Getting StartedTransition West Bridgford (TWB) was started by John Green and Karina Wells shortly after visits to the Transition Nottingham group by Rob Hopkins and Ben Brangwen of Transition Town Totnes.
John and Karina promoted the idea of Transition on a stall at the West Bridgford Summer Gathering in June 2008. The Transition stall included a display of the Shared Garden (families working a group of allotments together), the Skills Exchange and the concept of Transition.
As a result of this, 26 people showed up at the first Transition West Bridgford meeting on 18th June 2008 at Belle and Jerome’s café on Central Avenue. Jerome Baddley and John Green introduced the group to the concepts of Climate Change, Peak Oil and the idea of a positive transition to a life less dependent on oil.
During 2008, other gatherings followed and a steering group was created. Sally Collard led the organisation of a number of awareness raising events, showing films such as “The Power of Community” and “A Farm for the Future”, giving people the chance to talk about the issues raised. By January 2009, (and thanks to much hard work by Gregor Tanner) the constitution was written and signed off.
Joining other Transition groups in Nottingham
Members of TWB attended the national Transition Conference hosted by Transition Nottingham in November 2008.
Nottingham’s first Transition Training weekend took place in February 2009, organised by Tina Holt with members of other local Transition groups. Trainers from the Transition Network (Nick Osborne and Anne Lamot) led two remarkable, inspiring days – attended by over 20 people from Nottingham and further afield. Transition West Bridgford was the first group in the area to have a bank account, and therefore Jake Jackson (TWB Treasurer) played an important part in making the training weekend possible.
Practical ProjectsKarina Wells set up the first practical project (
The Skills Exchange) in July 2008, followed by others:
Green Streets started in July 2009,
Bike trailer give-aways in June 2008 and February 2010,
Cars2share started in February 2009.
Julie O’lateju started a
fruit tree planting project, obtaining fruit trees and getting them planted in suitable areas of public land locally.
Jane Burd organised an
Energy Expo in West Bridgford on the croquet lawn.
Jake Jackson started
the Garden Share Scheme in February
2009. Six of the group teamed up to form a Food Buyer’s Group, sharing deliveries of dried wholefoods (community produced, fair trade or organic) from Lembas.
In June 2009, the 1st birthday of TWB, the Summer Gathering was organised in its name.
Maureen Harms led the
Greening Campaign which started in November 2009, and was launched in March 2010.
Anna Collins teamed up with 5 others to start the
TWB allotment. Members of TWB including Karina Wells,
Tina Holt, Tim Saunders and Sally Thornton organised the first local
Eco House Open Day which took place in May 2010.
In June 2010, over 20 TWB members celebrated the 2nd birthday by getting together to chat and eat a cake at Belle and Jerome’s café. There was much interest in
David Nicholson-Cole’s new
Rushcliffe Solar project, and
Kate Troy’s idea to create a Community Supported Agriculture project – now up and running, and named
the Great Green Garden. Tina Holt announced her intention to set up the Eco House Group in response to the great interest in the recent Eco House Open Day.
As we now approach TWB’s 3rd birthday, the Eco House Group has run a series of information events and grown to 90 members, the Skills Exchange is thriving with over 100 members, Rushcliffe Solar has provided independent advice to about 280 home owners as to whether PV is suitable for their homes, and 80 people are on the Great Green Garden mailing list or involved in the other group gardening projects.
We’re getting ready for our Transition West Bridgford stall at the Summer Gathering on 14th May 2011, and the second Eco House Open Day on 15th May. The Eco House Group prepares to embark on its newest initiative -
“Eco-Houses under construction” (led by
Tina and Julie Lygo) and the Great Green Garden team’s planting programme is underway.
A few words about each project
1. Community resilience and skills
2. Growing projects
3. Energy projects
4. Transport projects
1.
Community resilience and sustainabilityWest Bridgford Summer Gathering (www.wbsummergathering.co.uk)
This is where Transition West Bridgford was 'born'. This Gathering was set up to celebrate sustainable and community living and all local groups and companies who were engaging with this were invited to show what they do.
The local primary school started their maypole dancing tradition and gave a demonshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
tration, new small businesses were given a chance to be more visible and over these years more than 5000 members of the public have attended and picked up ideas how to live more sustainable in our community.
West Bridgford Skills ExchangeWhen we started in 2008 with 16 members all living in West Bridgford, the aim was to create a close knit community where people could walk, cycle to help each other.
Now we have 106 members who have understood 'to give generously and receive gratefully'. An estimated 1000+ good deeds have resulted from this initiative and have led to great friendships and understanding that might not have happened otherwise. For more details see
www.wbskills-exchange.co.ukhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Melton Road Market (
www.meltonrdshops.co.uk)
Beginning in December 2010 a new initiative was set up on the Melton road to encourage local shopping. It started with a very successful Christmas market where the local independent retailers promoted their local suppliers and the businesses they use. We had local entertainers and musicians to add that little bit extra to the day. Most of the organisation was carried out by members of the Skills Exchange. Members of the community took a day to make greenery decorations to cheer up the road.
After this event the shop keepers asked if this could be done on a regular basis. Since then on every first Saturday in the month the independent retailers and businesses use this event to encourage local shopping to make our town more resilient and less dependent on oil. Each time there are local musicians, entertainers and crafts people adding to the experience.
The West Bridgford Greening CampaignThe Greening Campaign is a community-based campaign which encourages people to save money, reduce energy use and reduce their carbon footprint. It has run in many communities nationally and in early 2010, the Greening West Bridgford team organised an event which involved individuals, community groups and several of the local schools. On Saturdahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gify 20th March 2010, 600 residents braved the weather to take part in and enjoy the educational displays, presentations, music, food and activities.
This event was hosted at the Beckett School and supported by a grant from Rushcliffe Borough Council.
2. Growing projects
The Great Green Garden (
http://www.greatgreengarden.blogspot.com/)
The Great Green Garden (GGG) was set up in August 2010 by volunteers to provide fresh locally grown produce for local people within the area of South Nottinghamshire including Bingham, Radcliffe-on-Trent and West Bridgford. The Great Green Garden is a community-led not-for-profit organisation that is dependent on volunteers. It is based on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) model. A CSA is a partnership between farmers and the local community, providing mutual benefits and reconnecting people to the land where their food is grown.
Abundance ProjectWith a core group of 8 'pickers' the Abundance group set out in 2010 for the first time in search for local fruit and nut trees. We received calls from local people who had fruit going to waste. The picking team would come, pick the fruit (never more than 1 hour), give the owner as much as they wanted, then took the rest back to our houses to process.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif The fruit that was not good enough to eat was pressed there and then and shared between the members. We had hundreds of bottles of delicious apple, pear and grape juice that were shared by family and friends that would otherwise have gone to waste. We are preparing now for our second season and hope to get a few more pickers as there is too much fruit for the 8 if us to pick and process.
www.wbinabundance.blogspot.comThe Transition West Bridgford AllotmentIt is situated on the Kingston Road allotments in West Bridgford on a derelict piece of land. A group of 6 keen Transition members have taken it on and turned it into a good workable piece of land, with a shed and greenhouse. These members would never have grown their own food if it had not been for the Transition group.
Garden SharingOne Victorian house had a long garden which was too much for the home owner to tend to. She was matched up with Rob who lives in walking distance and who tends the raised beds and the greenhouse rather than having to be on a long allotment waiting list. On the way home he drops in some veg to Thea and all are happy.
A shop on Melton Road had a large but overgrown garden and they had no use for it. Some Transition members who lived around the corner from the shop contacted the owners and asked if they could turn it into a vegetable patch. Although initially this project was just done by Jenny and Bridget, now the group has grown to include 4 other local residents. The shop is happy as well as the members of the Garden Share scheme.
Fruit tree projectThis was the first food project, created by Julie O’lateju. She collected fruit trees of different types (apples, damsons etc.) and gave some to the Friary Drop-in Centre, some to individuals, planted some in Rushcliffe Country Park and other locations where they will be discovered.
3. Energy projectsRushcliffe Solar (http://rushcliffesolar.blogspot.com/)
Rushcliffe Solar provides an independent, free appraisal of the photovoltaic potential for homes and other buildings. There are many buildings and entire streets with roofs which have a good view of the sun and could produce power for the grid and income for the occupants.
It started as a campaign to encourage greater use of Photovoltaic home power generation systems in Rushcliffe, with a financial contribution from Rushcliffe Borough Council that enabled 2 students from Nottingham University to survey properties in West Bridgford. Of these, 4500 were considered suitable for PV and 225 detailed reports were sent to interested households. During a number of Saturday morning advice surgeries on Central Avenue, David Nicholson-Cole, the students and Rushcliffe’s Community Energy officer raised awareness of the scheme and provided on-the-spot information to passers-by. RBC also instructed Rushcliffe Solar to provide surveys on 11 council buildings with a view to considering possible installation of PVs in the future.
Having achieved experience, David and the student team have expanded this service to all Boroughs of the Nottingham region: Broxtowe, Nottingham City, Erewash, Gedling, Newark. The project has support from Rushcliffe BC, Energy Saving Trust, Transition West Bridgford and University of Nottingham. Industrial sponsors contribute, to ensure that we continue.
Eco House Open DaysOn 16th May 2010, 7 houses and one garden in West Bridgford opened their doors to the public for an Eco House Open Day. Each house had one or more eco features on display, and visitors had the opportunity to find out first-hand the experiences (good or bad!) of the home-owners who had installed them.
In all, we estimate there were about 70 visitors including friends and families of those who signed up, and many viewed more than one house, so it was a busy day for some home-owners.
The day was organised by members of Transition West Bridgford with help and support from Tim Saunders (Energy Saving Trust), Sheila Hood (Rushcliffe Borough Council), and a grant from Karrar Khan (local Lib Dem Councillor).
The second Eco House Open Day is on 15th May 2011, again linked to the Summer Gathering on the 14th May 2011.
Eco House Group
The Open Day in May 2010 was such a success that it was decided to organise a series of evening seminars on “eco” home improvements and everyone who took part in the open day was invited to attend. The local experts invited to speak or answer questions have included green architects, installers of insulation or renewable technologies and experts in topics such as low carbon build and retrofit, saving water and healthy and sustainable building materials.
Rushcliffe Borough Council supported the group by providing suitable contacts, helping to advertise the meetings and helping at some events with displays and energy advice. The evening seminars were each attended by up to 40 people and the group numbered over 90 in April 2011.
Many of the group had in fact already made substantial moves to reduce their carbon footprints both through energy-efficient habits and through improvements to their homes. This meant that the group could share experiences and add to what they had already done by talking to each other and the suppliers and independent experts present.
The Eco House Group website (www.wbecohouses.co.uk) is kept up to date by Tina and David, and the Rushcliffe Solar and Eco House Group projects complement each other.
4. Transport projectsGreen StreetsA monthly celebration of sustainable transport, on the last Friday of the month, we asked the people of West Bridgford to leave the car and walk, cycle or use public transport. We organised guided bike rides, including a foraging ride along the river, to Ruddington Country Park, to Nottingham City Centre, to the Nottingham University Eco Houses, to Radcliffe-on-Trent via Holme Pierre Pont and to Beeston to name but a few. The idea was that if people have found a safe and pleasant route they might visit these places more frequently on their bikes.
We had a great response from the local schools and some local businesses particularly in the first year when we saw an estimated 1000 members of the public make an effort to get involved. However, this initiative has now stopped due to lack of engagement of the local community in the following years.
