A CRUSADE to crush fuel prices and emissions in the village of Sedgeberrow continues to expand after 10 years of growth.

Set up to bulk buy heating oil for villagers word spread about Sedgeberrow Sustainable and Manageable Energy Group (SeSaME) which now has 274 members and counting, many from surrounding areas.

As well as estimated energy savings of £20,000 per year, the club also pays out half a pence per litre sold to local villages that have linked up with the scheme since introducing new software via oilbuyingclub.com.

Dividends for local community organisations in Sedgeberrow, Ashton under Hill, Beckford, Hinton, Dumbleton, Aston Somerville, Wormington, Childswickham, Conderton, Elmley Castle, Kemerton and Overbury came to £1,715 in 2019-20.

SeSaME chairman Mike Parker said: "We started doing it ourselves and it went well but we then discovered this software and decided to spread it to other villages.

"We are very pleased, we are helping people and it helps the village because you don't have so much traffic coming in.

"It was a mixed bag of reasons but for me it was the transport and pollution.

“We need these positives even more now as we continue to explore ways to ease the path of rural communities facing the greatest energy upheaval ever, working towards reducing fossil fuel usage and establishing the essential low-carbon economy that the UK committed itself to at the Paris talks."

Those interested in joining can visit sesame.oilbuyingclub.com to register.