Sustainability
Living and working in such a beautiful part of the world is our daily reminder that we have a responsibility to protect the nature that surrounds us. The three counties we cover – Cumbria, County Durham and Northumberland – are home to three Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and three National Parks.
At Highlights we are always working very hard to improve our sustainability, whether this is reducing the amount we print, helping our venues find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, or the smaller, simpler things such as car-sharing amongst the staff and using a local milk vending machine for our morning coffees. You can read more about our sustainable journey below.
Our Venues: Case Studies
Many of our village halls and community spaces are doing great work in improving their green credentials. Heat pumps, solar panels, energy efficient windows and new recycling facilities are just some of the considerable tasks being undertaken by volunteers and fund raising committees across the region.
Helsington & Brigsteer
Helsington & Brigsteer Village Hall have been raising funds for solar panels. In June they held an open garden event which raised over £4k, successfully helping them to reach their goal of £21k! Work has begun on the roof and the solar panels will soon be generating power for the hall. Congratulations to promoter Melanie and the whole team!
Whittingham Memorial Institute
Committee members at Whittingham Memorial Institute have recently had the good news that their planning application for 28 Solar roof panels has been accepted after months of negotiations. They also hope to insulate the main hall & replace the existing strip lights with LED ones, helping to reduce running costs and increase their sustainability for the future. Well done to Maureen and all the other committee members!
Ellingham Village Hall
Gillian and her team have every right to be proud of Ellingham Village Hall, this building was designed and built with low environmental impact in mind. The hall is heated by air source heat pump and has solar panels fitted. Recycling facilities are on site and in support of the neighbourhood plan, visitors are encouraged to cycle or walk to the hall where possible.
If you’d like to celebrate the environmental credentials of your village hall, please do get in touch by emailing us [email protected], and we would be delighted to share your green-ness with the world!
Programming
Marketing and Print
All of our marketing materials – brochures, posters, flyers, postcards – are printed and supplied by two local, sustainable businesses. Both Cerberus Printing in Kirkby Stephen, and HH Reeds in Penrith, are members of the Woodland Trust Carbon Capture scheme. This means carbon from all the paper we use is offset by planting new woodland in the UK.
www.cerberusprinting.co.uk/sustainablity
www.hhreeds.co.uk/sustainability
Investors in the Environment
We are delighted to announce that we achieved the Bronze Award with Investors in the Environment (IiE) in October 2023, by demonstrating a commitment to reducing our environmental impact and to the continual improvement of our sustainability performance.