Become a Draughtbuster this winter!

News from Reading Draughtbusters

Draughtbusters is a voluntary group that surveys homes for draughts and takes remedial action. The website www.draughtbusters.net gives all the advice needed to survey your own home and make changes, but the main thrust of the project is to provide the materials and trained labour to undertake the work, free of charge, for those in fuel poverty. Households are referred to Draughtbusters through agencies such as Citizens Advice and the council’s Winterwatch scheme.

With the high cost of energy, we anticipate a far larger demand for help this winter than can be provided through the current set of experienced volunteers. Draughtbusters wants to set up additional hubs across Reading and train new volunteers to undertake this important work. We’ve applied for additional grants from the Reading Climate Action Network amongst others, and have enough money in place to start training new volunteers and provide the tools and equipment for each hub.

It’s easy to survey a house and carry out draught proofing! If you would like to help with this project, and can commit to at least half a day a month, we’d love you to join us. This could be as an individual, or through a group of people forming one of the new hubs. You’ll get full training (and can go on to help yourself, friends and neighbours do their homes), and go out in a team of 2 or 3 (with one expert trainer to begin with) and with all tools and draught proofing materials provided. Everything is arranged by appointment and there is no cold calling.

Alternatively, if you are part of a local group that would like to know more about Draughtbusters and perhaps are interested in setting up your own scheme with support from Draughtbusters, please do get in touch and we can come out to you to tell you about the scheme.

You can contact Draughtbusters at readingdraughtbusters@gmail.com.