The Big Lemon’s MD Tom Druitt recently visited Ringmer Community Academy to meet Year 10 students who have been doing a project on sustainable transport. The students chose transport as a topic because it has such a big impact and is so important for all pupils at the school. As part of the project the students have researched where the school’s pupils come from and how they get to school.
They invited Tom to talk to them about sustainable transport and explore ways in which more of the school’s pupils can travel in a sustainable, cost-effective way. Tom also spoke with the Principal, Ms Stonier and her collegue Mr Green about recycling the school’s cooking oil for use on the buses, and running a trip to The Big Lemon’s depot to show the pupils how the oil is recycled into fuel.

Ringmer Community College is one of the country’s leading Eco-Schools and has recently been given Eco-Schools ‘Ambassador’ status following an inspection. They have their own wind-turbine, solar array, biomass boiler and eco-classroom and sustainability is at the core of the curriculum.

For more information on the school visit their website or call 01273 812220.

The Big Lemon is running a free bus to the Eco Technology Show, which is on at the Amex Stadium today and tomorrow.

The Eco Technology Show is a national showcase of the latest technologies which perform a crucial role in protecting the environment and making our daily business and home lives more efficient.

Today the Buses will depart from Old Steine Stop F (adjacent to the Royal Pavilion) at
10am, 12 noon, and 3pm
and return from the Amex Stadium at
1pm, 4pm, and 6pm

Tomorrow (Saturday) the times will be slightly different:
From Old Steine:
10am, 12 noon, and 2pm
From the Amex Stadium:
1pm, 3pm, and 5pm

More information on the show is available here

The Big Lemon will be running a FREE shuttle service to and from Let’s Do Business Brighton & Hove 2012 – the City’s leading business show being held at Brighton Racecourse on Thursday 17th May between 10am and 4pm.

The show boasts 100+ exhibitors and over 1000 business owners and key decision-makers under one roof, FREE seminars, unrivalled networking opportunities, FREE Admission, and best of all a FREE hourly shuttle bus from Hove Town Hall!

From Hove Town Hall to the Racecourse

From Hove Town Hall (Stop A):
1000hrs and every hour until 1500hrs

Via Churchill Sq (Stop G):
1010hrs and every hour until 1510hrs

Via Brighton Station (Stop D):
1015hrs and every hour until 1515hrs

Arrive Brighton Racecourse:
1025hrs and every hour until 1525hrs

From the Racecourse to Hove Town Hall

From Brighton Racecourse:
1030hrs and every hour until 1630hrs

Via Brighton Station (Stop D):
1040hrs and every hour until 1640hrs

Via Churchill Sq (Stop G):
1045hrs and every hour until 1645hrs

Arrive Hove Town Hall (Stop A):
1055hrs and every hour until 1655hrs

Jonathan Dolding, show organiser, said:
“We have laid on a free Big Lemon bus service to help people get to the show easily and sustainably. We chose to partner with The Big Lemon because they are a great example of an innovative local business finding practical solutions to key problems”

The Big Lemon’s MD Tom Druitt said:
“It’s great to be working with Let’s Do Business – they certainly practice what they preach! With free admission, free seminars and a free bus it’s hard to think of any reason why anyone wouldn’t go to the show so I’m looking forward to a busy day!”

Register for fast-track visitor entry at http://www.letsdobusiness.org/brighton or simply turn up and register on the day.

People in Brighton & Hove who care for relatives or friends with disabilities or illnesses can now get free bus travel with The Big Lemon.

It’s the latest initiative to be introduced on the city’s Carers Card, a free card giving carers discounts on dozens of local leisure and other activities.

The Carers Card is a joint initiative between the council, local charity Amaze and the city’s Carers Centre. It gives discounts on lots of local venues, health and fitness facilities and facilities and children’s entertainments – and now public transport.

Brighton resident Alan Cousins, who cares for his mother, said:
“I’m a massive Albion fan, so free transport up to Falmer is great news for me. This is a great gesture by The Big Lemon – money is tight for a lot of us carers and every little helps.”

The Managing Director of The Big Lemon, Tom Druitt, said:
“I used to be a carer in Brighton and I know how difficult and expensive it can be when you need to travel around town a lot to carry out your work. I hope this helps, not only for the sake of the carers but also, of course, for those they care for.”

The Big Lemon joined the scheme as a result of a meeting with Cllr Andrew Whealls (Conservative Councillor for Central Hove), who had been lobbied by a constituent, Pat Constable, urging him to promote the Carer’s Card scheme. Pat said afterwards, “A big Thank You to The Big Lemon Bus Company for showing they care for those who Care!”

Visit http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/carers-card to find out more about the Carers Card scheme.

If you care for someone who is over 18 phone the council’s adult social care access point on 01272 295555 or email accesspoint@brighton-hove.gov.uk

If you care for someone who is under 18 phone the council’s integrated child development and disability team on 01273 295153

For details of bus services on which you can use your Carers Card, please visit our Public Bus Services section

Students across Brighton and Hove start battling it out to see who can come up with the best plan to make their school greener, as part of a new competition launched today by the organisers of the first Eco Technology Show.

All local primary and secondary pupils have been challenged to come up with ways to reduce their schools’ impact on the environment in one of the following areas: water, waste, energy and transport.

Once the school groups have agreed on the area they want to tackle, they must think of a project idea, then draw, colour in and annotate their design. The winning entry will be exhibited at the American Express Community Stadium at the Eco Technology Show 2012 (15-16 June), where it will be seen by thousands of visitors.

There is still time to take part in the competition — the deadline for entries is 17 May. Schools should contact Robyn Steer for more details. Albion in the Community Creative Arts Department created the competition in partnership with the Eco Technology Show.

Robyn Steer, Creative Arts Coordinator, Albion in the Community, said:
“The project was set up to engage young people in an eco-discussion and to give them the opportunity to actively explore what their school already does that is ‘green’.

“The project lets Brighton and Hove’s young people audit their school’s existing eco-projects and take creative control in designing how their school could be even greener.

“All of the schools involved so far are eco-schools, but this project enables them to look that bit further and see what else they could do – with no budget set, the project really encourages blue-sky thinking. It’s also open for any new local school to get involved and I am really excited to see what they design!”

Nicola Gunstone, director at the Eco Technology Show says:
“Environmental awareness and sustainable behaviour is becoming increasingly important within schools, to help the younger generation better understand the issues facing our planet and to look after their environment.”

“The Eco Technology Show at Brighton’s Amex Stadium is a great day out for local families, as well as school groups and teachers. It provides access to the best suppliers of sustainable products to help minimise waste, improve energy efficiency and reuse products for use in homes, schools and businesses. It’s also the place to gain clarification on environmentally focused government regulations which will be covered in a series of free seminars on the exhibition floor.”

Notes

1. The Eco Technology Show takes place on the concourse of the American Express Community Stadium on 15-16 June 2012. The concourse will be transformed into an exhibition of unique businesses where decision makers, subject specialists, policy makers and buyers from both business and the general public can learn about the latest eco-innovations. See http://www.ecotechnologyshow.co.uk for more details.
2. Albion in the Community (AITC) is the charitable arm of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. Every year, many thousands of people directly benefit from participating in AITC’s courses and other activities in Sussex and beyond. See http://www.seagulls.co.uk/page/CommunityHome for more details.
3. The seven confirmed participating schools to date are Westdene Primary, Coldean Primary School, Patcham House, Patcham Junior School, Patcham High School, Downlands Community School and Balfour Primary School.

To see how The Big Lemon works with schools to reduce their impact on the environment, click here

The Big Lemon is proud to be the first organisation in Brighton and Hove to commit to achieving the Responsible Business Standard. This is a nationally recognised quality benchmark which supports our key business principles of environmental and social responsibility. We have chosen an independent certified consultant, Clive Bonny, to advise us and audit our progress. This ensures we can show our supply chain that we have objective relevant and sufficient evidence of our activities supporting our quality management processes in the key areas of community support and environmental conservation.

Clive Bonny said:
“The Big Lemon have made a big impact on the world of sustainable transport and travel in a short space of time. I’m delighted to be supporting their progress towards this national Standard which has been endorsed by government bodies, local authorities, and business associations”

For further information on the Responsible Business Standard visit www.consult-smp.com or www.responsiblebusinessstandard.org.uk

Tomorrow, Monday 16th April, sees the launch of a revised timetable on the 44 service, extending the route to the City Centre all day.

Residents at Varley Halls, the service’s main passenger base, were asked in February if they would rather have a half-hourly service calling at Moulsecoomb and Falmer only, or an hourly service in each direction calling at Falmer, Varley Halls, Moulsecoomb and the City Centre. By 41 to 24, they voted to change the service, extending it to Grand Parade and Old Steine during the day. In the evenings they will extend to the seafront, West Street and Churchill Square.

This has a number of benefits: it allows the timings to be altered so that passengers for Moulsecoomb do not get to university either long before, or just late for their lectures, but should get there with 15 minutes to spare every time. It also means that students travelling to Grand Parade can use The Big Lemon too, arriving 5 minutes before their lectures start.
For students studying at Falmer it means their journey is a lot quicker as they no longer need to travel via Moulsecoomb but can go direct to Falmer in about 5 minutes, and for students studying at Sussex University they can now get the bus from town to the bus stop just next to Sussex University on the A27. And local residents who live on the route they can now use The BIg Lemon to go to town throughout the day.

Fares remain the same, at £1 for a sort hop, £1.80 for a single, and £2 for the whole day. Full fare information is available here

Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas has lodged two parlimentary questions on bus competition in Brighton & Hove and has received responses from Norman Lamb, minister for employment relations, consumer and postal affairs. The questions, set out below, were written in response to the publication of the Competition Commission’s final report of the Local Bus Services Market Investigation, which The Big Lemon has given a significant amount of evidence to.

29 Feb 2012 (Column 377W ):

Bus Services: Brighton

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills whether he has (a) held discussions with the Secretary of State for Transport on and (b) made an assessment of how the recommendation of the Competition Commission to introduce legislation to give local transport authorities additional powers to introduce mandatory multi-operator ticketing schemes will affect the Big Lemon Bus service in Brighton and Hove; and if he will make a statement. [96668]

Norman Lamb: No assessment has been made of how any of the Competition Commission’s recommendations arising from its Local Bus Services Market Investigation would affect every local bus operator in every individual local bus market. The Department for Transport’s response to the Competition Commission’s provisional remedies, available online at:
http://www.competition-commission.org.uk/assets/bispartners/competitioncommission/docs/2010/localbus/dft_pdr_response.pdf
makes clear the Government’s support for effective multi-operator ticketing schemes. The formal Government response to the final report will be published in due course.

Bus Services: Competition

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills if he will make it his policy to implement in full the recommendations made in the local bus services market investigation published by the Competition Commission in January 2012; if he will ensure that the Office of Fair Trading has sufficient resources to ensure that operators abide by any new rules arising from implementation of the recommendations; and if he will make a statement. [96178]

Norman Lamb: It is my intention to set out the Government’s response to the final report of the “Local Bus Services Market Investigation” published by the Competition Commission in due course. The Under-Secretary of State for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Lewes (Norman Baker), has publicly set out his intention to make a statement on bus policy in the near future.

Caroline Lucas said:
“As the Competition Commission has found, there are many features of the local bus market which favour larger incumbent operators at the expense of small businesses and ultimately passengers – which is why I’m calling on transport ministers to take action to create a more level playing field.”

“If we are to safeguard the community-focussed and environmentally friendly service which The Big Lemon provides in Brighton and Hove, and support other small local transport operators, we need the Government to implement the recommendations in the Competition Commission’s Local Bus Services Market Investigation, especially with regard to multi operator ticketing.”

Tom Druitt, MD of The Big Lemon, said:
“We are very grateful to Caroline Lucas for her help in raising awareness and putting pressure on the government to make the changes so desperately needed, and look forward to Norman Baker’s statement.”

The Brighton Aldridge Community Academy for young entrepreneurs is inviting parents and Fellows of the Royal Society of Arts Manufactures and Commerce to its new facilities. The Academy is now attracting business enterprise specialists to discuss good practice on business sustainability, risk management and well-being.

Speakers at the first event included Tom Druitt, MD of The Big Lemon, Shirley Ward from Down To Earth Nutrition, and Clive Bonny at Strategic Management Partners. Clive says:
“The first event has resulted in linking two RSA Fellow Catalyst projects. The Big Lemon is now planning to collect cooking oil from passengers to fuel its expanding fleet. They will also encourage passengers to donate clothes for recycling back to school where students can re-design, re-sell and re-use them. Such practical activities will develop student business skills and improve their employability.”

Sophie Gaston, school head of Entrepreneurship, is planning more events to bring successful business people back to school to mix with the new generation of students. Sophie says:
“Organisations want young people who can show real evidence of enterprise skills. Practical skills in recycling waste are already in great demand by private and public organisations. These activities will equip students with more rounded confidence and competence to meet employer needs.”

For future Aldridge Academy events contact sophie.gaston@aldridgefoundation.com
For more info information on The Big Lemon visit www.thebiglemon.com
For Well-being shirley@downtoearthnutrition.co.uk
For RSA Enterprise events and Catalyst grants info Clive@consult-smp.com

Students at the University of Brighton have made a great little recycling video featuring The Big Lemon. Rachel Strouvalis, Sam Day, Andy Summersby, Louis Monckton and Sam Askins interviewed a number of local academics and business people for their insights and produced a short film which they have put on Youtube:

Sam Askins said,
“We wanted to interview Tom because we knew he would have a fantastic view of creating a business as sustainable and environmentally friendly as possible. He helps people understand that a business in this day and age can run efficiently coinciding with caring for our green planet. His knowledge gave us the in depth background that we needed for us to understand why companies should recycle and how to recycle. Each little step that The Big Lemon takes from the basics of getting the cooking oil, all the way to to it being converted into usable fuel is done in such a sustainable and eco-friendly way. Sheerly amazing!”