Food Waste – Food Poverty?

Wed 11 March, 7:30pm at the Church Hall, Oakington

We are delighted to welcome Kordula and Rachel from Harston and Maria from Sustainable Northstowe, to tell us about inspiring projects which tackle food waste and food poverty, helping people and the environment. Come along! If you are able, you are invited to bring an item of long-life food.

The Air We Share

If you missed last month’s SOW talk by Paul, you can read the notes and slides here – don’t miss the opportunity to find out how to house-burp…

Cheaper Wholefoods in Oakington?

Since the sad demise of the Daily Bread it’s become harder to buy wholefoods such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit, etc etc which are ethically sourced and reasonably priced. SOW member Nikki has a friend in Willingham who has started a group which buy wholefoods in bulk monthly from the SUMA co-operative, and wonders if anyone in SOW would be interested in following this model.

The organiser would need a bit of space, eg in a garage, and a little time for the admin, but individual buyers place their own orders – the savings come from having it all delivered to one place. These wholesale prices are cheaper than Tesco a lot of the time. The Willingham group also divide up cheaper larger packs between them. Purchases are collected within 48 hours of delivery.

There are 15 people in the Willingham group. If you would be interested in joining such a group in Oakington, let SOW know, but more importantly if you’d be willing to find out more about being the organiser, get in touch and we can arrange for you to chat to Nikki’s friend. Email sustainableow@gmail.com.

Zero Carbon Communities Newsletter

You can read the winter edition of the South Cambs Zero Carbon Communities newsletter here.

Paul Kershaw, of SOW and Cambridge Retrofit Hub, gave a talk on 11th February 2026 about Indoor Air Quality. The slides are here but below are some extra notes from the talk.

The examples of the Clean Air Act 1952 and of the transformations in Beijing (factories shut down for the Olympics) and New Delhi (lockdown) show that we can achieve cleaner outside air outside, so cleaner air inside our homes ought to be achievable.

Be wary that different thermostats can record slightly different temperatures, so don’t get hung up on the exact values. The important point is not to go too low.

Most damp and mould is as a result of fuel poverty.

Humidity is an effective indication of ventilation in the home. Humidity monitors are cheaper than air quality monitors.

Any home with gas heating or cooking should have a CO (not CO2!) detector.

Recommend turning cooker hoods on 5 minutes before cooking and keep running for 5 minutes afterwards, similarly bathroom fans should be kept on for 5 minutes or more after the room has been left. Extractor fans often aren’t big enough – builders won’t have calculated how much air needs to be extracted.

Paul’s top tip was “purge ventilation“, also known as Stoßlüften (shock ventilation) or “house burping” – see the slides (slide 25) for instructions. It’s about replacing the air without taking the heat out of the house. If you live on a main road, don’t do it in rush hour, and in summer, not when it’s hottest outside.

Leaving a small window ajar all day can lead to heat loss from the building fabric. Trickle vents in windows were introduced because people don’t tend to do purge ventilation any more. At night they can be useful if you can’t sleep with the bedroom door open. If you wake with a headache it could be due to too much CO2 in the room from lack of ventilation.

Wood burning stoves are now the leading source of PM2.5 pollution, causing more than vehicles. The occasional log fire is OK but they are not healthy, and woodburners will soon be sold with a health warning.

Paul recommended opening windows when using cleaning products, and swapping harsh chemical cleaners for less harsh eg descaling a kettle with white vinegar, or using vinegar and newspaper to clean windows, as a way to reduce polluting your indoor air.

We have a lot more moisture in our houses now than in previous generations. We wash and bathe a lot more than people used to so old houses that were OK in the past now get damp. Drying clothes on radiators is not good, better is on a clothes horse in a room with an extractor fan.

Mechanical ventilation with heat recovery is the gold standard for ventilating houses, but it’s expensive/disruptive to retrofit. They can be up to 90% effective at retaining heat.

During the course of the talk we recorded the effect of ten people sitting in the church hall together, with CO2 levels reaching a ‘poor’ level.

Oakington Church Hall, Wednesday 11th February, 7:30pm

“Damp, mould, viruses, particulate matter… an absolute vibe for a damp, cold evening. Come for the misery, stay for the company.” (Paul’s own pitch!)

Free but donations to hall hire appreciated.

11am – 2pm, Oakington Pavilion

All details including how to book an item for repairing (not essential but recommended) are on this page.

On 14^th January, we had a workshop discussion (fuelled by some party food!) to brainstorm New Year’s Resolutions which would be good for the planet.

We sorted them into the categories: Individual, Household, Village/Community, and (Inter)National, before thinking a bit about what could hold us back on implementing them.

Finally we re-sorted them arranged least to most effort and least to most impact – see if you agree!

Low effort but low impact

• Change buying habits for clothes
• Get work to recycle properly
• Use a kindle
• Eat more local food
• Put only the amount of water in the kettle I need to boil
• Consider food boxes from local suppliers to replace supermarket food
• Try to buy food with less packaging
• Make my school get multiple bins
• Use the village shop more – we need it

Low effort but high impact – the sweet spot!

• Continue with the teaching of philosophy which promotes the wisdom of living sustainably
• Use green products
• Reduce packaging from food, return junk mail, refuse receipts
• Wear jumpers at home
• Reduce snack plastic waste
• Be aware of AI and its carbon footprint impact
• Never to buy new clothes (this is an easy one)
• Combined with my resolution for decluttering to buy from charity shops and to recycle more of my clothes, books and tools
• Support national eco organisations (avoid multinational)
• Consider source of ingredients
• Allocate garden areas for sowing wild flowers

High effort but high impact

• Avoid UPF (ultra processed foods) – bad for the planet
• Hold a swish event
• Install a heat pump
• Avoid packaging with mixed paper and plastic
• Find a web browser that doesn’t give an AI summary
• Move money to a more sustainable bank
• Stop Millen Homes – make sure they do plant 200 trees
• Carry out nature recovery tasks: pollinator counts, river water tests
• Get lots of people involved in pollinator counting
• Stop culling seals
• Persuade household to turn thermostat down
• Get a nature reserve for Oakington & Westwick
• Meet with mp again to say more needs to be done for the environment
• Eat more vegan food

High effort but low impact – do other things first

• Don’t eat anything after supper – it’s often junk food
• Watch live TV (lower emissions)

Thinking about what we can do as a community, we also spent some time making plans for SOW for 2026.

“People say think globally, act locally. Well, if you think globally, it is overwhelming and you do not have enough energy left to act locally. Just act locally and see what a difference you can make. It starts with trying to live a more sustainable life in the small decisions we make every day.” (the late Dame Jane Goodall)

Lots going on over the next few weeks, don’t miss out!

Wednesday 14th January – Happy Green New Year

7:30pm at Oakington church hall.

Join a workshop/brainstorming session about making Green New Year’s Resolutions for ourselves and our community.

If you can, bring some party nibbles to help fuel our thinking celebrate the New Year!

Saturday 17th January – Orchard Wassail

Arcadia Orchard, Oakington (at the back of Arcadia Gardens)

A cup of free mulled cider on arrival and complimentary soup.

Cash bar for further drinks

Bring pots / pans / instruments to make a noise with!

Repair Cafe – Saturday 7th February

All details including how to book are on the Repair Cafe page. Come and get your stuff fixed – or just enjoy the cafe!

We still need some volunteers to help at the cafe (serving, washing up etc) or to bake cakes, biscuits or savoury snacks. If you could help please email!

Water testers needed!

We have been invited to join in a project with Histon & Impington and other local villages to monitor the water quality of Beck Brook. This data will help track the impact of developments, climate change, pollution incidents and agricultural and horticultural practice – so action can be taken to mitigate these impacts and increase biodiversity.

The aim is to take monthly water samples from three or four sites – sampling should only take a few minutes and doesn’t require scientific expertise! If you might be interested in helping, please contact SOW.

Wednesday 14th January – Happy Green New Year

The next SOW meeting will be on 14th January (note: NOT the last Wednesday in the month, see below), 7:30pm at the church hall.

• Discussion and planning about Green New Year’s Resolutions
• Let’s come up with some positive ways we can improve the environment in our parish (and maybe in our personal lives too)
• Bring & share snack-type refreshments – eg crisps, biscuits – for a party buffet to celebrate the New Year!

Orchard Wassail

Saturday 17th January, 4-6pm, orchard at end of Arcadia Gardens

Join the fun at the Jordans’ orchard for a traditional, family-friendly celebration to encourage the apple trees to fruit well in the coming year! Dress warmly, bring a torch and something to make a noise (pots and pans or a musical instrument!!) Warm soup and mulled cider available to drink round the bonfire. Free entry but donations welcome to cover costs.

SOW dates for 2026

Make a note in your diary now! This year we are meeting on SECOND Wednesday of the month – to (largely!) avoid clashes with school holidays.

• 11 February
• 11 March
• 8 April (possibly)
• 13 May
• 10 June
• 8 July
• 9 September
• 14 October
• 11 November
• 9 December

SOW Stall at School Christmas Fair

We had a lot of interest in SOW at the school fair on 29th November, and some great ideas for making Christmas more sustainable!

We had a very enjoyable evening creating Christmas wreaths from willow (including the heirloom Harrison willow) and greenery of all sorts!

Every wreath was different and they were all lovely – here are some of them!

Wreath Making Workshop, Wednesday 26th November, 7:30pm at Oakington church hall

SOW’s final session of the year will be a chance to learn how to create a Christmas wreath, led by our own Ems Jordan.

All ages welcome! Please bring a small donation of £3 to cover materials and hall hire, and if you have ivy or other greenery in your garden, please bring some along!

Other local events

Rampton Swish, Saturday 15th November, 11am – 1pm

Dr Bike, Histon & Cottenham, Tuesday 25 and Wednesday 26 November

Histon Toy and Jigsaw Swap, Saturday 29th November

If you haven’t already done so, send answers/comments to the Council climate/nature survey by 9th November. Even if you don’t have time to fill it all in, it would be good for them to hear from as many people as possible. https://engage.cambridge.gov.uk/en-GB/projects/climate-and-nature-strategies

(“The councils have set out transformative visions for a region where nature thrives, the air and rivers are clean, communities are resilient to the changing climate, and future generations can flourish. They are developing new strategies to take this work forwards and want local people and organisations to have their say.”)

Wreath Making Workshop

Wednesday 26th November, 7:30pm at Oakington church hall

SOW’s final session of the year will be a chance to learn how to create a Christmas wreath, led by our own Ems Jordan. All welcome! Please bring a small donation (eg £3) to cover materials and hall hire.