Low Carbon West Oxford Events and projects

A big thank you to everyone who particpated in the Bring and Take on Saturday, 28 March! This is for all of the volunteers who make it possible to run these events and the local residents who 'bring and take' on the day. We look forward to seeing you at the next one!

Last Friday, 27 March, Low Carbon West Oxford visited the Food Larder at the West Oxford Community Centre to help local residents get their indoor gardens started. We were thrilled to give away 50 free "Grow Your Own Basil" kits to the community!

These kits were a true team effort, made possible by generous donations of pots, bags, and seed envelopes from our wonderful volunteers. Each kit contained everything needed to get started: a pot, fresh compost, 10 seeds, and clear instructions to ensure a successful harvest.

Why Grow Basil?

Basil is one of the easiest and most rewarding herbs to grow. You don't even need a garden—it thrives perfectly on a sunny windowsill. Once your plants have grown, you can use the fresh leaves to:

•⁠  ⁠Make your own fresh pesto.

•⁠  ⁠Level up your home-made pizza or pasta.

•⁠  ⁠Add a fragrant garnish to summer salads.

For those looking for extra green-fingered advice, the kits also included a link to the RHS website which offers a wealth of professional tips on keeping your herbs healthy and productive.

We hope everyone who picked up a kit enjoys the taste of home-grown greens!

There has been excellent progress on the Cargo Bikes project in recent weeks. 

Two electric assisted cargo bikes, one with an open compartment, and one with a lid are saved for us to purchase in the next few weeks for the rental scheme. They are currently being checked and serviced. Other elements of the scheme are being worked on and we will publish times for trials, rental terms and volunteering opportunities as soon as we can. We look forward to hearing from people who are interested in using the bikes and helping with the rental process.

We’re looking forward to sharing more details very soon — watch this space!

LCWO still has a long-term aim to achieve a community-sourced heat system, which could help with an alternative to individual heat pumps.

As part of this we met with a representative form Venneit Close, a complex of flats to help consider if a link to a larger community scheme was viable, the pro and cons of a system supplying water individual households can extract heat from, or a hotter water system that needs smaller conversion units in each flat, and alternatives to these systems that would be viable on a long-term sustainable basis.

If you are interested in any aspect of Community Heating Schemes, please email us: info@lcwo.org.uk.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us for the soft launch of our Community Electric Cargo Bike Project during our Earth Day celebration morning! It was wonderful to see members of the community visiting our stalls, test-riding the electric cargo bike, and engaging with the project and our wider work.

If you’d like to get involved in an existing project or event, have an idea for something new, or know of a project or event that could benefit the West Oxford community, we’d love to hear from you.

We welcome your ideas and suggestions.

Email us: info@lcwo.org.uk.