A previous Cheap & Easy Cookery Workshop at the Central Methodist Church in Todmorden
All are invited to attend our last of five Cheap & Easy Climate Emergency Cookery Workshops (details below). Once again, we’ll be showing how to make several low-cost, healthy & easy-to-make plant-based dishes that minimise the food’s contribution to climate change… and maximise kindness. Free samples of the food prepared in the workshop will be offered to workshop participants along with recipes for each dish.
Saturday 26th April, Cheap & Easy workshop during Cornholme Community Day …
Our Cheap & Easy workshop will be held in Cornholme Old Library, I Parkside Road, Cornholme, OL14 8QA between 13:00 and 15:00 as part of the Cornholme Community Day. Between 12:00 and 13:00, we’ll also be providing some free mixed bean chilli lunches.
As you can see from the poster above, there’s a lot going on during the Community Day and it’s all free. Come and have fun whilst learning new skills.
All Cheap & Easy workshops have been supported by Todmorden Town Council’s Climate Emergency Committee
Help! We need some bodies.
Yes yours please! We really need helpers for the Cornholme Cheap & Easy workshop on 26th April and/or the lunch we’ll be serving. If you can spare any time to help between 11:00 and 15:00, please email info@3valleyvegns.org.uk. We would really appreciate it…and you’ll get fed too.
Full of Joy Animal Sanctuary is the local sanctuary founded by TJ & Liz and run on vegan principles. It was hit badly by Storm Éowyn on 25th January with all its stables, outbuildings and stores totally ruined. Estimates of the cost of rebuilding are at least £15,000.
The sanctuary is run on a not-for-profit basis entirely by the founders and a small number of volunteers. They re-home abused and neglected animals such as ponies, pigs, geese, chickens sheep, cats, and more.
The animals are safe after the storm but they now have no permanent home and are in very temporary accommodation. To help rebuild it, please donate to the sanctuary’s fundraiser via the button below. Without your support it’s unlikely the sanctuary will survive.
Also needed: building materials and helpers to reconstruct the accommodation.
Full of Joy founders on the Time is Sliding podcast
Recorded a few days before Storm Éowyn wreaked havoc, Liz & TJ talked about the challenges the sanctuary faces and changes in society that would improve the lives of non-human animals. The episode can be listened to via Apple Podcasts, Spotify & other podcast platforms…or via the player below
On Saturday 10th August, there were some delicious aromas wafting down the corridors of Todmorden College.
A free Cheap and Easy Cookery workshop was taking place – 9 food drop-in participants were learning how to make different dishes in a friendly, supportive atmosphere. People chopped and stirred, stories and recipes were swapped, and the end result was a smorgasbord, or perhaps a Buddha bowl which everyone sampled.
All recipes relied on basic sometimes tinned ingredients and supermarket donated vegetables, and were all plant-based. In addition, all dishes were cooked using lower energy appliances such as induction hobs, microwaves and air-fryers.
Dishes made were: hearty bean and vegetable soup, spicy fried potatoes, hot root vegetable salad, mushy pea dahl, cous cous, flatbreads and rainbow salad.
“Cheap and Easy Climate Emergency Cookery” is a pioneering series of workshops helping Todmorden residents struggling with the cost of living crisis to prepare healthy meals cheaply, quickly and easily.
Future workshops will continue to concentrate on wholefood plant-based meals that rely on low-cost, seasonal and readily available ingredients that make a much lower contribution to climate change than meat, dairy, egg and fish products. For some tips about how to eat plant-based food on a budget, you can read a blog we published a while ago here. It’s still very relevant.
All of the Cheap and Easy workshops are run by 3 Valley Vegans and are made possible with the support of Todmorden Town Council’s Climate Emergency Committee.
Under the terms of the project funding, there is a need for crowdfunding to cover a small element of the costs. If you’d like to make a donation, please go to https://app.goodhub.com/3-valley-vegans-11596 or scan the QR code below:
You don’t have to be a vegan to join us for this circular walk (just under 6 miles/ 3 hours including a stop for a bring-your-own vegan picnic). And if the going gets tough for you, there should be some shortcuts to be had. Likewise, there will be ways to take in part of the walk if the full walk is not for you.
The walk will include a labyrinth of hillside tracks, quiet lanes and towpath between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge. There should be some great views including an elevated view from ‘Lad Stones’ back over Todmorden with road, river and canal threading through it. You’ll see an unfinished straw bale building, a 1650 yeoman’s house and some remains of the water-powered mills and their associated workings that once made Jumble Hole Clough a centre of industry. You’ll also pass a small animal sanctuary.
The main part of the walk will start no later than 10:40 but see below for the earlier start in Todmorden town centre. Please gather at the picnic area/free car park on the left just after the 40 MPH signs on the Halifax Road to Hebden Bridge from Todmorden. From Hebden Bridge towards Todmorden, the picnic area/ car park is on the right just before the 30 MPH road signs. See the photo showing yellow low-headroom (2.1m) entrance/exit ‘barriers’.
Reaching the main starting point on foot from Todmorden library, Rochdale Road, OL14 7LB: meet Rob in the area between the library and the canal (see photo) at 10:00. We will walk briskly along the largely pleasant canal towpath for just over 1.5 miles to reach the start of the main walk.
Reaching the main starting point by bus from Todmorden: take the 592 from Todmorden Bus station at 10:30 hours and get off at the Horsfall Street bus stop just after railway arches on your left (and before the 40 MPH road signs).
Reaching the main starting pointby bus from Hebden Bridge: take the 590 from New Road (stop HB5) at 10:19 hours and get off at the Horsfall Street bus stop opposite railway arches on your right (after the 30 MPH road signs).
If you experience a short public transport delay, we will wait for you but only if you’ve shared your mobile number in advance when letting us know you are coming – see below.
Difficulty: moderate with possibly the steepest climb being from the car park at the start up to Rodwell End. That climb takes about 8 minutes at a steady pace without a stop. After that, it should take about an hour for the more gradual, but almost continuous, ascent to the summit of the walk up to Great Rock. The remainder of the walk is almost all on the descent or level(ish).
The terrain could be boggy, slippery and/or wet in places.
Great Rock
Booking is advisable so that we can let you know if there are any last-minute changes to the plan. Please email rob@3valleyvegns.org.uk to let him know that you’ll be coming, your mobile number and whether you will be joining the walk at the picnic area/car park on Halifax Road no later than 10:40 hours or at Todmorden Library no later than 10:00 hours. If you would like to know options to join part of the walk, email Rob about that too.
Stops: there will be a lunch stop. Bring your own food, drink and perhaps something to sit on. There are no shops or cafes on the route although the library is very near to Tod Almighty, Todmorden’s splendid vegan wholefoods shop . The shop’s opening hours on Sundays are 10:00 to 17:00 and so you will only be able to buy food from there after the walk.
Food & drink: please ensure that you have plenty of water and energy-giving snacks/fruits as well as your lunch. Out of respect for others on the walk, please only bring vegan food & drinks.
Attire: please wear waterproof walking boots and dress appropriately for the weather. Also bring waterproof & warm clothing even if the forecast is for good weather.
Dogs welcome: but note that there are two stiles en route and one of those is without a dog-pass (see photo). There are sheep and cows in some fields. Rabbits and deer have also been seen on this walk.
Walk with us at your own risk. There will be a guide but every person joining the walk will be responsible for their own safety. There will be no formal provision of first aid support.
You don’t have to be a vegan to join us for this circular walk in the varied scenery south of Todmorden. It should take around 4 hours including a stop for a bring-your-own picnic. If this 6 mile jaunt is too long for you, you can join us at Gorpley Clough car park (see instructions below) for a shorter circular walk of about 3.5 miles.
Gorpley Clough
We’ll start from Todmorden railway station with a steep ascent but you’ll soon reach more gentle climbs and enjoy fantastic views in all directions including Stoodley Pike, Whirlaw, Bridestones, Flower Scar Hill, wind farms and glimpses of Dobroyd Castle.
The walk will take in the hamlet of Stones where there are 3 standing stones. The most impressive is a 3.6m high monolith (pictured). There’s another, but less accessible, that is said to have been moved to its current position to celebrate the battle of Waterloo. The third is much shorter and we’ll probably give that one a miss as we head for pleasant fields and woods leading to Gorpley Clough car park on Bacup Road. It’s there that people preferring a shorter circular walk can join us (contact Rob – see below – for timing).
Gorpley Clough is a steep-sided woodland ravine with a number of charming waterfalls in the tinkling beck that flows through the clough. It leads up to Gorpley reservoir and from there we’ll enter moorland and Inchfield Pasture were cows and sheep roam freely. There are more great views during this part of the walk and you may get lucky and see a barn owl in the ruin of a farmhouse we pass.
Gorpley Reservoir overflow
The walk nears its end with a steep descent to Gauxholme. This presents great views of the canal, rail and road networks threading their way towards the centre of Todmorden. We’ll then walk back along the canal to our starting point (except for those who need to return to the Gorpley Clough car park on Bacup Road).
Recently refurbished listed railway bridge
Booking is advisable so that we can let you know if there are any last-minute changes to the plan. Please email rob@3valleyvegns.org.uk to let him know that you’ll be coming and/or that you will be joining us at Gorpley Clough car park for the shortened part of the walk.
Meeting place and time: 10:30 for strict departure time of 10:45. The timing has been chosen to suit people arriving by train. Meet below the sign for Todmorden railway station at the junction of Station Road with Ridge Road – opposite the rear of The White Hart pub (see photo).
Stops: there will be a lunch stop. Bring your own food, drink and perhaps something to sit on. Ensure that you have plenty of water and energy-giving snacks/fruits. There are no shops or cafes on the route although the start and finish is not far from Tod Almighty, Todmorden’s splendid vegan wholefoods shop . Amongst many other things, they sell Booja Booja ice creams to close off the walk with something special. They also sell pasties and samosas that you can take for your picnic. The shop opens at 10am on Sundays.
Food & drink: out of respect for others on the walk, please only bring vegan food & drinks.
Difficulty: moderate with a steep climb near the start. The terrain can be boggy, slippery and wet in places. The full walk involves a total climb equivalent to ascending around 51 floors, 153 metres or 500 feet.
Attire: please wear waterproof walking boots and dress appropriately for the weather. Also bring waterproof & warm clothing even if the forecast is for good weather.
Dogs welcome: but note that there are some stiles en route and most lack a dog-pass. There are sheep and cows in some fields. Rabbits and deer have also been seen on this walk.
Walk with us at your own risk. There will be a guide but every person joining the walk is expected to take responsibility for their own safety. There will be no formal provision of first aid support.
Gorpley Clough car park. For those joining the walk here, this small car park can be found on Bacup Road on the left-hand side heading towards Bacup from Gauxholme. Just before you reach the car park, you’ll see a ruined stone building to your left. It has arched windows but there is no glazing. The map reference for the car park is 53.708010, -2.124365. There is a postcode that might help you get near to it – OL14 7HH. The entrance is easily missed so go slow when you are passing the ruined building.
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