The Royal Society for the Promotion of Arts, Manufacturing and Commerce – the RSA – has 30,000 people in Fellowship, all of them elected because they have distinguished themselves in some field of activity. Some 1100 live in the East Midlands and around 50 live or work within striking distance of Hill Holt Wood.
For over 250 years RSA has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress in the UK. The Societies approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.
At one time the RSA – together with O2 and Starbucks – sponsored the ‘Coffee House Challenge’, meetings in Starbucks at which Fellows could discuss issues of importance to them. We started one in Newark when Starbucks opened there, in 2007. We met near closing-time on early closing day, namely 4pm on Thursdays. Not everyone was available then, but from among those who were our core group formed.
When the Coffee-House Challenge came to an end, we moved first to Newark Town Hall and finally to Hill Holt Wood. There is a good fit with Hill Holt Wood’s objectives as it is also a force for social progress in the Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire communities, as well as making an increasing impact at national level.
The RSA Coffee-House Group has tried to make itself useful in the community including:
- Clean Streets – we habitually pick up items of litter as we approach a nearby bin, and drop it in as publicly as possible. This sometimes earns a “oooooh!” from nearby yoof, but so much the better. This campaign gave leadership to a number of local Council spin-offs.
- Pavements for Pedestrians – we politely ask cyclists on non-cycle pavements to dismount or use the road. This sometimes earns a mouthful of limited vocabulary, but after a time people leave the pavement as they see you looming up….
- Low Carbon Living – we have explored ways to reduce our carbon footprints, making modifications to our homes according to circumstance. We have conferred with many local builders and installers, and used some of them. We are monitoring the benefits of our labours here. We have exhibited at the Hill Holt Wood stand at the Country Landowners Association Game Fair, and Lincoln County Show. We have produced an informative leaflet, most of which is now posted here.
- Eco-Tours – we organised much-praised tours in April and September 2010 covering retrofit and new-build low energy schemes in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
- Hill Holt Wood “Forum 22″ – with the amazing round hall in the Community Conference Centre, it would be rude not to hold round table meetings over dinner, for discussion of important local topics. We invite special guests involved in the topic, and a corresponding number of willing Fellows, to make up 22 participants. The discussion is under Chatham House rules and private. We hope to become one of the favoured forums for sensitive discussions affecting life in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamsire.
If any of this activity appeals to you, then we may be your sort of people. Contact Peter Mansfield – mansfield.pj@gmail.com – or Ted Waters – ted_waters@csi.com – for more information. You would be very welcome at our regular meetings – just turn up – or a Forum 22 Dinner – ask, and we will gladly invite you.