Green Galapagos

Hello and happy new year to you all!

A few of my blog followers have asked to see pictures of my recent holiday to Colombia and the Galapagos, so I thought I'd put them on here and bring a little sunshine to this cold weather.

I won't bore you with cocktails on the beach, just some vaguely green things....

Firstly, I continue my fascination with recycling bins, and how much better other countries are. Here's a lovely giant plastic bottle in Colombia and a standard 3-set in the Galapagos:

Recycling bin, Cartagena (Caroline Pankhurst)

Recycling bins, Galapagos Baltra airport (Caroline Pankhurst)

When I got back to Heathrow's new Terminal 5, I was greeted by one bin for all rubbish, and someone looking round hopefully before putting a plastic bag full of plastic bottles in it. (No photo, sorry, clearly my blog wasn't on my mind after a 24 hour journey).

In the Galapagos they're building a new airport, which they claim will be the first ecological airport in the world. Its construction is designed to minimize the impact on the terrain and ecosystem. The project will feature wind and solar power, a desalinisation plant and ocean breezes to reduce the use of air conditioning. It reminded me of our project here!

 The new Galapagos Baltra airport under construction (Caroline Pankhurst)

The Galapagos as a whole is one of the greatest examples of conservation in the world. Visitor numbers are limited, and though I was surprised at how one of the islands has loads of shops, hotels etc, most islands are still uninhabited. Walking around you see hundreds of iguanas, birds etc and they just don't run or fly away, they're not afraid. These are the pictures people were no doubt wanting to see:

Us and a giant tortoise (Caroline Pankhurst)

 A nice crab (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Fluffy baby birds (Caroline Pankhurst)

Red-chested frigate (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Blue-footed boobies (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Turtles (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Smiley iguana (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Amazing coloured scenery (Caroline Pankhurst)

 Baby sea lion (Caroline Pankhurst)

Back in Quito, I was back on my cycling and recycling hobbies - with a new Boris Bike scheme and a lovely butterfly made from old beer cans: 

Bike hire in Quito, Ecuador (Caroline Pankhurst)

Butterfly from cans (Caroline Pankhurst)

Back to reality now. This will be one of my last blogs as the project's almost finished and I'll be moving on - but more on that next time....

Happy Christmas from the Heart of the Park

So another year comes to an end and it doesn't seem like 5 minutes since we were putting Christmas pictures on here last year! A lot's happened since then, including starting and finishing the installation of a turbine.

Things have been busy here in the last month with Father Christmas calling in a few times, Christmas markets, animals from Deen City Farm, a temporary exhibition of Christmas trees from our local community groups and of course the 12 splendid trees in the stable yard.

Community Christmas trees (NTPL/Lisa Green)

Twelve Christmas trees in the stable yard (NTPL/Lisa Green)

So we'd just like to wish all of our readers and visitors a very happy festive season and a very green and peaceful 2013. We hope to see you in the new year.

FREE one-to-one eco renovation advice sessions!

Are you keen to get solar panels but don't know what kind is right for your house? Or are you thinking about a heat pump or wood burning stove but don't know where to start? Or do you just want to find out various ways you can make your home more energy efficient?

If so, our FREE one-to-one eco advice sessions on Wednesday 28 November could be for you.

We've teamed up with Parity Projects, experts in low energy refurbishment (http://www.parityprojects.com/) to offer free advice sessions where people can talk to an expert, one-to-one, for 10-20 minutes.

We're offering one session at lunchtime, 12-2pm, and one in the evening, 6-8pm.

If you'd like to book a slot, please call me on 020 8545 6856 or email me on caroline.pankhurst@nationaltrust.org.uk.

We hope to see you then!

PV-Thermal Panels in the Morden Hall Park stable yard (Credit: Louis Sinclair)

Log burning stove in the Livinggreen Exhibition (Credit: Louis Sinclair)

Simon Jenkins and Ed Davey turn on the Screw

Today we officially 'turned on' our Archimedes Screw, the first hydroelectric turbine in London. We did it in style, with Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, switching on the turbine with Rt Hon Ed Davey, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change.

Ed Davey MP gets excited about the seeing the Screw (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Ed gets a personal photo before the crowds arrive (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Both Simon and Ed spoke to a crowd in the historic Snuff Mill, with lots of positive words about hydro power and just a few friendly words about wind.

Ed Davey congratulated the Trust’s green energy vision.   He said: “It’s great to see the National Trust getting on board with clean, green power with the launch of the hydro power turbine at Morden Hall.  Not only will this new kit power Morden’s visitor centre, the project will help educate visitors on this type of energy and the benefits of renewable energy too.”

Simon Jenkins talks in the Snuff Mill (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Simon and Ed exchange smiles between speeches (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Wesley Kerr, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund for London, also spoke at the event, choosing to sit outside by the turbine to do so, as it was such nice weather. He said of the project: “This is an innovative and exemplary approach to restoration, conservation and interpretation. The addition of the Archimedes Screw to the restored historic features of Morden Hall Park makes this a genuinely sustainable ‘deep green’ heritage project - simultaneously bringing alive the industry of the past whilst embracing that of the future. This whole scheme is an exemplar of what can be achieved in public parks.”

Wesley talks from the turbine fence (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Naturally we then had to cut a green ribbon:

Ed, Wesley and Simon cut the green ribbon (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Ed, Simon and Wesley look over the turbine (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

City Bridge Trust and Thames Water, the other two key funders of the turbine project, also came along to see the results of their funding and seemed impressed. 

Rosemary and Helen from Thames Water  and Stewart from City Bridge Trust join Wesley and Zoë (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Ed Davey then had a tour of the whole project, enjoying the technical side of the turbine and then the bike-powered light bulbs in the Livinggreen Exhibition:

Henry from Hallidays shows Ed and Wesley how the turbine works (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Ed enjoys the Livinggreen Exhibition (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Refreshments in the stable yard were then enjoyed by all - thanks to our cafe for putting on a lovely spread as usual.

 Drinks in the stable yard (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst

Visitors will now be able to see the turbine on regular tours.

Green roof gets a green ribbon opening

Our new cycle shed with its living green roof is looking so lovely we thought we should have a little celebratory launch event for it - so it was officially 'opened' last Friday by members of the Wimbledon and Epsom & Ewell National Trust Associations who helped to fund it.

Paul installs our new water butt and Annie tidies the roof in preparation for the event (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

We had some nice tea and scones (home-made by our cafe, of course), then John Little, who installed the green roof on the shed, talked about the benefits of green roofs in urban areas such as Morden.

 

John Little talks about his green roof (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Our visitors were amazed to see so much colour in the flowers on the roof and wanted to know all about how to water it and why we'd decided to give solitary bees a hotel. 

Flowers on the roof (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Charles Barraball from the Merton Cycle Campaign also came to the event and was delighted that we've provided more cycle facilities in the park, and such lovely ones.

Every opening event has to have a ribbon cutting, so Paul and Don, the Chairs from the two NT Associations obliged in cutting a green ribbon.

Paul and Don, Chairs of the Wimbledon and Epsom & Ewell NT Associations cut the green ribbon (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

We then took our visitors for a look at the Archimedes Screw turbine, which they thought was suitably impressive.

The NT Members look at the Screw (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The remaining scones were then polished off and John did a spot of weeding for us on the roof.

John inspects his roof and pulls out a few weeds (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

He found many more beautiful flowers than weeds, though:

Flowers on the roof (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The park is really grateful to the NT Associations for the support they give to us, which makes ideas such as the cycle shed become a reality. We hope that cyclists enjoy the new shelter and all of our visitors enjoy the beautiful new view behind the stable yard.

Living it green in Lille

Every 6 months all the European partners in the Livinggreen Project get together in one of our cities to plan the next stage of the project and sometimes hold a public event. This week it was time to go to Lille, in northern France.

The main square in Lille, with its 17th century buildings (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The day before our meeting we held a public event in Lille City Hall on the topic of 'Eco-renovation and the architectural value of housing - constraints or opportunities?'. The day was well attended by local property developers, architects, engineers, landlords, home owners etc.

The public event in the City Hall (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The day included a visit to one of four sites nearby, to see eco-renovation in progress in different types of building. I visited a small courtyard, hidden away off the street, where lots of small terraced houses are being renovated. I particularly liked the 'Metisse' insulation, made from recycled denim jeans by a local social enterprise.

The small courtyard with houses on both sides (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The blue 'Metisse' insulation made from recycled jeans (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Our partner meeting itself included a visit to the French building in our Livinggreen project - an inner city warehouse from the end of the 19th century. This is being renovated into a centre of sustainable housing, which will offer advice and information on various aspects of sustainable living, in a similar way to our Livinggreen Exhibition here in Morden. It will open in 2013.

The Livinggreen warehouse (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

And as seems to happen on these visits, I found myself using my few hours of spare time to visit a renovated building - this time an amazing museum in an old art deco swimming pool - the Museum of Art and Industry in Roubaix. Well worth a visit if you're ever in Lille (after the sustainable housing centre, once it's open!).

 The Museum of Art and Industry, Lille (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

How much pedalling does it take to power a light bulb?

Our Livinggreen Exhibition has just got an exciting new interactive exhibit - the Geffrye Museum in Hackney has kindly given us one of theirs. Visitors can now pedal with their hands to find out how much energy is used to power 3 different sorts of lightbulb.

James and Paul deliver the exhibit into the stable yard (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Volunteers Sophie and Daniel try out the new exhibit (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Meanwhile our waterwheel and turbine have had exciting new additions too. The waterwheel has finally had its outer bearing replaced - this was missing for years but was found recently down the River Wandle at Abbey Mills. We've now got it back, painted it and Paul and James braved the river to get it back into place.

Paul and James get ready to brave the river (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

Paul clears the weeds off the wheel... (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

...puts the bearing in place (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

....and gets a hand back down into the river (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The Archimedes Screw turbine now has nice black railings around it, a new path and a new interpretation panel, so that visitors can properly enjoy it.

 

Dave from Mackleys comes back to check the new path (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)

The turbine in the autumn sunshine with its new interpretation panel (NTPL/Caroline Pankhurst)