Agenda
- 4pm to 4.20pm: Basingstoke and Overton Nappy Library
- 4.20pm to 4.40pm: North Hampshire Repair Cafe
- 4.40pm to 5pm: Round table with attendees
Attendees
- Vanessa – Sustainable Silchester
- John – Whitchurch Town Council
- Linda – Oakley Parish Council
- Malcolm – Brookvale Community Centre and Greener Basingstoke
- Derek – North Hampshire Repair Cafe
- Rebecca – Basingstoke and Overton Nappy Library and Sustainable Overton
- Gill – Natural Basingstoke
- Alison and Annie – Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council
4pm to 4.20pm: Basingstoke and Overton Nappy Library – presentation and questions and answers session
Rebecca presented on the nappy library service that covers the whole borough, explaining how people can get involved as representatives in their own local areas. A nappy library is like a regular library, but you borrow nappies rather than books. The world of reusable nappies can be daunting and overwhelming when starting out, so our volunteers are here to help, and to save you time and money. Reusable nappies are kinder to the planet, to your baby’s skin and to the family bank balance too. An average baby can go through over 6,000 nappies from birth to potty training. You can save between £200 and £500 a year at least by using reusable nappies, and about 750kg of rubbish a year too. You can borrow or hire nappy kits – with concessions for those on lower incomes or benefits. She also demonstrated the new booking system. The library currently has enough nappies and wipes for two areas to have kits, and has some funds to purchase more kits if required. Rebecca confirmed that they do not hire out nappy buckets as part of the kits.
Actions: To get in contact with Rebecca if groups are able to find someone who is interested in being a representative. The nappy library can provide some training as well as kits. This would be ideal for a new parent who currently attends local baby/toddler or NCT groups, who can show other parents the nappies, explain the benefits and encourage them to try some.
4.20pm to 4.40pm: Basingstoke and Overton Nappy Library – presentation and questions and answers session
Derek presented on the North Hampshire Repair Cafe’s achievements to date, and how they have helped other repair cafes set up. A repair café is a monthly event where people can bring broken items – electrical appliances, bikes, clothes, china, toys, jewellery, furniture – and an expert volunteer will do their very best to fix it. The repair cafe has already saved residents and estimated £65,481. There are currently also repair cafes in Chineham, St Mary Bourne, Overton, Baughurst and Makerspace in Basingstoke town centre. Derek is happy to help other communities set up their own repair cafes.
Alison suggested that it would be great to see a repair café in every parish/area of the borough so that residents could save money, save carbon, and not have to throw things away needlessly, and promote sustainable behaviour.
Actions: Representatives from Oakley, Whitchurch and Brookvale were interested in having a “guest” date for the North Hampshire Repair Cafe to visit their areas. They will get in touch with Derek direct to organise. Derek suggested that as Whitchurch is close to Overton, an option may be to promote the Overton Repair Café in Whitchurch, as they are welcome to use this as a resource.
4.40pm to 5pm: Round table with attendees
Vanessa told the forum that Sustainable Silchester is running an energy event on Saturday (16 November) at 11am, as part of their Greening Campaign, and that the Green Team were attending, along with heat pump and solar installers.
Gill suggested adding some additional wording to the forum’s terms of reference, which the group agreed with.