Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day folks! Apologies for the lack of recent updates, we’ve all been quite busy!

We had the usual swelling of numbers over last weekend, with several people taking advantage of our ‘shuttle service’ between Wellington and the camp. The clement weather allowed us to improve our kitchen facilities and erect another massive communal tee-pee as our other ones are now occupied 🙂 .

On Tuesday we has a visit from the prospective parlimentary candidate of the Liberal Democrats, Ali Cameron-Daw, for the Wrekin constituency. She appeared to be very on side and took a great deal of interest in the health and bounderies issues raised by the planned mine.

With many projects underway and more glorious weather on the cards, if you haven’t visited the camp already (or even if you have) this weekend is shaping up to be a fantastic one for spending in the woods 😉

A new regularly updated wish list page will shortly be available in the links at the top of the page.

Many thanks for your continued support and we hope to see you soon 🙂

Happy Wednesday!

Hi all!

A successful few days at the camp; we now have a few more people on site, boosting the numbers and everyone is really getting stuck in with improving, building and scheming!

A few updates on the site – we intend to have a better map to help locate us available after the weekend, watch this space for info on where to get this map!

Also, we know that some people may want to come up and support the site, bring food and gifts of things on the wishlist but either don’t know where we are or have no way of getting there. If you would like to get to the site, we are now offering a shuttle service – just give us a call on either 07500263303 or 07790613714 – we can arrange for you to be collected and taken to or from the site!

Following our very successful ‘camp meeting’ this evening around a not very warm camp fire, we have lots of new plans and ideas – watch this space for updates!

Updated Wishlist

chalk boards – or wood and blackboard paint

an old bike or two!

whistles

food – preferably tinned

milk – preferably UHT as it keeps longer

nuts/bolts/screws

pallets

rope of any length and thickness

bags of kindling or campfire wood

you – for a few hours, a day, as long or little as you like!

Another Video and A Rebuttal

An insight into some aspects of life on site by Shropshire Star journalist James Shaw. It’s a shame he couldn’t have visited this week as the weather has been much nicer, but we really enjoyed his visit and hope he comes back soon. Thanks, James.

See the full article HERE

An interesting quote from UK Coal in this article;

”The protest is not causing an issue at the moment. In terms of the argument they put, that is undermined by the fact that if we do not recover the coal from the Huntington Lane site, an equivalent amount of coal will be imported to the UK from Russia, South Africa or Indonesia, which will travel 4,000 to 5,000 miles, instead of 40 or 50 miles to generate to power we all reply on.”

We have to take issue with this statement. During the public inquiry it became apparent that the quantity of coal being extracted from Huntington Lane will actually be within the load variance of the coal being imported from abroad. This indigenous coal also needs to be blended with the imported stuff before it can be used. This basically translates to this being ‘extra’ coal, therefore not affecting the quantity of imported coal in any way whatsoever. What a tragic waste, to destroy this beautiful area so close to the Short Woods for a little extra coal – the most damaging means of generating electricity ever developed by humankind.

UK Coal also made clear their true intentions by revealing that this coal will have to be transported “40 or 50 miles” which is a clear breach of the Sustainable Communities Act – stating a maximum distance of 30 miles from source to destination. Not only are UK Coal destroying a precious Area Of Outstanding Natural Beauty in pursuit of climate wrecking coal, but doing so with a flagrant disregard for the Sustainable Communities Act.

Shame on you, UK Coal.

Bring Me Sunshine

Here’s a few recent snaps from the camp as promised, please enjoy them 🙂

Scroll down to see  our updated wish list.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Wish list:

• Food (if you plan on bringing milk, please choose UHT if possible, it doesn’t go off as quickly without a fridge)
• Water
• Pallets
• Rope
• Glow Sticks (for night-time safety)
• Solar Lights
• A bike trailer and/or bike would really help us in collecting donations from off site. Fixer-uppers would be fine!
• Builders bags would be very useful too
• You! For half an hour or a week, we’d love for you to join us.
• Anything else you might think of

Food (if you plan on bringing milk, please choose UHT if possible, it doesn’t go off as quickly without a fridge)
Water
Pallets
Rope
Glow Sticks (for night-time safety)
Solar Lights
A bike trailer and/or bike wold really help us in collecting donations from off site. Fixer-uppers would be fine!
Builders bags would be very useful too
Anything else you might think of

Easter Weekend and Beyond

Here’s a more detailed account of recent events for your reading pleasure, apologies for the lack of images – our camera is currently experiencing ‘technical difficulties’ but rest assured they will follow shortly. Please scroll down for updates to the wish list.

It’s been a very busy few days in our little patch of woodland! We received lots of visitors on Thursday, Friday and Saturday as part of the West Midlands Climate Action Fossil Fools Weekend Convergence. Many thanks to all who came, we hope to see you all again very soon – and thanks again for all the generous donations of food, water and materials. We were even treated to the incredible sight of four simultaneous rainbows, which neither words nor photographs could possibly do justice! What an appropriate treat for the eyes looking on in awe from the Rainbows End community 🙂

Good Friday saw a couple of campers paying a visit to one of Shropshire’s top tourist attractions and ‘birthplace of industry’, the Iron Bridge. A large banner reading No New Coal was hung from the bridge, where we received a number of very supportive comments from locals and tourists and were attended by three police officers (who seemed concerned that our string may somehow cause damage to the bridge!) For pictures please visit the image gallery on the Shropshire Star website.

After a very productive (if muddy!) weekend we were joined last night by the very lovely James from the Shropshire Star, who stayed the night to get a look at life on site. We hope he enjoyed the evening, we enjoyed chatting with him very much.

After bidding farewell to a slightly sleep-deprived James this morning, we received word from a friend that vehicles and digging equipment were arriving on site. This concerned citizen was keen to register his protest by attempting to block this move by UK Coal, whose representative was present – but was told the equipment was in fact en route to a neighbouring farm (also owned by UK Coal). Later this morning digging machinery was seen to be digging trenches at the southern most point of the site where the site infrastructure is to be located. The Shropshire Star covered this story here albeit containing a few factual inaccuracies. Visit Wrekin Friends for a brief video clip of this encounter with a most aggressive looking contractor – yikes!

This afternoon we were visited by a number of members of the local constabulary, who left without any issues. We can only assume this visit was requested by UK Coal who were keen to ensure the mornings events were not repeated…

If you’d like to offer your support then there’s no time like the present! Please come and join us if you’re able.

Wishlist:

• Pallets
• 4 by 2 or 4 by 4 timbers
• Rope
• Nails
• Cooking oil – preferably in catering size tins as we can reuse these but bottles are certainly welcome
• Onions, herbs, spices (chillies are being craved if you have a surplus)
• Water
• Toilet roll (don’t want to run out of that!)
• Roll mats/blankets
• Anything else you might think of
• You!

Quick Update – Easter Weekend

Apologies for the lack of updates recently – things have been busy!

What an amazing weekend. With contributions from many old and new friends camp is really taking shape. Morale is high and thanks to a couple of dry days the mud has even begun to dry up a little!

There will be a more detailed update (with pictures) to follow but for now here’s a quick update to the wish list;

Many thanks for all your most generous donations. We have even received our imagined filing cabinet!

• Food – Big bags of pasta and rice, as well as lots of garlic, herbs and cooking oil (if possible in a catering size tin, as we can reuse the containers) are requested by ‘chef’ if at all possible.
• A metal bath or something similar would also be really useful. We have a number of uses for items such as these if anyone can help?
• More good quality nails of all sizes

That’s all for now, watch this space 🙂