What's in this edition?

• Benn's brief brush with the Wirral project

• Commnity RePaint reaches the English Riviera

• Caption competition: B&Q vouchers to be won

• Our new feature: Paint a picture

Editor's note

Hello and welcome to the October edition of Community News which brings you news and stories from the Community RePaint network. It’s been a busy couple of months both at head office and across the network. Our project on the Wirral had a fleeting visit from Hilary Benn, Environment Minister; we’ve got a new project in Torbay and were running a caption competition for existing and developing Community RePaint projects to win £200 worth of B&Q vouchers.

You'll also notice towards the end of the e-zine a couple of new features including ‘Paint a picture’ which will show the creative uses of paint that is collected by our projects. If you would like to see your photo in the Community News e-zine then please email us 

Vicky Wren, Community RePaint Development Worker

Benn's brief brush with the Wirral project

Hilary Benn, Environment Minister, made a brief visit to Community RePaint Wirral  in September whilst on a tour round the Merseyside Energy Efficiency Advice Centre (which is just around the corner).

Mr Benn was very impressed with the project and was particularly interested in where the paint comes from. He was also impressed with the way the container was laid out with particular types and colours all being displayed together.

Community RePaint reaches the English Riviera

Torbay is the latest place to set up a Community RePaint project and is being run by Anode a community interest company seeking to address the individual and corporate needs of social concern within the local community. 

They’ve got off to a great start by collecting around 700 litres of paint from Brewers, Johnstone’s Leyland and Crown Paints. However most of this has already been used on two fantastic redecoration projects at Torbay Opportunities Group (a pre-school for disabled children) and STEPS Charity, who make electronic switches for disabled children’s toys. The work was carried out by an amazing 263 volunteers through Anode’s ‘SmileMaker’ which is a unique service that facilitates community makeovers.

Nigel Williams Company Director said: “Anode is proud to be part of the Community RePaint network. The willingness of local retailers and individuals to address community need and social deprivation is incredible! Through the Community RePaint project we are thrust into the forefront of community care by giving practical help whilst saving valuable resources.”

If you're a community group in Torbay and need paint for a redecoration project or alternatively a local retailer or business that has surplus unwanted paint to donate then please contact Nigel Williams on 07732 933 450 or nigwill@anode-online.com

Caption competition: B&Q vouchers to be won

There’s £200 worth of B&Q vouchers up for grabs for existing and developing Community RePaint projects. For a chance to win all you need to do is fill in our caption competition and email it to us before Friday 24th October (everyone who is eligble to enter the competition will be emailed separately with a larger version the photo).

The funniest and most relevant caption to the Community RePaint programme will win the vouchers.

We would like to thank Community RePaint Morecambe, Lancaster and District (run by Furniture Matters) for allowing us to use their photo and B&Q for donating the vouchers.

Paint a picture: pushing boundaries

This edition's picture comes from Leon Sparks, an artist from the West Midlands area who likes to push boundaries with various art forms. 

Leon loves to use household paint in his artwork, such as emulsions and glosses. With a passion for the environment it made sense for him to use paint that has been rescued from landfill by local arts facility, SCARF Enterprises Ltd who run Community RePaint Black Country (based in Wolverhampton).

With permission from Birmingham City Council, one of Leon’s most recent projects involved painting a kick wall in a local park. His use of block colour and irregular shapes makes the artwork stand out and brighten up local community spaces. Leon said: "It’s great to be able to use materials that have been saved from landfill and taking the environment into consideration is an important part of my work. I had a lot of fun carrying out this project and gained a lot of respect from the locals, young and old."

We look forward to seeing more of Leon’s work and hope he’ll continue to use Community RePaint where he can. To find out more visit his website at: http://ergmode.carbonmade.com

And finally…the man who never takes out the trash

David Chameides is not your average American. For one thing, the TV cameraman owns two Emmy awards, how many do you have? But more importantly, while the average American throws out around 1,700lbs of trash annually, for the past year Chameides has thrown out absolutely nothing. 

A deep green by nature, he also runs a website called Sustainable Dave. Beginning in December Chameides decides he would keep all the garbage he created, at home and on the road, in his house. "We have the concept of throwing something away, but in reality, we're just tossing it over our shoulder and forgetting about it," says Chameides. "It wouldn't be so funny if it was really just in your backyard."

Story taken from ‘www.time.com'