Over the last few months ACE Monmouth and Monmouth Town Council (MTC) have been working together to create an Action Plan, a way forward for the coming months and years.
It is very exciting to tell you that, at the full Town Council meeting on the 24th October, the plan was approved in principal. It is fantastic that we can now come together to work on a set of joint objectives! The plan includes activities for ACE volunteers to get involved with, and also an ambitious plan for councilors to adopt for MTC. There is also funding available to enable ACE volunteers to reach their goals for the Monmouth community.
You can find a full copy of the Action Plan at ACE-and-MTC-Environmental-Plans.pdf. If there are projects you would like to add, please do get in touch.
So what’s next?
In line with its 6 themes – Energy, Environment, Food, Waste, Transport and Buying – ACE volunteers are embarking on some really exciting projects.
ACE Monmouth Kids – Under his own initiative, Dylan (aged 6) and his school friends at Overmonnow Primary School created ACE Monmouth Kids. Their first project is an anti idling campaign and Dylan created this fantastic banner which is now hung by the entrance to the school. If your children want to get involved, do let us know.
Communities coming together – ACE is partnering up with local organisations like Bridges to work on projects that have a combined community and environmental impact. Projects include Warm Welcome and Toy Swap. Maybe a local group your in would like to partner? Let us know.
Monmouthshire Sustainable Food Partnership – ACE has been invited on to the steering group for this county-wide initiative, designed to create a local sustainable food system. This links to the Our Food group, which ACE has been involved with before. Meetings commenced last week and will continue monthly with a view to having things fully underway by April 2023. Here is a little more about what they are looking to achieve.
Monmouthshire Sustainable Food Partnership
Deforestation Free Monmouth – Working with the Wales-based charity, Size of Wales, to help the local community and businesses reduce their impact on global deforestation. Work on this project will start at the beginning of November with more information on how you can get involved following shortly. In the meantime do check out Size 0f Wales’ website to find out more about the great things they are doing.
Size of Wales
Sustainable Christmas – With Christmas not far away, ACE will be running a campaign to highlight an alternative, affordable and sustainable approach to Christmas. Whether it is replacing a food item with an ethical substitute, creating handmade or ethical gifts or choosing to repair and recycle rather than buy new, it’s hoped it will offer insight in to a more eco-friendly Christmas. As part of this campaign ACE is working in partnership with Bridges to hold a Toy Swap on the 24th November and Repair Cafe Monmouth will be there to repair items like Christmas lights at both their November and December events.
Repair Cafe
Future Events – Next year will see the return of The Seed Swap, Climate Festival and Beictown (dates for these to follow as they become available) and there is scope to add other events. What sort of events would you like ACE to host?
Monmouth Businesses – ACE would like to help local businesses, including farmers, transition to eco-friendly business practices. If you are involved in a local business, it would be great to hear how you think ACE might be able to help you. Please get in touch.
This is only a small part of what ACE is hoping to achieve. Everyone involved is very passionate about making a difference to the climate and nature emergencies. With the support of more volunteers and the community, we hope ACE can make a big difference. So if you would like to be involved in any of the above projects or have an idea you would like to include in the action plan, please do get in touch via email info@acemonmouth.org.uk, the social media channels or even better come to the next ACE meeting on the 31st October, 7pm, The Priory.
Meeting Agenda 31st October 2022 at The Priory
• Introductions
• Apologies for absence
• Note taker
• Election of New Chair
• Monmouth Town Council and Action Plan Update
• Project Update to include Repair Cafe
• Marketing Update
• Any Other Business
• Date of Next Meeting
