Sustainable Bungay's Car Free Day - Sunday 22 Sept - FREE Bus Service between Beccles and Diss!

What would Bungay look like with fewer cars on the roads? On September 22nd every year communities across Europe take back their streets for a day. This year Bungay is joining in and we’re asking everyone to leave their cars at home for the day.

There are some great events planned and local traders are offering special discounts and services - see below. And if you live between Beccles and Diss, why not take advantage of the FREE BUS SERVICE Sustainable Bungay has organised with Anglian Bus and visit us:

FREE BUS
Working with Anglian Bus Sustainable Bungay have arranged a free bus between Beccles and Diss. There's currently no Sunday service on this route so the 'Waveney Special' presents a unique opportunity to hop on the bus and visit some of the valley's other towns and villages - perhaps for a walk and pub lunch, to visit friends or just for a bit of sightseeing.

Buses leave Beccles at 9:50pm and 1:50pm and Diss bus station at 11:15am and 3:15pm. You can view the full time table here: Car Free Day Bus Timetable 

Of course if you don't live in Bungay the bus is a great way of getting to one our Car Free day events or taking advantage of the offers from local businesses:

Car Free Day Events

9am: Town Mayor Judy Cloake and Town Reeve Richard Cundy will see the Godric Cycling Club off on their regular club run (which is for faster riders). The Club are always keen to see new faces, so do feel free to join them.

10am: As part of Sustainable Bungay’s on-going series of walks around the town there will be a Wellbeing Walk across the Outney Common. Join Tony and others for a gentle walk and conversation.

10:30: Margaret Sheppard will lead a group through the lanes for coffee in Beccles. A more leisurely cycle ride than the Godric Cycling club run!

1:30pm: Josiah Meldrum will lead a group along the back roads to join the Bungay Community Beekeepers for their open day at Aldeby. Those who’ve cycled to Beccles with the 10:30am group are welcome to join at Aldeby.

2:30pm: Picturing the Past – the hidden gems of Bungay: A walk of approx 1.5 miles around the town centre and riverside to view the 16 Bungay broadsheets created by artist Alan Irvine, and the embroidered wall-hangings in the church and library created by Mary Walker (above). The artists will talk about their work and Chris Reeve will cover local history, finishing in St Mary’s church with tea and cakes. Organised for and by Waveney and Blyth Arts. To book (essential) phone Chris Reeve on 01986 893155 or email kitkat46@btinternet.com Waveney and Blyth Arts members £3/£4 non-members (children under 12 free); Tea and cakes (optional) £2.50

Car Free Day Specials

Buttercross Cafe - a free drink for anyone using the cafe on Sunday 22nd
Earsham Street Cafe - 10% discount for those involved in Car Free Day; bring a bus ticket
Tutti Frutti - Tim will be opening his green grocers shop on Sunday morning.

More About Car Free Day

Like almost every other town, city and village in the UK, Bungay was not designed to accommodate cars - instead the town evolved around the needs of pedestrians, who shared the roads and paths with draught animals and those on horseback. Over the last 100 years the car has come to dominate the roads; walkers have been pushed onto pavements and cyclists squeezed between the two.

Motor vehicles have brought huge benefits, but there are obvious disadvantages. Aside from segregated and potentially dangerous roads, we suffer air and noise pollution, damage to historic buildings, the loss of open spaces to road building, and health problems linked to a lack of exercise. As the arguments about Bungay’s new one-way system rumble on there’s one simple action we could take to reduce pressure on the town: leave our cars at home.

Car Free Day, which emerged from separate campaigns in big cities like New York, Berlin and Amsterdam, can trace its roots back to the 1950s. The current annual event is 15 years old and aims to encourage people, for just one day, to reduce their car use. In a rural area like ours where public transport is often limited, cutting back on car use can seem difficult, but Department for Transport research shows that a fifth of all journeys are less than a mile and two thirds are less than five miles. We’re asking people to think about those trips on the 22nd – is walking an option, could you hop on your bike, a bus or even car-share?

In many towns and cities Car Free Days have eventually led to huge changes in the way transport is organised – in Germany and the Netherlands many towns now have car free centres and improved public transport, pedestrian and cycling infrastructure. Here in Bungay our immediate aims are more modest, but we have persuaded Anglian Bus to run 2 FREE services between Beccles and Diss where currently there is no Sunday service. If this one day trial proves a success we hope Anglian Bus will consider making a permanent timetable change. So if you’re not a cyclist or a walker why not take a trip to one of the other beautiful towns in our valley - or invite your friends to Bungay.

BUNGAY: Happy Mondays Festival Meal - 15 July

Happy Mondays in the Festival Marquee: A feast of local food prepared and served in the Bungay Festival Marquee (at Bungay Castle): 15th July | 6:30pm – 9:30pm

We're getting ready for our BIGGEST ever Happy Monday!

 

Happy Mondays with the Community Kitchen is more than a meal, it’s a monthly celebration of the best in local and seasonal food in great company. In July the Community Kitchen will be setting up its big table in the Festival Marquee and cooking a two-course feast for 100. The marquee will be decorated with garden flowers and the meal will be cooked in our meadow kitchen - expect a warm welcome and delicious food!
 

For this extra-special event there will be a licensed bar in the marquee selling local beer, cider and apple juice.
 

As ever the meal is £5 for 2 courses (including a glass of Mark Watson’s famous Herbal Refresher - but not including drinks from the bar).
 

We’ll be serving a herby summer vegetable barley risotto with Baron Bigod cheese; a radish, tomato and cucumber salad; a green leaf and edible flower salad and a courgette and carrot slaw with horseradish and yoghurt. The dessert will be marinated strawberries and cream.
 

The bar will be serving Lightweight, brewed by the Waveney Brewing Company in Earsham, and Aspall’s cider.

If you’d like to join us (we hope so!) please complete the booking form you'll find HERE or on the Sustainable Bungay website HERE.

SWAFFHAM: Transition Thursday and the Power of Just Doing Stuff - 4 July

An evening with Rob Hopkins, organised by Transition Swaffham, Transition Downham Market and Transition King's Lynn is happening at The Green Britain Centre in Swaffham on Thursday 4th July at 7pm.

Rob will be launching his new book The Power of Just Doing Stuff and engaging in a Q&A. We will also be building a picture of the stuff we are all doing in Norfolk so do come and help us fill in the maps! This is a really important opportunity for us to come together and think about how we can create a positive vision and transition for this great part of the world. If you are interested in helping out before the event, or on the night, please e-mail John Knock at johnknock2@hotmail.co.uk.

There will be refreshments available and this will be a great chance to meet other like-minded people from around Norfolk. All welcome. (Ben Margolis)

Image: Rob Hopkins signs new Transition book at Crystal Palace launch (Jonathan Goldberg)

Norfolk Permaculture Design Course - 3-16 August

An exciting opportunity to participate in Norwich’s first residential Permaculture Design Course. 

This course provides an overview of what permaculture is all about and how it can help you to design a more sustainable, yet more abundant lifestyle. The venue, Park House, consists of 12.7 acres of woodland, arable land and gardens 4 miles from the city centre.

Although permaculture is most commonly thought about in connection with gardening and farming, its principles, ethics and design methods can be adapted and used in individual's own work, interests and home and offers a perspective on all aspects of building a sustainable future. Permaculture encourages us to use our individual skills, knowledge and interests, whilst drawing on traditional wisdom, science and our innate ability to observe and learn from the world around us. 

Permaculture is about meeting fundamental human needs by mimicking the design of natural systems. A simple way to understand this is to consider something you don’t want (waste) being used creatively as new input to the system. In this way problems can become the source of solutions. The elegance of systems designed on permaculture principles is in their simplicity and functionality. (Deepak Rughani)

Contact: Deepak Rughani Tel: 07931 636337 Visit: www.designedvisions.com for more details

Ecotherapy Awareness workshop 22nd May!

We will be hosting a one day workshop, ‘Ecotherapy Awareness’. This is open to anyone and led by Andy McGeeney here in High Woods Country Park , Colchester , on Wednesday 22^nd May. Booking is essential - places are limited so if you are interested please book up asap. £45 for organisations, £35 self funded individuals, £25 unwaged/students.

 

Andy says:

‘Ecotherapy is much more than a walk in the woods. The invitation is to spend a day outdoors with the intention of creating a deeper connection to Nature and in the process increase our sense of well-being. The use of the outdoors for well-being is becoming increasingly popular. The ecotherapy I train people to use is leading edge in its use of specific activities that bring people closer to nature and in turn improves their well-being. You will experience the ecotherapy activities I do with my clients and receive the positive benefits for yourself. There will also be an opportunity to reflect on ecotherapy and how it relates to your professional work.’

 

To access the booking form, click the link below, scroll down page click ‘download information and booking form’ and select ‘Colchester’.

http://www.andymcgeeney.com/experience.html

 

Best wishes

Jo Wheatley

Community Gardener, BIG Garden 

tel 01206 855287    mobile 07950 243904

Colchester Borough Council

Community Services

High Woods CP, Turner Rd , CO4 5JR

 

mailto:jo.wheatley@colchester.gov.uk

The BIG Garden organic food growing project is open for visits, volunteering and garden therapy.

The garden is open for visits and volunteering from 10am to 1pm from Monday to Thursday and on alternate Saturdays, 13th & 27th April; NB 11th May will be 12 to 3pm; & 25th May; 8th & 22nd June.

Health referrals 10.30am to 1pm Monday to Thursday - see the website for further information and to download a referral form and guidelines:

http://www.colchester.gov.uk/biggarden

WOODBRIDGE: 'Streetwise' - Transition Streets come to Suffolk - 20 April

Streetwise is a one day training course that provides the basis for running a Transition Streets (TS) project, whereby street by street behaviour change is introduced which will benefit the people involved and the environment. The course will be led by two Transition Totnes approved trainers and is designed for those wishing to co-ordinate and lead Streetwise courses in their area. It follows a successful trail with 8 households in the village of Cransford, part of GreenerFram.

Transitions Streets originated in Totnes under the name of Transition Together. Based on 468 households from 56 groups the average saving per household is around £570 per year and 1.3 tonnes of CO2 per year’. ‘The greatest benefit of participating was the new social connections and the strengthening of local community.’ 

Spaces are limited to 25 (with two people coming from any one ‘community’) 

Local vegetarian food will be provided. There will be an optional donation of £5 to go towards printing more localised Transition Streets workbooks. 

For more information on Transition Streets and the pilot contact David by email:      greenacre356@btinternet .com.

To book either call 01394 444218 and leave a message or email  

Deborah.Wargate@suffolkcoastal.gov.uk 

Date & Time: Saturday 20th April 2013, 9:00am - 5:00pm
Location:       Hacheston Village Hall, Hacheston, IP13 0DR

Some Winter Dispatches from East Anglia

First published on the Transition Network Social Reporting Project 21 Jan 2013, introducing a regional week on Transition in East Anglia

It’s early January and I’m sitting in the Green Dragon pub at Sustainable Bungay’s first event of the year, a Green Drinks session on the theme of Well-Being and the Community. The room is packed, the discussion is lively, and a new Arts, Culture and Well-Being group is formed with monthly events already being planned and put into diaries. Everything from mapping the areas in town where people experience well-being (or not), to teaching each other skills in communications, living together, growing food, meditation and even body drumming (I’m going to have a go at that one).

This post is not (for once) just about Sustainable Bungay (“You don’t really need to speak about us this time Mark,” laughed Josiah on the phone the other day. “We’ve been very well represented, after all!”). I did want to mention that meeting though, because of the connections I perceive between the local initiative I’m in and what people are saying and hinting at in their pieces for this week on other Transition initiatives in East Anglia.

The two main things I notice at this point five years down the Transition line are: one, a strong feeling that we actually have been building community over this time with all our meetings and events and discussions. People really wanted to be in the pub looking at ways, often quite simple ways, to maintain well-being, and hence resilience, by doing things together. This is reflected in Carol Hunter's piece (this coming Thursday) about Downham and Villages in Transition in west Norfolk.

The other is an awareness of how many people are in our lives who weren’t there before Transition began. And how diverse we all are. Even in a rural market town like Bungay (sorry, I’ll try not to say it again) where the population is less obviously diverse than in a city, say, our transition group has (and welcomes) a large variety of people. Everyone was aware it couldn’t be done on our own. And even within the group itself, there is a greater awareness of the challenges we face both locally and globally, certainly in terms of financial and climate instability, than there was in the early days.

Out in the East

East Anglia has hosted three Transition in the East gatherings since 2009, in Downham Market and Diss (Norfolk) and East Bergholt on the Suffolk-Essex border, as well as a large Transition Suffolk meeting in 2011. The Diss gathering in November 2009 coincided with the publication of a document “Transition in the East: co-operation, collaboration, support and influence” produced by Charlotte Du Cann and Josiah Meldrum and based on telephone communications with twenty nine initiatives over the course of several weeks.

These events catalysed vital discussions and were key in forming and strengthening the transition networks in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire. Many of the people and groups involved are still in touch with each other within the region.

We often attend each other's events to share experience and best practice. And sometimes to give each other a boost.

In November a quartet of us set off from a previously mentioned Transition Initiaitve in north-east Suffolk to see the folks at the recently revived Sustainable Bury at Bury St. Edmunds Green Fair. This was in exchange for the visits to B**G*Y from Karen Cannard of The Rubbish Diet fame, who had come to talk all things bin-slimming at our Give and Take Day in September and led a Green Drinks session earlier in the year on domestic waste. See Karen Cannard's blogpost on how these exchanges provide fertile cross-pollination.

Sustainable Bury is not the only initiative to re-emerge. Transition Woodbridge has recently started to organise again following the collapse of the original group.

Wivenhoe, a university town of 10,000 people on the River Colne in north Essex, is home to Transition Town Wivenhoe, now over four years old. The initiative recently celebrated the New Year with a cycle-powered showing of the film Chasing Ice, a climate change documentary about photographer James Balog's Extreme Ice Survey, which recorded Arctic ice melt over a period of three years.

I bumped into an acquaintance the other day I hadn't seen for ages and started talking to her about Transition, had she heard of it? "Oh yes," she said, "I'm part of GreenerSax's foodgrowing group" (in Saxmundham, Suffolk).

Nearby GreenerFram in Framlingham have just published their report on last year's Suffolk pilot of Transition Streets, based in and around the village of Cransford and have set up a meeting to take it further. And Stowmarket Transition formed last summer, recently appearing in the local paper talking about their "new "green project" aimed at reducing the town's carbon use.

As I said on the front page introduction to this East Anglia in Transition week, this post is the tip of the iceberg as far as Transition activity in this region is concerned. I haven't mentioned Transition Norwich, for example, whose original food group turned into the CSA Norwich FarmShare, now in its third year, and whose NR3 neighbourhood group created the annual Magdalen-Augustine Festival in one of the city's so-called deprived areas.

The Transition Norwich blog, This Low Carbon Life, was the inspiration and model for this very Social Reporting project you are now reading. The voices of Norwich transitioners and guests are there to be read and enjoyed in the more than a thousand posts on the blog since its inception in October 2009. That's an archive if ever there was one!

If you are reading this and are part of a Transition initiative in East Anglia, do feel free to make yourself known in the comments box below and put a link to your website or Facebook page. And if you'd like to join the Transition Circle East community blog and upload posts about your transition group and events, email Charlotte at theseakaleproject@hotmail.co.uk for an invitation.

And me, I'll be getting on with helping to organise our new Arts, Culture and Well-Being group in SssshYouKnowWhere. And reporting on our activities here on the Social Reporting project and elsewhere throughout the year. Though talking of icebergs, I might not actually be able to get to Happy Mondays tonight for the South Indian themed meal. Bah!

Meanwhile, you'll find plenty of good nutritious fare here this week from fellow transitioners reporting from the east. Mark Watson

Pics: Poster for Living Together, a day about co-housing and intentional communities, organised by transitioners in Suffolk, January 2013; Happy talking rubbish with Karen Cannard, Sustainable Bungay's Give and Take Day, September 2012; Transition Town Wivenhoe's Chasing Ice poster; Transition Norwich 2nd birthday poster 2010; Transition East Gathering organised by Downham and Villages in Transition, March 2009

Living Together gathering

A day of workshops and networking about and for intentional communities. 

 How to set up a housing co-op 
Introduction to CoHousing 
Forming a group/ Visioning/ Action Planning 
Facilitation and Consensus Decision Making 
Raising finance and making a business plan 
Radical Routes 
Case studies from local communities: Random Camel Housing Co-op, Argyle St Housing Co-op, Norwich Cohousing, Old Hall, possibly the Drive from Walthamstow 
Open space discussions - and please notify in advance any specialist workshop desires

Matchmaking! Like a real time Diggers and Dreamers noticeboard! 

Lunch included, a local AND vegan offering - oooh. Cost: A tenner concession/ twenty pounds full price, but nobody turned away for lack of funds - contact us! Places limited please book Contact: Nigel - 07946529642 / livingtogetherevent@gmail.com

When:	Sat, 26 January 2013, 09:30 – 16:30
Where:	Old Hall Community, East Bergholt, Essex, CO76TG. Nearest station is Manningtree on the East Coast mainline then a 3 mile cycle/ walk along the Stour, or let us know if you require or can offer a lift.

If you want to display posters as below please ask download and print or ask Gemma for hard copies: 07816 146 567

IPSWICH - Community Resilience Workshop - 23 January

Transition Ipswich's Community Resilience Workshop - Wednesday January 23^rd - 8pm to 10pm; West Building, UCS Campus, Ipswich

The aim of this free, practical workshop is to devise new projects to increase Ipswich’s resilience to economic crisis, resource depletion and climate change – and improve our wellbeing.

It's easy to slip into despondency, thinking 'there's nothing I can do in the face of massive global changes which are outside anyone's control'.  Transition offers a different way of thinking and fosters projects that are making a real difference at the local level. But it needs people like you to make it happen.

Here in Ipswich, a range of initiatives are already well underway including (check out the links) a community supported agriculture scheme, a community orchard, a food co-op, a pig club, a local food challenge and a housing co-op.  Each of these was started by one or two people with the germ of an idea and a “can do” attitude that inspired others to join in.

The workshop on January 23^rd will build on these successes and explore new initiatives. It will be a dynamic Open Space event where anyone can put forward their ideas, debate them with others and focus on what interests them most. If you haven’t tried Open Space before you’ll be amazed how natural, enjoyable and productive it can be.

Come and join us to scope out the next phase of Transition in Ipswich - and bring your friends.

West Building is the large brick building in the central part of the UCS site – entrance labelled A on this map. Access by foot or bike is from Grimwade Street and New Street.

If needed, free parking is available in the UCS Car Park, accessible via Fore Street at the bottom of Back Hamlet.

For more information see http://www.transitionipswich.org.uk/ or phone Steve on 07889 751578

BUNGAY: Plants for Life review and Les Belles Tisanes de France

This report was first published on Sustainable Bungay's website. It consists of a review of this year's Plants for Life project and a write-up of the last of the events in the series this year, a talk about and tasting of the herb teas and honeys of la Drôme region in France.

It was a lovely way to end this year’s Plants for Life series. At 3pm in Bungay library last Sunday, we did a round up of the events and spoke about  what we’d enjoyed and learned from them. Then we took a visit to the Drôme region of south-eastern France with Eloise Wilkinson. This was via a brew of the tisanes (herb teas) and a taste of the honeys from the place where she spent the early part of her life.

Plants for Life – a quick review

Each month between eight and forty people came for a talk, walk or workshop on the theme of plants as medicine. We met mostly in the library where the central bed of the courtyard garden also showcased the theme. I curated this throughout the year, with the help of others in Sustainable Bungay, most notably Richard Vinton.

Each Plants for Life session featured a guest ‘plant person’ speaker and included medical and lay herbalists, authors, organic and biodynamic growers, and home winemakers.

We looked at the medicine under the ground as we connected with our roots in January, learned growing tips in February (never water basil in the evening, morning is always best for the roots; keep coriander moist it hates beings dried out), adopted a herb to focus on for the year in March, walked with weeds in April, heard about hedgerow medicine in May, made midsummer wildflower oils in June, went on a bee and flower walk in July, had our world shaken by 52 flowers in August, made autumn tonic tinctures in September and medicinal wines in October.

I asked everybody on Sunday to think about two things to share with the group about these events. First, a general feeling about why it had been worth coming to them, and then something specific thing they'd learned during the plant medicine year.

People expressed an increase in their general awareness of the plants around them, and were inspired by the open sharing of knowledge in the sessions. After the plantain oil-making workshop in June with Rose, Eloise said her four year-old daughter became obsessed with plantain and had spent the summer telling all her friends about it! Coming to think of it, I spent all summer doing the same thing!

Having the rhythm and continuity of a regular monthly event was felt to be key, as was looking at plants in so many different ways. "I try not to say 'weed' anymore," said Lesley. "It's fascinating to find out about how everything's connected in an eco-system. And I've now embraced nettles!"

"It's really good for the imagination," said Charlotte. "Everything from foraging to growing to connecting with the different times of the year. And I loved the practical stuff. I knew nothing about winemaking until the session with Nick. The fight between the yeast and the sugar really grabbed me."

Richard has loved wildflowers since he was a child, and enjoyed the tea-making at the meetings. "When you find out all the things a common plant like Yarrow can do, for example," he said, "you wonder why you bother going to the chemist so much."

"It's been really productive," said Nick. "And I've enjoyed all the variety. Talking of yarrow, when we went Walking with Weeds, I was stunned when you asked everybody if they recognised the leaf, and a six-year old boy answered immediately, 'That's Yarrow!' "

Newcomers Linda and Tony had both been inspired by the last few events to find out more about the qualities of plants. "Raspberries," said Tony. "I had no idea about all the benefits of raspberries."

For more about the specific Plants for Life sessions, do visit the archive on Sustainable Bungay’s website, where you’ll find previews and write-ups of the events.

Ô les belles tisanes de la France - A Visit to the Drôme with Eloise Wilkinson

La Drôme is an extraordinary area in south-eastern France, where three different landscapes/eco-systems meet. There are the plains of the Rhône river, the low-lying hills in the Valley of the Drôme and the bigger Massif Alpin mountains. To the south are the mountains of the Mediterranean. The three climates are continental, alpine and meditaerranean. In this place of convergence, half of the total number of plant species in France are to be found.

After speaking about the nature of the land, Eloise turned her focused to tilleul, as limeflowers are such a part of the French cultural fabric. Lime trees in France are somewhat like our English oaks in that they are the traditional tree of justice under which meetings, councils and even courts were held. But tilleul is probably best known as a relaxing and digestive herbal tea.

“When I was a young child, every evening the adults would make a large pot of limeflower blossom tea, tilleul. I’d get the really strong feeling that the evening I was allowed to join in with this tea ritual would mark my own transition to becoming a grown-up.”

There used to be an annual Foire au Tilleul (Limeflower Fair) in the area, which lasted a whole week and where the price of tilleul was fixed for the coming year. The last one was held in 2003, although there is still a (much smaller) fête.

“I think often about this area which is so unique in terms of the meeting of such different landscapes and what effects climate change and instability could have on it,” said Eloise.

It was time to drink some tilleul from the Drôme ourselves. The flowers smelt delicate with a honey sweetness to them. And shortly after we drank the infusion, several of us remarked on just how relaxing it was. No one wanted to get up from their seat.

“We might be staying the night,” I laughed.

I dragged myself downstairs to make a second pot, this time of ‘Couleurs d’automne’ (Autumn colours), which was made up of a mixture of hawthorn, mallow, spearmint and again limeflowers. Delicious, but just as relaxing. We didn't get round to trying the sweet and resinous thyme tea, thym serpolet (Thymus serpyllum) another Drôme native, and like other thymes, a boost for the immune system.

Eloise passed around various honeys from the Drôme for everyone to taste: rosemary, lavender, limeblossom and pine. And sweet chestnut. They were all extraordinary. The tree honeys were dense and intense, particularly the sweet chestnut, with its definite medicinal smell.

Then we sat in silence for a while, infused by the teas and the honey. Infused by plants for life.

Community Well-being and the future

Throughout the summer I paid a weekly visit to the library garden to hold a ‘plant medicine surgery’, where anyone could come and share any aspect of their plant knowledge or ask questions. We watched as the giant burdock (blood purifier and organ restorer) became more giant and the native vervain (restorative of the nervous system) put out its tiny star-like flowers like points of light. And a common theme or question emerged from these meetings: what does well-being entail, not just on the individual but also on the community and the planetary or ecological level? Can individual well-being really exist in isolation from the whole or on a too-stressed planet?

Next year Sustainable Bungay will form a new Arts, Culture and Well-being subgroup with these questions in mind. Anyone and everyone is welcome to join in and it will be the topic for the first Green Drinks of the year on 8th January at 7.30pm. The brief is open and there will be a monthly conversation, practical activity or workshop, exploring the different elements that constitute community well-being and culture: topics so far include growing food together, permaculture, meditation and creative non-fiction writing and journalism along with social and other media.

Meanwhile I would like to thank all the plant people who contributed so generously to the Plants for Life project this year, those who came to speak, to listen, to join in... and to those growing all around us. Mark Watson

Connecting with our Roots, Jan poster; Adopt a herb with Dan in March; Eloise showing the map of the Drôme, Tisanes and honeys, November; Plants for Life on the 'A' board and drinking tisanes in the library, November; talking well-being with Christian and Fairy by the plant medicine bed in Bungay community library garden, July; Walking with Weeds, April All images and artwork by Mark Watson

BUNGAY - Happy Monday at the Community Kitchen - 19 November

The main attraction of community meals is their convivial and celebratory nature. It’s not often you can cook for and sit down with 50 people for supper, and food, with its roots in the land and evocative flavours, brings us all together in a way that dry discussions about climate and behaviour change can never do.

There is big sustainable thinking behind every dish at Happy Mondays. All the key Transition subjects, including peak oil and the gift economy, are on the table among the neighbourhood flowers. Even though our dishes are often global (Greek, Moroccan, Indian), nearly all the ingredients are locally-sourced and seasonal. We are deliberately vegetarian to show how meals do not have to rely on resource-heavy meat or fish to be delicious and nutritious.

We are also organic where possible. Why? Because the pesticides used on most conventional crops are harmful to the soil, our bodies, wildlife and especially to bees.

Well-being is one of the principles of Happiness. In the kitchen everything is cooked from scratch and so is free from unhealthy industrial processing. Recipes and ingredients are discussed in detail, from the use of “dry” Italian rice (traditional paddy-grown “wet” rice creates high methane emissions) to whether Nick’s allotment maize would be ready for September’s Mexican fiesta. The more connected we are to what we eat and where we live the happier we are.

Happy Mondays next meal is on 19th November (bookings now open). We are having our Winter Solstice and Christmas Party on 21st December at the Community Centre (all welcome). Donation. Please bring festive food and drink! A new  SB Well-being, Art and Culture group is starting up in 2013. Do join us for a discussion about Well-being and the Conmmunity at our Green Drinks on 9th January.

NORWICH: Magdalen- Augustine Celebration 2012

The 2012 celebration, on Saturday October 13th, 10.00 - 5.00, is picking up a bigger beat this year!

Following the same multi-media format as previous years, it will feature over 20 live music slots in 3 locations, history tours, stuff for kids, a giant free doodle art session under the flyover, tandem rides, a recreation of a 'doll doctor', story-telling ( with tell-a joke-certificates), classical recitals in St.Augustines church through the afternoon, stalls by local charities and groups including Norwich Farmshare, workshops including thai boxing, tai chi, belly dancing, art and poetry.

Future Radio  (FM 107.8), who are supporting this year's celebration and running a live broadcast from Anglia Square, will also be featuring artists and organisers of the event through the week before.  Listen out for us on :  the Platform programme, Sunday 7th October 5 - 6 p.m., the Breakfast Show 10th October 8.40 a.m., and on Friday October 12th Community Chest programme 9.30 a.m. onward........

Check us out at :  www.magdalenstreet.blogspot or on Facebook to see the latest updates and schedule of events on the day.

BUNGAY: Welcome to a busy September round-up

Sustainable Bungay's autumn events start this Friday when you can join the regulars at our monthly film night, then on Sunday you can pop along to our Grow and Give produce swap in the library courtyard garden and pick up or drop off some surplus garden produce. While you're at the library you could nip upstairs to do a bit of sewing before cycling out of town to meet the Pig Club and help prepare for the first porkers.

On Monday 17th the Community Kitchen will be dishing up another of their amazing Happy Mondays - this month a Mexican Fiesta. After such a busy weekend we'll need a breather - but only until Satuday 22nd when the second 2012 Give and Take Day will be in full swing; bring things you no longer want or need - take home stuff you do. The day after Mark will be preparing Autumn Berry Tonics and Tinctures in the library.

Bungay's New Favourite Poet, Luke Wright, will be performing at the library on Friday 28th September - all part of the effort to ensure that the library we campaigned so hard to keep open stays open. And throughout September you could be taking part in the 30:30 Local Food Challenge...

There are more details about all our events and activites, plus some of the things we're keen to support below and on our website - look out for our paper newsletter later this month too.

See you soon!

Give and Take Day | 22nd Sept One of the most popular event in our calendar, Give and Take is a chance to give away stuff you don't need and pick up stuff you do. This time there will be stalls and workshops as well as refreshments from the Community Kitchen - clear out your cupboards! 10am - 1pm, Saturday 22nd September. Read more HERE Film Nights Return! | 14th Sept This coming Friday at Bacon's Barn we'll be showing a short film: Seeds of Freedom charts the story of seed from its roots at the heart of traditional, diversity rich farming systems across the world, to being transformed into a powerful commodity, used to monopolise the global food system. Read more HERE Grow and Give | 16th Sept We are holding another autumn produce exchange at the Library Courtyard on Sunday 16th September, 11am to 1pm. There is an annual sister event in the Spring: Give and Grow. Both occasions encourage use of the permanent swap area in the courtyard for free exchange of anything garden-related. Read more HERE Sewing Sunday | 16th Sept Sewing Sunday is on this Sunday 16th September 3pm at Bungay Library. A friendly group, we chat and sew and share tips and would love to learn any new skills: crochet, rag rugs, knitting, patchwork, revamping old clothes... if you have some skills to show, or just want to lear the basics with us Sewing Sunday is for you!. Read more HERE Pig Club | 16th Sept On Sunday 16th (1.30 - 5.30pm) pig fencing is going up at Lodge Farm, Ilketshall st. Lawrence in readiness for our first pigs. Please feel free to come and help, find out about the pig club and, if you like, join up. So far 9 people have commited to a £50 share in a pig - including a share in pig care, but there's room for a few more... Read more HERE Happy Monday | 17th Sept Using local ingredients and guided by Mark and Charlotte, who lived in central America for some years, this month's community meal will have a Mexican inspired menu (but no mariachi band I'm afraid...). The pudding is as unexpected as it is delicious - but you'll have to join us on the 17th to find out why! Read more and book your place HERE Plants for Life | 23rd Sept Autumn Berry Tonics and Tinctures: We'll look at 3 native plants - hawthorn, elder and sea buckthorn all of which provide berries as medicine and food - and demonstrate how to make berry tinctures. Everyone welcome regardless of experience - and if you do have some herbal tips to share do come along and join in! Read more HERE Saving Bungay Library! |28th Sept Last year we worked hard to help keep Bungay Library open - this year we need to work hard to ensure it stays that way. On Friday 28th September at 7:30pm the excellent Luke Wright will perform a selection of his funny, moving and at times scurrilous poems in aid of Bungay Community Library. Read more and find out how to buy tickets HERE 30:30 Local Food Challenge | Sept Transition Ipswich, working with Transition Woodbridge, have been gearing up to organise a 30-Mile Local Food Challenge this September. They're now in the thick of it with challenge participants only eating only food that has been produced and processed within a 30 mile radius of their homes. Read more HERE Transition Conference | 14th Sept This year quite a few from Sustainable Bungay are attending the Transition Network conference in London. The conference aims to provide a weekend of events and workshops that explore the theme of Building Resilience in Extraordinary Times; there are still a few tickets available. Read about the conference on the Transition Network site HERE