South West Regional Gathering - Feb 2012

On Saturday 18 February members of the Cheltenham group travelled by train to Bristol to attend the Friends of the Earth South West Regional Gathering. Together with members of other local groups in the South West, we spent an interesting day learning about the current Friends of the Earth campaigns and relevant renewable energy projects.

In the morning the speakers included an economist from head office leading a discussion on the Final Demand campaign, representatives from EDF talking about the Atlantic Array wind turbine project, and a Bristol city council representative who spoke on community renewable energy projects in Bristol.

After lunch the local group members participated in an open space networking activity. Short discussions were initiated on a number of subjects including nuclear energy and biomass, the Bee campaign, the Final Demand campaign, campaigning online, community renewables and the marinet fisheries campaign. The final activity of the day was a practical session on broadening our reach during campaigns. This was a fascinating and useful activity on how we communicate in our environmental campaigning to attract and involve people beyond the 'usual suspects'.

As some of us headed to the pub, others to the trains, it was the end of another successful regional gathering. We always come away inspired to continue campaigning and spreading the word on important environmental issues.