Listen to the successful public meeting "Producing our own Energy"

An engaged audience listened and questioned the guest speakers: Chris Blake
Community Energy Wales, Robert Proctor RENEW Wales / Community Energy Wales, Shea Jones
Re-Energising Wales Project Officer, Institute of Welsh Affairs, Ceri Williams Bridgend C.B.C. and Margaret Minhinnick, Director Sustainable Wales.

The meeting was chaired by Richard Thomas (Sustainable Wales) and Introduced by Councillor Huw David, Leader of Bridgend County Borough Council. Welsh Government and Rural Development Plan (reach, BCBC) representatives were also present to talk with attendees and provide information on their current activities. Thanks to all who attended and spoke, and the help of the Grand Pavilion, Porthcawl staff for enabling the event to run smoothly. 

An audio podcast of the meeting is now available. Listen now or download below or directly access the recording at SoundCloud where it can be downloaded.

Original description details of the event.

Other podcasts are available from Sustainable Wales

This recording omits the Shine a Light? film as you can watch that separately on our site 

Winners of the Fair Trade Bake Off!

Local bakers grabbed their aprons and baked a cornucopia of fair trade cakes at the Bridgend Fairtrade Festival.

Bridgend County Fairtrade Partnership Fairtrade Festival ‘Bake-Off’ winners.

Event held at Carnegie House, Wyndham Street, Bridgend on Saturday 18th March.  

Judge Madeleine Moon, MP

Judging the bake off

Judging the bake off

Adult winners

First prize: Ann Lewis with a decidedly Welsh-looking Spicy Fruit Cake with Mocha Icing.

Winning Cake

Winning Cake

 

Second prize:  Liz Worthington with a delicious intensely Orange Gluten-Free Cake.

Gluten free

Gluten free

Children – under 15 winners

1st Prize: Juliet gardner with a clever heart-shaped Fair-trade logo-designed Dark Chocolate & Coffee Cake.
 

Second prize: was 3+3/4 years-old Ffion Bourke with a Chocolate Henry the Hedgehog Cake. 

The winner of the public vote was also Liz Worthington

(Prizes donated by SUSSED Porthcawl and Fairtrade Wales)

Job Vacancy at SUSSED

SUSSED Wales Ethical Retailer, Porthcawl, requires...

Graduate Trainee, Supervisory Ethical Retail Assistant

Funded by Sustainable Wales and Jobs Growth Wales (c.28 hours) Initially for six months with view to extension.

Link to Online information & application

( https://ams.careerswales.com/Public/Vacancies/View.aspx?vid=36990 )

A unique opportunity for a highly motivated individual to help a community enterprise develop and flourish as part of a sustainable future.

Training will be provided. Volunteers will assist.

The part-time role requires supervision of retail sales in shop, at events and online of our ethically selected goods. Volunteer coordination, till management, administration and IT skills will also feature.

Responsible to Directors of SUSSED and Sustainable Wales Trustees. 

Support document (more information on the role)

Word        PDF

Calling all bakers! Autumn Fairtrade Bake Off 12 November

SUSSED on James St., Porthcawl CF36 3BG

SUSSED on James St., Porthcawl CF36 3BG

Sustainable Wales is holding a fairtrade bake off at the Green Room (above SUSSED) in Porthcawl. We're inviting bakers, schools and local groups to dust the fairtrade flour off their aprons and get to work baking for this flavoursome event.

So whether you're an enthusiastic baker or an even more enthusiastic cake connoisseur, make a date in your diary for the bake off... Saturday 12 November 10am-4pm

Find out all the details on the bake off page!

Green Room: Anthony Hontoir Book Launch Friday 21 October

Journalist, film-maker and author Anthony Hontoir returned home after a week’s holiday in Devon during the summer of 2013 with an idea for a whodunit murder mystery, based around the tidal road in Aveton Gifford, which is renamed Watersford for the story. He decided that it should feature a new amateur detective in the form of Erwin Graham, a one-time Fleet Street crime reporter, assisted by his partner Belle, a gipsy. “The Tidal Road Mystery” is the first in a series of mystery tales, and it has been written along traditional whodunit lines, evoking the golden age of murder mysteries in which there are a number of suspects, each with a motive of their own, and they are all brought together at the end for Erwin Graham to explain how he has solved the crime and to reveal the culprit.

Information in our events listings Friday 21 Oct 8pm

Additional Volunteers wanted for our community cooperative, SUSSED

www.sussedwales.com

www.sussedwales.com


Additional SUSSED Volunteers Wanted

Are you looking to make new friends, to increase your confidence, or to advance your cv? SUSSED are looking for enthusiastic, friendly and reliable individuals, to work in our community cooperative shop, SUSSED, for a few hours a week. You would be helping customers purchase both Fairtrade and eco-friendly items, as well as locally sourced goods.

What will I be doing?

Welcoming customers.
Operating a till, and handling money. 
Dealing with customers’ requests and queries, including taking orders for new stock. 
Explaining the background and the significance of the items we stock to the customers. 
Helping to reorganise and restock the shop when necessary.
Help at some events.

What skills and qualities can I bring to this role?

Good communication skills. 
A welcoming and friendly nature. 
A passion and understanding of the Fairtrade initiative and other ideas linked with the sustainable development movement. 
The ability to work well with others, in small groups of volunteers.

When will I be needed?

Opening hours are from 9:30am-5:00pm, Monday-Saturday. Days and hours are flexible, depending on your preferences, and the availability of other volunteers, with volunteers usually electing to do a minimum of 4 hours a week (either in the morning or afternoon).

Where will I be volunteering?

4-5 James Street (near the bandstand in John Street), Porthcawl, CF36 3BG. 

What will I gain from the role?

Develop valuable skills, (useful for your CV), make new friends whilst supporting producers both in the developing world and in your locality.

As a volunteer, you will also become a member of the cooperative SUSSED, which will entitle you to a 10% discount (except on food, local and toiletries) as well as a say on how SUSSED operates and grows, at AGM’s plus volunteer meetings.

What support will I be given?

Training will be provided about shop procedures, as well as what it means to be a community cooperative that stocks Fairtrade, local and eco-friendly goods.
 

Contact Details
Telephone: 01656 783962
Email: sussed@sustainablewales.org.uk

SUSSED is a unique project, with nothing like it between Cardiff and Swansea. Through promotion of such independent retailers, we believe it’s possible to reverse recent trends of declining town centres, instead creating busy, diverse high streets with distinct cultures – all of this possible without costing us the Earth.

Note: If you are not interested in the shop aspects, we have several other volunteer roles available, including admin, finance & events management. Please enquire for more details.

Here is the information as a PDF which you could use as a poster etc.

Check out the SUSSED website to find out more about what we do. SUSSED is on twitter as @sussedwales and instagram as @sussed_wales (links are on the main SUSSED website).

Your questions wanted for Election Question Time event in Porthcawl

Sustainable Wales is organising an election Question Time to take place in the Y Centre, YMCA, 25, John St., Porthcawl, 7pm – 9.30pm, FRIDAY, APRIL 15. See our events section for more details.

Questions are to be sent beforehand to the charity.

A spokesperson explained: “Questions on urgent local issues like the regeneration of Porthcawl are particularly welcome. Others might include re-instatement of a rail link, climate change, fracking and fuel poverty.

“But we feel the coming referendum on EU membership is almost certain to arise.

“Questions about local car parking will not be asked on the night.

“Questions must be self-explanatory and straightforward. They should be e mailed to robert.minhinnick@sustainablewales.org.uk by WEDNESDAY, APRIL 13.

“They should include the questioner’s name and address. Chairman on the night, Richard Thomas, will consider their suitability.”

Invited to take part are all the candidates in the BRIDGEND constituency.

Chairman on the night will be Richard Thomas, Chair of Sustainable Wales.

Sustainable Wales 01656 783962 / 773627.