The Open Door Meeting Place is striving to improve its energy efficiency, expand its community offering, and help the people of Hampton Magna and Budbrooke to repair and reuse their belongings.
The Open Door was successful in obtaining £4598 funding from Warwickshire County Council’s Green Shoots scheme, allowing them to drive forward with two key improvements:
- Installation of energy-efficient lighting & heating
- Delivery of a new ‘Repair Café’ project
Taking action to help in the fight against climate change, the funding will help achieve two key outcomes:
- Energy-efficient heating and lighting will help reduce the carbon footprint of the premises; while
- The monthly ‘repair café’ will contribute to behavioural change and lead to greater repair, reuse and recycling of items that might otherwise have ended up in landfills.
The Open Door, in the heart of Hampton Magna, is a much-loved venue where residents and community groups meet. The Green Shoots funding builds on this strong foundation, allowing the project to serve the community in new ways. As housebuilding continues to grow the local population, the grant is helping to expand the project beyond its previous model, supporting The Open Door as it develops into a flexible, multi-purpose hub, no longer just a café.
The new energy-efficient heating and lighting has brought a much-needed update to the ageing infrastructure and will not only reduce the carbon footprint of the venue, but also reduce the running costs of this much-loved not-for-profit organisation. The introduction of a new monthly Repair Café
will give residents more opportunities to reduce, reuse and recycle. It will provide a space for them to come together and make new items, mend old belongings, and learn new skills to enhance and extend the life of products that might otherwise have found their way to landfill sites.
Sue Stanton, The Open Door Project Coordinator, said: “The Green Shoots funding came just at the right time and the new lighting and heating has made such a difference already. Being able to reduce our carbon footprint was important to us and we’ve used the refurbishment to complete a full energy audit – reducing the number of appliances that we had and introducing environmentally-friendly measures where we can. We’ve had several offers of support from existing Repair Cafes in the area and are looking forward to starting our new monthly Repair Café early next year. Please get in touch if you’d like to get involved.”
Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder for Environment, Climate and Culture, said: “This successful application from The Open Door Project truly encapsulates the spirit of the Green Shoots Fund and, whilst it’s not the largest grant awarded by Warwickshire County Council, the boost to community organising potential in Hampton Magna is incredibly valuable and will help to foster and build upon the existing community spirit for years to come.
“By taking steps to reduce the impacts of their premises on the environment, The Open Door Project is another shining example of the community-powered organisations that thrive across Warwickshire. I look forward to seeing the exciting new developments afforded by building upon the essential role that The Open Door plays in the area, and to following the progress of the new Repair Cafe as it moves to help turn the tide on our throwaway culture.”
Further information about The Open Door can be found on their website https://www.opendoorcafe.org.uk and on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/TheOpenDoorCafe/
A full list of projects that will receive Green Shoots Community Climate Change funding can be found here: https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/2324/green-shoots-will-soon-be-springing-up-across-warwickshire-as-projects-set-to-receive-a-share-of-wcc-s-1-million-community-climate-change-fund-are-announced
For more information about the Fund, visit: www.warwickshire.gov.uk/greenshootsfund
For more information about how Warwickshire is facing the challenges of the Climate Change Emergency, visit: https://www.warwickshireclimateemergency.org.uk/
Get the latest news about how Warwickshire County Council and partners are facing the challenge of the climate emergency and how you can get involved: http://eepurl.com/hrk-zf