Dear Team,

Thank you very much for an inspiring Introductory Tour yesterday.

Special thanks to Bill for patiently explaining all the 'ins and outs' on
such a blustery afternoon and for kindly showing us round his own very
impressive house.   It was most useful and heartening to hear of failures as
well as successes and this approach may well save much uneccessary time and
money!

I and my three friends learned a great deal and we shall remember it always.
You are patently achieving your aim "to act as a catalyst for change" and we
wish you even greater success in the future.

Thanks again ............... Ros Kent

Hi Simon and Liz

Thank you very much for a really useful day. We have already had lots of theoretical information and advice as we seek to progress our project but at Hockerton we got exactly what we wanted - warts and all from somebody who has actually done it.

Thanks again.

Best wishes

John

Gifted and Talented  School Visit feedback

 

Hi Visited Hockerton eco housing project. Hugely relieved to find they are ordinary people with jobs, cars, dogs, tellys etc. No hint of political axe-grinding or religion, just practical solutions and very nice houses.

These are the things you can't get from facts and figures on the website. I have a bit of land with a north-facing slope but won't need to deal with some problems you had (not close to a road for example) so your 'have a go' approach (especially with the retrofitting) is encouraging.

thanks, well worth it , my husband no longer thinks I'm insane
Fiona

Hi guys,
I'd just like to thank you personally for inviting us in your homes and
inspiring the future generations with you amazing work. It was such a
productive experience as we got to see everything weve been taught in our
module in real life, as I personally thought it was all just theory but to
see it up and running and so successful also gave me great joy. Your passion
for the environment really inspired me to build like this in the future
throughout my career. I enjoyed the presentation which was very informative.
I would have loved to purchase some booklets for myself but i didn't have
any money on me at the time. The tour inside the house was a real eye opener
as I had so many preconceptions. I am looking for booking to bring my family
to visit the houses and maybe have a simple tour which im sure they'd enjoy
but maybe when the weather is a bit better. Once again thank you so much for
everything and I wish you more success in the future to yourself and the
other families. Mirna.x

Dear Simon,

Apologies for not having responded earlier but we went on holiday the day after workshop.

Many thanks for the downloads, made reporting back to the Bonsall Energy

Group a far easier task.

The day was a real eye opener in what is involved in setting up such a project

and talking to people who have actually done it and are able to report on all the potential pit

falls that probably we could not have envisaged. I found it an excellent presentation and

would like to thank you all.

I have just reported back to the memebers of BEG and we are now moving forward to the next step -

"Engaging the Community".

Kindest regards

Peter Fox

(BEG)

Dear Simon

Thank you so much for sending through all the slides from the presentations you and Liz gave us on Friday. It’s really helpful to have these to go back to when I need to check things in the future, and they will back up the various notes I scribbled for myself as we went through the day.

First I want to thank you both for an excellent day in all respects. As I said as we stood under the (remarkably quiet) wind turbine at the end of the day I found it a wonderful combination of inspiration and down-to-earth practicality. The power of a story, told personally, is always greater for me than just lots of statistics and arguments – though of course they play their vital part in the story. As someone right at the start of this process of looking at community owned renewable energy it was pitched well, and I could more or less make sense of the technical detail. The venue was great, the food was lovely and how good to have ‘proper’ coffee too! Being able to walk round the site, and then up to the big turbine, earthed it all (literally!) – and gave us all a helpful break from sitting and listening and talking. The only slight suggestion I have is for Liz to make her presentation a bit more lively and keep it moving along – but the info she provided was excellent.

Sorry not to fit this in to your points below but I hope this is helpful to you even so.

With best wishes for the future, and many thanks again

Charles Worth

Newport 21

Hello Simon

Ages ago now I visited Hockerton.

I am in the Oil Industry and a pilot neither, I admit, the greenest of occupations.

My Wife and I faced a major renovation and it seemed sensible to come to listen and learn.

What did I learn?

-A Hockerton house is not a 'magic' house.

-Don't stick a B&Q windmill on top of your house

-It is highly unlikely many of us could achieve what Hockerton has, but, we can all do something.

-the first step is to insulate, don't waste energy.

-use 'airlocks'

What do I know?

-conventional energy cost are going to rise.

-If I had the last barrel of crude oil in the world , I would not just burn it.

-If we don't do something about carbon, its going to get hot and whilst it probably won't affect conceited (very lucky) little me it is going to hurt those most in need. Millions of them.

-There are positive things we can do and very simple behaviours we can adopt that help; just that little bit.

So what did we do?

-Insulate! Get the house up to modern standards and prevent the energy haemorrhage.

-Build 'airlocks' and adopt the rule of Arctic living; we don't open one airlock door until we have closed the other.

-Underfloor heat. Small delta T over a very large area is very efficient. Reduce to a minimum heating in areas not in use.

-Build a conservatory to capture the heat from the sun. Isolate it in Winter or when there is no sun.

-Install GSHP: We yet to have long term use stats but advertised efficiency of 1:4 seems common sense.

-install a modern woodburner and have it 'shared' between two rooms by a little clever design. How can something so simple be so efficient?

-configure the kitchen to make the most of recyling so that it overcomes lazy human nature

-install a quooker; ie boil exactly what you use. No waste. (again...not sure of the stats over the long term but we will see)

-compost, harvest rainwater , grow our own and keep chickens. In terms of cost time and effort , no it is not effective but, it is a pleasure, tastes great (eggs and food, not the compost) and helps just that little bit.

-develop a 'stingey' attitude and aim to use and re-use everything. After a short while it becomes a habit.

In conclusion:

A visit to Hockerton is inspirational and motivational. We are doing a little bit as a result.

Kevin Siggery

Morning

I am writing to say thankyou for organising the tour of Hockerton for us;

The day was felt by everyone to be very informative and enjoyable.

Regards

Susan Norman

Support Officer

Community & Democratic Services

West Lindsey District Council

Guildhalll

Marshalls Yard

Gainsborough DN21 2NA

 

"Many thanks for another superb visit. It gives the students a real insight
into the options for more sustainable living and really gives them something
to think about. What was really pleasing was that some of our less
enthusiastic students seemed genuinely interested and engaged."

John Kingdom-Queen Elizabeth High School for Girls-November 2011