Annual general meeting and celebrations

Here at Transition Town Tooting we love a chance to celebrate - and we don't mind a good birthday cake either!
Last month was our annual general meeting and party, the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past year, look forward to the future and celebrate the now.
We had feedback from some of our main events and projects of the last year and it was lovely to hear from some new faces.

The projects represented were: Foodival (Mal), Future Tooting (Eleanor), Restart/Sewstart (Jeni), Vegetanuary (Sharon), Tooting Twirl (Lucy & Richard), Carbon Conversations (Peter), Caras (Jeni & Egle), Outdoor Learning (Sharon), Tooting Community Garden (Christine) and Green Drinks (Richard).


This list shows the diversity of our community activities - some long standing partnerships, some one-off events - and of course covers just a snapshot of the many things TTT is involved with.

We then moved to the formal part of the evening - reports from the treasurer, secretary and co-chairs and the reelection of the officers. Your chief officers remain: Sharon Gray & Jeni Walker, co-chairs; Eleanor Glen, secretary; and David Thorne, treasurer. We look forward to hearing from you!




Time for a fun activity - we asked everyone present to write down some ideas for future TTT projects or wishes for Tooting on a 'cookie' and these will be stored in our TTT Cookie Jar to be enjoyed when we have a lull in our calendar - there was certainly plenty of food for thought.

A quiz followed, put together by David, which provoked much debate and brain-straining and then we rounded off the evening with a gorgeous chocolate cake to celebrate TTT's 10th birthday, some delicious snacks and many enjoyable conversations.
Huge thanks to everyone who came and contributed to a great evening. We look forward to seeing you at next year's party, or before then at any of our TT activities. Just email us on transitiontowntooting@gmail.com to find out how you can get involved.
Sharon

'Even When I Fall' film showing to celebrate Refugee Week 2018 in Tooting

Join us to celebrate Refugee Week 2018 in Tooting!

It's the 20th annual Refugee Week, and in TTT's 10th anniversary year we're proud to be showing 'Even When I Fall' in partnership with CARAS and St. Mary Magdalene Church, Wandsworth Common.

 

 

When: Sunday 17th June. Doors open 7:00 for tea and a samosa and the film starts at 7:30

Where: St Mary Magdalene Church, in the Main Hall. 202 Trinity Road SW17 7HP - near Wandsworth Common

Free showing: we'll ask for voluntary donations to cover costs

Queries: please contact us by email

'Even When I Fall' is an intimate, beautiful film that harnesses the visual power of circus to give a unique perspective into the complex world of human trafficking.

‘Even When I Fall’ traces the journey of Sheetal and Saraswoti, two girls from Nepal. 

 

They met as teenagers in a Kathmandu refuge, survivors of child trafficking to corrupt Indian circuses and brought back to a country they could barely remember.

 

Inadvertently these girls were left with a secret weapon by their captors - their breath-taking skills as circus artists. 

With 11 other young trafficking survivors, the girls form Circus Kathmandu - Nepal’s first and only circus.

The group continues to take circus skills and trafficking awareness workshops all over Nepal.

Carbon Conversations - The Final Meeting

The final session discussed how we communicate with others about Climate Change. We were asked to consider examples of bad and good conversations we had experienced. We considered some of the reasons that make it so difficult to engage in conversation: busy-ness, it's all about the future rather than the here and now, it demands self-sacrifice with no benefit for me.

We went on to consider our own initial reservations about approaching the topic: fears about upsetting those closest to us, our sense of ignorance, never knowing enough to present a persuasive argument. We then shared what gave us positive support. Some found that being part of a group provided a network of resources. Others talked of the cost-saving arguments for low carbon energy use. What is most helpful is to frame the problem in terms of things that can be done now.

We followed up with a listening exercise in pairs where people were encouraged to listen to the other without interrupting them or listening selectively in order to ask questions. We recognised the importance of speaking from our own experience , "telling our story",rather than using ideas alone as a means of engaging with people.

Finally, we reflected on what we had found useful about our six weeks together. We shared how we had become empowered to make changes in our lives and how sharing our feelings about the process was so important. We celebrated with a meal that members brought to share and planned how we will keep in touch and meet up again in the future. Thanks, once again, to everyone for their contribution. Great to have your presence in the final session, Charles, as one of the founding figures. Thanks especially to Ben, for providing his home as an intimate space in which we could all share and reflect in an atmosphere of trust.