Teesdale Conservation Volunteers

Teesdale Conservation Volunteers are a lively, not for profit environmentally friendly group who devote their time to conservation, co2 reduction and education. Their biggest challange is to\'green\' up Teesdale, one of the greatest carbon producing regions in England. The group\'s main claim to fame is Rotters Community Composting, volunteers and trainees collect green waste from households in Teesdale, compost into a quality product and deliver it back to their doors. In 2008 they will start collecting food waste. At present they are raising funds to build an eco centre on their site on the edge of Deepdale Woods in Barnard Castle, County Durham. This is desperately needed to provide volunteer, staff, visitor and training facilities. It will be an interactive demonstration of how a building can be almost totally self sustainable. The wooden cabin style eco centre will be constructed by the TCV team with the help of the GCSE Construction students from Teesdale School. It will have water harvesting, wind and solar power, wood pellet heating, composting toilets. Exhibition and demonstration areas will show how each system works and show how similar systems can be applied in visitors homes to save cash and the environment. There will be organic vegetable gardens that will supply the \'5-a-day Cafe\'. The group also organise a popular woodland and faery festival every year bringing together local artists, traditional wood crafts folk, musicians and visitors in a magical woodland setting.