Planet Wimborne, Wimborne War on Waste, Wimborne Town Council and Wimborne BID want to thank everyone who sent in ideas for what should go on the Wimborne Cup. There were over 50 entries received from people who love the town. The reusable cup will be launched at this year’s Folk Festival to reduce plastic waste and litter.
It’s now over to you, the public, to help choose the final design out of three choices.
The Wimborne Minster Folk Festival is a great event that draws huge crowds to the town to enjoy the dancing and bands. But it also produces a lot of plastic waste. To tackle this plastic waste, local environmental community groups, Planet Wimborne and Wimborne War on Waste, have teamed up with the Folk Festival organisers, Town Council, Wimborne BID and the majority of pubs in the town to launch the reusable Wimborne Cup at this year's Festival. The Wimborne Cup can then be used for any other event in the town.
Planet Wimborne, who organised the week-long Wimborne Green Festival, was keen to involve businesses in the town in celebrating the beauty and fragility of our rivers and teamed up with Wimborne BID to ask shops to create window displays. The theme of this year's Green Festival and the window displays was 'Rivers', which of course is apt, given the Rivers Allen and Stour pass through and by the town. Members of the public were encouraged to stroll around the town to admire the ingenuity of the shops and vote for their favourite window.
Like all good things, the Wimborne Green Festival 2024 has come to a close. And what a week of events we have enjoyed - we firmly believe there was something for everyone. There were some great firsts this year as well - from putting out the community flags (literally) to herald the start of the Festival; to live streaming and recording talks; to running workshops in schools.
Dorset residents are being asked to help shape Dorset Council's key priorities to be delivered over the next 5 years in a big conversation. You can find details of the big conversation here: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/a-big-conversation.
There are 4 main areas where the Council wants to make a difference:
Planet Wimborne's successful networking event on Wednesday 24th July saw over 20 local community groups come together to share their passion for the environment. All the groups are affiliated to Planet Wimborne and spoke about what they were doing, taking the opportunity to talk to others and make connections. It was clear Wimborne and the surrounding area has a dedicated army of volunteers, all of who work for the good of the community.
Wimborne’s oldest independent home electronics store, Dacombes (https://www.dacombesofwimborne.com/), is now harnessing the newest technology, with solar energy powering its extensive array of domestic appliances and home cinemas in its Dorset showroom. Matt Renaut, Dacombes’ Managing Director, noted the significant electricity demand of their operations, likening it to ‘three kettles on the boil all day long.’
BCP and Dorset Councils are calling on residents to let them know what a more sustainable transport future should look like. The joint consultation started on 22nd January and closes on 3rd March 2024. You can find the survey here: https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/local-transport-plan/local-transport-plan-4.
The new joint Local Transport Plan 4 (LTP4) will set out the long-term goals, strategy, and policies for improving transport for everyone over the next 10-15 years.
Dorset Council has launched a survey to find out the views of residents on improving walking, cycling and wheeling in the county. Planet Wimborne encourages everybody to respond to the survey to let the Council know how important it is to support active travel.
You can find the survey at https://www.dorsetcouncil.gov.uk/news/have-your-say-on-improving-routes-for-walking-cycling-and-wheeling and it is open until 18 January 2024.
The 2023 Green Festival has been hailed a great success by the organisers. The aims of the festival were to engage with as many people as possible from as wide a background as possible, with a particular focus on young people and local businesses. With this in mind, the packed week long programme had something for everybody.