Dymock & Bromesberrow Workshop

We helped to promote and run a 'Future Energy Landscapes' workshop at Dymock Parish Hall. It was an excellent event with a lot of local knowledge in the room. We had a useful discussion, debated many questions, and shared the idea of Community Energy with everyone there. It

Up The Energy

Community Energy England took the Up The Energy campaign to Westminster this week, delivering an open letter to the Government calling for urgent action to unlock the full potential of community energy.  The letter has been signed by 250 organisations nationally (including us) working across climate action, poverty reduction, community

Get Grant Ready - Pilot

We are being approached by people who are interested in adding solar to their community/commercial buildings.  Five have completed our initial roof data collection form, and three came together to explore options, learn more, and make a plan for the next stage: * To form a self-supporting local group * To

'The Tech We Use' Report

As a new group, back in April 2025, we needed to decide how we wanted to set-up our IT systems, email, website, newsletter, data, password storage, payment systems, etc. It has been an interesting process and, of course, it is ongoing as new requirements come up. We wanted to share

February 2026 Newsletter

It has been a short but very busy month! A few highlights: The government announces £1billion for Community Energy; let's get ready to benefit from this new funding here in the Forest. We took part in an event for Gloucestershire Parish & Town Councils. Let your local councillors

Historic Government Investment in Community Energy

The "Local-Power Plan" launch A GB Energy and DESNZ Announcement This week, there was a big fanfare announcing the Local Power Plan, an exciting raft of support and reforms, to support the rapid acceleration of Community Energy in the UK. The document, and the promises it contains, have

For our Parish & Town Councils

It was great to be invited by GAPTC (the Gloucestershire Association of Parish and Town Councils) to collaborate with other Community Energy groups in Gloucestershire and to participate in an online workshop for Parish and Town councils. Hopefully, the start of many conversations!  The presentation includes examples of Community Energy

Supporting our local cafes..

We often have our smaller face-to-face meetings in local cafes, over coffee (and sometimes cake!). Recently, we have been to Taurus Crafts and Hips Social in Lydney, the Ark Cafe in Newent, the Art of Coffee and Scoffs Coffee House in Coleford. It's lovely to support local small

Free coasters for local venues

We have been taking our lovely coasters to several local cafes and pubs in the Forest of Dean District. If your local venue would like some do get in touch, and we can arrange to drop some round. Our coasters were printed by Mosaic Board Print and designed by local

Using Smart Tech at Home

We had such a great response from people at our Drop-In Afternoon to these clever devices that we decided to feature them in a special video. In the video Solly from Forest Community Energy demonstrates examples of smart tech to Felicity, a local resident, and explains how they can be

Nature and Climate Strategy Workshop

It was a busy and productive workshop run by the Forest of Dean District Council and FoDCAP on developing the council's new "Nature and Climate Strategy" plus considering themes of Climate Change Adaptation, the application for UNESCO Biosphere status, Community and Knowledge, and Skills and Experience.

On BBC Gloucestershire news!

What a great start to 2026. On 4th January we were featured on the local news segment during the Caroline Martin Show, BBC Radio Gloucestershire (with Kate Clarke sitting in). Newsreader Michael Collie introduces Forest Community Energy and features short segments from a telephone interview by Daisy Godwin with our

Looking forward to the New Year

As the sun sets for the final time in 2025, in the beautiful Forest of Dean, we can look back at a year full of achievements. Our group is going from strength to strength, all based on the time and talents of a wonderful group of local people. Over the

Season's Greetings!

We wish all our members, volunteers, supporters, and advisors a very Happy Christmas! It has been a fantastic year for Forest Community Energy. We are grateful for all the work, encouragement, and support we have had over these last twelve months. Here are a few of the highlights: Becoming a

Our new professional advisor

We are delighted to share that, following the completion of the AURORA Project, Emma-Jayne Williams is continuing to work at Forest of Dean District Council in the Climate Team, taking on a new role as "Energy and Climate Engagement Officer". Emma-Jayne will be continuing to provide guidance, support

Important reminder

From January 2026 our monthly newsletter will only be sent from our new newsletter provider, Ghost. The old AURORA newsletter based on Mailchimp will be retired. If you have not yet signed up to receive regular news, updates, and event invitations, you can do that here. Here's a

Helping to create a 'Theory of Change'

Forest Community Energy recently had a great time at the Forest of Dean Climate Action Partnership (FODCAP)’s recent Theory of Change Workshop at the wonderful Dean Heritage Centre — a full day of ideas, discussions, and planning for the future, with representatives from Forest Voluntary Action Forum (FVAF), Forest of

An Excellent Event

Our drop-in afternoon at the Main Place was buzzing! There was real community feeling as people mingled, checked out our smart-home tech displays, discussed solar diverters with Gwent Energy CIC, found out about energy-saving measures and grants with Severn Wye and Evolve Home Energy Solutions, tried out thermal imaging cameras

Lydney Rugby Club event

We went to a lively event at Lydney Rugby Club where many of the sports clubs from the Forest gathered together. There was a great discussion about the challenges sports clubs face, including rising energy costs and extreme weather conditions. We also heard from Dursley Rugby Football Club who told

Rural Climathon Toolkit launch

We were invited by the Countryside and Community Research Institute (CCRI) to present an overview of FCE at the launch event for the Rural Climathon toolkit (the culmination of 3 years’ work adapting and refining Climate KIC's Climathon method for rural communities). The toolkit is a free, practical

Celebrating the end of AURORA

We came together to celebrate the AURORA project and to express our thanks to Emma-Jayne, Amy and (in absentia) Megan, for all their work and support for Forest Community Energy over the past three years. Ending on 30th November 2025, AURORA was an EU Horizon 2020 funded project delivered by

Membership launch day!

We are delighted to launch our membership opportunity! Are you interested in getting involved? You can sign up to become a member for just £1. We are owned and governed by our members, which means everyone has a voice. Decisions are made collectively, and profits will be reinvested into local

Welcome to our new website!

Grab a cuppa and take a look around. ... * Have a look at our video * Get to know us a little * Learn about our Sling Community Hub project * Find out about Membership - a bargain at just £1! * Read about community ownership of a new solar farm * Discover why we are

It's all about the draughts...

Thank you Centre for Sustainable Energy for an insightful and engaging training session yesterday - "Understanding Retrofit". It was: -    well structured and covered the topic to a sufficiently detailed level...but not too detailed for the audience. -    interesting - many attending knew of some elements of

Lightwood Solar Farm

In May 2025 six FCE members attended the public consultation at Awre Parish Hall and met the Eden Renewables team.  It was a great opportunity to see the plans in detail and to ask questions about the proposed Lightwood Solar Farm.  We were very impressed by the expertise and attention