Greater Manchester Community Renewables (GMCR) has awarded a grant of £1,000 to Fiddlers Lane Primary School in Irlam. The school was one of the first to benefit from the community-owned solar panels installed on their roof by GMCR.
The cheque was handed over to Sarah Cooper, Head Teacher, by Kate Eldridge, Director GMCR, during school assembly on 16th March in the presence of pupils and teachers, Councillor Tracy Kelly and GMCR volunteers.
Kate said the panels have generated enough clean electricity to make over 4 million cups of tea, as well as saving the school hundreds of pounds on their energy bills, and inspiring children to learn about energy and climate change.
The £1,000 grant will fund an in-school recycling scheme and a video link to the school’s bird box.
Ann McQuirk, School Business Manager said:
“When we embarked on our journey with GMCR who would have thought it would be so life changing for us. We have improved our ethical practice and embedded this in our strategy. This vision of a more sustainable world starts with our children and we have the privilege of passing on to them that there is hope for our future and future generations.”
Ali Abbas, Director GMCR said:
“We’re delighted to be able to award the first grant from our community fund to Fiddlers Lane Primary School. The school played a significant part in launching our solar schools project back in 2016, and it’s really inspiring to hear about how they’ve embraced the solar panels as a catalyst for engaging young people around the climate and ecological emergency.”
GMCR is a community energy scheme, run entirely by volunteers and owned by members of the community. Their community fund comprises GMCR’s profits and donations from GMCR members. The fund can be used for carbon reduction and environmental education projects in the local area.
GMCR would love to hear from any schools or community groups that would like to partner with them in future.
For more information visit www.gmcr.org.uk
ENDS
Notes to the editor
1. Greater Manchester Community Renewables Limited (GMCR) is a community benefit society, set up and run by volunteers to install community-owned renewable energy across Greater Manchester. It has 9 solar arrays, totalling c. 350 kWp capacity.
2. Generation meter reading taken at Fiddlers Lane Primary School on 17 December 2019 was 81,508 kWh. This equates to saving c. 20 tonnes CO2 by displacing electricity drawn from the grid.
3. 4 million cups of tea is calculated based on 81,508 kWh electricity generated by GMCR to date, and using an ‘average kettle’ of 2200 Watts and 1.7L which takes around 4 minutes to boil.