Being seen

Sounds like I should revise my earlier comment about having our solar cooking picnic somewhere a little out of the way. You guys who are coming - are you happy to be more visible?

I was in touch with Christine Dann briefly and she suggested having it somewhere like a waterfront where there are plenty of people out strolling.
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The same day I heard from her, I looked at the Solar Cookers International wiki and its article about organising solar cooking events. It advocates promoting solar cooking by being visible and happy to chat to interested passers-by.

Christine also suggested we offer sun tea to anyone who would like to try some.

Still wondering about QE2 park as a possibility ... I don't know it well. If anyone has any thoughts on it, would love to hear.

A date for our solar cooking pinic?

According to my calendar, November 9-15 is SunSmart Week!

Mid-November seems like the best time to have our picnic anyway, so how about we go with Saturday 15 November? It's the last day of SunSmart Week, and our theme could be, 'Cook your food - not yourself'!

If the weather looks unsuitable we could postpone to the following weekend. (A bit of wind or cloud - fine. Rain - nah.)

A venue is trickier.

It needs to be somewhere between Kapiti and Wellington, and preferably on a public transport route. It also needs enough shade for people to sit in (unless we bring our own) - but enough flat, open, unshaded space to cook in. It needs plenty of room to spread out cookers where they won't get in the way of other people ... And it should probably be as sheltered from the wind as possible. (We can deal with the wind, but it's still pleasanter not to have to!)

Any thoughts? I wondered about QE2 park? But how easy is it to get there by public transport? I can imagine taking a cooker plus food on a train, but a little more tricky perhaps on a bus, and not something I'd want to walk for a really long way with ...

Another idea for a venue is a school field - nice and flat, not too many people on a weekend, and accessible toilets if we could persuade the school to open them for us.

I'm also wondering about trying for a tiny amount of funding. Just to cover the cost of a venue (say if we booked out a space at QE2 park), plus maybe to buy 2 or 3 solar cooking kits from Solar Cookers International that we could give away or raffle at the picnic?

I guess we don't want to be too ambitious, since it's a first time thing - it's just trying to strike that balance between well-planned and relaxed ...

Oh - I did see slightly different dates for SunSmart Week (just a day or two's difference) on another website - so will double check that.