About SeSaME. (Sedgeberrow Sustainable and Manageable Energy Group)
SeSaME aims to open up a treasure trove of renewable energy, informing, encouraging and supporting a sustainable village community exploring, and where possible, acting on the activities shown below
a) We seek to assist villagers in estimating their electricity consumption and give them advice about reducing it, where needed. We have electricity monitors to lend out to those villagers who want to check how useful they are before they spend their money on one. We will offer advice to villagers about reducing waste and improving the insulation of their property. This year a partnership with the County and District Councils and local Act on Energy has led to external insulation grants for the owners of 11 old houses. A total of £58,977.15 (ECO and GDC funding) has benefitted Sedgeberrow village. That works out to a carbon saving of over 400tonnes CO2 over the lifetime of the products.
b) We have investigated the best options for and the viability of a Generator harnessing the energy of the River Isbourne, liaising closely with the Village Flood Group. We had a site visit and consultation provided by the Sharenergy Co-operative, funded by the Marches Energy Agency, that revealed it not to be feasible.
c) We want to look at ways of maximizing solar panel use and facilitating a corporate village approach to fundraising and construction. We will support the Village Hall action plan, helping to look at all other alternative energy sources for the Hall.This year has seen us co-ordinate the installation of Solar panels for both the Village Hall and the School, the former benefiting from new air source to water central heating with a £10,000 grant from “Welcome to Our Future”, and upgraded insulation, also grant aided.
Wychavon Intelligently Green Awards
The second Wychavon Intelligently Green Awards Ceremony took place in front of an audience of 150 in the new auditorium and atrium of PershoreCollege on Friday 17 June 2017. The actor and comedian Alistair McGowan hosted the event, in his usual inimitable way, to the great amusement and pleasure of the audience. Like all councils, Wychavon have a vital role to play in cutting energy consumption, tackling fuel poverty and reducing reliance on fossil fuels. Energy efficiency and renewable energy are important issues for Wychavon residents too and they expect us to play a strong role in addressing them. In 2014 Wychavon introduced the Intelligently Green Awards which recognise, celebrate and promote green projects and activities in Wychavon that also benefit the community or save moneey.The five award categories were; Individual & household, Small Business, Larger Business, Community Group and School & College. SeSaME was nominated for the Community Group Award and they won! Finally, after all the category winners were awarded, SeSaME was announced as the overall winner of 2016. Of their work, Cherrie Mansfield, Strategy and Performance Manager at Wychavon and organiser of the awards, said: “We were impressed with the way SeSaME has developed over the last two years. Its work picks up a number of elements of our Intelligently Green Plan. The group is a great example of a whole community working together to reduce the carbon footprint of their village. ”Board Member for Environment and Street Scene at Wychavon District Council, said: “Our judges had a tough enough time selecting the finalists and an even more challenging debate was had as we discussed the possible winners from such a high standard of green projects.
d) We wish to liaise with regard to possible links between recreational woodland and coppicing for heating any future new public building, as was outlined in the Parish Plan.
e) We will maintain regular contact and information-sharing with other relevant Village Groups and our Parish Council. To that end we have assumed responsibility for the village website, www.sedgeberrow.com and are offering all village institutions the facility for entering and editing text on their own page. We wish to ensure that SeSaME’s Goals and proposed actions are incorporated into the next Parish Plan update.
f) We will investigate other local sustainability schemes in the area and publicise them.
g) We will maintain a website – www.sesame.me.uk
h) We have resurrected, now edit and produce a village newsletter, the Sedgeberrow Post, to ensure good communication within the village and all its institutions.
i) We co-ordinate Sedgeberrow Oil Buying Group that reduces heavy traffic into the village, provides reliable delivery, optimum prices and a levy that contributes to village costs.
Club membership has now been extended cover the Villages, not just in Sedgeberrow, Ashton under Hill, Beckford, Hinton, Dumbleton, Aston Somerville and Wormington, but Childswickham, Conderton, Elmley Castle, Kemerton and Overbury. The more people from these 12 villages come together to become members, the more competitive will be our buying power and the greater the potential savings. Membership is now 185.
j) We have conducted a survey of all households in the Village to establish both areas of need and past achievements of sustainable activity. It took place August/September 2013, in partnership with Wychavon District Council and ActOnEnergy. (go to www.sesame.me.uk and click on ” Sedgeberrow Energy Scene”, in the right-hand column, to read the survey)
Mike
Email: energy@sesame.me.uk