A selection of our projects and initiatives:

1.  Eco-refurbishment of the Old School Community Centre, Cwmdauddwr, Nr Rhayader, Powys

The Old School, at the heart of the village of Cwmdauddwr, is now used as a Community Centre and prooved to be an ideal venue for demonstrating the benefits of sustainable refurbishment.

Transition Town Rhayader & District, in partnership with the Trustees of the building, 'Charles Price Endowment' and with funding from SWEA (Severn Wye Energy Agency), have installed a variety of carbon saving measures to enhance the building’s overall carbon footprint including new double-glazing in repaired window frames, solar thermal panels for hot water and photo-voltaic panels to produce electricity.

It is expected that the Old School, which is already a valuable local resource, will also become a visitor attraction in its own right and will serve as an exemplar of good building practice and sustainable retro-fitting.

Sponsored by:

Severn Wye Energy Agency (SWEA) "Promoting sustainable energy and affordable warmth through partnership, awareness-raising, innovation and strategic action.”    http://www.swea.co.uk/index_projects.shtml

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Getting ready....                        Out with the old.....                  Solar thermal and PV panels in place

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New double-glazed windows - before and after

2.  Creation of a Community Garden at The Old School, Cwmdauddwr, Nr Rhayader, Powys

With funding from the Local Environmental Quality Dept of the Welsh Assembly, Transition Town Rhayader & District is developing the playground at the Old School, Cwmdauddwr as a community garden.  Designed to be wheelchair friendly, the garden incorporates different areas of planting including sensory and sheltered areas, raised flower and vegetable beds, a greenhouse, fruit trees and a wildlife double-pond with solar fountain.

Under the guidance of our garden designer, Dave Burridge of RENEW, (Radnorshire Enterprise for Nature, Education and Wellbeing), the team of volunteers learned how to construct both dry stone wall and timber raised beds, pond making and solar-powered pump installation, ground preparation and erection of a greenhouse, fruit tree planting and general organic horticultural skills.

The new Community Garden will be a valuable local resource as a place for enjoyment and relaxation in a pleasant and colourful garden, set as it is right in the heart of the village, and also has the added advantage of offering opportunities to learn about gardening and food production using sustainable methods.

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Garden Design by RENEW  (Radnorshire Enterprise for Nature, Education and Wellbeing)   http://renew.midwales.org.uk

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Sponsored by:

Local Environmental Quality (LEQ) "Our LEQ team understands that improvements to local environmental quality can contribute
towards a whole range of areas such as people’s quality of life, the health of communities and the business community."
http://www.keepwalestidy.org/our-projects/local-environmental-quality

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Clearing the site - first tentative steps                  Removing the old playground tarmac

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Starting to build raised flower beds                                   Team work rules... OK!

Pictures of the completed project to follow shortly....

3.  Free and Grant-aided Insulation for Homes in and around Rhayader

Another initiative rolled out in early February in conjunction with Domestic and General Insulations. Together we contacted every home in Rhayader and District to see what level of insulation they have and to offer upgrades where necessary.  Domestic and General are able to give up to date information on all grants available and will carry out the grant applications on behalf of customers. It couldn’t get any easier!
We will be able to calculate the overall carbon and financial savings that the community makes by the amount of houses taking up the scheme. These figures will be released regularly so everyone can see how Rhayader and District is reducing its carbon footprint.

4.  Seed and Plant Growing Trials

Vegetable Trials 2010 - Final Report 4.11.10

Vegetable Varieties Trialled:-

Skirret and Rampion
Pea Bean
Cannellino and Orca beans
Soya beans
Chic Peas
Cardoon
Passion fruit
Japanese rice
Peanuts
Okra

Overview

The motivation for these trials was based on the fact that in this country, there are few high protein, traditional vegetable varieties available that can be grown for winter use.  The vegetables chosen for these trials reflected this premise being mostly high protein varieties such as beans, peas, nuts and rice.  Okra is grown for it’s pods which could be a useful addition to meals.  Skirret and Rampion are root vegetables, the part of the Cardoon used is the blanched stem and Passion Fruit is as the name suggests, a fruit.  These types are included here to add variety to a winter diet.

Skirret and Rampion need to be sown directly into the growing site as they do not like transplanting. Sown in early May, I had no germination of these seeds at all.  This was probably due to the very hot, dry weather at the time.  I will try again next year.  These were the only germination failures of the trials.  Everything else started well with good, strong plants coming from both module sown seed and direct sowing.

Results

Pea bean, Soya, Cannellino and Orca beans along with Chic peas all produced a very good crop of seed which I have subsequently dried for storage. All of these varieties were grown inside an unheated pollytunnel and cropped from late July to mid October.

Japanese Rice was also grown on in an unheated polytunnel and it grew very well in the hot weather of May/June, but slowed down considerably in the cool, wet weather of July/ August. Consequently, this rice did not produce seed heads and was therefore a failure.  This particular variety needs more heat to kick it into seed production and is probably not worth growing in the climate of mid Wales.

Okra grew well inside the tunnel initially, but stopped growing completely in July/August.  Again the cool weather was probably the reason, although there might have been a problem with the type of soil it was planted into.

Peanuts were grown in pots inside the tunnel and they grew well and flowered in late July.  According to information on growing peanuts gained from the internet, I earthed up the plants like one does with potatoes.  This information proved to be misinformation as 4 of my 5 plants promptly died on being earthed up.  I managed to save the last plant and it continued to grow producing nuts by mid October.

Passion Fruit was grown in pots inside the tunnel.  It grew very well and was not bothered by the cool weather. By mid October, the plants were 1 meter tall and looking very healthy.  These plants are climbers and are a long term investment, with fruit being produced a few years after sowing.  If I can get the plants through the winter, they could do well.

Cardoon was sown outside and has grown well.  The plant stems were wrapped with newspaper in mid October so as to blanch them.  Culinary use starts from mid November onward.

Conclusion

All the peas and beans are worth growing. I am quite excited by the results of these pea and bean trials and especially the Soya and Chic pea returns. If it is possible to grow them here reliably, imports become unnecessary. Next year, I plan to try all these varieties outside as well as inside to determine if field scale crops are a realistic proposition.

With regard to the rice, I will look around to see if it’s possible to find a variety that is more suited to the climate here in Wales. The variety that I tried this year was almost successful, but was not quite right for this area.

I am going to give Okra another go next year to see if I can get it to grow better than this year. I think it is worth another try.

Peanuts, I will definitely grow again next year.  They do not require a lot of looking after and once the growing methods are sorted out, I think they could be a good addition to what can be grown around here. Could be grown in pots in a conservatory or on a windowsill.

Skirret and Rampion I will try again next year just to see if I can get any germination, perhaps in slightly different conditions..

I will probably grow Cardoon again, but I will see what the taste is like before making a final decision on this.

Also next year, I plan to grow Lentils and some other vegetable types not normally grown in Britain. Perhaps it is possible to add to the pool of varieties that can be grown here in mid Wales.

David Burridge

So, if you are interested in any of the projects above, or would like to know more about the transition movement in Rhayader click here or contact Catherine Lea on 01597 810 426

The Transition group meets at 7pm on the first Monday of every month in the backroom of The Crown Inn, North St, Rhayader.