Eco House Open Day 23rd August

There is an another Open Day on AUGUST 23 at Karina’s House. Visitors can call between 2 and 4pm. We would prefer people to come in half hour pulses, 1200, 1230, 1300, 1330 and 1400, if possible. So, if you arrive somewhere in between please wait until the next half hour slot.
The focus is on Photovoltaic (PV) systems, but Karina also has a solar thermal system linked to a wood-burning stove and gas boiler for hot water and central heating.

A much more low tech energy saving feature is the secondary glazing by Storm Windows.
Evo Energy will be on hand to provide technical information on PV, and Karina will be able to talk about her experience as the home-owner.
Please email info@wbecohouses so that we know how many to expect and so that we can give you the address details.
There will be further events on a wide range of eco-retrofit topics – keep your eyes on the blog or email us asking to be added to the Eco House Group list to receive invitations by email.

Opening celebration of Eco Center on 18th September

The Derbyshire Eco Centre is a brand new adult community education centre, opening on 18 September 2010. Find out about the centre, the eco-friendly building, their courses, and where to find them. For more information and brochure click here

Contact the Derbyshire Eco Centre Manager for more information:

Cathy Cooke
Tel: 01629 824765
email: ecocentre@derbyshire.gov.uk

Foraging along the River Trent a big success

As part of the Green Streets celebrations Rebecca Beinart came with her Field Kitchen to share her foraging knowledge.
13 of us met at the Suspension bridge and made our way along the river to the nature reserve at the side of the Wilford Toll bridge.
Armed with brown paper bags (for possible goodies on the way) we set off. Blackberries, mugwort, plantains, red and white clover, horse raddish, jack in the hedge, nettles, dead nettle, silver weed and dock were some of the herbs I can remember, more can be seen on Rebecca's website.


At the end of our trip we sat down next to the lake and tasted some wonderful nettle and sage bread, some freshly brewed mugwort tea with some blackberry bakewell cake.
The evening was cut short by a heavy rain shower but it did not dampen the wonderful experience.
I would like to take this opportunity to Thank Rebecca to sharing her expertise and give us her time.

Foraging on Friday 30th July

Join Rebecca Beinart and her mobile Field Kitchen for a ride along the river Trent, hunting for wild food. This trip will involve a mixture of cycling and pauses to learn about edible plants and foraging. We will stop to sample some of the things we find, brewing up wild tea and tasting some foraged treats.

Field Kitchen is a bespoke bicycle trailer that incorporates the necessary equipment to cook edible plants found on expeditions in urban wilds. The project examines what we can find in our immediate surroundings for sustenance, pleasure and well being – raising questions about our relationship with plants and food, our reliance on imported goods, and lost fields of knowledge.

The emphasis of this trip is less about cycling a long distance and more about exploring the area we meet at 6pm at the Suspension bridge on the WB side and the foraging will last about 2 hours. Donations welcomed

Best wishes,
Rebecca

Second Outdoor Solar Surgery

24 July: Saturday morning, we had the second outdoor Solar Surgery for Rushcliffe Solar on Central Avenue. We collected a lot of interest during the morning, including some who informed us they were definitely going ahead.
It was the day of Farmers' market and that is a major attraction, and brings many in to Bridgford. Oddly, we collected more addresses on the less crowded day of the Gardeners' market.
Pictured: Rain Luo giving advice to a passing lady shopper.

Eco House group

An invite has been emailed out in July 2010 to everyone who has already joined the group. If you’d like to join too, just email me: tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk.
For more information see the website

Solar Rushcliffe

This is an initiative to make Solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity more accessible to local residents, with support from Rushcliffe BC. The plan is to provide an online estimate of solar potential of your roof, info on loans, installers and funding. For more information, vistit the website, or contact David at rushcliffesolar@googlemail.com.

Have you got an hour or so a week to help out?

Can you help out with any IT admin / website work / communications etc, please contact tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk.

Abundance project

In the past two years a group of a handful of people went to our neighbours and friends to harvest surplus fruit. The fruit owners were pleased as their produce was picked for them and it was not rotting on the ground. The volunteers were pleased as they turned the abundance into jams, juices and apples and pears were stored. There is so much produce around us standing in our and our neighbours gardens that goes to waste

The project would be to map and contact people with fruit trees and provide volunteers to harvest for them. The owners take what they need and the volunteers take the rest for re-distribution. for more information contact info@transitionwb.co.uk

Green Streets West Bridgford

This is a celebration of sustainable transport on the last Friday of every month. Would you like to join or help out with the activities on this day – organised walks, bike rides, info and activities for local groups? For more info, see website

Fruit tree planting

This project, led by Julie O’lateju, matches fruit trees with suitable land. If you have trees to offer or land to suggest, or would like to help with fruit tree grafting, please email: info@transitionwb.co.uk

Funding for project

Flora told us a little about European funding that is available, which we might be able to use to support individual projects, or even to create some sort of Transition Academy (which could provide training and on the job learning in areas like food growing, energy saving and renewables, and so on, a bit like the Kinsale College of further education . If you’d like to know more, email floramuir@mail.com

Lembas buyers’ group

Every month or two, about 6 of us place our orders with Lembas (a vegetarian and wholefood wholesaler in Sheffield. To benefit from free delivery, we have our various orders delivered to one person’s house and we all collect from there. If you would like to know more or join us for the next order, email: tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk

Eco House Group

After the Eco House Open Day in West Bridgford, there’s a new Eco House Group. This group is for anyone who is thinking of adding Eco features to their house (insulation, renewable energy, water saving devices etc), or who has already done this, or who is just interested in knowing more. For more information or to join the group, email tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk

Transition Allotment

The Transition Allotment is taking shape, after much hard work clearing this rather neglected area. The potatoes are looking good. Would anyone like to join the team? Email anna.a.collins@gmail.com

I am waiting for an updated picture to see this transformed plot, now with shed and raised beds!
All this is a very short time span.

Food Co-op / Community Supported Agriculture scheme – Kate Troy

Kate said a few words about her idea for getting people growing their own, or growing for the local community. If you want to know more, email kateftroy[at]yahoo.co.uk.

It would be fantastic if you could fill in her (very easy) survey – just go to the Rushcliffe Council Website and click on “Grow Your Own Veg – a survey”.

Food and Farming Community Scheme – David Rose

David told us a little about his farm: FarmEco – community care farm, near Bingham. (There’s an educational building being built from straw and compressed earth, there’s a community orchard, they use a “no ploughing” approach, just to mention a few details).

David is inviting us and other individuals and communities to get involved, and he’s open to suggestions as to how we’d like to do that. For more info, see or facebook
If you know anyone who wants a job on a farm, do get in touch. The job is aimed primarily at 18-24 year olds who have been claiming job seekers allowance for at least six months, but it could be for anyone who has been out of work for 6 months.

Garden Share

Jake gave a brief update. There is currently one garden share set up as a result of the Garden Share project. However, it now needs to grow and Jake is looking for others to help him recruit new gardeners and people with gardens. If you can help with spreading the word or would like to get involved yourself, please contact Jake for more info: pjakejackson@googlemail.com


The similarity in name of this scheme and the “Shared Garden” (a local group of allotments that have been shared by several families for the last 10 years) is causing confusion. As the Shared Garden is well established and has a very popular website, alternative names for the Garden Share project may be considered – watch this space!

Greening Campaign

The West Bridgford Greening Campaign enters its second phase, and the team are surveying as many local residents as possible to find out which aspects of "being greener" people are most interested in getting advice or further information about. There is a list 9 items to put in order of preference. Have your say, email: Maureen_harms@yahoo.co.uk

Transition West Bridgford gathering to mark its 2nd Birthday

More than 20 people gathered to celebrate TWB’s 2nd Birthday, and to catch up on what’s been going on and to find out about those projects that are ongoing or just starting up.

Making birthday cakes is not my area of expertise, but with a Skills Exchange token it’s easy to ask someone else to bake one. Many thanks to Mary for cooking us a delicious home-made carrot cake!

Here’s a very brief summary for those who couldn’t make it:

Greening Campaign
The West Bridgford Greening Campaign enters its second phase, and the team are surveying as many local residents as possible to find out which aspects of "being greener" people are most interested in getting advice or further information about. There is a list 9 items to put in order of preference. Have your say, email: Maureen_harms@yahoo.co.uk

Skills Exchange
After the success of the first group (75 members) we are setting up a second group in West Bridgford, Ruddington and Clifton
If you would like to join or read more about it, see the website: www.wbskills-exchange.co.uk

Garden Share
Jake gave a brief update. There is currently one garden share set up as a result of the Garden Share project. However, it now needs to grow and Jake is looking for others to help him recruit new gardeners and people with gardens. If you can help with spreading the word or would like to get involved yourself, please contact Jake for more info: pjakejackson@googlemail.com

The similarity in name of this scheme and the “Shared Garden” (a local group of allotments that have been shared by several families for the last 10 years) is causing confusion. As the Shared Garden is well established and has a very popular website, alternative names for the Garden Share project may be considered – watch this space!

Food and Farming Community Scheme – David Rose
David told us a little about his farm: FarmEco – community care farm, near Bingham. (There’s an educational building being built from straw and compressed earth, there’s a community orchard, they use a “no ploughing” approach, just to mention a few details).

David is inviting us and other individuals and communities to get involved, and he’s open to suggestions as to how we’d like to do that. For more info, see www.farmshop.net or http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=113825078645337&v=wall

P.S. If you know anyone who wants a job on a farm, do get in touch. The job is aimed primarily at 18-24 year olds who have been claiming job seekers allowance for at least six months, but it could be for anyone who has been out of work for 6 months.

Food Co-op / Community Supported Agriculture scheme – Kate Troy
Kate said a few words about her idea for getting people growing their own, or growing for the local community. If you want to know more, email kateftroy@yahoo.co.uk.

It would be fantastic if you could fill in her (very easy) survey – just go to the Rushcliffe Council Website and click on “Grow Your Own Veg – a survey”.

Transition Allotment
The Transition Allotment is taking shape, after much hard work clearing this rather neglected area. The potatoes are looking good. Would anyone like to join the team? Email anna.a.collins@gmail.com

Solar Rushcliffe
This is an initiative to make Solar photovoltaic (PV) electricity more accessible to local residents, with support from Rushcliffe BC. The plan is to provide an online estimate of solar potential of your roof, info on loans, installers and funding. For more information, see http://rushcliffesolar.blogspot.com/, or contact David at rushcliffesolar@googlemail.com.

Eco House Group
After the Eco House Open Day in West Bridgford, there’s a new Eco House Group. This group is for anyone who is thinking of adding Eco features to their house (insulation, renewable energy, water saving devices etc), or who has already done this, or who is just interested in knowing more. For more information or to join the group, email tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk

Funding for projects
Flora told us a little about European funding that is available, which we might be able to use to support individual projects, or even to create some sort of Transition Academy (which could provide training and on the job learning in areas like food growing, energy saving and renewables, and so on). If you’d like to know more, email floramuir@mail.com

Other ongoing project that we didn’t have time to cover:

Lembas buyers’ group
Every month or two, about 6 of us place our orders with Lembas (a vegetarian and wholefood wholesaler in Sheffield). To benefit from free delivery, we have our various orders delivered to one person’s house and we all collect from there. If you would like to know more or join us for the next order, email: tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk

Fruit tree planting
This project, led by Julie O’lateju, matches fruit trees with suitable land. If you have trees to offer or land to suggest, or would like to help with fruit tree grafting, please email: floramuir@mail.com

Abundance project
This is an idea looking for a champion and some volunteers! The project would be to map and contact people with fruit trees and provide volunteers to harvest for them. The owners take what they need and the volunteers take the rest for re-distribution. For more info see www.transitionwb.co.uk.

Green Streets West Bridgford
This is a celebration of sustainable transport on the last Friday of every month. Would you like to join or help out with the activities on this day – organised walks, bike rides, info and activities for local groups? For more info, see www.greenstreetswb.blogspot.com

Other info
The existing website has not been updated for many months. For the up to date view of recent activity, see the blog: http://www.transitionwb.co.uk/. If you can help out with any IT admin / website work / communications etc, please contact tinaholt2004@yahoo.co.uk.