Westmill Tour

Forest Community Energy Visits Westmill Community Owned Solar and Wind Farm In the last six months we have worked in partnership with the District Council Climate Team, the Centre for Sustainable Energy, and Forest of Dean Climate Action Partnership (FODCAP)  on the 'Future Energy Landscapes' project – an approach

Fun at the Fairs - Local Engagement

Wooolaston Carnival and Mitcheldean Festival We had a brilliant day at the Woolaston Carnival! It was full of fun activites, dog show, tug-of-war, stalls, tea & cake, motor parade and some fantastic live music! In one of our villages with no mains gas, and with a thriving community

Peoples Emergency Briefing film - Newnham

We helped support a screening last night at the Newnham Club. It was ultimately motivating in highlighting the urgency for more renewable energy in the Forest of Dean. There are more local screenings over the coming weeks. The film looks at what’s happening with climate and nature, and what

Empowering Our Councils

We ran a special evening event for our Town and Parish Councillors and Clerks in the Forest of Dean District to discover the benefits of  community-owned  energy, how to identify potential projects, and what the first steps are to start things moving. As local government reorganisation re-shapes the

Reporting on our first AGM

Another milestone achieved! We held our first AGM on Saturday and were delighted to welcome so many members, several of whom had not met each other before. As well as the official business of the meeting there were a wide range of useful conversations, including when we will be looking

Tidenham Parish Workshop

A huge vote of thanks to Amy and Emily from Centre for Sustainable Energy as the sun sets on the last of our three Future Energy Landscapes workshops in the Forest of Dean district. It was an interactive workshop for local people to explore community energy for the future in

New Date: Empowering Our Councils Event

This event has has been re-scheduled from 24th June 2026 because of extreme heat warnings. New date: Wednesday 15th July 7.00-8.30 at the Main Place, Coleford.  We are delighted to be running a special FREE evening event for our Town and Parish Councillors and Clerks in

At Much Markle

"Out of everything we are doing on Future Energy Landscapes, I think these are my favourite types of events. Getting the process out of a workshop setting and into the community. Talking to people about community energy. With cake." The last of the Dymock & Bromesberrow "Future

Octopus Energy Tech Summit 2026

"The top announcement in my book at yesterday's Octopus Energy Tech Summit: plug in home batteries! I want a pink one." Our chair, Helen, was lucky again to win a free ticket to the 2026 event in London: It was a very hot day at the

Our First AGM

Join us for our very first Annual General Meeting! We are looking forward to seeing everyone who can attend on Saturday 11th July 2026 10.30-12.00 at the Main Place, Coleford. We invite all our  members, supporters, and generally interested people, to come along; try out a thermal

People's Emergency Briefing

We will be supporting FODCAP who are running a screening of the People's Emergency Briefing film on Thursday 16th July, 18.30-21.00 at The Club in Newnham-on-Severn. Book your free place here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/events/landing/116747 The film features footage

Community Energy England's Summer Conference

The theme of the conference in Birmingham was “scaling community energy” and there was lots of inspiration in the room, from talks on local energy networks and shared ownership models, to open space sessions and a networking lunch. There was also an update from Great British Energy and South West

POSTPONED Event: Empowering Our Councils

This event has been re-scheduled because of the extreme heat warnings!  We are delighted to be running a special FREE evening event for our Town and Parish Councillors and Clerks in the Forest of Dean District to discover the benefits of  community-owned energy, how to identify potential projects,

Forest Showcase Spring Food Festival

We had a wonderful time, on a beautiful day, at the Forest Showcase Spring Food Festival as part of the "From the Ground Up" section! It was the first time we using our new Event Shelter and big outdoor banner at an event - and it all went very

Event: Visit to Westmill

Workshops have been run across the Forest of Dean District exploring what kind of community-owned renewable energy generation projects people might like to see in their local area in the future, and where. These have included the parishes of Westbury on Severn, Blaisdon, Dymock, and Bromesberrow. Our final workshop

The Shop at Bromsberrow

Lovely to visit The Shop At Bromsberrow (community owned and full of interesting things) for their coffee morning and talk to people about the potential for local community-owned renewable energy. We were collecting feedback on the Future Energy Landscapes workshop outputs that we helped run in Dymock and Bromesberrow.

Focus on: Lydney

One of the four prinicple towns in the Forest of Dean District, Lydney "the gateway to the Forest of Dean" is one of the many places where Forest Community Energy is active and pro-active. Situated between the River Severn and the forest, it has many lovely spaces

"Coleford Together"

We joined many local organisations and stall holders, alongside artworks and displays, at a two-day "sustainability" event at Coleford Baptist Church run by the Severn Wye Energy Agency. There were free activities, including ones especially for children. Other organisations attending included: The Forest Exchange - free household goods,

Get Grant Ready - Updates!

A huge 'thank you' to everyone who came to the second meeting of our Get Grant Ready Pilot project!  It was great to have so many people willing to share their knowledge and experiece, and to make positive steps towards helping 'Get Grant Ready'. We took

Grant Funding from Great British Energy!

We are pleased to announce that we, together with Gloucestershire Community Energy Coop, have been awarded funding to progress the opportunity for shared ownership of Lightwood Solar Farm. We will benefit from the Great British Energy Community Energy Fund via a grant to undertake a feasibility project progressing the potential

Have you spotted our banner?

Keep you eyes open for our outdoor banner as it moves around the Forest of Dean District. Our schedule is filling up - thank-you to all our hosts. The following locations have been booked-in: · April - Yorkley Community Centre · May - Mitcheldean Community Centre · June - Cinderford - The Triangle · July - Newent Community

April Meeting in Redmarley

Our April meeting was at a new venue for us, Redmarley Village Hall, on a lovely evening, after an afternoon of hail and thunder. It is a delightful hall with a beautiful window in the main space, and good facilities. We covered a lot of topics including updates on our

The Carnival of Transport

What a brilliant day at the Coleford Carnival of Transport! It is local outreach like this that really highlights very real concerns around energy. Connecting with like-minded people who support our aims is incredibly heartening too. The sun was shining and we had lots of people chatting all things

One year on...

On 7th April 2025 I stepped into the brand-new role of Chairperson of Forest Community Energy. I was joined by two co-secretaries, Nick and Andy, plus two core volunteers, Peter and Phil. We had a dozen occasional volunteers and, crucially, seven months of mentoring and support via the

A Day Out in Dymock

We had a fabulous day at Dymock Parish Hall, during the annual Daffodil Weekend event, following up on our recent Future Energy Landscapes workshop. We spoke with many lovely people (both local and from further afield), spreading the Community Energy message! We had the results from the workshop (maps with