East Anglian Food Co-ops Conference - 6 February

The Food Co-ops & Buying Groups project presents its 2nd and last East Anglian conference:

GROWING, SELLING, BUYING IN YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY

Linking up food co-ops, buying groups, allotment plotholders, community gardens, urban scrumpers and small producers on February 6th 10am - 4pm at Sproughton Tithe Barn near Ipswich, Suffolk www.sproughtontithebarn.org.uk

There will be presentations & Workshops from: Abundance London & Leeds - Harvesting & distributing fruit that would otherwise be left to rot; Maria Iacovou of Wivenhoe buying group - Troubleshooting & diversifying session for wholefood buying groups; Eloise Dey - London’s Capital Growth project supporting community gardens to sell surplus; Meet the Local Foods Suffolk team; Rebecca Tully - Organiclea workers' co-op's Cropshare stall selling; allotmentholders’ surplus in Walthamstow, Metfield Chicken Co-op & Suffolk’s Pig Clubs.

Plus opportunities for networking with local groups and action planning to help set up or improve your community food project.

Delicious lunch of local seasonal produce.

This is a FREE event but booking is essential
Contact: gemma@sustainweb.org or 07971 863 586

More information and a toolkit showing how to get started is available at www.foodcoops.org

BUNGAY: Plant Medicine Bed 2012, plus Talks, Walks and Workshops beginning Sunday 15th January

Each year the central flowerbed at Bungay library community garden takes a different theme. In 2011 it was Wild Plants for Bees and Butterflies, this year it will be Plants as Medicine. The intent behind the Plant Medicine Bed is to rekindle our relationship with the plants we share the earth with and to learn about making simple kitchen and garden remedies. As well as using plants physically to help maintain our health and wellbeing, having a relationship with flowers and trees is a tonic in itself.

So in addition to the flowerbed as a display for all kinds of wild weeds and healing herbs, there will be a series of vibrant plants for life talks, walks, conversations and practical workshops with fellow ‘plant people’, taking place monthly throughout the year in the library and around the town. They will follow the seasons and are open to anyone who wants to deepen their connection with and knowledge of plants.

We start on 15 January with a creative look at Medicine Roots with SB’s Charlotte Du Cann (author of the forthcoming 52 Flowers That Shook My World). On 19 February, in conversation with David Wrenn of Orchard End Organics, we’ll focus on practical tips for planting and growing herbs. And on 18 March Medical herbalist, Dan Wheals (Transition Ipswich) will introduce Adopt a Herb (part of the Norfolk and Norwich festival), and show us how to find out about one chosen plant and explore the different stories that emerge. We look forward to seeing you there!

Where: Bungay Library

When: Sundays 19 February, 18 March at 3PM

Look out in the Spring and Summer for the Spring Tonic plant walk, making teas and tinctures and the Midsummer walk and wild plant oils workshop.

For all enquiries contact Mark Watson: 01502 722419 or markintransition@hotmail.co.uk or check this website where I’ll be posting regular announcements and write-ups for both the plant medicine bed and the events.

Bungay Library Community Garden was inspired by permaculture and transition principles and designed and constructed by members of SB’s library courtyard working party. It blossomed and burgeoned throughout 2011 thanks to the attention of many people, in particular Richard Vinton, who keeps a daily eye on the plants and trees (and the watering can, trowel and compost close by). Do pay us a visit during regular library times. The plants will love the company and you’re sure to love theirs!

Photo: Talking plants and bees at the Library Community Garden, Bungay Beehive Day, July 2011

New Low Carbon Community Fund - deadline 22 Dec

The deadlines are tight, the grants are substantial and the criteria are right in the sweet spot for Transition Initiatives.

The Department of Energy and Climate Change has just announced a new £10 million fund which is available to communities in England and Wales that are playing an active role in the development of a low carbon society. LEAF aims to help communities to accelerate their activity on energy and climate change.

Initial applications must be submitted online by 12 noon on 22-Dec-2011.
The follow up applications need to be submitted by 20-Jan-2012.

The grants are available to finance projects that increase understanding and uptake of energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies and help to make energy supply secure and affordable for everyone in their community. The scheme aims to help communities to equip themselves to work with the private and public sector to deliver real projects through mechanisms such as the Green Deal, Feed in Tariffs and the Renewable Heat Incentive.

This fund is a short-term intervention to be completed by 31-Mar-2012 and is expected that average grant values will be around £50,000.

There is some useful guidance material here
http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2011-12-13/leaf-update-uk

Details of how to apply for LEAF are available here:
http://www.greencommunitiescc.org.uk/DECCAbout.aspx

REPORT: Third Transition East Gathering 2011

On Saturday, 26th November 2011, 40 Transitioners from 13 Transition Towns in East Anglia met for our third regional meeting. It was hosted by Transition Stour Valley and held at Old Hall Community, East Bergholt in Suffolk. It was an inspiring day, that included a shared lunch, children's activites, a tour of Old Hall. Just hearing about each others’ experiences - good and bad - was valuable and illuminating.

Here are some of the highlights for me:

Transition v transition A few people reported that their initiatives had become inactive due to conflicts or burnout, but were then replaced by practical projects (ex. a community farm) which weren’t officially associated with the ‘Transition’ movement. The feeling was that these ‘transition’ projects were a natural extension of the movement and something to be proud of, not sorry about. There are lots of ‘transition’ projects around by people who don’t want to be part of an organised movement, but are very much on our wavelength.

Food projects galore!Most groups reported active food projects of various types: CSAs, food hubs, coops, market stalls, food sharing, festivals. Many met to discuss this in an Open Space session. Then in the closing session, we set up a small group that will help these food projects across our region to keep in contact with each other and promote synergy between them.

An East Anglian Transition currency? I was in the Open Space discussion of local currencies. It was difficult to choose the Open Space group I wanted, but I was so gripped that I stayed there throughout. We were actively discussing what we can do in case of major economic difficulties. The people from Cambridge are putting on a small conference on Alternatives to Economic Growth to look at this. The most exciting idea for me was a proposal for an East Anglian Transition currency that we could all use, tied to businesses and people who want an economy driven by wellbeing not money.

We will hold our next meeting next Summer. Several small groups will take forward the results of our discussions. Everyone thought it was an enjoyable and useful day. Gary Alexander

Third Transition East Gathering - 26 November

Many of you will remember the first two gatherings of Transitioners from all around East Anglia, at Downham Market and at Diss. I found them really excellent events, and heard the same from many others who were there. They gave me a strong sense that there were many others like me, with similar projects and similar difficulties. Sharing those gave me a renewed sense of purpose, lots of good ideas, and, especially, new friends. They were well worth the travel effort.

I hope you will spread the word and come with a group from your initiative.

The third gathering will be on 26th November, hosted by Transition Stour Valley and held at Old Hall Community, East Bergholt from 9 am (for a 10 am start) - 5 pm with optional food and evening entertainment for those wishing to stay on. The venue itself is an inspiring place, a large community that has been running for about 40 years on very environmentally sound and democratic lines. A tour of Old Hall is an option as part of the programme.

The programme is designed to help you to meet those Transitioners from around the region who are most likely to be of interest to you, with mapping exercises, discussions, and 'organised but informal networking'. There will also be fun creative activities for children and a children’s Book and Toy swap, so bring along any you would like to swap.

Please bring some lunch to share, and information about your group and what it has been doing, perhaps as a poster or leaflets. (If you can't come, please send information anyway. It will be displayed.) Come by public transport or in shared cars if possible. Gary Alexander

Getting there: Old Hall Community, East Bergholt, CO7 6TG. Buses run from Manningtree station and will stop outside Old Hall if you ask the driver at 09.40 (96), 11.40 (96) and 13.40 (96), its also a beautiful 3 mile walk on footpaths. Evening lifts can be arranged back to the station. There are also buses from Ipswich and Colchester to East Bergholt. Contacts: Miriam 07904198649 or Dave 07799338733 and further info and full programme .

Photo: First Transition East gathering in Downham Market, 2009

NORWICH: 3rd Year Celebration with Rob Hopkins - 15 November

An evening for Transition Norwich and the City of Norwich to celebrate, reconnect, remind, regenerate, share and discuss where we are and what we have achieved since the 'great unleashing' back in 2008.

The evening is set for Tuesday the 15th of November- 7.30pm at the United Reform Church (Princes Street). The plan is to have a happy and relaxed celebration, an opportunity for further dreaming and planning, with stalls to display the various projects throughout Norwich that have been a direct result of TN or link directly with TN in their ethos and vision.

Rob Hopkins will be joining our celebration, sharing the broader story of transition as he witnesses it as well as discussing his upcoming book The Transition Companion (including sections about the TN blog, Norwich FarmShare and a great pic of the NR3 Reskillers by helenofnorwich).

Plus.... there are plans to put a short 10 min film together that reflects on Transition Norwich, the place, the people, the projects.For inquiries about the event please contact Christine Way at training@transitionnorwich.org

The Transition Companion by Rob Hopkins (Green Books) was published on 27 October and had its launch in London on 12 October.

An open letter: Please Support Occupy London

Dear Transitioners,

The world’s poorest 2 billion are still the poorest 2 billion, violence and resource wars fueled by our insatiable hunger for diminishing resources like oil and rare earth minerals for consumer gadgets are helping keep them that way. This year saw record ice melt in the Arctic. Despite efforts to decouple CO2 pollution from economic growth, not to mention a global recession, we are currently tracking the IPCC’s worst case emissions scenarios. Improvements to well-being have all but stalled in the world’s largest economies while inequality and resulting social and health problems are booming.

20th Century capitalism alone isn’t helping us address these urgent 21st century issues. Instead of trickling wealth and resources down, we seem to be hoovering it all up. There’s a desperate need for a new economics that delivers shared prosperity at home, helps quickly raise living standards in developing countries and emerging economies and does it all within ecological and planetary limits and boundaries.

To wit, some pesky kids have decided to occupy Madrid, Wall Street and now the City of London. Far from being the trouble making free-loaders some currently seem to think they are, my take is that these predominantly young folk are bucking the trend for apathy and instead championing activism. And where many of us feel paralysed and helpless at the task in front of us, they are actively exploring, embracing and promoting solutions. They deserve our support.

In their first week Occupy London have opened an outdoor kitchen (hygiene certified), a library and hosted free, public talks and workshops from the likes of the New Economics Foundation, The National Institute of Economic and Social Research and Egyptian writer and activist Nawal Saadawi - right in the heart of the city. They’d like to stay there and carry on hosting talks and workshops on new economics, social justice, ecological limits and transition all winter.

To cut a long story short, they need your help. The best way to do that right now seems to be to petition (nicely) St Paul’s Cathedral and appeal to them to continue giving Occupy London a home.

Obviously a tent city suddenly arriving on your doorstep is a bit of shock, and St Paul’s are currently wrestling with potential health and safety implications - but with will, those are issues that can almost certainly be resolved through cooperation.

Please take five minutes to write to the Dean and Chapter: deanspa (at) stpaulscathedral (dot) org (dot) uk and ask them to support the Occupy London camp.

Best,
Jay

jay (at) transitionwivenhoe (dot) org (dot) uk