Herefordshire, so we can all meet her.
Big Green Cabaret thanks
Thank all of those who attended our fund raising event, The Big Green Cabaret in Bromyard in September. We had six acts, all of whom performed for free, we raised £290.00 and everyone seemed to have a good time. On reflection, the event probably was a little too long, so next time, we’ll make it a bit shorter. We are thinking of making it a regular bi-annual event, so the next one will probably be in September 2018, if the planet still exists.
Bromyard’s traffic
Bromyard Greens have been conducting a town survey about traffic issues, and have produced a report to be presented to the town and County Councils, calling for measures to reduce traffic dangers and increase safety in the town.
New Green Group in Bromyard
The Bromyward Green group launched in 2015, and now have a core of five pro-active people, who usually attend meetings, which happen on the first Wednesday of the month at The Falcon Hotel, at 7.30.
We firstly decided to tackle traffic calming in the High Street and Broad Street, as the speed of some traffic was raised by traders as travelling too fast through a pedestrian area. It was decided that what is needed is a 20 m.p.h. speed limit, raised platforms and a weight limit. The regional committee have offered to help with the printing of a questionnaire and assist in delivering them to all houses in the town to gauge the feelings of the local community to these ideas. We now have a regular column in Off The Record, a monthly community publication, on sale in many retail outlets in the town.
Bromyard does not have a neighbourhood plan, so we intend to draught one of our own and recommend it to the town council.
We have suggested the idea of a ‘lend shop’, which exist in London and Frome. The idea is to encourage people to donate, or loan household and garden utensils like hedge trimmers, or step ladders, particularly things which are not used very often. The shop would be voluntarily run and function much like a library, lending items to residents for a small fee.
We welcome all residents of Bromyard and round about to meetings but hope all four and a half thousand don’t turn up on the same night. To get in touch, email bromyard@greenherefordshire.org.uk