About us
The story so far... Inspired by the Carbon Neutral project in Ashton Hayes Cheshire, in May 2007 Castle Road area residents approached Bedford Borough Council to discuss the possibility of initiating a community run action group to tackle climate change. An open meeting was arranged in July where local residents and businesses were invited to a presentation by Tom Rivett-Carnac from the climate change consultancy Carbon Sense. Tom's presentation was very inspiring and in a follow up meeting in the September Zero Carbon Castle was born! Our mission statement is quite simply to strive to make Castle Ward East a zero carbon community. We aim to do this by making changes to our own lifestyles and the way we run our businesses.
Who are we...?
The group members come from all sections of the community – mums, dads, professionals, academics, business people, teachers, church workers, young and old all with something to offer and all enthusiastic about making a difference.
What do we do...?
Every month the group meets to discuss local projects that they have decided to pursue. There are five project groups now set up focusing on energy, food, schools, transport and waste. We also have monthly film screenings linked to different projects. Meetings are usually held in Castle Lower School on Goldington Road. For details of our next meeting, see the events page.
The film screenings are a great opportunity to get out for an evening, find out a little bit more about the group’s projects and meet some new people. These are held in the Ent Shed which is part of the Gordon Arms pub located at the junction of Castle Road and Bower Street. For details of our next film screening, see the events page.
Where is Castle Ward East?
Castle Ward is a large urban area that embraces the whole of Bedford Town Centre. Not wishing to try to 'run before we can walk', we decided to define a smaller area in which to launch and focus the project. Our boundaries (decided by the group) are Newnham Avenue to the east, Goldington Road to the the north, The Embankment to the south and St Cuthbert's Street and Newnham Road to the west.
The area is not unlike many in the UK with the a mixture of terraced and semi detached buildings dating from the 1880's to 1930's. It is known locally as “the village” as it still has a strong sense of community. Independent shops, an art gallery, pubs, cafes, churches, small businesses make for a busy and popular place to live and work.
Whilst we thought it was a good idea to define an area for the purposes of the project, we have many members who live or work outside the area but are actively involved in projects. So even if you live outside the project area, if you are curious about what we are doing and want to find out more we would love to meet you at one of our monthly meetings or film screenings.