Experience suggests that, however bright, an idea from an ordinary community member will only be taken seriously, when there is a mandate from the People behind it.
As a grass-roots initiative in itself, FREdome Visionary Trust will both serve to illustrate and need to overcome, the very hurdles it seeks to dismantle.
Our aim is to grow a National Community Garden Forest very quickly indeed.
Please do your own little bit to help us?
We all know that trees are good for our local environment, but the vision behind this website is so much, much more. Do read on to the end to find out…
You can help without even leaving your home.
All you need do is throw your fruit cores with a bit of soil into used plastic supermarket carrier bags and water them.
That’s almost it…
The only other thing is to stick a virtual pin into our Google Map and invite your friends to do the same.
If you like, you can collect and use, for example, sycamore seeds or acorns as you walk under trees in the autumn.
After 2-3 years, your young saplings can be collected and transplanted to local woodland or taken to the seaside to help us build a “coastal bioshield” around the UK.
You see, the UK is a small island, which simply cannot afford to get smaller and smaller; however our coastline is receding at worst at a staggering metre per month.
That’s 12 whole metres every year!
People’s homes are simply falling into the sea.
And behind the East Anglian coastline lies flat agricultural land, upon which our nation’s food security depends.
We cannot allow this to become salt-poisoned, ever.
Whilst our coast is being lost to the sea, in New Zealand they have found how to reverse the situation.
Communities are re-planting coastal trees and finding that their shores actually rise up and extend seaward.
Wherever trees stood along the East Java coast they even prevented the great Tsunami from flattening properties.
Trees can certainly withstand the ravages of our North Sea.
And there’s more still.
Our ultimate aim is to reconnect rainforests re-planted on the world’s desert shores with moisture in the air from over the sea.
Vast new edible and energy crops can then turn our excess carbon emissions and waste back into renewable supplies of food and fuel – which today are rocketing in price as they become ever scarcer.
That would create a huge amount of new employment and help resolve both today’s economic and environmental problems.
For more information click: http://www.fredome.org/pocket-full-of-acorns/pocket-full-of-acorns-home
Through this site, as well as doing good work you can obtain recognition for your leadership and concern about Employment, Economy and Environment.
You can also associate yourself with an organisation and gain recognition for its good work in these areas.
So, please help this message of hope and practical action to go viral…
Launch of our new web site.
FREdome embarked on a new fund-generating venture with Business Biscotti, which is also a social enterprise run by volunteers. This will be a novel and exciting initiative to help grow Biscotti groups by encouraging networkers to expand their businesses through inviting their prospects into their meetings. This constitutes a totally new form of marketing which integrates fully with business networking.
Many business sectors have traditionally found it very difficult to engage new prospects in dialogue. Following up peer-invitations to local, low-cost networking events is a far softer approach, which has the ability to break the ice and attract cold prospects into their warm market.
The Herts Advertiser teamed up with the FREdome Visionary Trust to encourage its readers to help defend England’s shores from their own back gardens.
Greg Peachey, Chair of the Herts Green Communications Award-winning FREdome Visionary Trust in St Albans bought apples, pears, plums, cherries & hazel nuts at a local super market on his way to the meeting to give out to guests, together with a stash of used plastic carrier bags.
On his arrival, Aaron Barlow, a gardener for the extensive Sopwell House grounds, showed Greg a plentiful supply of sycamore seeds lying amidst fallen leaves under a row of trees at the edge of the side car park. Greg brought some of these sycamore seeds into the meeting to give out with the fruit and plastic carrier bags.
Being the local festive Biscotti event, Greg called people to action after singing a light-hearted festive song during a break in the middle of the meeting. He invited people to take away some fruit, nuts or sycamore seeds, put soil in a carrier bag, throw in the fruit cores or seeds followed by a bit more soil and leave them to germinate on their patios or wherever they will receive plentiful sunshine in the spring.
He re-capped the two-fold green message that the Trust is seeking to communicate: Firstly that coastal trees can defend our shores from rapid erosion and encourage vegetation to grow in inland arid areas; secondly that vegetation converts carbon emissions and waste into food and fuel. The ultimate aim is to grow vegetation in the vast arid areas of the earth as a combined solution to today’s economic and environmental issues.
In a couple of years’ time, the saplings grown in people’s carrier bags will be ready to transplant to local woodland or taken to the seaside to places such as Happisburgh, where the coastline is eroding at an alarming 12 metres a year. Sycamore saplings will be particularly valuable as they are moderately salt-tolerant.
John Gunner, volunteer St Albans District Tree Warden and proprietor of That Little Place, a restaurant in Station Road Harpenden, which grows many of its own herbs, fruit and vegetables, supports the project and will be growing seedlings on the flat roof above the restaurant.
Peter Trott, Director at Top Oils, is planting Apples and Quinces. He'll be doing a bag for each customer in December, and then a bag next winter for every customer in 2013.
The FREdome Visionary Trust, Herts Green Communications award winner and sponsor of St Albans Business Biscotti networking, teamed up with Business Biscotti nationally, encouraging its 22,000+ network of businesses to take part in the first step along a path to a proposed combined solution to today’s economic and environmental issues, based on two simple principles:
This was announced to businesses attending the second St Albans Business Biscotti networking meeting.
The FREdome Visionary Trust sponsored and organised the launch of Business Biscotti on Monday 12th November 2012, at Sopwell House in St Albans. 91 businesses attended the launch.
A public meeting was called in Happisburgh (North Norfolk) where coastline is receding at a rate of a metre a month and the re-building and maintenance of traditional concrete defences has been declared to be economically unsustainable. We reported that New Zealand has demonstrated that community re-vegetation of coasts actually causes the shoreline to rise and extend. Coastal trees would not only defend against coastal erosion, but also help resolve the drought/deluge cycle suffered by the region and demonstrate a potential path to resolving both today’s economic and environmental issues.
Bryony Nierop-Reading, the only remaining resident of an otherwise-demolished row of homes on Happisburgh’s Beach Road, offered her section of the coast for an experiment and is forming the “Save England- SOS Save Our Shores – Happisburgh Branch.”
After the first presentation a show of hands was requested in order to assess interest in exploring the proposal more deeply. All hands but one went up, there were no abstentions and only one person was against – Malcolm Kerby of the Coastal Concern Action Group, who had negotiated 40% compensation from the Government for properties to fall imminently into the sea. We were proposing to save such properties rather than have the community lose 60% of their major lifetime investments and retirement security. Malcolm stated that the Government actively wants this section of coastline to continue to erode and “any proposed works on the coast require the written permission of The Secretary of State [for the Environment]”.
However, a letter forwarded by the Prime Minister from the Secretary of State for Defra stated, “It should be noted that Project OASIS does not need my agreement in principle for a pilot demonstration.” He went on to recommend that the project should “work with a coastal community to develop a bid to the Coastal Communities Fund, which is available to support projects that make better use of coastal assets in producing sustainable economic growth and jobs that are better equipped to adapt to change. This year £24 million was made available and next year this will rise to £28 million.”
It is now up to coastal communities whether to act on this opportunity.
Following support for the project expressed by attendees of a 4N business networking meeting in Witney, a constituent raised the project at a surgery meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron.
It was reported that a number of Witney business owners who had heard Greg speak, were convinced of the project potential and credibility, and felt it was important that it should receive Government attention.
David’s initial reaction was, “This is Big!” At first he suggested that it should be broken down into its constituent parts and progressed separately with appropriate individuals and bodies. It was pointed out, however, that as everything is inextricably linked and the proposal addresses such a broad range of issues, our experience when approaching grant-making trusts and Government departments has been that each one indicates that the bulk of the potential benefits lie outside their scope. Instead of all helping us, they all point to each other and none of them help.
David retained the pack and said that he would talk this through with his advisors. The final section of the pack specifies what we are asking the PM to do – to issue a message to the British people (a) potentially stimulating some economic hope, and (b) encouraging support to explore what is clearly a highly plausible British innovation. Hopefully he and his advisors will recognise that such a statement would represent no risk to Government reputation but could actually provide them with positive PR.
The Carbon Cycling / Operation OASIS project was presented for a second time at the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group – this time with key figures from the UK business community in attendance. The event, entitled “A new opportunity out of economic crisis?” was sponsored by the CCP Network. 30 corporate executives and 100 SME business owners attended.
Speakers at the event included:
Examples of feedback included:
Greg Peachey joined the 4Networking Business Network in order to spread an awareness of Carbon Cycling among the UK business community. 4N members can book into a meeting anywhere in the UK and apply to speak for 20 minutes during the “4Sight” slot.
Greg’s application to speak was accepted by all the groups who received it, and so Greg embarked on the “Prophet of Boom” tour.
The series of talks was billed as “Genuine reasons to be optimistic about the future - news of a credible, combined solution to the economic, employment, natural resource and environmental crises. Something to inspire and cheer you up!”
An example of feedback was: ‘When I saw the title of the presentation online, I thought “Great, we could do with some good news….but it’s a tough one to deliver on!” Just to say that for me you delivered on it 100%. It made fantastic sense and gave a massively positive message.’ - Damion Viney – Director, Crunchers South London Ltd.
Carbon cycling project Operation OASIS won the 2011 Herts Green Award for best communications project. Greg Peachey accepted the award on behalf of the FREdome volunteer team at the ceremony at the Hertfordshire Green Exhibition, Knebworth Barns on October 25th.
Start-up call handling and telemarketing company agreed to sponsor invitation cards, refreshments and filming of another presentation of Carbon Cycling at the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group.
The FREdome Visionary Trust submitted a bid to the European Commission Life Plus programme for funding towards a 1 million euro project in collaboration with Liverpool John Moores University, Cranfield University, the University of Seville, Green Europe and City of Santa Pola. Between them the bid partners have committed to contribute half a million Euros if the bid is successful.
The proposed project, named “OASIS MEDia”, aims to raise awareness of the central importance of (particularly Mediterranean coastal) soil to plant, animal and human life, and to launch joint action involving land, water and scientific authorities and grass-roots communities.
Presented the project to Friends of the Earth in Hemel Hempstead. Attendees signed a petition requesting consideration of the proposal.
The FREdome organisation and programme and were featured in the EU-wide C2C (Cradle-to-Cradle) manual of projects. Greg Peachey was sent by Suffolk County Council to an EU international conference being held in Graz, Austria being addressed by C2C co-founder, Professor Dr Michael Braungart. C2C recommends that the Technical Loop for cycling manufacturing materials should be closed by manufacturers themselves and kept separate from the Biological Loop.
During the Q&A section at the end of Prof Braungart’s address, Greg summarised the Operation OASIS approach to Carbon Cycling, closing the Biological Loop. During a conversation that immediately followed Prof Braungart requested a brief summary in the form of a manifesto, which he would publically endorse with a signature. After returning from the Conference the summary was emailed and, true to his word, the Professor sent back a version with his scanned signature.
You can view the document here: https://www.box.com/shared/2faczfixnc.
Following our very successful All Party Parliamentary Group meeting, which engaged representatives across diverse sectors about the above proposal, we wrote to the Minister for Employment at the DWP (Department of Work and Pensions), requesting a brief meeting to discuss this potential employment/economic solution.
The response from his correspondence team was essentially – minister too busy, we value your suggestion, look on our website to see our plans. The letter also pointed us at other Departments. Indeed, because this approach could resolve many issues, the majority of the benefits will inevitably fall outside the scope of any single Department. We therefore need support across relevant Departments, rather than have all Departments pointing at each other. We did contact the Departments suggested by the DWP, but received similar responses.
After exchanging some 35 letters with the DWP and receiving virtually identical responses, we invoked Freedom of Information Act to discover the reason for the Minister’s unwillingness to engage. The answer was that our proposal would create jobs and that, for efficiency reasons, the DWP was no longer involved in job creation.
A Google search confirmed that they had recently run a £1 billion fund for job creation, which aimed to create over 150,000 jobs, 10,000 of which were expected to be green jobs. After citing this and explaining that we were seeking support to encourage exploration of our proposal rather than public funding we received a call from a DWP policy official, who, unfortunately was about to exit the Department in 2 weeks.
We also managed to obtain a meeting with an alternative DWP official, the outcome of which was that the only person who could really help us was the one who had just moved to the Cabinet Office. We were put back in touch with him and we wrote several further letters, but did not receive a response.
At the November All Party Parliamentary event it emerged that feasibility of our environmental/renewables proposal had already been established by a UK water company, so that first steps could now theoretically be almost immediate. If you read back through the outline news summaries on this page, you will gain some appreciation of the immense efforts that have been invested so far to bring the project to this point. Coastal agro forestry can become productive in 2-3 years, or that could be time it takes for the wheels of our systems to start to turn. We are therefore focusing keenly on a number of key paths:
November 2010 – First All Party event held
On 18 November 2010, a landmark meeting “The Missing Link in the Carbon Debate?” was held by the FREdome Visionary Trust in partnership with the APPCCG (All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group) in the Boothroyd Room of Portcullis House.
Invited to the event were people from every political party, different ethnic & faith groups, different walks of life and different ages, including young people, very concerned about their future. The young people opened the proceedings, handed over to the adults to continue, and summed up at the end.
The meeting drew attention to an unnoticed alternative method for dealing with carbon emissions – turning them into vital, dwindling carbon resources, such as food and fuel.
The OASIS proposal involves bio digesting organic waste in tankers returning from European shores, and using it to irrigate and fertilise self-sustaining agro forestry starting from desert coastal regions. This can restore the global carbon, water and nutrient cycles.
It was shown that tankering the waste will be more than 20 times cheaper than processing it locally, and the value of biogas produced before departure would on its own more than pay for the tankering, leaving further biogas for the journey and to power machinery at the destination. Additionally there will be substantial and growing revenue from the agricultural produce from the reclaimed area, and the value of the land will multiply many times.
One of the most interesting things to emerge from the meeting was that when the initiative was originally proposed, it was taken up by a UK water company and to be financed by Kuwait, but was only stopped by conflict. This confirms its overall plausibility.
The independent panel of four professors agreed to become our Scientific & Technical Advisory Board and a further five industry experts subsequently offered their services.
It is proposed to build a team of highly-skilled people made redundant by the recent downturn to construct a UK application for EU/UN funding. This will attract foreign investment, create Green jobs and position the UK to become leader and shareholder in a new global industry, helping to resolve our economic, environmental, food, water and energy security issues.
Coastal agro forestry can become productive and start reversing the damage done to our world in 2–3 years — but this could also be the time it takes us adults to begin to get our wheels to turn. The young people pointed out that nations and communities must stop fighting or simply talking about this, and just DO it – we are all members of one species. They have called the coming era “The Age of Global Restoration” — let’s not let them down!
For more information, please visit http://bit.ly/cchandout
The APPCCG has granted FREdome an All Party Parliamentary Group session in Westminster to devote to our Carbon Cycling proposal. The date we have chosen is 18th November 2010, which is Social Enterprise Day, during International Entrepreneurship Week.
Speakers so far include:
Attended by local councils, enterprise agency and professional/executives, Greg Peachey presented a FREdome initiative, CoInReg aimed at re-deploying effort made redundant by the decline of the old system, to plan and build a new, sustainable system, based on Carbon Cycling.
Read more at: http://bit.ly/CoinRegDoc.
The APPCCG (All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group) elected a permanent Chair at its Annual General Meeting. Greg Peachey re-applied for an event to discuss Carbon Cycling. The request for an APPCCG event to review our plausible solution to Climate Change and Global Resource Depletion was originally raised back in December of last year.
We now have a letter and supporting paper from the Agriculture & Environment Research Unit at the University of Hertfordshire, formally stating that the Carbon Cycling proposal is sufficiently plausible to warrant further research, beginning with the collation and assessment of existing related scientific/economic data and identification of areas requiring further detailed investigation. The University has offered to assist in raising funds to finance that initial research and to undertake the work themselves. Other letters include one from the St Albans Green Party, supporting the importance of and need for this work and one from a concerned parent in the community. We additionally have just over 700 signatures on a petition calling for collation and analysis of the relevant data.
Given the massive potential benefits, widespread support and declared plausibility of the solution it is clear that this should form a significant part of the discussion, be investigated, piloted and implemented. We feel optimistic that it will be featured in an APPCCG event this autumn.
The ‘Show the World’ competition was held at the Watford Colosseum on Monday 3 May as part of the annual Watford Celebration – a day to showcase the area’s diverse cultures. The talent show was organised and presented by FREdome-YEA (Youth Encouraging Adults) and aims to promote world peace and cooperation to restore the environment.
Sabrina Hassan from Gadebridge beat young performers from all over Hertfordshire at the talent competition. Performing her self-choreographed dance to Michael Jackson’s hit, Smooth Criminal, 10-year old Sabrina wowed a panel of 3 professional judges with her skilful moves, including a perfectly-executed moon walk.
The next competition is envisaged for May 2011 and it is hoped that even more young people will be inspired to take part and Show the World what they can do!
FREdome continued to prepare for the Live Stage Final of “Show the World!” The best groups and performers will take part in the competition to be run as a youth finale to The Watford Celebration (3rd May 2010 at the Watford Colosseum) – an all—day diversity festival run by a team chaired by Greg Peachey and attended annually by over 3000 people. It features free international food, stage performances and a variety of stalls with a separate quiet area for local community sharing; promoting peace from grass—roots. Prizes for performers will include £250 for the top audience vote, sponsored by the FREdome Visionary Trust.
We applied again to local philanthropist, John Apthorp, explaining that we work with local young people who fear for their personal fates and the wider future. We help these young people, taking care to include the disadvantaged, to achieve small and great things, gaining work experience in the process and qualifications to support applications for higher education or employment.
We support them to:
We now seek to create a funding stream by putting in place the infrastructure for a series of youth events, organised by the young people themselves to raise both peer awareness and funds for their cause.
Hertfordshire teenagers took over an FM radio station at a studio set up in Eden, Watford, and were broadcast globally on Internet TV & Radio for a three–day show on 19th—21st March. They showcased their talents – including singing, dancing, beatbox and presenting – and regularly delivered their message to the world: ‘Stop fighting, fix our future!’
They point out that if nations of the world all agree to divert a small proportion of war budgets into natural methods to convert CO2 into resources, then the future for all generations to come can become one of hope, optimism, security and plenty.
Comments from the young people involved confirmed that they had all a whale of a time and want to do it all again:
The best groups and performers will take part in the Live Stage Final entitled “Show the World!” The competition will be run as a youth finale to The Watford Celebration (3rd May 2010 at the Watford Colosseum) – an all—day diversity festival attended annually by over 3000 people. It features free international food, stage performances and a variety of stalls with a separate quiet area for local community sharing, promoting peace from grass-roots. Prizes for performers will include £250 for the top audience vote, sponsored by the FREdome Visionary Trust.
This broadcast event was made possible through support from “The Big Spend” (the Youth Opportunity Fund in Hertfordshire) where young people decide how funds are spent on positive activities. FREdome—YEA (“Youth Encouraging Adults”) was awarded just over £4000 to finance this talent competition.
Greg Peachey and Ivor Kellock met Anne Main MP in Westminster to ask her support in requesting mainstream politicians and scientists to at least investigate a little-explored third option for dealing with carbon emissions. As an alternative to limiting or sequestrating (burying) carbon emissions, natural means could be utilised to convert them into the carbon-based resources that are now beginning to fail.
FREdome tracked down two Russian scientists (Gorshkov and Makarieva) who pointed out that the world’s forests appear to be not just its lungs but also its heart, pumping moist air from the sea into the heart of continents. Trees transpire deep underground water as vapour which condenses to a fraction of its volume, lowering pressure and sucking in further rainfall – that is until we historically logged the coastlines for shipbuilding, triggering today’s desertification.
We linked up with Andrew K Fletcher who points out that returning oil super tankers could kick start this process by transporting our coastal sewage back to the deserts, providing millions of tons of treated liquid organic nutrients to turn sand back into soil and irrigate coastal tree belts extending inland, also digesting tar residue and recovering tanker capacity in the process.
We therefore made agro forestry central to the world recovery model. As written by James Sholto-Douglas in ‘Forest Farming’, around 8% of the world’s land is productive today. This could be more like 75% if we reclaimed wasteland. Furthermore, tree/crop cultivation in place of today’s monoultures could increase yield by more than a factor of 10, making the earth in total a 100 times more fruitful. This would lock vast quantities of carbon emissions in productive vegetation, inducing rainfall and producing plentiful food, fuel and materials.
Trainleaders was formed together with Ivor Kellock as a means of income generation through Social Media which supports the social vision of FREdome. We are advocating a method whereby businesses can cluster around community causes, making legitimate approaches to people they want to connect with and showcasing their wares by providing them publicly to their selected cause. That way everyone benefits – the businesses, the causes and the community. To ensure space is allowed for social progress through new ideas, participating businesses are encouraged to reserve a portion of their Corporate Social Responsibility budgets for new beneficial ideas conceived, discerned and selected by the community.
FREdome applied for a Carbon Cycling discussion event at the APPCG (All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group) at which our winning video message was screened in December. Unfortunately the Chair is about to step down and a General Election is looming.
Our ‘Stop global war-MING!’ video was screened daily at various times at Copenhagen at the Cube, which is a public art engagement exhibit, and it received a VIP screening event on Sunday 13th where many official delegates were present. It was also screened at multiple events with world leaders and policy makers debating and discussing issues. It was further broadcast every day on the global observatory COP15 feed to news agencies and public around the world.
It was subsequently shown at a parliamentary screening on Tuesday 8th Dec in the House of Commons. The session was hosted by Colin Challen MP, chair of the cross-party Climate Change Inquiry, and member of the Energy and Climate Change Committee. Several of the adult and youth teams attended.
One of the questions we asked was: “Is it naïve to ask the nations of world to divert some of the money spent on conflict into working together to resolve the severe threats that we share as a species?” The answer was “No.”
The FREdome-YEA 60-second video message to world leaders won the public vote in the 1MinuteToSaveTheWorldVideo competition, run by WeCan in partnership with organisations such as Greenpeace and the Guardian. Our short film achieved the highest average rating, the most votes and most comments.
We received the following statement of support from Vancouver-based Severn Cullis-Suzuki, who has been a leading environmental campaigner since her childhood:
“I can’t tell you how much it means to me that so many years after the Earth Summit in Rio your young people have taken up the call and are fighting for your future. The voice of youth is even MORE important today as we go to Copenhagen.
The Climate Change battle is an example of intergenerational injustice, as it is the young and future generations who have not created the problem but who will feel the full effects of the consequences of Climate Change. I hope your message gets through to those in power. I’m so proud you are fighting for the future: until our leaders change their ways it is, unfortunately, up to you. Remember that luckily, you are not alone.” — Severn Cullis-Suzuki (13th November 2009)
Watch Sev’s moving challenge to the UN at age 12 in 1992: The girl who silenced the world for five minutes
We also received this Facebook message from Yoko Ono, wife of Beatle, John Lennon:
“Dear Greg & FREdome-YEA, UK
Congratulations for now having officially won the public vote for what you have been and are doing.
It is very important that the world will know what has been accomplished by the young people strongly believing in their work to resolve climate change and resource depletion, salvaging the future for them.
I hope the independent panel of judges will understand how important it is that this film will reach the public.
In brotherhood and love, yoko”
Greg Peachey met with the chain that owns most of the nightclubs across the UK. We are proposing that they insert one additional under-18s event per year at all their venues in support of our cause, keeping half of the proceeds. The benefits to the nightclub chain would include additional annual revenue, engagement of a new, pleasantly-behaved section of the U18 market, very positive national publicity for their brand, enhanced standing in the community and improved reputation with the community & police and, most importantly, the fulfilment of supporting an improved future for the under-18s dancing in their Club venues.
We continued to canvass support for our one-minute video message to world leaders at Copenhagen. Our message unites many causes, including Peace, Climate Change, Starvation, Water Shortage, Land Scarcity leading to Territorial Conflict, Extinction of Species, Modern Disease, The Energy Crisis, Waste, Pollution and Economic Collapse. There are currently hundreds of groups dedicated to each of these causes. Further, there are scores of other social networks with similar groups. We therefore invited many of their administrators to a new group to link as many as possible together: “Group Leaders – World Causes.” If we can heal this fragmentation and our teams work together towards shared objectives, we will have a much stronger voice and really start to change the world for the better.
We also posted a comment on Yoko Ono’s Facebook wall: “War COULD be over! We have given Peace a chance! Let's not miss it.... Our young team have a chance to ask world leaders for a period of world peace to free massive resources to tackle hunger, climate change and resource depletion.”
FREdome-YEA is putting to the test whether a group of young people CAN change the world for the better. They have made a 60-second video message to world leaders, and entered it into an international competition. It calls for a period of world peace or reduced conflict, to free up the resources to recover arid lands and re-enable nature to convert excess greenhouse gases into the very things that the world is running out. The proposed mechanism for diverting defence resources into world recovery is a declaration of Climate Change and World Resource depletion as universal threats to national security. If the film wins, this message will be screened not only at the Copenhagen Climate Conference, but also seen all over the world.
http://www.1minutetosavetheworld.com/2009/11/stop-global-war-ming/
FREdome-YEA (“Youth Encouraging Adults”), have been awarded just over £4000 to put on a hip-hop variety show at the Watford Colosseum on Saturday 20th March 2010.
Yoko Ono accepted our Facebook friend request and asked us to send her information about our work: “Dear Greg, if you have any committee in which you wish to have my name, please let me know. I want to show that I am with you.” We despatched the information immediately.
A team of community volunteers took over the running of the St Michael’s Catholic High School greenhouse over the summer.
FREdome-YEA held a programme of summer youth events, including clubbing nights featuring Mz BRATT (“Be Real And Teach Truth”), Meleka and MC Versatile, from Crazy Cousinz.
Because of the peace-linked nature of our work, we also joined Yoko Ono’s peace group on Facebook and invited her as an online friend.
We have written to a local philanthropist explaining that we are looking to establish a sustainable organisation to continue our work of (a) helping young people, including the disadvantaged, to achieve small and great things, gaining work experience in the process and qualifications to support applications for higher education or employment; With the support of these young people: (b) Building peace and well-being from the ground-up: engaging and uniting diverse communities and empowering them to work as teams, implementing their own best solutions to their own identified shared needs; (c) Campaigning for international peace, or reduced conflict, to release the means to tackle climate change and resource depletion, which threaten the future of these young people, all our children, grandchildren and generations to come.
FREdome was invited by WeCan to submit a one-minute video into a competition for screening to world leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Conference due to take place in December.
We will build on the speech that Severn Suzuki made at age 12 to the UN in 1992. She and three other young people raised their own funds to travel 5000 miles from Vancouver to the Earth Summit in Rio, where she gave one of the most moving speeches of all time: “…I am fighting for my future… I am here to speak for all generations to come… What you do makes me cry at night. You grown-ups say you love us. I challenge you; please make your actions reflect your words.” Severn also said: "If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it! …I know that if all the money spent on war was spent on finding environmental answers, ending poverty and finding treaties, what a wonderful place this Earth would be."
Speaking 16 years later she said, "The most striking thing is that a 12-year old could give that exact same speech today." i.e., nothing has changed! We are trying to contact her, in order to ask her to have a look at our solution, and if she thinks it is worthy of consideration by the world, we would like to ask her assistance to arrange for our young team to present it to the UN, encouraging the nations of the world to divert defence budgets into the necessary research, development and implementation.
As a child Severn was effectively ignored by the adult world. Now that she is the adult, we feel sure that she will support children who come to her with the same message, enhanced by a suggested global solution.
To generate support for this activity FREdome set up a Facebook group named “THE ONLY GROUP THAT MATTERS?” to reflect the priority of resolving the greatest threats to humanity.
FREdome was given a platform at an event organised by Environmental Population and took part in the West Herts College Environment Day.
Nicole, from St Michael’s Catholic High School has submitted an application to the Youth Opportunity Fund to enable a major youth talent / hip-hop Show at the Watford Colosseum, involving young people across the county of Hertfordshire, and spreading a message of awareness of world issues, but hope and optimism about the future in the light of our potential solution.
The Watford & West Herts Chamber of Commerce devoted its May 2009 Networking Breakfast to the subject “How Can Herts Turn the World Around?” It was an “Extraordinary” meeting, organised by the FREdome Visionary Trust, exploring how local businesses might pull together in order to tackle the current interrelated resource, carbon and economic crises.
The current global situation was clarified and a practical proposal for joint local action was made, aimed at:
Speakers/panel included global expert Professor Bill McGuire, Greg Peachey, founder & chair of the FREdome Visionary Trust and C-Green Solutions, and Cllr Rupert Read, lead candidate for Green MEP for the East of England.
Watford’s third annual celebration of its diverse cultures, faiths and talents, took place at the Watford Colosseum on 25th May, attracting around 3,500 people. There was a variety of musical entertainment, dance, stalls and kids’ activities. Food for thought with interfaith dialogue at the Sacred Space and loads of fantastic free food was generously provided by our communities for hungry tummies.
Trendsetting youth group FREdome YEA continue to astonish with their energy and ambition for their fundraising events. Their first ever club night in Hemel Hempstead took place at Lava and Ignite on Wednesday 8th April. This under 18’s only alcohol-free event featured DJ Danny Dutty Mix-B and live local unsigned bands. These events are much more challenging to fill as the venue is in a location that is less popular and accessible to young people.
The Mars Patrol, the indie band that supports our cause, played a free awareness-raising gig at a London Club venue – O2 Academy 2 Islington on Monday 6th April.
Year 7 student Tobias of Townsend School produced a short video documentary for BBC School News Report on the school’s involvement in the C-Green Project. This was part of a BBC initiative where schools across the UK took part in a News Day, simultaneously creating video, audio and text-based news reports. Go to www.townsend.herts.sch.uk, click on “BBC News – School Report” and play the media file, “World Problems Solved by Toby.”
A community ideas workshop on the economic situation was held on Thursday 19 March in the media suite at St Michaels Catholic High School. Members of the community commented and gave their views on the current economic crisis. These will be taken forward to a FREdome Watford Chamber Breakfast scheduled for May.
The greenhouse experiment to grow food and algae in dilute sea nutrients is taking shape at St Michael’s School in Garston. A number of parties have expressed interest, including 3Counties Hydroponics, Biogen-Greenfinch of Bedford, Oceangrown, and the National Oceanographic Centre.
FREdome-YEA held its final awareness and fundraising event, an under-18s Valentines “Partaay”, at Area Nightclub in Watford, attracting, as always, over 1000 young people to a safe, enjoyable and beneficial youth event. The manager who supported FREdome’s charitable work for the future of the young has left the nightclub, and so we will have to seek an alternative venue.
The FREdome Youth section FREdome-YEA (Youth Encouraging Adults) has exceeded an astonishing 20,000 supporters online. Their local club nights to raise awareness and funds for their world recovery cause have become legendary. Young people in neighbouring towns would like similar events in their areas.
Orchard Recruitment is joining FREdome in a ground-breaking initiative to offer voluntary work for a managed team of job seekers in Watford to create new employment in sustainable ventures to attack the root cause of the current crisis.
FREdome’s next event aimed at the business community will be held at Watford Chamber of Commerce in May. The theme will be “New Optimism on Energy, Climate, Food and Economy.”
FREdome’s second Community Workshop, “How can we survive the credit crunch?” will be held at 2-4pm on 19th Mar 2009 in the media suite at St Michael’s Catholic High School. If you are unable to attend, please submit your ideas beforehand.
A principal objective of the fund which declined our application is: “stronger communities, with more active citizens working together to tackle their problems.” The main reason given for the rejection was that we had not shown the need for our project as clearly as some of our competitors. We pointed out that not only was the resolution of needs an integral part of the design of our project, but their fund objective was a perfect description of our project: Our proven method of building stronger communities is actually to engage people by bringing them together to celebrate their rich diversity, and then empower them to work together on their OWN solutions to their OWN needs.
Enquiring further, we have discovered that the principal reason for rejection was that we did not conduct in-depth surveys of the initial target 20 areas across the UK (17 across England). We pointed out that representatives of these particular areas came forward in the first place because there are no comparable activities in their areas, and it was self-evident that residents of any area would welcome a day of free international food, performances and stalls, followed by sessions which sought to discover and help implement what they would like to see happen locally and in the world. We proceeded to prove that this was self-evident by conducting sample surveys of residents of those areas, who became quite amused at being asked such rhetorical questions. However, this could not be taken into account, because the unnecessary step had not been taken at the time of the application! We commented that funding assessment processes that do not take account of what is self-evident are liable to miss the obvious.
We have demonstrated the success of our approach through a project funded by this very organisation, whose intended direction is: “Where possible we will fund applicants who come to us with evidence of what works and who have a track record of working in the field… We will have to take a risk of funding something new if we are serious about wanting to make a difference.” Unfortunately, however, we have applied with the CURRENT processes in force, and a decision made in accordance with existing processes is apparently irreversible.
Our discussion also highlighted that, rather than taking the best part of a year to admittedly “routinely turn down high-quality applications” – around 80% of those that even reach the shortlist – this proposal would enable a centralised funder to direct those applications to a system which could provide them rapid access to local resources. We asked if they could at least link us up with other rejected applicants who may be interested in working with us. This request was not answered.
Finally we asked whether they saw the likelihood of resolving the greatest threats to humanity as an exceptionally compelling opportunity. Astoundingly, for an organisation acting in the public interest, the answer was “No!”
The first ever full working model of the FREdome community project in action was demonstrated at the Global Peace Festival at the Excel centre in London. The Global-Eco carbon cycling system being launched by C-Green Solutions was exhibited there in public for the first time. The exhibition formed an integral part of the two day festival which hosted 3000 visitors and speakers including British and European Members of Parliament, representatives of major world faiths, top performers and community cohesion workers.
Young people representing a number of schools (including Townsend School and Verulam School in St Albans and Egerton Rothesay School in Berkhamsted) visited Hart to witness the work his team is doing, for which funding has been obtained from the Global Peace Festival.
The numbers of teenagers attending our events at Area Nightclub continued to rise by 200 at a time to over 1100. The youth leaders presented a cheque for £5000 to Harry Hart, to begin to process the Global Eco research repository. The total cost will be £120,000. We hope that their energy will inspire humanity to muster approximately the average salary of ONE doctor to fund FOUR specialists for a year to unlock 1000 person-years of research, constituting a blueprint for world recovery!
We have just heard the outcome of a major funding application. Representatives of 20 areas across the UK have opted to host the local community programme and recommend support of a wider, joint initiative to resolve shared issues. Beginning in these areas, the proposal was to tackle divisions between sections of the community, inadequate youth nutrition, the hunger and poor health of the homeless and destitute, and on a larger, target scale, resolve global problems, such as climate change, the food and fuel crises, starvation, disease, pollution and economic failure. The assessors decided that the needs were not clearly shown! We will, of course, be challenging that conclusion…
Practical work continues on growing plant life in seawater, in a manner that can be scaled up using marine algae to reclaim deserts, turning excess CO2 into food and fuel. Harry Hart, of Global Eco, has successfully grown, for example, tall tomato plants, in nothing but brackish seawater. The BBC Newsnight team visited Harry Hart at his Bury St Edmunds home and interviewed him there. Newsnight Science Editor, Susan Watts, reported that Hart is “ahead of the curve.”
St Michael’s Catholic High School has constructed a greenhouse in the school grounds. The sea nutrient experiments which were started in the summer by the students at Rothamsted with funding from Nuffield Science will be continued there. In partnership with the school, FREdome is producing a “Table Top Demonstration” of the world recovery process for the Global Peace Festival in November at the ExCeL Centre in London.
The ongoing series of alcohol-free club nights for young teenagers under 18 continues with gathering momentum. Promoted entirely by the Youth section of FREdome – FREdome-YEA (Youth Encouraging Adults) through social networking groups such as WeCare; events in Watford are attracting a growing crowd. Each night has a relevant theme raising awareness and funds for FREdome, and the global solution presented by the C-Green Solutions project.
Attendance has grown from 550 at the first event in March through to 940 at the last event in August. The good natured vibe and civilised behaviour of the positively-motivated young clubbers has impressed the management of Area nightclub to such a degree that they are now proposing to replicate the format in their other outlets in Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield.
The reputation of these nights has led to a commitment from Watford Pubwatch to adopt FREdome as their charity this Christmas – promoting socially responsible behaviour and enjoyment among young people.
Other youth groups have been inspired by the success of FREdome and the “WeCare” Area club nights and are aiming high with similar events: 16-year old Jasmine and Paige are working on a dance event hopefully at the St Albans Arena and 1200 youngsters have formed a social network on MySpace aiming to grow ‘world-saving’ concerts to raise funds and awareness among the general public.
Extended Schools are helping FREdome/ Area Nightclub publicise the next youth awareness fundraising Halloween party event flyers to all secondary schools in the area and co-ordinating places for school students to come on a school bus trip to see Harry Hart on 23rd October.
BBC News Night visited Harry Hart at Bury St Edmunds and interviewed him about his Carbon Cycling system, spending several hours looking at his experiments with growing crops in sea nutrients and hearing about his world recovery system.
FREdome Visionary Trust founder Greg Peachey gave a presentation on FREdome and its local community project C-green Solutions carbon cycling to an audience of members of the U3A (University of the Third Age) in Watford. The event was held at the Vue cinema and attracted an enthusiastic crowd who were all impressed by the progress of the project toward finding a solution to low carbon local food production, and the much wider global aims of the project: reversal of desertification, reduction in C02, climate change and food shortages worldwide.
An experiment was hosted at Rothamsted Research, investigating the possibility of utilising prolific marine algae to resolve climate change, the energy crisis, the food crisis, disease, the credit crunch - all in one go. The experiment, being supervised at Rothamsted Research and funded by Nuffield Science Bursaries allocated by SETPOINT Hertfordshire, is being conducted on behalf of the FREdome Visionary Trust by three enterprising students from St Michael’s Catholic High School, Garston.
The project received an unexpected publicity boost when the Herts Advertiser reported an uncontrollable growth of algae blighting St Albans’ famous Verulamium Lake.
St Albans City & District Council and their contractor John O’Conner Ltd have agreed to provide a regular supply of the harvested algae to the FREdome experiment. The algae completely re-covers the whole Lake within a space of a week. FREdome is currently seeking a source of funding to procure a biogas digester and a piece of land on which to pilot the process.
This project is managed by C-Green Solutions - a carbon cycling project based in Watford Hertfordshire UK supported by FREdome. The aim of C-Green Solutions Carbon Recycling is to provide a means of removing carbon from the atmosphere and recycling that carbon to produce fertile land, healthier crops and, eventually, should our trials succeed, start to reclaim desert land.
Supplemented by the proceeds of youth events at Area Nightclub, a donation made by the Franciscan Friars through the Spread Charity, the Global Peace Festival is providing some funding for Harry Hart to develop a simple kit so that people can grow their own high yield, high-nutrient vegetables in nothing but dilute sea water, using the “flood & drain” hydroponic method.
He is starting to experiment with algae, but will need a bit of trial and error to get the growing conditions right.
GPF are also paying for some publicity for what he’s doing, and to take 3 separate mini-buses of young people to see:
(a) Harry’s practical work, and understand how it can be scaled up to solve all these global problems.
(b) the results of the Rothamsted experiment, funded by Nuffield Science Bursaries;
(c) St Michael Catholic High School’s implementation in the greenhouse they have had built so they can grow food all year round for themselves + hampers for the local destitute.
3500 young people support FREdome online.
The FREdome Youth team, incorporating the C-Green Solutions team at St Michael’s is using social networking on Bebo and MySpace to spread the word about FREdome and the C-Green project. Since early January a jaw-dropping 3500 friends have joined the group WE CARE set up by FREdome Youth Representatives Jasmine, Sophie and Beatrice.
See http://www.myspace.com/fredome_yea
Fingers crossed for the Big Green Funding opportunity
On June 10th, the FREdome Founder, Greg Peachey and a fantastic bid team submitted an application for the Big Green Challenge – a £1m prize fund set up by NESTA for carbon-reducing community projects in the UK. The C-Green Solutions/FREdome Project was selected to go forward to a semi-final 100 contestants from among 350 projects. As part of the bid, the plans for C-Green Solutions are being reviewed by experts at the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. Other interesting and exciting funding opportunities are being identified as the combined oil crisis and food shortages Greg warned us of have finally hit, and national agencies are looking to fund more sustainable solutions to costly imported and transported food.
Small-scale experiment
This summer holiday a small team of students from St Michael’s Catholic High School & Specialist Humanities College will be supervised on paid work experience for up to 8 weeks at Rothamsted Research in Harpenden. The purpose is to prove under scientific rigour:
1. Whether growing vegetables in sea nutrients improves nutritional quality, flavour and yield
2. If growing micro-algae in dilute sea water improves the rate of multiplication
Around one acre of waste/agricultural land is being sought for a mid-scale demonstration of the algal growth.
FREdome got through to the final stage of its application to the National Lottery to scale up to a national operation in order to support the 17 areas across the country who are ready to adopt their own community programmes based on the FREdome model. The remaining 4 areas in the UK will have to be funded by an alternative source.
FREdome-YEA, organised its second awareness/fundraising party at Area Nightclub. The number of youngsters who attended grew from 550 to 770. Not a single problem.
The second Watford Celebration event was held at the Watford Colosseum. Greg Peachey chair of FREdome also chairs the core organising team for Celebration.
C-Green Solutions project was short-listed by NESTA in the semi-finals of the Big Green Challenge. If it is the outright winner, it will receive a prize of £1 million.
FREdome-YEA (Youth Encouraging Adults) organised its first party at Area Nightclub, to raise awareness and funds for C-Green Solutions – a single solution to climate change, the energy crisis, starvation and disease. The Mars Patrol headlined the live music. 550 youngsters took part. All had a brilliant time and the whole even went without a hitch
. See the video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kwu0QNrnzw
Up and coming indie band, The Mars Patrol, managed by Dave Prowse (“Darth Vader”) and tipped for the top by the News of the World, partnered with FREdome, running a campaign based on their new song “Take a Look at the World”.
Listen at www.MySpace.com/TheMarsPatrol
STOP PRESS - New music fun event for Watford youth?
FREdome Youth is keen, organising a fundraising/awareness-raising music event at Area Nightclub in Watford on 25th March 2008. We will bring you more news soon.
FREdome Visionary Trust in Paris - On the 26 January Greg Peachey travelled to the Meridian Hotel Paris, to pitch the FREdome concept to the Best Western hotel chain annual conference. The CEO of Best Western, David Clarke, introduced FREdome as a Corporate Social Responsibility project that hoteliers could adopt on an individual basis.
Enthusiastic response - 20 hoteliers then came forward to Greg expressing interest in adopting a replica model of the FREdome concept in their own areas of the UK. Some of them were highly enthusiastic about working with him and understood exactly how the FREdome approach - combining events, workshops and a local website - could benefit their own businesses by appealing to a huge range of local people. Greg has to contact each of the hoteliers individually to establish a dialogue.
Aiming high - funding from the Lottery has to be won in order to cover the administrative costs of the next stage. Greg is now confident the application can be put together as all the required pieces are in place: "Crucially , we can show the measured benefits of the FREdome model and a proven track record of success in creating tangible results from previous grants" says Greg.
Our young people are amazing: The FREdome Youth team, incorporating the C-Green Solutions project team at St Michaels College has used social networking on Bebo and MySpace. Since early January a jaw-dropping 1572 friends have joined teenage Youth Representatives Jasmine and Sophie in their quest to start a world-wide movement to pressure adults to support research into Carbon Cycling - FREdome's most successful community-changing project to date. "The girls are screening the applicants - most of who are between 14 and 16 years of age". says Greg. "We can't publicise the site to adults, but any young people can contact me if they want to find out how to join."
It's Our World too Jasmine, Sophie, St Michaels School and a number of FREdome supporters and sponsors have been involved in a big effort to raise £5000 for the C-Green Solutions science project. The team recorded a one-minute video called "It's Our World too" and have entered it for the Bebo 60 Second Challenge - an online competition for funds for youth-led community project ideas. The closing date is Feb 18th. You can view the FREdome entry at www.bebo.com/60seconds The WeCareFREdome team will face a panel of "Dragons" if they get into the final. A fantastic effort - well done all.
Latest from C-Green Solutions Want to know what is going on with our top community project at St Michael's High School and Specialist College.
Visit www.c-greensolutions.com
On Friday 9th November 2007, young people from St Michael’s College joined Watford business leaders and representatives of the FREdome Visionary Trust gathered at the Best Western White House Hotel in Watford to launch C-Green Solutions - our revolutionary project in support of Global-Eco’s carbon cycling process. The ambitious project aims to eliminate or even reverse the carbon footprint and promote sustainable living, initially by growing high yield, nutritious vegetables in water not soil. The experiment is being promoted by the FREdome Project to raise awareness of the benefits of hydroponic growth, and – with the support of the local community, entrepreneurs and government – to implement hydroponic growth on a scale that will benefit the town's young and destitute. The ultimate aim is to scale up and convert carbon from the air and sea nutrients cyclically into world resources using the fastest available natural process – photosynthesis by marine microalgae in dilute seawater – on land. Over fifty people attended the event including young people from the school, teachers, representatives and sponsors from the local business community.
The afternoon was introduced by Charlie Kenny, Business Network International plc - Regional Director for Herts & Beds. He called the project “A launch pad for the community’s most beneficial idea.” Jasmine, FREdome Youth Leader gave a young person’s perspective on the world problems that the project sets out to resolve. Greg Peachey recounted how the young people at a community workshop selected and adapted this as the idea with the best potential to tackle the world issues that their generation will otherwise inherit. He went on to explain the concept itself. Harry Hart, the 77-year old originator of the Carbon Cycling Process, travelled from his home in Suffolk to give the details of the process, answer questions, meet the young people and wish them well. Hertfordshire-born Harry has accumulated a huge amount of research data which he hopes to be able to pass onto the young people.
Summing up his impressions at the close of the evening, Tony Poole, Chair of Watford Borough Council, said, “This is an idea that attacks problems that are becoming ever-more urgent. If this research can bear fruit then it can make a real difference, but you will have to overcome the natural suspicion that it’s too good to be true.”
For more information about the project, visit www.c-greensolutions.com
At a FREdome management meeting, the top community project was formally planned:
“C-GreenSolutions – Carbon Recycling Project” (See
www.c-greensolutions.com) this aims to convert atmospheric carbon and sea nutrients into world resources using the fastest possible natural processes. It will start at a local level with a global outlook. Initially it will involve local young people (especially the disadvantaged) improving their own nutrition and growing nourishing foods for the local homeless and destitute, at the same time proving a process to tackle climate change, world starvation and the energy crisis in one go. There is a person-millennium of research behind this (30 qualified individuals working for 30+ years).
Great Stuff Hydroponics offered to donate the initial equipment required, and Ocean Grown offered to donate the initial sea nutrients. Top Position is following the project and publishing series of media releases. Dr Tony Miller of Rothamsted Research will provide practical guidance.
A presentation was held at Watford Campus to report back and thank sponsors of the Celebration event and follow-on community programme. Elected Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill, presented the sponsorship certificates.
On 01 Sep 2007 the interactive Ideas Website was delivered to St Michael’s Catholic High School and Specialist Humanities College for internal trials.
During the Summer Holidays a group of young people met twice to exercise the interactive FREdome Ideas Website.
The FREdome Visionary Trust took a stall at the Family Fun Day held at Stanborough Park, WATFORD to feedback the latest FREdome news to the local community.
THURSDAY 12th JULY 2007: AGM, 7-9 PM AT THE HOLYWELL COMMUNITY CENTRE, TOLPITS LANE, WATFORD WD18 9QD
On 7/7/7 Greg Peachey of the FREdome Visionary Trust took a stall and ran the Belief Systems thread of the workshop at Thursday’s Child – an interfaith peace event in response to the 7/7 London bombings, initiated and organised by Vivienne Woolston. The session was attended by Hindu and Christian representatives. It explored shared values, joint action, areas of uniqueness, and reflective listening in silence. The Hindu and Christian representatives received uncannily similar “messages”.
The first local Community Workshop (or “Ideas Melting Pot”) following the Celebration event was held at the Holywell Community Centre in Watford. It principally stimulated ideas based on the themes identified at the pre-event workshop: Environment, Leisure, Prosperity, Safety, Transport and Youth. There were three interconnected threads: Arts, Practical and Belief Systems. People particularly appreciated the good planning, the creative brainstorming, the structured small-group discussions, the respect, the friendliness, the enthusiasm, and, of course, the music and food!
The young people at the workshop picked up on the work co-ordinated by Harry Hart of Global Eco (see below), as representing the most promising solution to many world problems which their generation and those to follow will bear the brunt of. The project was later to be named C-Green Solutions – Carbon Cycling Project.
On Bank Holiday Monday 28th May 2007, despite horizontal rain and a fallen tree inhibiting access to the venue, an estimated 2,500 people of diverse nationalities, ages, abilities, beliefs and cultures gathered at the Watford Colosseum for Celebration 2007, co-ordinated by Greg Peachey of the FREdome Visionary Trust. There was a dazzling array of performances, traditional costumes, ethnic foods and faith/culture sharing. All the communities represented bonded enthusiastically and had a brilliant time. The organisers, the volunteers behind the scenes and in fact the whole community really did more than was expected of them and pulled together, so that it all went off like a dream.
(Visit www.watfordcelebration.org for a description of the event, and to see the photos click here)
Invited by Sponsorship Co-ordinator Fitzroy Williams of Rhythm Masters Entertainments: Waterworks Productions became FREdome’s first Gold Sponsor. Their sponsorship includes the making of a DVD documentary, recording the Celebration event, preparations and follow-on community programme. Chalfont Art & Framing, based in Amersham, Bucks became FREdome’s first Silver Sponsor. They pledged funding towards the community programme, which will follow the May Celebration event at the Watford Colosseum. Two-thirds of this will go directly towards the projects identified and selected by the local community as a whole, and a third towards the local infrastructure required to implement those projects.
The first pre-event community was workshop held at the White House Hotel in Watford. The purpose was to kick off the process of discovering the community voice, with a view to identifying priority projects to be implemented in partnership with authorities and business. Twenty-two groups attended, including members of the public, community groups, businesses and public services: Afro Caribbean Community, Age Concern Hertfordshire, Avaline (publisher of the flea magazine), BNI (Herts & Beds Region), Coll Heath Computer Services, EPM (Every Person Matters – co-presenter), Europcar, Forever Living Products, Herts Fire & Rescue Service, Holistic HR, J. Watson Photography, La Bilbaina (Traditional Spanish Cuisine), Latter Day Saints, Neways, Pass With Parv, SchoolsPlus Extended Schools Consortium, SPOKES (Cycling in South West Hertfordshire), United Sang Soo Do School of Martial Art Discipline, Watford Interfaith Association, Watford Senior Citizens Forum, Youth representatives (aged 11-15). Delegates undertook to survey 10 Watford residents each. Further groups, such as the North Watford Scouts, will also help conduct this initial survey. These starter results will be presented at the May Multicultural Celebration event, to stimulate further interest, ideas and participation.
Business sponsorship presentations were held at a Watford & West Herts Chamber Breakfast meeting in Moor Park Golf Club, and at the Best Western White House Hotel and Park Inn Watford.
The first presentation to potential business sponsors was delivered at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Watford.
£10,000 was awarded to the FREdome Visionary Trust by the National Lottery, Awards for All programme, in support of the Multicultural Celebration event at the Watford Colosseum, and a follow-on community workshop/action programme, designed to be a force for good - identifying and backing the best ideas from the community, be they artistic, cultural, spiritual, social or entrepreneurial.
Greg Peachey, Chair of FREdome, was invited to speak after dinner at the Rotary of Amwell.
Greg Peachey, Chair of FREdome was invited to speak after dinner to the Lions in Hitchin.
Greg Peachey, Chair of FREdome, addressed a meeting of the University of the Third Age, Watford, and was invited to speak to a meeting of the Bedford Lions.
A public meeting was held at 2 pm on Saturday 17th June in the Multi-Racial Community Centre, 70 Durban Road West, WATFORD, Hertfordshire WD18 7DS to form the FREdome Visionary Trust as a community organisation, with a publicly approved constitution and democratically elected management committee.
May 2006 – Seed funding
All-day Community Cohesion event at 1000-capacity Watford Colosseum planned for 28th May 2007 Bank Holiday in partnership with Watford Interfaith Association, Women's Federation for World Peace - Bridge of Peace, Multi-Racial Community Centre and Herts County Council. Venue hire kindly sponsored by Elected Mayor Dorothy Thornhill's Watford Borough Council department. Event will involve the arts, education, commercial, social and faith communities.
First two FREdome-backed ideas
NonPaperSurvey.com survey launched to estimate the number of trees wasted in making unopened or scarcely-read weekend newspaper supplements. Idea submitted by Jehangir Sarosh, European President of World Conference of Religions for Peace. Initial results suggest that around four million trees go straight into the bin every week (even taking account of recycling).
Visit www.nonpapersurvey.com.
Global Eco: A well-researched (over 30 years by 20-30 including eco-scientists), ingenious yet common-sense grass-roots idea for resolving very pressing and topical issues. It proposes a radically new application of rapidly-multiplying microalgae - fed only on sun, dilute seawater and air - to reverse the greenhouse effect with stunning rapidity and provide vast renewable resources for the world's carbon-hungry needs. With sufficient take-up it could address a whole raft of global issues, including: climate change, the energy crisis, world poverty, water shortage, food shortage, pollution, territorial conflict, malnutrition and biodiversity threat. Idea conceived by Suffolk-based Harry Hart FBIS.
FREdome and Joseph Rowntree applicants form into seven task forces: Infrastructure, Funding (Charitable & Commercial), Team Building, Events, Public Relations, News Comment and Networking.
FREdome seminar at Conference in Ilfracombe.
FREdome teams up with grass-roots visionaries and social entrepreneurs who applied to the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. This will enable us to gain collective clout for funding and publicity.
FREdome Variety Conference at Hilton Hotel, Watford, incorporating features and performances relating to the Arts, Enterprise and Beliefs. Described by Watford Interfaith Association as a "hugely entertaining programme."
Partner School, St Michael’s Catholic High School, is awarded Humanities college status making FREdome a statutory project.
FREdome presentation and theme song at Family Matters Institute AGM in Bedford.
CBeebies presenter Sidney Sloane and BBC news presenter Alastair Yates add their public support to FREdome. (See Sponsors page.)
Award from Institute for Global Ethics - The panel congratulated FREdome on a "bold, wide-ranging and imaginative project."
FREdome was showcased at the Museum of London.
FREdome Musical Drama at the School to communicate the vision was attended by senior politicians and MPs from the major political parties, and representatives from arts, entertainment, social, and faith organisations. Forty grant-making trusts also invited.
St Michael's Gospel Choir sings FREdome theme song to 80 Watford Chamber of Commerce businesses at Shendish Manor Golf Club, Hemel Hempstead.
Awareness/fundraising coffee morning at Barclays Bank, Harpenden.
FREdome project presentation to Watford Chamber of Commerce businesses at School.
FREdome theme song written. Hope to release this as a single.
BP visits school to learn about their work in the community, most recently FREdome.
Students from every year group at St Michael’s wrote and signed letters to more than sixty celebrities in music, film and sport requesting support for our vision of making a better world for children to inherit by launching the ideas judged to be the most beneficial by the community as a whole.
May 2005
FREdome week at St Michael's.
Story so far of FREdome is presented to a local faith community through drama.
Children do 'leaflet drop' at Conference in Ilfracombe.
Local and national organisations agree to actively consider the top ideas to emerge from the project - these include the major political parties, Hertfordshire County Council, and key organisations in the world of the Arts & Business - e.g. British Phonographic Industry, Watford Museum, Ambassador Theatre Group, Amateur Photographer, FRA Literary, Film & Television Agency and intermediaries for National Business Angels. (See Sponsors page.)
R Stephen Rubin (Chairman) declares that: "Pentland Group is delighted to see the FREdome initiative of St Michael's Catholic High School, which it believes can only be for the betterment of mankind."
Initial website launched.
Contacted 200 corporations in the Institute of Business Ethics and in Business in the Community about the project.
Students from every year in St Michael’s wrote and signed letters to a range of celebrities in music, film and sport requesting support for our vision of making a better world for children to inherit by launching the ideas judged to be the most beneficial by the community as a whole.
FREdome became the principal community project of St Michael's Catholic High School in Watford, Herts.
Greg Peachey began a voluntary career break in order to launch FREdome - a movement to re-connect the positive will of the people to what happens in society. Many of the things we see on our screens everyday are not what the community want their children to inherit, because of a widespread disconnection between ideas and resources.
Experience suggests that, however bright, an idea from an ordinary community member will only be taken seriously, when there is a mandate from the People behind it.
As a grass-roots initiative in itself, FREdome will both serve to illustrate and need to overcome, the very hurdles it seeks to dismantle.
Showing how global sustainability is achievable providing confidence in the future economy and environment
CONTACT US
by using the e-mail facility on the right.
or at
info@fredome.org
