Members of Cornwall Ancient Tree Forum (CATF) are working to register Penryn Campus’ Lime Tree avenue for preservation and protection as the trees (Tilia cordata) are aesthetically, historically, and environmentally of great importance.
Tim Kellett and Marion Bryant from CATF and Environmental science student Kira Jefferies recently took measurements of lime tree girth for the Ancient Tree Forum records. Tim, Marion and Kira are also looking for hollowing of trunk and cavities; fungi; lichens in on and around the trees; damage and dead wood in the tree crown; epiphytes such as ferns; climbing plants such as ivy; clematis, honeysuckle and any other plants living on the tree.
A trial project to recycle food waste in Penryn student residences has been so successful it’s being rolled out across our campuses.
The scheme began in May (2022), when the FX Plus Facilities team teamed up with Cornwall Waste Solutions to encourage students to separate food waste in some of the some Glasney Village blocks, at Penryn Campus.
It was later expanded to more student residences, including Packsaddle, and now new food waste bins have been installed just outside AMATA Cafe, in the bin compound near the AIR building and at Falmouth Campus. Even more locations will be added soon.
This has already led to a big increase in food waste being sent to an anaerobic digestion plant, where it can be turned into electricity, fuel and fertiliser. In September/October 2021, 1.5 tonnes of food waste was to anaerobic digestion facilities – this was from the kitchens of the main campus catering outlets at Falmouth and Penryn. This year, in the same period and with the addition of the new food waste bins, 2.5 tonnes has been sent.
Casey Thomas, Head of Facilities Management, said: “Thanks to the innovation of the Facilities team, this project is already making a significant contribution to supporting Falmouth and Exeter universities in their aims to make our campuses more sustainable.”
If you have any questions or suggestions, please email recycling@fxplus.ac.uk for more information.
FX Plus Deputy Security Manager Lois Craze has become the first ever triple winner at the Cornwall Apprenticeship Awards 2022.
Lois completed her hattrick by winning the Management category, the Achiever of the Year, which was decided by public vote and the top, Cornwall Apprentice of the Year titles.
The awards, organised by Truro and Penwith College, celebrate exceptional achievement and highlight the positive impact apprenticeships are having on future skills as they equip learners and workplaces with the tools to succeed, move with future economic developments and boost businesses.
Lois began her apprenticeship in Leadership and Management (ILM Level 3) started in March 2020, two weeks before the first COVID-19 lockdown. Whilst working to support our campus community throughout the pandemic restrictions, she achieved a Distinction in October 2022.
Holly Day and Neil Caddy from Pirate FM presented the awards at a gala awards dinner on Friday 18 November, where Lois was described as, ‘invaluable and an absolute inspiration to her team,’ Lois not only recruited an effective team during a departmental restructure but implemented policies and procedures that have improved services. Lois works with the Police to benefit the safety of students at the university and launched the SafeZone app on campus which has vastly improved response times to emergency and first aid calls.
Lois said: “I am completely overwhelmed to have won so many awards and to be the first ever triple award winner. My apprenticeship was the hardest thing I have done, mainly due to the lock down and not being able to take part in face to face dicussions and lessons.
“My apprenticeship was a mix of practical observations, knowledge assignments, exams and finally a two-hour interview from an End Point Assessor to get my final grade. With the amazing support of my managers and head of department at FX Plus and my college learning advisor I was able to achieve a distinction which I am super proud of.”
Paula Sanderson, FX Plus Managing Director, said: “This is an amazing achievement. Lois has shown what can be achieved with support and the will to succeed and is a great example to inspire us all at FX Plus.”
We’ve teamed up with Penryn and Falmouth Foodbank to offer a food and toiletries collection point in the Lower Stannary, Penryn Campus, which will be available from Monday, 28th November. The Foodbank is a community organisation that works to support local people who find themselves unable to feed themselves or their family. Perhaps you have a suitable new unwanted item, or when you are shopping, you can pick up an item needed by a local person in crisis.
Here are the items that are currently needed along with non-perishable foods:
Students and staff have helped to raise £9,675 and to divert 5.5 tonnes of ‘waste’ from landfill via the British Heart Foundation (BHF) Pack for Good campaign this year.
This means that the equivalent of 32,462 kg of CO2 emissions were prevented.
The FX Plus Halls team has been supporting the Pack for Good campaign since 2015 and organises all collections. Since then, almost £60,000 has been raised for the cause so that. as well as the carbon saving, thousands have been raised for life-saving research.
Pack for Good encourages students who are moving out of their accommodation to donate unwanted items including books, household goods and clothes. University, FX Plus and Students’ Union staff are also invited to donate using collection points at Falmouth and Penryn campuses.
According to the most recent (2022) BHF report, 691 bags were collected from FX Plus-run and private student accommodation (and staff). And since 2015, 34 tonnes of unwanted items have been diverted from landfill.
Our Halls team supports Pack for Good every year and organises collection points around student accommodation areas, on and off campus, including a main point at Glasney Lodge Reception.
The Halls team also collects unwanted items for local food banks, with trolleys in Glasney Lodge.
All BHF standard shops have recycling services for textiles, books and most homewares. In 2021/22 and, in that year, 14,000 tonnes of ‘pre-loved’ clothes were sold. Through re-use and recycling, the BHF saved more than 57,000 tonnes going to waste, avoiding 130,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.
New, pay as you ride, electric bikes are now available at Penryn Campus.
As a special, introductory offer, the first 900 students to sign up on the Beryl Bikes app using their university (Falmouth University or the University of Exeter) email address can have up to 30 minutes riding for free.
The Beryl Bikes have been installed as part of a county-wide cycle share scheme funded by Cornwall Council. 50 bikes at 21 stations across Falmouth and Penryn are now available with the scheme being expanded to Newquay, Penzance, St Austell and Truro over the coming months.
The Penryn Campus electric bikes are outside The Exchange, opposite Heart Reception, and along the Old Drive. Those two stations can accommodate 10 bikes as part of the wider scheme.
Their easy availability for campus users supports the sustainability aims of Falmouth University, the University of Exeter and FX Plus and will make it easier for staff and students who want to ride tackle Cornwall’s hills.
Users can pay for use of the bikes by the minute, with a pre purchased bundle or with a 24-hour day pass. For details of other bike locations (including several near Falmouth Campus), how the scheme works, downloading the app and more, please see the Beryl Bikes website.
Members of our FX Plus Facilities team have been taking their cleaning skills off campus to help a local community initiative.
The children’s park in Mabe had been covered in graffiti so four of the facilities team stepped up to help other volunteers from Mabe in the clean-up operation.
Facilities Operations manager, Lynn Storey, explained: “I noticed a post on the Mabe Youth and Community Page on social media, which stated that the children’s park had been graffitied badly. I mentioned it to Rick Taylor to see if he had any ideas of how to remove it as we have all sorts of magic potions and equipment that can do wonderful things.
“Rick, Rob Eddy, Richard Barron and Paul Leyes all went across armed like the ghostbusters and completely blitzed it along with other members of the community. Due to the type of material the climbing equipment is made from, the team were a bit worried about how much they would be able to remove however it turns out they removed the lot!
“It’s so important that we can help our local community as much as possible and the whole team believe in this sentiment too. Richard lives in Mabe (as do many others with the Facilities Team) so I know this would have meant a lot for him and his family too.”
The team has since received a message from the chair of Mabe Youth and Community Project: “Lynn….can I just say a massive thanks to Rick and his team – a real A team – who came over today and have managed to remove virtually all traces of the graffiti to the delight of not just me but several adults and their children who were using the park today. They had all the right gear and gave me a useful idea or two for the future. Once again, on behalf of the children of Mabe and MCYP…many thanks.”
We are committed to supporting biodiversity and sustainability on our campuses. Part of this involves twice yearly flower counts which not only give us an estimate of how many bees we support but also to measure the benefits of changing the mowing regime on areas of land.
Since 2020, Every Flower Counts surveys are carried out by the Grounds Team twice a year, at the end of May and the end of July. They help to track changes and to compare different areas, including unmowed grass areas, wildflower turfed areas, seeded areas and more.
Most areas surveyed are the same each year but some vary, depending on which are being left wild/unmowed.
Alasdair Garnett, FX Plus Groundsperson, explained: “The surveys give us a rough idea of how areas are performing. From the latest (July 22) survey, we can see that our grassland is healthy and benefitting wildlife. And, as we’ve seen recently with goldfinches on the Ox Eye Daisy bank, once the bees have enjoyed the flowers the birds get the use of the seeds.
“We use volunteers to manage and improve the big wild areas, raking the cut grass and sowing wildflower seeds, and this year we also have many young plants grown from seed which will be planted from September onwards. We’ll be organising regular volunteering sessions from Freshers through the winter to help with this.”
Plantlife organises Every Flower Counts as a way of supporting plants and pollinators. The survey allows participants to calculate the difference they are making for nature with their Personal Nectar Score.
Counts include the number of individual, open flowers and flower richness – the number of different flowering species present.
The Plantlife results are displayed differently this year, preventing comparison with previous years but the Grounds Team is hoping to be able to compare future years from now on.
The July 2022 results headlines for Penryn Campus are:
Number of flowers on all areas surveyed: 2,884,918 (estimate) which gives –
Enough nectar sugar to support 112,521 honeybee workers per day.
Enough pollen produced to support 15,857 mining bee brood cells/larvae or around 1586 bumblebee larvae.
The gardens and grounds at Penryn Campus have been recognised by the international Green Flag Award Scheme as among the very best in the world, for the sixth year in a row.
The Green Flag Award scheme, managed by environmental charity sKeep Britain Tidy under licence from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, recognises and rewards well-managed parks and green spaces, setting the benchmark standard for the management of green spaces across the United Kingdom and around the world.
Penryn Campus is shared by Falmouth University and the University of Exeter Cornwall and the historic grounds are open to the public.
Oliver Lane, FX Plus Director of Residences and Facilities, said: “We are delighted to have retained this award for a sixth year. It highlights the hard work of our teams and volunteers – both students and staff. Particular thanks should go to Toby Nenning, Grounds and Gardens manager, and Casey Thomas, Head of Facilities Management, and to their teams.
“Both Falmouth University and the University of Exeter are dedicated to sustainability under their Climate Emergency declarations and a key part of this involves supporting green spaces and the biodiversity on our beautiful campus.”
Keep Britain Tidy’s Accreditation Manager Paul Todd said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved in making Penryn Campus worthy of a Green Flag Award. It is testament to all the hard work of staff who do so much to ensure that it maintains the high standards demanded by the Award.”
Penryn Campus blends historic sub-tropical planting with newly created landscapes. and are a haven for a diverse range of plant and animal species. The gardens are open to everyone include a walled garden; herbaceous beds; sub-tropical planting; fruit producing orchard; Italian garden and terraces; an 18th Century lime avenue; parkland; a drive with Pinetum native woodlands and historic rare rhododendrons which were cultivated on the site in the Victorian era.
A six-person Grounds Team manages about 150 acres there as well as the smaller, equally beautiful Falmouth Campus.
Our Falmouth Exeter Plus Halls team has delivered a massive 423kg of food to Penryn and Falmouth Foodbank, part of the Trussell Trust network.
The food (mostly dried and tinned goods) is collected as students move out of their accommodation for the summer, or for good, alongside household items which are donated to the British Heart Foundation (Pack for Good campaign).
The Halls team delivered the 16, 60-litre plastic boxes full of unopened tins, packets and jars to the foodbank today (Monday 20 June) and received a written thank you from the Foodbank team.
John Lees, Halls Manager. Said: “We encourage our students to bring all their spare, unopened food to Glasney Lodge as they leave Halls. We have been doing this for a few years now because it cuts waste and helps the wider community.”
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