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2021

Westmill was selected as a ‘virtual landing site’ for the Moths to a Flame project run by The Art and Energy Collective, on its journey to the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) 2021 in Glasgow. As a community energy partner, we welcomed people to a family event on Sunday 19th September 2021, organised by our Education Officer Emma Arnold, which featured Westmill site tours and demonstrations, plus a moth-making workshop, and other creative workshops linked to energy, sustainability and biodiversity.

With the help of online event management services, local publicity and our event banner, we ended up attracting a good number of attendees. It was wonderful to welcome families from as far afield as Croydon, Birmingham and Hampshire as well as local towns and villages. Even some dog walkers joined in! Our hopes for wind and sunshine were rewarded and the turbines rotated gracefully throughout. As people started to arrive, children (and adults!) quickly got stuck in and the moth-making and wildflower meadow seed bomb-making proved particularly popular. Everyone was very interested to learn more about the Moths to a Flame journey and excited that their moths would be part of the exhibit. Some of the younger children also did a bit of colouring and many sheets were taken home with the anticipation of bringing to life their virtual reality moths and sending whispers of hope.

Thanks go to two local Highworth cafes, Bloomfields Fine Food and TT Linnet, for washing out and collecting bags of their used milk bottles for us. The whole thing was a community effort! Emma had also been collecting egg boxes which made excellent carriers for seed bombs, and children enjoyed mixing the coco compost, bentonite clay and meadow seeds. If dried thoroughly and kept in a tin, these make lovely gifts and we made sure our ‘how-to sheets’ were available for people to take away with them.

The sunshine was very welcome: it made the cyanotype printing possible and many people had a go, gathering the slowly-drying wildflowers from around the turbines and panels, arranging them on the photosensitive paper, sandwiching them under an acrylic layer and exposing them to the sunlight. There were some beautiful arrangements; delicate grasses worked well, and after rinsing in water, the developed prints dried quickly in the wind. As one of the children pointed out, it’s a bit like seeing a photograph coming to life – a great opportunity since most of our photography these days is digital!

Screen printing was very popular however: not always easy to execute outside with both wind and sun to dry out inks, so we did a bit of experimentation with printing mediums and to our surprise the ink flowed well for most of the afternoon, allowing many people to have a go and print their own Westmill/Moths to a Flame canvas bag-for-life.

Several site tours ran throughout the afternoon offering an opportunity to find out more about renewables in particular: wind, solar and community energy. And we are hugely grateful for the support and experience of volunteer guide Ron Colyer and WeSET trustees Sarah James, Warren Hicks and Cecilia Olley whose knowledge brought the tours to life. It was great to have one of the turbines open so people could look inside as well as enjoying a view of the whole solar array from the mound at the far end of the solar park.

We had a wonderful day, endorsed by some lovely feedback that was left at the moth-making station: “Thank you for the fantastic activities. They were engaging and relevant for all ages. The entire family enjoyed Westmill Farm, every person was friendly, knowledgeable and courteous. A fab day!”

2018

On Saturday 16th June 2018, a very special event was held to celebrate 10 years of community owned wind power at Westmill.

Visitors were able to take a site tour and see inside a wind turbine. There was live music, hot food and hands-on fun, blacksmithing, kite-making, pedal antics, a bouncy castle and a treasure trail. Entry was free.

2017

WeSET’s Open Day and Sustainable Energy Fair in June 2017 attracted close to 1,000 visitors to Westmill. It was a relaxed and fun event where people were able to learn about the impact of climate change and what they can do personally to reduce their own carbon footprint. Live music was provided by Oxford band The Brickwork Lizards.

Visitors had the opportunity to look up and inside a wind turbine and walk among 20,000 solar panels. Attendees could also make and fly their own kite, forge a keyring with Tom the blacksmith, seek out the treasure in the treasure trail, listen to stories in the storytelling tent and enjoy ice-cream, real ale and delicious cake, lie under a massive turbine and watch it turning, buy honey made on the farm… and much more!

Anne Elliott-Day’s “reflections” on the day are well worth a read below.

Thoughts on WeSET Open Day and Sustainable Energy Fair – Anne Elliott-Day

“Arriving at the WeSET sustainable energy open day by foot, seeing the wild flowers in bloom and the wind turbines turning was such a contrast to my journey to Watchfield. Travelling by train from London, I spent part of the journey on a train packed with visitors to Royal Ascot. They seemed too preoccupied, dressed to the nines and drinking champagne, to spare a thought for the cruelty and exploitation involved the in the ‘sport’ they were about to witness.

By contrast, the WeSET open day was all about good wholesome fun as well as having a serious side – the need for many more renewable energy projects like the wind farm and solar park – if we are to have any chance of reducing carbon emissions.

There was a great turnout – around 1,000 people are thought to have attended. Although the weather wasn’t wonderful, there was plenty to see and do. In a large marquee, there were stalls ranging from solar panel installers, renewable energy supplier and green groups to cookery demonstrations and information about rainwater harvesting. I wandered around and spoke to stallholders and visitors as well as WeSET volunteers.

Staff on the Southern Solar stall were holding a drawing competition for kids on the theme ’where does our energy come from?’ They told me they found the day ‘uplifting and full of hope’. Nearby, the Pudding Pie Cookery School stall was running a series of demonstrations showing people how they can cook healthy meals from scratch use leftover food and seasonal produce.

I spoke to Andy from Swindon Climate Action Network (SCAN) which, he said, is about raising awareness of climate change locally. SCAN works with the local council and MPs as well as organising local events such as bike rides and apple days. Working with other local groups such as Sustrans and the Ramblers SCAN has even written an alternative local transport strategy.

Andy holds shares in the wind farm and I asked him why he supports such initiatives. “Climate change is the biggest threat to life as we know it”, he said. “Community initiatives such as Westmill give a real sense of optimism because they are about a benefit that goes beyond the individual”. He added: “Adam (Twine – the farmer behind the initiative) is fantastic”.

In another corner of the marquee there was a programme of talks. I arrived just in time to hear the end of a talk about an initiative set up by Oxfordshire Low Carbon Hub called ‘The People’s Power Station’. It aims to help local communities reduce their carbon footprint through a range of different community energy projects. I was sure most people could not imagine such initiatives existed.

Outside, I found a stall selling plants. This wasn’t a bog standard nursery but a therapeutic gardening and rural crafts project for people experiencing mental health difficulties called Root & Branch. It’s based just down the road.

Perhaps the most eye-catching activity was Rinky Dink, a bike-powered sound system!

Volunteer guides were organising tours of the solar park and wind farm – 5 turbines which seem to be much loved by the local community, each having a name such as ‘Gusty Gizmo’ and ‘Huff ’n Puff’. A share offer in the solar park – the largest community owned initiative of its kind in the UK and possibly the world – was launched at the open day.

It was obvious, speaking to some of the volunteers, that a huge amount of work had gone into organising the event – and it clearly paid off. Everyone I met was smiling, happy and friendly.

Liz, a WeSET volunteer, offered me a lift back to Watchfield at the end of the day. We stopped to look at – and listen to – ‘Field Notes’, a sound sculpture which captures the beauty and stillness of the place.

On reflection, what was most inspiring was that while almost everything at Westmill feels home-grown and local it clearly has a huge potential to inspire others. Those of us who believe in the transformative power of community energy know there is still a lot of work to. But as Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Movement, recently wrote, although such initiatives are still small in number: “the drive for change will need to come from communities, from citizens, from ordinary people coming together and getting on with it…. living more within our means, connecting to place, returning power to people and communities, building resilience at the local level. It is self-organised, self-replicating, driven, motivated and positive.” He could have been writing about Westmill.”