Rushbury Village Hall benefits from community energy fund

Rushbury Village Hall has been transformed by funding and support from Shropshire and Telford Community Energy (STCE).

STCE was the lead funder for Rushbury’s newly switched on 20kW rooftop PV system.  £6,000 was awarded from STCE’s Twemlows solar farm Community Benefit Fund.  This follows STCE fully funding new windows and doors in 2023 and advice on their heat pumps installed early this year.

Rushbury village hall committee’s enthusiasm for its energy saving programme was reinforced by their visit and lunch at the iconic Little Wenlock village hall. There they saw heat pumps and solar PV in a real-life situation. This complemented the desktop energy advice and funding they received through the Marches Energy Grant.

STCE also supported Little Wenlock village hall with £1,000 as it recently went completely carbon free, replacing its gas cooker with a new commercial grade electric induction cooker.

Such grants are amongst the latest from STCE’s community benefit funds, from income generated by its Twemlows solar farm.  

Grace Sandels, Rushbury VH committee member, said:

"We have made huge progress on our energy efficiency and carbon reduction with the support from STCE and the Marches Energy Grant.  Their funding and advice, and learning from other village halls, is a real example of the benefits of community energy in action."

Howard Betts, Little Wenlock Village Hall, said:

“STCE has been very supportive of our village hall’s progress to zero carbon emissions.  We have now installed our induction cooker and used it for the August Lunch Club - our first truly "Zero Carbon" lunch!”

STCE held a public share offer to take community ownership of the fully operational 10MW solar farm near Whitchurch.  This was successfully completed in December with the solar farm having the capacity to power some 3,400 homes.   Surplus funds from selling solar power to the grid contributes to the community benefit fund for supporting sustainability and biodiversity projects across all of wider Shropshire.

Previous projects supported include rooftop solar at the Festival Drayton Centre and loft space insulation for Longnor Village Hall.

Community ownership of renewable energy brings real benefits for the Shropshire community and environment.