Fabric & Paper
Bag Making
Workshop

Every Friday
2pm – 4pm
Ventnor Community Cafe

3 Albert St, Ventnor,
Isle Of Wight PO38 1DS

Come along and make yourself a Morsbag – a shopping bag made out of recycled fabric (like the ones in the photo above) to help rid Ventnor of plastic carrier bags.

Sheila will show you how to make them, you only have to sew straight lines on the sewing machine – they are very easy to make.

Morsbags fold up really small and easily fit into a pocket or a handbag, pick a fabric to suit your personality, plain, stripes or floral etc. These bags are quick to make and they make ideal gifts. Morsbags are always given away for free and are never sold.

Sheila has also been perfecting the art on making paper carrier bags – so you can have a go at that as well.

Tea and coffee available.

Workshop Facilitator: Sheila on 01983 856268

This workshop is free of charge

 Content reproduced, with grateful thanks, from www.ventnorpermaculture.wordpress.com

…. We are delighted to announce that we have teamed up with an established project on the mainland called the Newspaper Bag Project, who have developed a very efficient and easy to use template to make newspaper carrier bags from tabloid papers.

Their link is: www.newspaperbagproject.com

This site contains not only the video but also the instructions that can be easily downloaded or printed off.

The direct link to the instruction video is:

www.viddler.com/explore/ronansprake/videos/3/

The designer of the tabloid template is Alex Sprake. He has spent a considerable amount of time testing the design to make sure it is better than anything we have used or seen before. Please take a few moments and check out his site:

www.greengreengrocer.co.uk  

Greengrocery at its greenest

This is a small, independently–run traditional local greengrocer shop, situated in the historic market town of Bungay, on the Norfolk/Suffolk border.

 We specialise in sourcing produce as locally as possible, with a large amount of our produce being grown within just a few miles of the town.

It is poignant that we are teamed with a greengrocer with an ethical conscience as the image above reminds us of Noah’s Ark, our own local greengrocer, run by Steve Hogg which sadly had to close, due to the current economic climate…. But up to the last he promoted going plastic carrier bag free…!!

The way the project will work is this:

Any not for profit group wishing to make bags for sale and use the income as a very useful fund raiser (very good for Christmas present containers amongst other things!) should either get all the instructions here…or go to the County Press shop in Pyle Street, Newport and collect a CD and printed instructions which contains all the information and the instruction video.  

The same can also be collected from the Ventnorian on Spring Hill in Ventnor. The Ventnorian is also the retail base for the Ventbag project.

Both shops will have the CDs and written instructions available from Monday 23 October. 

When collecting an instruction pack either from the County Press shop or the Ventnorian, the group concerned must register their full details.

When the bags are made they will be sold for the groups at the County Press shop in Newport, and also at the Ventnorian in Ventnor together with some other local shops in Ventnor.

This is a long term project and as interest grows over the next year, more retailers will be added.

In every case, the retailer will sell the bags for a donation…there will be a minimum suggested donation. The bags will always sell for less than one pound each… They need to be affordable for all ages and all pockets!

The monies collected by the shops will be paid directly to the supplying organisation (e.g. scouts, guides, schools etc).

Ventbag will support the various groups making the bags through promotion and ongoing information.

If anyone has any questions, then please call Mark Compton-Hall on 07966 494770 or email ventbag@btinternet.com

Good news in the bag

EYE-CATCHING new carrier bags could be showstoppers for shoppers.
As well as striking to the eye, they’re eco-friendly, too, as they are made from unsold copies of the County Press, and will help raise cash for Island …

News/

01 August 2008

© Isle of Wight County Press 2008       www.iwcp.co.uk

Hi Everyone,

Ventbag is the project name for Ventnor becoming the first town on the Island to be Plastic Carrier Bag Free.

This unpaid volunteer project is supported both by Ventnor Town Council and the Isle of Wight Council.

As we set an original (tough target) of achieving this in September this year, we thought it would be a good idea to give everyone an update on progress.

The biggest challenge we faced was looking at the production of an alternative bag for Ventnor. This was planned to be an organic fair trade sourced cotton bag.

The problem has been one of the costs of raw materials increasing continually, which have made this idea unworkable. This is a global problem, not one unique to the Isle of Wight!

We have spent a considerable amount of time talking to both shopkeepers, residents in the town and visitors. One consistent piece of feedback is that almost everyone we speak to says going plastic carrier bag free is a great idea…but also says that is only going to happen when there are alternative choices.

Our focus for this year has been to make that happen. To that end we have

coordinated the creation and handing out of over 1000 Morsbags and over 500 bag kits (these are carrier bags made from unwanted fabric). We have also just launched an initiative with the County Press to turn unsold copies of the newspaper into carrier bags……..

We know that over 90% of Ventnor business and shops now actively discourage the use of plastic carrier bags. Several shops now openly sell alternative bags, and have reported that a large number of shoppers do not want or ask for a plastic carrier bag. More recently Somerfield has asked its staff to take an active role in this.

This has all happened over a period of nine months…..

While it has seemed to be a quiet project. We have been just getting on with our projects objectives which are to inform, educate and explain the benefits of going plastic carrier bag free…..

Most folks we encounter are very positive about the subtle and yet profound changes we have seen in Ventnor since the beginning of this year.

As with all change projects though, the old saying of “you can take a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink” holds true………….!!!

Sheila, Mark, Lesley and James

• Brought the community together for one mutual objective. Our environment

• Schools involved in litter picking up.

• Project has spun off into all sorts of schemes, (involving the W.I., Kids, and Schools).

• The joint initiative with the County Press will help “fund” groups all over the island (as well as promoting the whole campaign), as well as encouraging children to make an alternative bag.

• The project has sparked off daily debates by locals on other environment issues.

• It has promoted a feeling of well being in the community (individuals doing something positive)

The Government has predicted that by 2020 we must build 3 million new homes. CPRE feel it’s better to plan for homes we need, rather than the numbers we might need. Your help is needed to persuade the Government to rethink their housing plans and prevent the loss of precious countryside.

Just how did the Government decide we must build 3 million new homes? There is an email on the CPRE website that’s all ready for you to send. Please email the Housing Minister

Since seeing the disgusting way that the majority of chickens exist in their short lives between egg and table on Chicken Out TV many people want free range meat when eating out. If you know of any IW restaurants, cafes etc where they serve local free range chicken, other meats and local produce, please let us know.

St Helens Restaurant, Lower Green Road, St Helens, Isle of Wight PO33 1TS
Tel/Fax: 01983 872303
Local chicken, duck, partridge, pheasant and eggs on the menu from Brownrigg, lamb from Parkwater Farm, Godshill Park Farm beef, fish from Captain Stan, pork and bacon from IW Bacon, everything else sourced locally if possible. Booking essential.

“St Helens Restaurant has a well-deserved good reputation. The food is outstanding, and the restaurant achieves a commendable emphasis on local produce whilst still presenting an interesting and varied menu at sensible prices.” Read the full review from Matt & Cat

There is a huge waiting list for allotments on the Island, even if you do have one they can be costly and inconvenient, for example if you live in Wootton your allotment will be in Ryde. Many people with gardens don’t use them due to ill-health, old age or even always being at work. The solution to both problems could be solved by the Footprint Trust with their new Adopt-a-Garden scheme which seeks to join these two groups together. The householder will get their garden looked after for free and the gardener gets a free allotment in return. Find out more…..

There is also more about the scheme in the County Press 

From Mark – I am very pleased to say that we are planning to integrate this into the five year town plan for Ventnor, Bonchurch and St Lawrence. Read more in comments

Not content with refusing to lift planning regulations on installation of solar panels and wind turbines in this country our wonderful government now wants to throw a spanner in the works of European micro-generation.

55% of the world’s photovoltaic power is generated from the 300,000 systems in Germany. A ‘Feed- in’ system due to a German law obliges power companies to buy energy back from renewable resources at above market prices for a 20 year period.

The British government wants to scrap ‘Feed-in’ systems for a Europe wide quota system which would mean variable prices for renewable energy rather than the fixed price tariff which Germany relies upon. Read the full article – in Permaculture Magazine.

Personal Power – Patrick Whitefield urges us all to write to our local MP, in our case Andrew Turner, 24 The Mall, Carisbrooke Road, Newport IW, PO30 1BW, asking that the letter be forwarded to the appropriate minister. A letter coming from an MP carries more weight than a direct one from a member of the public. The main points to mention are:

• Feed-in tariffs have proved much more successful than the British quota system in raising the amount of renewable energy generated.
• Britain should adopt feed-in tariffs immediately.
• At the very least we should not impose the quota system on the rest of Europe.

I hope Patrick and Maggie will forgive me for copying the Personal Power bit above straight from Permaculture Magazine.

You can now save paper by subscribing to the new Digital edition of Permaculture Magazine and get full access to previous issues on-line . Click here for a free trial issue.

Our sewathon on the 26th January was very successful and we thoroughly enjoyed our day sewing in the RNLI shop window. We distributed 116 recycled fabric morsbags, the RNLI received just over £48 in donations on top of their takings for all the goods sold today which we are delighted about.

You can read and hear more about it on the wonderful Ventnor Blog:

http://ventnorblog.com/ventbag-making-ventnor-plastic-carrier-bag-free/

RNLI Sewathon (Podcast)

Visitors enjoying the Sewathon (Podcast)

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