Planet Shaftesbury Meeting - 18th June 2026

Present:        Rachel B, Jocelyn, Oksana, Anna, Richard E, Karen E, Richard T, Robin,   Karen W, John N, Christina, Ed

Apologies:    Diana, Emma, Rachel T, Lucy

Chair: Robin

Minutes: Christina

Action Points from Last Meeting

Robin had taken over the Kensons Farm visit, now confirmed for Thursday 25^th June to meet at 6.30 pm; there are 15 people attending.

Karen W reported that a new person has agreed to be interviewed by Keri as part of the 89% project; Keri needs to get back to her on this.  STOP PRESS: this interview with an animal vet has taken place and will be aired on 27^th June, and a member of the military will be interviewed in a couple of weeks’ time.

Robin reported that Beth has agreed to pick up items from the Planet Shaftesbury website to post on social media.

Rachel B had followed up on government environmental grants.

Anna had sent out emails to attendees of the People's Emergency Briefing film.  She reported that although invited to the Gillingham screening on 11^th June, Simon Hoare saw the film at Milborne St Andrew; he has signed the call for mainstream broadcasting of the film.  Anna suggested that there could be more screenings in the Autumn, and for wider community groups such as the Rotary Club, to take on the spreading of the message.

Agenda for This Meeting

1.     SuSAC

Richard T reported that STC had agreed to three of SuSAC’s recommendations at the full Council meeting on 16^th June: £500 for the Shaftesbury HomeGrown pond where a number of councillors had shown a lot of interest and believed the pond linked well with those on Breach Common; that the verges on Castle Hill Green be rewilded although it is known that a lot of people like ‘neat and tidy’ local green spaces; SuSAC is to come up with a management plan for Castle Green; agreement from STC to pay (refund) the entry fee for the Gillingham and Shaftesbury show where there are combined stalls with DCAN, PS, SuSAC and possibly other groups interested in joining in; six free tickets are available for those supporting the stalls.

AP: Richard T to send details to Diana for the newsletter about the pond

2.    Ocean film

Jocelyn reported that she had had no success in raising interest in the Ocean film the last of the Film Group’s season of films, at various schools, so a new venue for its screening is needed, for example Shaftesbury Town Hall.  She suggested she could contact Professor Genovera Esteban to ask if she might give a talk or lead a discussion following the showing of the film.  A date needs to be confirmed since the film, A Rave on the Avon on 16^th July also needs a venue, so September seems a likely time for Ocean.

3.    Local Food

Rachel B reported that the new food leaflet had created a lot of interest which we needed to tap into.  Anna said that Marnhull was doing another food security talk on 15^th July, 7 pm at the Village Hall.

AP: Robin to contact Amica Dall, one of the organisers at the recent Messums event, Rural Futures, on sustainable living which he, Emma and Rachel B had attended. Stop Press: RW met Amica on 23^rd and will discuss food event with Rachel B, possibly aiming for harvest time event in autumn.

4.    “About Us” on the PS website

The group of four is still working on this revision of the section on the PS website.  In the meantime, Rachel B produced the latest draft of a diagram illustrating the spread and overlapping nature of the activities PS is involved in.  She explained the thinking behind the four quadrant design. Participants in the meeting have taken copies away to think about how useful, and in what way, this visual presentation can be across the core platforms PS uses to reach out to people: the website, the newsletter and meetings.  Richard T suggested she do a blog for the website to introduce the idea to others and encourage wider feedback and discussion.  Robin suggested an item for the newsletter with a link to this on the website.  Ed offered to photoshop the presentation of the diagram.

AP: Rachel B to respond and liaise with Ed.

5.    Power Station Film Screening

This PS meeting had been extended with an invitation via email, within a week of the screening, to attendees of the Power Station film (1^st June); Joe and  Oksana were the only ones to respond to this invitation although the film had been well attended.  There was extensive discussion about the differing approaches to helping people with installation of solar panels whether as individual households or, as the film had demonstrated, street by street communities.   Members of the meeting also shared their experiences of different kinds of set-ups such as the Nadder Community Energy project in Wiltshire and the recent Solar Together initiative offered by Dorset Council last year.

Anyone with these experiences were invited to share these in the newsletter especially when recommendations about reliable contractors were important.  Suggestions for getting the word out included leafleting streets.  Anna pointed out that there would need to be a steering committee to set up financing.  It was recognised that there would be differing needs in the community, and how about Shaftesbury as a ‘street’ community?

Jenni wants to call another meeting to encourage more people to come on board with the idea of a community-wide project, possibly with an advertisement on the website.

AP: Karen W to report back to Jenni about this discussion and clarify her next steps.

6.    Nature Connection North Dorset 

Richard T announced that SuSAC’s next informal meeting on 30^th June will have Dorset Wildlife Trust in attendance to discuss their idea for a new project, Nature Connection North Dorset, and how this can link with Shaftesbury’s Nature Friendly Town and Green Wheel projects:  Shaftesbury Town Council, upstairs at 5.30 pm and open to anyone.

7.     AOB

A Rave on the Avon film screening is scheduled for 16^th July.

AP: Karen W to speak to the Film Group about the date and the venue since this date affects the next PS meeting

Newsletter items deadline: 24^th June to Diana at planetshaftesbury@gmail.com

8.    Date and Time of next PS Meeting

either on 16^th or the 23^rd July TBC

AP: Robin to confirm on the PS WhatsApp group