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24.01.07
Our next Chinwag will be at the Trades' Club in Holme Street, Hebden Bridge starting at 6.30pm. Debbie Gaunt, the Calderdale Council Procurement Officer will be giving a short talk about the best way for green and ethical businesses to sell their products and services to local government. This will be followed by a question and answer session.

10.12.07
Following further discussion with the organisers of The Big Green Market, we are examining the idea of tying in their visit to a Big Green Weekend in Hebden Bridge, with additional events like the screening of films, story-telling and workshops.

08.12.07
As the January Chinwag was scheduled within the festive season, it has been decided to cancel it and reconvene on the 7th of February. A few of us will be gathering in January for a festive beverage and more details about where and when this occurs will be posted here.

February's Newsbytes

Key sustainable building techniques will be demonstrated by amazonails at Ecobuild, the UK 's only event dedicated to sustainable design & construction, at Earl's Court between 26-28 February. amazonails is rapidly expanding, and will soon be taking on an additional CAD technician, & administrator.

Architectonic has gained two new planning approvals this month, one of which is for a straw bale workshop, with turf roof which sits into the contours of the landscape near a listed building.

Blue Ginger are thrilled to be one of the first 20 companies in the UK to receive a groundbreaking ethical business accreditation from SEE Potential – an accreditation scheme for businesses that are honest and open about their social, environmental, and ethical practices.

Treesponsibility is the Community Foundation For Calderdale's "Project Of The Year". This award will help Treesponsibility to develop its educational and tree planting with young people. We would like to hear from landowners  and farmers for new planting. 01422 843222.

Freelance project manager/sustainability expert Louise Marix Evans is working on: ENWORKS; business planning with a charity; writing Co-op’s plastic bag free pack. She’s attending training on facilitation skills. She’s thinking about community composting and supporting women returners to work (again).

Community Foundation for Calderdale's fundraising ‘Evergreen Ball’ is on March 7th at Berties in Elland. The ball will reflect our commitment to be more ethical and also that our Project of the Year is Treesponsibility. For information and tickets call 01422 438734.

A new business providing green construction and property refurbishment will be launched next month. The aim is to provide the most eco-friendly options to conventional construction, repair, refurbishment and decoration techniques. For more information, visit www.greenrefurb.co.uk .

'Which' magazine are featuring a review of 'Green products' in the February 2008 edition, Interflush is one them. 'Which' also gave the interflush a positive review back in September 2005.

Radio Phoenix’s Coffee Culture show is on 9-12 noon each weekday and Dave Boardman does the Thursday show, featuring an informal interview with an ethical business between 10.15 and 10.45. Radio Phoenix is a community radio station broadcasting across Halifax on 96.7fm and available worldwide on www.phoenixfm.co.uk

Loop Systems has been approached by The Co-op to refurbish Rochdale Pioneers Museum. Proposals include refurbishing the original 'Pioneer' shop with new exhibition spaces and a contemporary extension housing access facilities and renewable power systems in a new sustainable timber structure.

The Hebden Royd and District Co-operative Members' Group has been launched. To be funded by The Co-operative, the group is looking to take forward ideas for campaigning and social activities locally. Contact Myra James for more information on myra.james@3-c.coop or 01422 845131.

The Trades Club is planning to attract grants for long term projects. Anyone with experience of Big Lottery Funding who’s willing to help please contact Dave Boardman on 0784 665 3843 / dave@tradesclub.info

During Fairtrade Fortnight (23rd February to 9th March) the Hebden Bridge Fairtrade Forum aims to run a stall at the Picture House linked to a screening of Black Gold (a film about fairtrade coffee) on 5th March. For more general information, visit www.fairtrade.org.uk.

The World on Your Doorstep music festival will be happening again this year in Calder Holmes Park in Hebden Bridge over the 19th and 20th of July. Anyone willing to help (plumbers, child carers, ethical security especially welcome) or wishing to perform, please contact Dave Boardman 0784 665 3843 / dave@tradesclub.info

Imaner are preparing to launch their new Diagnostic Website Doctor service (DWD) later this month. DWD assesses a website's strengths and weaknesses and pinpoints any problem areas. The results are used to support decision-making and help improve the website's performance.

Local writer Geoff Tansey's new book -  The Future Control of Food (£19.99) - has just been published by Earthscan. The book provides 'A Guide To International Negotiations And Rules On Intellectual Property, Biodiversity And Food Security'. If you are around Hebden then get a copy (with launch discount - £16) by emailing Geoff .

WYSElink, Calderdale Council, Voluntary Action Calderdale and Youth Services, are holding a "Meet The Buyer" Event on 27th February at The Town Hall, 10am - 12am and 2pm - 4pm. This is a  pilot event which will bring commissioning service providers eg, Local Authorities, PCT and The Police etc. together so that Not For Profit organisations can explore the possibility of doing business with them. Please contact Olivia Swingler at CVAC on 01422 348777.

Directors of h2oPE can give the go-ahead for the purchase and installation of the Torrs Hydro plant, - the UK’s first community owned hydro – thanks to raising more than £90,000 from a share offer. www.h2ope.co.uk

December's Newsbytes

Calder Future is pleased to announce that on 22nd November they were awarded £127,000 of v funding.  This is for a project to encourage young people from across Calderdale to get involved in making environmental improvements to our local waterways.

Business Link are exploring the possibility of  holding an event in Calderdale which includes, Voluntary organisations, Social Enterprises, ethical businesses, private sector, local authority procurement teams and public sector organisations. This aim is to  create the awareness of  who has what to sell and who may be interested in buying. This will take place in Calderdale in February. Time, place and details will be advised later.

Blue Ginger are offering ethicalbizers the chance to review their current marketing materials and find out how environmentally friendly/sustainable they are. They'll discuss the results of a friendly 10 point survey with you and give you some pointers on going greener– just email kate@blueginger.co.uk

Blaize Davies of Leap Ahead Coaching will be Coach-in-Residence at the highly popular annual Prowess conference on 21st February 2008.  Delegates will have the opportunity to work with Blaize on a single issue for 35 minutes.

Ethical Jobs has launched their Ethical Heroes site featuring inspirational interviews with some of people working in the ethical sector. Meanwhile, EJ founder, Jason Elliott, has an exhibition of images showing how Climate Change could alter the Calder Valley running at the Alternative Technology Centre in Hebden Bridge during December and January.

Adrian Ashton has recently developed a new model of local managed workspaces based on talking to local people and wannabe entrepreneurs - something no other developer of such facilities has ever done(!), and is subsequently attracting interest nationally.

Intensely ethical (boom, tish!) Home Recycling, Sowerby Bridge has installed a traditionally-built yurt in their offices.  MD Chris Hasling said: "Our naturally lit office is ideal most of the year, but not winter!   Now we can stay warm and reduce our energy consumption!"   

Team HaDo's first Free CV Friday went down a storm; so much that too many CVs were sent in for them to finish!  The next one will be held in January - in the meantime, it's Deaf access as usual.

Treesponsibility has secured £20,000 after a competitive, Calderdale-wide initiative. This funding will enable the not-for-profit group to continue and develop its projects with schools and community groups. 01422 843222 for the latest tree planting opportunities.

Friendly local bicycling bookeeper Mike Stocks gets on his "virtual bike" and goes global with the launch of his website Ethical Accounts.

Kerbside is looking to collect sleeping bags for some of Calderdale's homeless in the run up to Christmas. Sleeping bags can be dropped off at Unit 11a, Station Road Industrial Park, Luddendenfoot, HX2 6AD. Closing date 14 Dec 07.

Due to continued expansion  Green ISP Broadband  are co-operating with our Wholesale supplier to arrange a Virtual BT Central Pipe for 2008, this will mean a broader range of ISP services on offer at more competitive prices and even better service levels, our ethos remains as strong.

Rockmill has been commissioned by Woolshed Designs to design and build their new website. They are also further developing widgets and themes for the LibDem Councillor website My Councillor - which now hosts over 150 local Councillor websites.

The Co-operative Group via its West Yorkshire members relation committee is pleased to be supporting the Ethical Business Network as it operates along ethical lines that are in keeping with the values and principles of the cooperative movement. The last year has seen a number of initiatives including the very successful Plastic Bag Free Hebden Bridge campaign and 2008 is looking even better.

Calderdale Council's new Procurement Strategy is to be launched shortly. The Procurement Unit is holding a training session for Councillors looking at the impact of procurement on sustainable issues in the New Year.

One of Architectonic's interesting new commissions this month is a music practice room and office. A timber building is proposed with an oriel window angled towards valley views. The roof is orientated to give maximum gain to solar panels.

Choice, is VA-C new Supported Volunteering Project funded by CFC. It will support adults with Additional Support Needs into Volunteering. VA-C are also recruiting Volunteers to train as Support Assistants. There is an open evening December 6th 4.30/6.00pm at the Resource Centre, Hall Street, Halifax choice@cvac.org.uk

Imaner had an exciting weekend running the Christmas Without Cruelty web clinic. They were kept busy by intrepid ethical retailers and campaigners who submitted their websites to a trial version of the Diagnostic Website Doctor.

Ecobee are now offering fast UK web hosting powered by 100% renewable electricity. With 100% uptime guarantee, zero carbon energy consumption and a range of packages, hosting has never been more ethical. See http://www.ecobee.org or call 01618604228 for more details.

Snood would like to say a big thank you to all who popped into see them at HOST07. We are now working hard and very excited about updating the website...watch this space...www.snood-revolution.co.uk

Butterbean is working on a Brand identity project with Artist in Schools, Bolton. We're going to be inspiring learning and supporting change through the arts. Promises to be an exciting and rewarding project. If anyone is interested in seeing what Butterbean can do drop us an email to butterbeangraphics@yahoo.co.uk

Hebden Bridge Fairtrade Forum have distributed pledge forms to retail outlets in the town in order to update their online directory of businesses offering Fairtrade products. They are now inviting local schools to participate in an art project on the theme of 'Images of Fairtrade', leading up to Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 (25 February - 9 March).