Lesley Ford-Platt in her garden in Little Cornard.

LESLEY Ford-Platt was always an active “recycler” and energy saver in the years before such a lifestyle became widespread and, to some extent, fashionable.

Members of Sudbury Transition Group in Sudbury Town centre undertaking an apple pressing day.

“I was brought up to re-use things and switch lights off when they were not needed,” she said.

However, this 66-year-old mother and grandmother’s common sense approach to avoiding waste has now proved instrumental in the setting up of a new environmentally conscious group in her community.

She was inspired when she heard about “green” initiatives in other communities and decided to help launch a project closer to home.

Transition Sudbury and District is an attempt to encourage local people to work together for a sustainable future.

Lesley Ford-Platt in her garden in Little Cornard with her chicken Rosie

This means reducing demand for energy created by fossil fuels, minimising waste, recycling and building a stronger local economy which includes more consumption of locally produced food and goods.

The “transition” movement – ostensibly an attempt to get us away from the environmentally unsympathetic society we have become. – has spread to many towns and villages in the UK and there are already well over a dozen such groups in Suffolk and north Essex.

Lesley lives at Little Cornard with her husband, Tony Platt, 67, former chairman of the River Stour Trust.

The couple, who have been heavily involved in the trust’s work for more than 40 years, maintain two bins for collecting recyclable materials and grow as much of their own fruit and vegetables as they can.

Lesley freezes, bottles and makes jam from the garden produce while the couple’s chickens eat the green waste.

“We try to minimise car use and are careful about how many times to go into town,” Lesley said.

She and Tony are now awaiting delivery of 16 solar panels which are to be installed on the roof of their home.

“We’re doing it without any grant aid and we’ll probably never live long enough to get out money back but we think it’s the right thing to do,” Lesley said.

Electricity generated is expected to meet the energy demands of their home and surplus will be fed into the national grid.

The couple have also planted an orchard of 25 trees in the garden at their home.

Lesley, who even recycles postage stamps, has been chairman of the Sudbury Town Partnership for some years and it is through this organisation that the new transition group has been set up with the help of existing groups at Nayland and Lavenham.

“I kept hearing about initiatives in other areas and was really inspired. When we held our inaugural meeting I was absolutely amazed at how many people wanted to become involved,”

“It was one of the most exciting meetings I have been too – there was such enthusiasm. People who were previously strangers to each other are now working together and there is a great feeling of community.”

Initiatives which have already taken place, under the auspices of the Town Partnership until the creation of the transition group, include distribution of low-cost insulation materials and a swap shop.

For the latter, residents were able to bring along any unwanted items and leave these for others to take away, without any need for payment.

Furniture, rugs, clothing, books, kitchen equipment, china and children’s toys were accepted and items left were distributed to other local charities.

“The idea of the event was to avoid unwanted items being sent to landfill sites,” Lesley said.

There have been film shows, a visit to the recycling centre at Great Blakenham and to organic growers and green building projects. An eco-fair was held last year and, more recently, the transition group organised a highly successful apple-pressing day in the town centre.

“Part of what we’d like to see done is an annual harvest and use of unwanted fruit. There is so much fruit left on the trees to fall off and rot – it is a terrible waste,” Lesley said.

The idea is for the community to carry out the harvest and to distribute the fruit.

The Town Partnership is already helping the local economy by promoting a Sudbury & District reward card for those who shop locally.

The area’s green initiatives have been financially supported by the Suffolk Foundation, Suffolk-Creating the Greenest County, Transforming Suffolk and the Waitrose supermarket chain.

Next spring there is due to be another swap shop and a forum on climate change with the key speaker being local MP Tim Yeo who has served the Government in various environmental roles. Another, and bigger, eco-fair is also planned.

“We want to raise the profile so people start to think more about sustainability issues. There are a lot of people out there who want to say something and do something,” Lesley said.

People getting involved with the transition group are of all ages, from 20s upwards.

“One of the things we’re really keen to do is set up a local food hub – a distribution centre for locally produced food. We also want to get local schools involved”

The new group is also keen to promote solar power to help reduce carbon emissions.

“With huge increases in the price of gas, electricity and oil, the installation of solar panels will help reduce these costs for homes, offices and industrial buildings. A scheme whereby installation costs can be greatly reduced by buying in bulk through the same suppliers is being negotiated.

It is also possible for householders and business owners to lease their rooftops for 25 years at no capital outlay at all, but still benefit from reduced energy costs. There might also be an opportunity for local residents to invest in a green energy company, similar to that at Nayland.