A small group of Fetcham residents have started to cultivate a small strip of land at the Lower Road end of St Mary's Parish Church driveway. This is part of a 1-year trial running until December 2011, all on a zero budget.

Keen to have new faces at our workparties, next one due Saturday, 2nd July 10-12 am.

Help turn it into attractive place for creatures great and small.

For just over a year Dorking Food Float have been running a stall every Saturday outside Barclays Bank on Dorking High Street.

They offer a range of local produce including bread, eggs, preserves, honey, cheese, cakes and seasonal vegetables.

Food Float is a not for profit community interest company largely run and supported by volunteers and is designed to encourage the community
to work together to ensure:

• Local producers have an outlet on the high street 
• Local customers have the option of choosing fresh, local produce with low carbon miles, and 
• Local funds stay in our area to help strengthen the local economy.

You can find out more about us on their website http://www.foodfloat.org

Why not give them a try?

Opinion polls suggest over 80% of the public wants to keep our woodlands in public hands for future generations; yet the government is only consulting us on how the woodlands should be privatised.

Nevertheless, it is possible to make your views known. On the survey you could neither agree/disagree with the 'options' but make your views known in the comments fields. 

The Forestry Commission consultation page lists the relevant documents, and tells you how to make your views knwon.

There are three forests within Mole Valley being considered for sell-off (map), all classified as 'small commercial'. That they are small increases the chance that they will be considered as candidates for sell-off ('prioritizing (the sale of) woods which are outliers on the estate'). 

BuyMyTronics is a US company that offers cash for gadgets - wherever you are in the world. They promise to resell, refurbish, or ethically recycle your gizmo. Unfortunately, outside the US you have to pay for postage.

Late autumn/pre-winter is a good time of year to either start or keep composting as there’s a great deal of material collected from your garden clean up which could be thrown into the compost bin and left to compost throughout the colder months, ready for the spring bloom.

Falling autumn leaves can become a nuisance, especially if you're constantly raking them off the lawn and picking them up. Leaves, prunings, dead plants and flowers are great additions to the compost bin, producing a rich compost ideal for spring planting. If you've ever thought of making compost, autumn is the perfect time for it, and come spring you'll have some wonderfully rich and nutrient-filled topsoil, all made for free.

Throughout autumn, the Surrey Waste Partnership is continuing to offer home composting bins at great prices, starting from £14.00 (RRP £39.00).

Composting is a natural process that transforms both your garden and kitchen waste into valuable and nutrient rich food for your garden, for free. For example, autumn leaves are a great source of "brown," high-carbon material for the compost. Simply alternate layers of leaves with the regular “green” materials you'd add to your compost bin (such as vegetable and fruit scraps, weeds, grass clippings, and plants that you pull out in your autumn garden clean-up) and let it sit over the winter. Turn the pile when you think of it, and by planting time you'll have finished compost. If you have lots of leaves to put into your compost bin, put the excess into a bin bag, make a few holes in it and leave in a corner of the garden or shed where they will rot down and make great mulch.

Making compost is simple; family waste such as empty cereal packets and egg boxes; fruit scraps and vegetable peelings; tea bags and coffee grounds, are in fact great ingredients to make compost. Mix this in with garden waste and you have the perfect recipe.  
Home composting is the most environmentally friendly method of dealing with organic waste. Separating and composting household waste, not only reduces the amount waste that you put out for collection, but also saves you money. Use it on your flowerbeds and vegetable plots, patio planters, hanging baskets and even window boxes.  Compost keeps your plants growing healthily, by improving soil structure and fertility, maintaining moisture levels and PH balance.
To buy a bin or to dig up more advice on how to turn your garden waste and table scraps into compost, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk/getcomposting or call 0844 571 4444.

*The Surrey Waste Partnership is made up of Surrey County Council and the 11 district and borough councils in the county to manage Surrey’s waste in the most efficient, economic and sustainable way possible.

The Surrey Hills Wood Fuel Working Group has been established to encourage people and organisations based in and around the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty to adopt wood fuel as their primary method of heating and to use the wood fuel now being produced locally. Michael Sydney, Chairman of the Working Group comments;

"We are the most wooded county in the country, and much of this is secondary and low grade woodland that is ideally suited to wood fuel production. We should be aiming now to be the most wood-heated county in the country."

The Surrey Hills Wood Fuel Working Group is organising a Wood Fair at Birtley House in Bramley on Saturday 9th October 2010 to showcase woodland management, woodland products and wood fuel suppliers to the public.

For further information on the Surrey Hills Wood Fuel Working Group click here or contact Gail Sperrin, Working Group Coordinator on 01372 220651 or email gail.sperrin@surreyhills.org

Surrey's new local transport plan (LTP3) will start in April 2011. You have an opportunity to make your comments on the consultation web site until 9th November 2010.

Consultation on the following plans are now open for responses:

• Congestion Strategy 
• Parking Strategy
• Passenger Transport Strategy: Part 1 - Local Bus
• Air Quality Strategy

According to this report on the BBC's web site, smart electricity meters in UK homes won't help reduce electricity usage (and thereby bills and CO2) if they do not have a display! What a shocker!

Luckily, the ones we lend out for free do!

On Saturday 3 July North Leatherhead Community Group is undertaking `The Big Tidy Up' and is looking for volunteers to help out with litter picking from 10am until 4.00pm. If you would like to get involved, meet at the Tesco's entrance to the woods at 10.00am.

This promises to be a fun day out for all the family ending in a free BBQ at 4.30pm at the Fire & Iron Gallery. There will also be prizes, stickers, food and drinks through out the day. The Group is looking for the local community to come with their family and help whilst having fun. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about the area, hidden to many, that is full of history! Prizes will be awarded for the most unusual item found and maybe, just maybe, there will be gold in the woods! Everyone is welcome, even if you can only spare 10 minutes.

The area behind Tesco's in North Leatherhead holds many historical remains, from the Romans to an old brick works that used to be on the site many years ago. There have been lots of remarkable finds, including Roman coins. Since then litter, fly tipping and years of mess and grime have blanketed the area, making the land look unsightly and deterring visitors. However, underneath lies a wonderful woodland with many rare plants and invertebrates, waiting to be uncovered.

`The Big Tidy Up' is organised by North Leatherhead Community Group and supported by Tesco's, The Fire and Iron Gallery, Mole Valley District Council, Mole Valley Housing Association, Crime Disorder Reduction Partnership and further supporters.

For more information and to get involved with The Big Tidy Up Please Contact Simon Woodhams, North Leatherhead Community Group Project Worker on 01372 361082 or email swoodhams.lcg@live.com

On Saturday 5th June 2010 - World Environment Day - the Lightbox in Woking will host a fun-packed ‘Keen to be Green Now Fair’. 

The specially organized event will be packed full of information and advice, children’s activities, games, lectures and goodies to buy that raise awareness about what each and every one of us can do to become greener and reduce our carbon footprint.

From informative talks to face-painting, slow bike races, cool, eco-chic gadgets and accessories and free drop-in workshops, there will be something for everyone who cares for their local environment