NORWICH; Magdalen Street Celebration - 1 October

On Saturday October 1st, Magdalen Street will celebrate its unique character in street festival style with performances, exhibitions, fashion shows, workshops, family activities and local history tours.

Following on last year's memorable and groundbreaking success, even more musicians and activities have been arranged.

Norwich Taiko Centre will be opening the event under the Magdalen flyover and some of the best-known bands in the city will be playing on the street throughout the day, using a cycle-powered PA. The audience will be able to hop on the bike and power up their favourite bands!

Helen Simpson-Slapp of the organising committee said “The goal of the day is to bring together neighbourhood residents, regulars and visitors to highlight Magdalen Street's role as a hub of creative, independently-owned, ethnically diverse and environmentally sustainable businesses. ”

The art events, stallholders and historical aspects to the day will bring to life Magdalen Street's rich heritage. The street still boasts a range of food, clothes and shoe shops and is classified by the City Council as the busiest in the whole of Norwich for numbers of pedestrians and buses. Some of the shops from 1905 have survived - most notably 2 of the original fish shops.

The Magdalen Street Celebration themes for 2011 are Creativity, Diversity and Sustainability. Known informally as the 'Creative Quarter', the area houses a multitude of creative businesses. 'Diversity' refers to the street’s ethnic diversity as well as the range of disability-related charities operating in the area and 'Sustainability' is represented by the plethora of second-hand, vintage, antique and craft shops in the area.

The event is spearheaded by members of Transition Norwich seeking a fun way to engage community, celebrate the range of cultural backgrounds represented and promote the opportunity to live more sustainably by shopping locally, buying second-hand and making friends locally. Transition Norwich is a community-based response to peak oil, climate change and economic recession. The organisers are grateful for the financial assistance of Norwich City Council and Norfolk County Council who are supporting this year's event. Chris Hull

TO GET INVOLVED: Helen Simpson-Slapp helenofnorwich@hotmail.com Tel: 07747 751656 Stefi Barna Tel: 07964 494836 Next meeting: Aladdin's Cafe, Magdalen Street. Tuesday 6th September, 7pm Web: magdalenstreet.blogspot.com or join our Facebook page

BUNGAY: Happy Mondays at the Community Kitchen - 10 October

In August we hosted the second Happy Monday at the Community Kitchen, a soon to be regular shared meal made with local ingredients and served at the Community Centre. The first Happy Monday was a pie and mash night, the second a curry night and the kitchen team did a fantastic job; coming up with a great seasonal menu then turning vegetables and fruits from local farms and gardens into a mix of spicy Indian dishes followed by a plum kulfi.

Eating together is a pleasure that seems to transcend other cultural barriers and, as I’ve experienced working with farming communities in Italy, France and Spain, it’s a chance to talk unguardedly, perhaps do a bit of business, and celebrate great cooking, local food and food producers. The benefits of eating together go beyond the social: collective cooking has a lower environmental impact with fewer pots in fewer ovens, less energy and water used to cook and clean and, if well planned, less waste is produced.

Happy Mondays at the Community Kitchen will always be a celebration: the room will be decorated; the menu will use the best local and seasonal ingredients. But it will also offer opportunities for volunteers to build their kitchen confidence, learn about local suppliers and discover new recipes and ideas.

To highlight what’s growing in and around Bungay gardens and to help make sure it all finds a home, every Happy Monday will feature an Abundance table - a chance to bring and share surplus garden produce.

In time we hope there will be a Happy Monday every week, but at the moment our aim is a monthly meal. If you’d like to get involved, perhaps supplying ingredients from your garden to the kitchen and abundance table, cooking, suggesting recipes or helping meet and greet please do contact us.

For the next meal we’re focusing on local autumn fruit and vegetables, we’re cooking for 40 – please do join us!

When: October 10th, 6:45 for 7pm
Where: Bungay Community Centre, Upper Olland Street

If you'd like to join us for a delicious meal made using mostly local, often organic and always carefully thought about ingredients then please get in touch (info@sustainablebungay.com).

The exact menu will be decided closer to the date as we get a better idea of what might be available, but we're planning a celebration of autumnal bounty. What we can tell you is that our two course meal will only cost £5 - which we will ask for when you arrive - will be cooked and served by volunteers and will taste fantastic!.

We work to a single sitting and will be cooking for around 40 people so please arrive at Bungay Community Centre in Upper Olland Street at 6.45pm for dinner at 7pm (places will go quickly so please do fill in the form if you'd like to come).

We don't have a licence to serve alcohol, but do feel free to bring a bottle if you'd like a drink with your meal. Josiah Meldrum

HALESWORTH: Forest Garden Talk

Our HinT meeting at Halesworth Library last Thursday evening (8th September) was so well attended that we had to scout around the library to find more chairs. Marion Gaze who works at Wakelyns' Farm in nearby Fressingfield presented an entertaining and lively talk about how she ended up working on this experimental agroforestry farm. She went on to tell us more about the research they carry out at the farm where they are currently working with mixing different varieties of the same crops together and growing crops between lanes of trees.

Marion then introduced us to the concept of forest gardens, and the course with Martin Crawford that she recently attended. Although we have already run a HinT tour of the farm, we can see that another one could be interesting for newer HinT supporters. Trish Dent

HinT website: http://hint.onesuffolk.net

BUNGAY; Give and Take Day - 24 September

Give and Take is Back! Saturday 24th September 10am-1pm at the Chaucer Club, Popson Street, Bungay. Bring along unwanted, non-electrical items on the day and take something home all for free! The perfect time to clear out the cupboards and let the moth balls fly before the cold kicks in! SB can collect any large or bulky items on or before Friday 23rd September by prior arrangement.

For more information or to arrange collections, contact Eloise Wilkinson (01986 788785) 
eloise.wilkinson@gmail.com Eloise Wilkinson

Transition Tea Tent @ The Waveney Greenpeace Fair - Sunday 4 September

The Waveney Greenpeace Fair is on! It will be taking place in its new location alongside the lime trees at Henham Park, Suffolk on Sunday 4th September from 11am to 11pm (find us on map here).

The Fair features three music stages: the big top with a range of amplified music, the acoustic stage, and a lively human dynamo stage where the sound system is powered by members of the audience riding an exercise bike! The music encompasses jazz, folk, blues, reggae, samba and much, much more.

Stalls are back, plus great kids’ activities and entertainment including the Woodcraft Folk and the Foolhardy Folk.

Some new things include Swingboats, ‘History of the Albion Fairs’ tent, a healing area, more campaign stalls and of course The Transition Tea Tent, organised by Sustainable Bungay and featuring sustainable bicycle-powered smoothies by Transition Norwich's Jo Balfe. There will also be a Transition East stall inside for all initiatives in the Eastern region to contribute posters and info, so do come along! It's a great place to meet up.

Admission is £10 per adult, £8 concessions, £5 children under 12, under 5s free. Please car share or come by bike, there's no extra charge for parking this year.

For further details including about volunteering contact Eloise Wilkinson eloise.wilkinson@gmail.com. For full line up www.waveneygreenpeace.org.uk

Transition Tea Tent and Stall from Greenpeace Fair 2010 by Mark Watson; Jo and bicycle-powered smoothies at the Harlequin Fayre.