Gillian Clarke National Poet of Wales buys into Awel Wind Co-op

“Poetry and love for the earth are a single passion for me,” writes Gillian Clarke, National Poet of Wales, the latest supporter of Awel Co-op, a community windpower scheme in south Wales, “my poems are love-poems to the earth.”

In her endorsement of Awel Co-op’s two turbine scheme on Mynydd y Gwrhyd, she says “this is the way power generation should go, village by village, community by community, water turbines, wind turbines, with all profits going back to the people.
This community-owned scheme, grounded in sustainable principles is one to support”, she urges, and as one of Wales’ Green Champions she is no stranger to sustainability.

Emily Hinshelwood who ran Awel Aman Tawe’s four-year Arts and Climate change programme is excited to hear that Gillian is backing the scheme. “Gillian judged one of our climate change poetry competitions. She is a poet of incredible craft, and expresses an empathy for the earth which reaches parts that statistics can’t reach.”

“Life and art are a single thing” Gillian said at AAT’s poetry prize-giving night, “what we create is to be shared, our decisions artistic and ethical.” Awel Co-op agrees with this view, harnessing the earth’s resources in a sustainable way, and feeding all the profits back into the local community. “By investing in our community windpower co-op” says Emily, “anyone can support this shared creation – this love-poem to the earth.”

The Share Offer is still open and individuals are able to pay by bank transfer up to midnight on November 26th. This will enable investors to claim existing tax relief before it is withdrawn by the government.