Want a bike? - Oxfordshire Waste Partnership
Transcription
Want a bike? - Oxfordshire Waste Partnership
Issue 7 September 2013 Want a bike? There is now a selection of our bicycles available to purchase at the Sobell Charity Megastore next to our workshops at Station Approach. All checked, serviced and refurbished and ready to ride. If we are open when you purchase it, pop in and we’ll adjust the seat to the right height for you. We add a few each week, as they become ready (although people keep buying them so hurry if you want a good choice!) Bicester Green Opening Hours Monday, Wednesday and Friday 10 til 5 Other times by arrangement. Cycle loan scheme Would you like to borrow one of these bikes? In conjunction with: If you are not sure if cycling is for you, there is one more chance this year to borrow a bike for free for four weeks. Various child trailers, tag-alongs and seats also available. Book in advance and collect on Monday 30 September, as part of the Cycle for Bicester loan scheme: see http://www.ecobicester.org.uk/cms/node/92 and finally on the bicycle theme, we enjoyed a fine day at Pingle Field as part of Bicester Bike and Family Fun Day. Opening hours Monday-Friday 9:30-4:30 Saturday 10-4 First Sunday of each month: Half-price furniture sale 9-12 Busy summer It’s been busy here since our launch in June: a lot more is involved in starting up a new enterprise than we had imagined ! We have about a dozen regular volunteers in our workshops, fixing bikes, furniture and electrical appliances: but there’s room for more if you would like to lend a hand. (We are about to get some additional cycle workstands, and are looking at installing a mezzanine storage area to free up more floor space for the work). We have also got our meeting room equipped with decent seats, tables and a projector: so far it has been used for training events (media-work and Love Food Hate Waste campaigning) and meetings of Oxfordshire Waste Partnership Projects Group, Green Deal, OCC Waste Dept (who also did a two and a half hour session in the workshop repairing / repurposing and up cycling items as part of a waste hierarchy exercise.), CDC Environmental Services, Bicester Bike Day planning meetings, and Bicester Vision, We also hosted a Langford Community Orchard fundraising cake sale on the 24th July - they were raising money for the purchase of Meadow Farm by BBOWT- and made a connection with the National Citizen Service programme, who brought teams of young people to volunteer with us and with Sobell for a few hours. I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the future. This newsletter is a little late, which we could see happening for the last few weeks, so we advertised for an unpaid intern to help with publicity: and found two! Mina will focus on the development of a new training course (DIY for women, provisionally entitled ‘Drill Baby Drill’, to start next year) and Tia will focus on our sales and marketing. (This leaves me still doing the newsletter...) Make a pledge to keep Oxfordshire top of the recycling league! Oxfordshire councils are challenging residents to make a pledge to recycle one more thing in the hope that the current impressive recycling rate of 60% can be improved on even further. In return for making a pledge residents will be entered into a prize draw to be in with a chance of winning an annual family pass to Blenheim Palace. Pledges can be made at www.oxfordshirewaste.go v.uk/recycle1morething Autumn Evenings We are planning a variety of evenings, every Tuesdays from 17 September to 3 December (with a break on 5 November for bonfire night) Makers and Fixers Come and use our workshop and tools, to work on your own project, or just learn and practise on ours! Skilled tutors and a different focus each evening according to demand. (Potentially, basic tool use, simple upholstery, decoupage, etc) Fix your favourite chair, create a sculpture, or upcycle some piece purchased next door from Sobell. Fix your own Bike In conjunction with Broken Spoke Bicycle Coop, two sessions for cyclists to bring in and work on their own bikes, with expert advice and support, and a properly equipped workshop. From basic servicing for beginners to more advanced repairs. Films & Discussions Watch stimulating films and videos in a relaxed atmosphere, with tea and coffee, and discuss/argue afterwards. Autumn Evenings, every week from 17 September: 7 till 9.30pm £5 per session (£3 concessions), plus charges for materials /parts supplied. Numbers limited so please book/pay in advance Contact us for more details, or keep an eye on www.facebook.com/BicesterGreen A woman’s work is never done! Ladies get ready Ladies DIY classes are in the process of being organized. Want to learn how to use a cordless drill? Or how to choose the right drill bit to put up a shelf? Or how to hand your own toilet roll holder? Get in touch if you are interested [email protected] k or call Emma 07591754787 Waste not… We use more and more electrical items, and more and more of them become surplus to our requirements. Some can be passed on through freecycle, freegle or ebay, but most become waste. Within Cherwell District, there is a pilot household collection scheme for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment). Items collected as WEEE, or taken to the tip at Ardley, are mechanically broken up, so that the plastics and metals can be recycled for use in making new products. At Bicester Green we currently accept donations of portable electrical appliances and in many cases can make them good for re-use. We then safety-test them, and offer them for sale through the Sobell Charity Mega-store next door. The work is largely done by our team of volunteers drawn from Bicester, the surrounding villages and Oxford. Peter Myers regularly volunteers at Bicester Green, contributing up to 20 hours a week. In the month he has been volunteering Peter has already repaired and safety tested 78 items, as well as performing repairs and checks on our own tools and equipment. This does not include items that are not worth fixing, which go for recycling. Peter says he is very happy volunteering at Bicester Green as he is able to apply his problem-solving skills to fixing things, something that he has always enjoyed. Additionally he enjoys the social interaction with the other volunteers, staff, and customers of Bicester Green and as he puts it “getting his brain working” after having previously taken early retirement. Other volunteers and staff also benefit from Peter sharing his skills, experience and expanding knowledge, as we all ask each other about the various items being repaired be it bike, furniture or electrical, especially so when a particularly challenging problem is encountered or new ideas are needed. Volunteer Bookkeeper sought Bicester Green is starting to need proper bookkeeping: we currently have up to 20 transactions per month, but about to grow rapidly. Initially we need help setting up more robust systems than our present spreadsheets. (We can call on expert advice to help with this). Then probably a regular three hours per week. Increasing in future as the enterprise grows. Most of work can be done from home, but deskspace & computer are available at BG if you prefer to work in a friendly office during school hours. Preferably somebody with some accounting/ accounting technician training or experience, but as a minimum, we need somebody reliable, methodical and numerate, experienced with Excel spreadsheets.