As 2025 draws to a close, its worth reflecting on some of the things the MF&H Community Buildings Sustainability Project has achieved since its launch, and that coincided with the outbreak of the Covid Pandemic, whilst recognising we had no experience, no time and no money!
Our aims were to: -
- Make our buildings Carbon Neutral – we have now stopped emitting almost 70% of our Co2 – that’s almost 50 Tonnes every year.
- To provide hope for our youngsters and others – stopping emitting Co2 is one thing, all you have to do (more or less) is spend money but learning how to live a more sustainable life is another. After obtaining the gold standard or better Eco Schools Green Flag award for the past 5 years – our school is now recognised as a National Flagship Eco school. This is an excellent, sustained achievement. Well Done to everyone.
- To share our Learning and Experiences – for a couple of years now our village project has been widely recognised as being a leading- edge project. We have produced 20 Project Updates detailing what we have done, discovered and achieved. It has not all been pretty. In fact, some of the learning has been pretty ugly but we have still shared it – like learning we had left the Emersion Heater on for 7 years at the Community Centre or that we have no insulation in the roof of the Church Hall. But we said at the outset we said we would report honestly, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Above all, we have shown that renewable energy technologies which in 2018-19 were seen as untrustworthy and or at best unproven – do work. We have dispelled some myths, such as Heat Pumps are noisy – the’re not! ….and they don’t heat your house or building up as well as Gas Boilers- they do!
During 2025, as momentum across both voluntary and statutory bodies is growing, we have hosted visits and shared our experiences with many different organisations who want to learn about what we have done and how we have done it.
We have had 3 significant visits; in March the Community Association and School facilitated and made presentations to a group of 20 visitors from across Yorkshire. This half day visit was hosted by the Umbrella Community Buildings organisation for Yorkshire called Community First Yorkshire.
In October, we hosted a private visit for a new Community First Yorkshire Project team called the Village Green. This is a 3 year £1.2m Lottery Funded Project which will be working with seven existing NY organisations to deliver community-based activities that weave climate related conversations into every-day interests like arts, sports, and youth organisations – making climate action accessible, engaging and part of every- day life.
At the time of going to press, we are preparing to present what we have done at the Wetherby Eco Fair. Following this, later in November, the School and Community Association will host another visit, this time hosted jointly by the Environmental charity Ashden and the North-East and Yorkshire Net Zero Hub. It will be for Local Government Officers on a Seeing Is Believing Tour. The title says it all ‘people want proof that ‘this sustainable energy malarky’ actually works!
In addition to this two other community Groups, one with a Cricket Club and another with a Football Club have both asked if we would host visits for them to come and see what we have done, with Solar, Batteries and Portable, Re-chargeable Floodlights.
Finally, as everyone is well away our community is at the heart of Energy Transition, and we have many local projects. Consequently, we have a deep understanding of what Community Benefits may and should arise if projects are approved. We have shared this information with our MP, the Minister for Energy (Michael Shanks) and other members of the NE& Y Net Zero Hub Community Energy Steering Group. This group covers 1/8th of the country from the Scottish Borders to Derbyshire and Lancashire.
….and just think all this started at the Beer Fest … with someone in 2018 saying ‘shall we try to make this as Sustainable as possible’… and everyone else saying… YES!
