Publicity in Penrith and Eden District
Penrith and Eden District Freegle received two rounds of funding from the Cumbria County Council Community Waste Prevention Fund - thanks very much!
Funding 2017-2018
In November 2017, Penrith and Eden District Freegle received a year's funding from the Cumbria County Council Community Waste Prevention Fund - more details - thanks very much - supplemented with a little funding from Freegle itself. The project had three elements, all aimed at promoting the local Freegle group and keeping items out of the waste stream:
- Run four Give and Take events across Eden District.
- Produce Freegle publicity materials.
- Produce a How-to-Freegle guide on paper and video.
Events
Kirkby Stephen Give and Take
Kirkby Stephen Community Arts hosted a Freegle Give and Take on 25 November 2017 at Kirkby Stephen Sports and Social Club. Over 75 people of all ages attended, and many items changed hands to be used again. Elaine demonstrated how to make Scandinavian paper chains, and kids' activities ran in a safe corner of the room. A welcome cuppa and mince pies were available. Thanks to the seven helpers who made it happen.
Lessons learned:
- The venue was good, but we should have cleared more space and set up earlier.
- We forgot to put out a prominent donations bucket.
- Start a little earlier so leftovers can get to a charity shop in good time.
Funding 2016-2017
Penrith and Eden District Freegle received funding in May 2016 for a year from the Cumbria County Council Community Waste Prevention Fund - more details - supplemented with a little funding from Freegle itself. The project planned to:
- Run four Give and Take events across Eden District.
- Produce a fortnightly blog.
- Produce a list of alternatives to Freegle in Eden District.
- Produce a guide/short report for other Freegle groups on the success of these publicity efforts.
End of year summary
The year's activities maintained and raised Freegle's profile in Eden District. Total attendance at the Give and Take events was estimated at 511, exceeding the target of 200 visitors across all age ranges. The number of messages increased to 5,859 from 5,587 over the same period the previous year, membership rose to 5,279 freeglers, and around 4 tonnes a month were typically kept from going to waste. Latest figures at the time indicated 85% of offers were taken and 56% of requests were received. Over the year, the blog site had 16,820 page views from 4,449 users.
The Give and Take events were well attended, with calls for more at each location used. Publicity pieces ran in the free magazine Penrith Today every month during the year. Blog pieces were written throughout the year, including a summary of ten years of Freegle locally, with each post publicised on Twitter (now X) and Facebook. A list of reuse alternatives was produced and updated based on user feedback.
Give and Take events subsequently started in other parts of Cumbria, following the example set by Penrith and Eden District Freegle. Kendal Freegle obtained CWPF funding to run more events, and Cumbria County Council's waste prevention team ran Give and Take and swap events across the county.
Lessons learned:
- Linking in with other community groups can help raise the profile of events.
- Your local council waste prevention team may be happy to help at the event and publicise it.
- Publicity for the event is as important for spreading the word about Freegle as the event itself.
- It's important to have charity shop recipients lined up for any leftover items from Give and Take events.
- At a stall, having some items to give away helps.
- Being able to demonstrate upcycled items helps.
More lessons learned below.
In addition to the project work, over the course of the year Freegle attended Penrith Show with PACT and CCC, attended a Fun, Hope and Community event in Penrith, and ran another Give and Take at Shap with 121 attendees.
Blog entries, articles and press releases
Local moderator Chris wrote a blog with posts at least every fortnight, usually more often.
Chris also submitted a piece every month to the free magazine Penrith Today, delivered to 13,500 addresses in Penrith and many nearby areas (though not the whole of Eden District). There was only room for 200 words and possibly one photo, so pieces were kept quite short. The lead time was long, so copy was needed about a month before the magazine was delivered.
Occasional press releases were sent to the local weekly newspaper, the Cumberland and Westmorland Herald, and to various parish magazines, for example to publicise Give and Take events or stall appearances. Parish magazines usually only appear every couple of months, so publicity needs to go out in good time.
The current active posts tool (see below) was used to give people a taster list of the sort of items available or wanted.
Possible topics for a blog:
- Stories of recent handovers, ideally with a photo.
- OFFER or WANTED of the week.
- Profile of a Freegler.
- Profile of a moderator.
- What a moderator does.
- A list of online resources for those interested in reuse, upcycling and so on.
- Jargon buster - what is the circular economy?
- A feature on items you've had for a long time, or fixed up.
Local group website
The website www.penrithedenfreegle.org.uk was revamped for Penrith and Eden District Freegle, with blog entries and a few information pages. The site used Drupal 8, though another, easier blogging system could be used instead.
- Site user logins could only be created by the site admin.
- More than one user could write a blog.
- Blog posts were shared by hand onto the group's Twitter and Facebook pages.
- Comments on blog posts were handled using Disqus.
- A blog feed was available at http://www.penrithedenfreegle.org.uk/rss.xml
- MailChimp was used to send out blog posts by email, which anyone could sign up to - MailChimp checked the RSS feed and emailed new posts once a day.
- Google Analytics was used to track site usage.
- A site map was set up for use with Google Webmaster Tools and Bing Webmaster Tools.
Note that accounts needed to be set up at Twitter, Facebook, Disqus, MailChimp, Google Analytics and so on.
Events (full list)
Planned as part of this project:
- Alston Gala stall and Give and Take - Saturday 25 June 2016.
- Shap Give and Take - Saturday 1 October 2016.
- Kirkby Stephen Give and Take - Saturday 26 November 2016.
- Penrith Give and Take and Seedy Saturday - Saturday 25 March 2017.
Where possible, each event included an element of upcycling or similar, to demonstrate ways of keeping items in use.
Other events:
- Penrith Show on the PACT stall, with Cumbria County Council showing Freegle, reuse and digesters - Saturday 23 July 2016.
- Freegle volunteer Elaine attended the Fun, Hope and Community event at the Old Fire Station in Penrith on 2 October 2016.
- Shap Give and Take - Saturday 4 March 2017 - 121 people attended, of all ages.
Alston Gala
Approximately 100 people dropped by the stall:
- 0-4: 5 (mainly balloons)
- 5-11: 6 (watching baubles and asking about Freegle)
- 12-19: 12 (as 5-11)
- 20-55: 46 (younger families watching baubles and freegling; older visitors mostly just freegling)
- 55+: 31 (mainly freegling, but some - grandparents? - interested in the baubles)
Lessons learned:
- Very useful to have some general bric-a-brac freebies to give away to illustrate the concept, even without a full give and take.
- Nice to have balloons, baubles, upcycled bags and other freebies to attract kids and families.
- One volunteer noted: "I did notice the older children at the table were often very confused by the concept - 'Can I really take this? How much is this one? Can I have these too?' were frequent questions that I had to explain, and I gave them papers to give to their parents!"
Shap Give and Take
Approximately 115 people dropped in:
- 0-4: 3
- 5-11: 12
- 12-19: 5
- 20-55: 50
- 55+: 45
Around 400 items were handed on, including two bicycles, begonias, electric heaters, a step ladder, lamps, trampolines, pots and pans, an electric planer, runner beans, shoes, sherry glasses, many books, magazines and clothes, and a pram.
Feedback from the hosts, The Old Courthouse: "I thought it went incredibly well - the best one so far. Start thinking of a date next spring for another."
Kirkby Stephen Give and Take (attendance)
Approximately 120 people came:
- 0-4: 4
- 5-11: 12
- 12-19: 12
- 20-55: 72
- 55+: 20
Elaine showed how to make home-made Christmas decorations. A Brough charity took any leftover items, so every item donated was put to use. Raffle tickets were sold in aid of Eden Hospice at Home.
Penrith Give and Take and PACT Seedy Saturday
Approximately 175 people dropped by the stall:
- 0-4: 10
- 5-11: 15
- 12-19: 11
- 20-55: 65
- 55+: 75
The Freegle Give and Take ran alongside PACT Seedy Saturday, where people swapped seeds, plants and tools. A veg bag was raffled for PACT, those leaving their names for the CAfS mailing list had a chance to win an energy monitor, residents could buy a cheap composter or food waste digester, and Hospice at Home raised funds with a quilt raffle. Leftover items went to Something in Mind in Shap and the Changing Rooms charity shop in Brough.
Lessons learned:
- A Facebook Live broadcast early on helps publicise the event and serves as a record for the future.
- Like most events, it was busiest at the start, with many things coming and going before the official start time.
- Like all events, it's crucial to have somewhere to take leftover items, so the venue can be cleared afterwards.
- At this venue, traffic was a problem - there was plenty of parking, but people parked on yellow lines, so we needed to direct people to the available car parks.
- We had donation pots for Freegle and PACT, but most money was raised at the cafe counter, which had tea, coffee and nice cakes.
Local reuse outlets list
As part of this project, a list of alternative reuse options in Eden District is available here: https://www.penrithedenfreegle.org.uk/reuse
Report on activities
This wiki page is the main report on the outputs and outcomes of this project.
Current active posts tool
This tool is no longer available.
Application process
Having seen that the Community Waste Prevention Fund was available, the group looked at how it fitted with what they wanted to do locally, and put together a project proposal. The application process involved filling in a form, a breakdown of costs, two quotes for the work, and various documents: a bank statement, annual report and accounts, equal opportunities statement and constitution - a child protection and vulnerable adults policy wasn't needed. Chris put together the application, which was digitally signed by the Freegle chair and secretary and submitted by local moderator Elaine. The application was checked by county council officers, then put to the relevant county council committee, who agreed it; the funds were released a month or so later. The Freegle Ltd board approved its contribution to the project, including some funds from a restricted donation towards the third project element.
