Green Mann Directory Launch at Neb Café

The Green Mann directory was launched at a function this evening . 10,000 copies have been printed and will be on sale for £1.50 at newsagents from Friday.

Charles Flynn, Chairman of Island21 said:

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a great pleasure to see all of you here this evening for the launch of the Green Mann Directory for low impact living. Currently in this country we need three planets to maintain our current lifestyles. There are urgent issues to sort out for future generations.

It was about two years ago that I first met Waveney Jenkins. She came to one of our regular Island21 meetings held in the DOLGE offices as she sees issues around sustainability - the protection of our environment, the maintenance of biodiversity, recycling and all the other countless issues such as climate change together with their economic and social implications are global issues which must be addressed to a large extent by local communities.

Waveney and a wonderful group of people striving to do their bit on environmental concerns had met at the Neb café and had decided that a Green Directory would be a most helpful step in encouraging our island to do their part. Since then other people have got involved - some of them are well known to most of us, others have quietly given their time and talents to accomplish what we are here to launch today.

On your behalf I thank all of them - those who have put together the Directory,Dympna Connolly, Muriel Garland, Tony Garland, Alice Quayle, Ffinlo Costain, Phillippa Williams, Frank Schuengel and others who have sent in ideas and made suggestions, those of you who have worked significantly on green issues and are mentioned in the directory - individuals, organisations, government.. I should particularly like to thank all our hardworking team at Island21 who have faithfully supported our work on sustainability. I must mention especially two people amongst so many. Our good friend Martin Hall at DOLGE who has provided a door to Government and once again Muriel Garland who has for many years done so much to keep the show on the road with all her efficiency and conscientiousness. I do not know what would have happened without this support. I have appreciated it for the seven years in which I have been involved and especially for my five years as Chair. There is still much to do - in fact as long as we humans inhabit the planet there will be work to do - going forward for countless generations.

I hope some of you here this evening will sign up to help with Island21 or if you are not already a member with at least one of the brilliant organisations which work to make this island a better place.

Finally but not least I should like to thank our sponsors, The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce who provided the initial funding for the Directory, DOLGE and DAFF who have come up with a significant sum to fund the booklet and also our anonymous donors. Moreover this evening we have had some wonderful help from Cath Foley and her team at the Neb Café here who have laid on the hospitality and also Shoprite who have freely supplied the organic wine.

It only now remains for me to ask Valerie Fowler, Marketing Manager of DAFF and John Shimmin on behalf of DAFF and DOLGE to step forward and help Waveney untie these parcels of the catalogues so that they can be circulated throughout the island from Friday.

I suggest we raise our glasses for a job well done and for further success in the years ahead.

The Green Mann!