Saturday 29th September – St Mary’s Church, Halesworth
Photographs of this years conference below, followed by details of speakers
Time/Event/who
| 9.00 | Arrive/ Registration/coffee | Halesworth Ash team |
| 9.30 | Welcome to the church by Dominic Doble, Blyth Valley Team Rector Welcome to the conference by Joyce Moseley, Chair Halesworth Town Council | Dominic Doble/Joyce Moseley |
| 10.00 | Farming and the Environment: Working with Nature | Professor Peter Hobson |
| 10.40 | Farming Clusters | Emily Winter, Waveney Farming Cluster & Richard Symes, Blyth Farm Cluster |
| 11.40 | Good sustainable food for all. Reality or pipe dream? Halesworth Community Larder – the vision and the reality. Local food policy – is it working? Supermarket sweep | Emma Healey, Director Halesworth Volunteers / Joanna Thackray Louise Biddiscombe , Acting Food Network Officer with Community Action Suffolk and Coordinator of Community food partnership for SCC and District council |
| 12.40 | LUNCH – SOUP and BREAD etc | |
| 2.00 | Community Owned Renewable Energy with John Taylor from Community Energy England | John Taylor |
| 2.30 | RIVER SYSTEMS – Wil Harvey and Eamonn O’Nolan From the Waveney to the Deben | Wil Harvey / Eamonn O’Nolan |
| 3.00 | OPEN SPACES – Blyth Community Conservation Network | Alan Miller et al |
| 3.30 | Tea | |
| 4.00 | Workshops | Joint |
| 4.30 | Close | Halesworth Ash Team |
| 5.00 | END | |
The Community Larder
Halesworth Community Larder is a bit of an enigma but for anyone who attended the Climate Action Conference all became clear thanks to Emma Healey, director of Halesworth Volunteers (HV) and Jo Thackray, an enthusiastic member of the volunteer team.
Jo emphasised that the larder, which is based at St Mary’s Church Hall, is a special place for everyone where you can bring and take food, make a donation in cash or food items or you can simply take what you need. It is not a food bank. No vouchers or accreditation are needed. There is no fixed charge but donations are invited.
A wide range of food is offered from tinned staples, meat, dairy and cleaning products to fresh fruit and vegetables from many different sources. These include Suffolk County Council, Fareshare (redistributes supermarket surplus), local businesses, small organic farms and individual donations.
Funding is an ever-present issue. HV secures grants, there are many private donations and several donors have done a huge shop when stocks are low. The larder aims for minimal waste by using surplus food, recycling where possible and composting as a last resort.
And finally, the future. There are plans for a kitchen where people can come together to share and enjoy sustainable local food. There is a marked emphasis on community….everyone is welcome..