Growing Community across London - Part 2

Our previous blog post describes Growing Community Part 1 - and to recap in the last week of July our long-planned collaboration between Ravenstone School and Tooting Community Garden offered two interlinked local 'Growing Community in the Heart of the City' workshops as part of The Mayor of London's National Park City Festival

The common green thread running through both events was celebrating city growing and the outdoors, creating an environment which is good for ourselves, for the community and for nature.




Blog post Part 1 describes the Ravenstone School event on July 22.
Here we're sharing what we did together in the second of the two events, the Tooting Community Garden open day on July 28th.

The garden team of a dozen volunteers met early (no Sunday lie-ins) to put up signs, hang our TTT bunting, set up activities and then provide a warm welcome and an invitation to join in the day in any way people wished. We wanted to demonstrate that being outdoors together is accessible and enjoyable.

Over 80 people came along on a Sunday with an on-off forecast for rain. We decided to not put up gazebos, and we were all rewarded with a lovely afternoon.

The welcome table gave a focus for saying hello and having a chance to talk with visitors who either explored the garden, relaxed or joined one of our fun and practical activity workshops:

1. Creating vertical wall planters with Paul: sharing environmental, DIY, creativity and urban growing benefits.














2. Being guided by Sharon to select plants and re-purposed containers to take home - building growing skills and wellbeing.

3. Joining Jane's 'Drawn to Nature' drawing workshop: enjoying taking time to observe and be present, with wellbeing and drawing practice benefits.

4. Annie's creative workshops in the family zone: sharing benefits of creating together in unusual ways across generations or with people new to you and learning fun techniques to take home.

Feedback from visitors included:
'A lovely place, and lovely people' 'A lovely celebration of nature and community spirit' 'The day was beautiful, well thought-out and sustainable' 'A nice peaceful day and a great community feel' 'Loved the community feeling and how positive and welcoming everyone has been' 'What a lovely garden, and such friendly people. We'll be back'

Our own responses to the day?
It was very affirming for the Community Garden team to welcome so many people who enjoyed what we offered together. Sundays in the Garden are fun and informal, and it was a good challenge to do something different, facilitating an engaging and outward-looking day.
Plus, it was our 8th birthday as a garden project since being generously offered use of the land by Naseem Aboobaker.  

Many volunteers have opened the Garden space on over 400 Sundays. 

That's worth celebrating!

Thanks to all the volunteers: Amanda, Annie, Chuck, Deb, Jane, Kay, Keith, Paul, Ryan, Sharon & Tom. A big shout out to our new friends and qualified first aiders Alice & Charlie who joined us on the day to provide that cover - thankfully they had no cause to leap into action. Kudos to photographer Bryony Williams for images used here (plus more for another time) and to Kay and Chuck for other pictures in this blog.

Everyone is welcome to join us at the Community Garden every Sunday from 11:00 to 1:00 (sometimes later into the afternoon). No experience necessary and we share any updates or changes on our Tooting Community Garden Facebook and Instagram pages.

The annual Tooting Foodival - our twelfth! - is TTT's next big community event! It's taking place on Saturday 14th September and we hope to see you there - it's going to be great!

Growing Community in the Heart of the City: two linked local events offered as part of The Mayor of London's National Park City Festival

'Growing Communities in the Heart of the City' is this weekend in the Tooting Community Garden!
We'll be running our free open day on Sunday 28th July from 12:00-4:00 to celebrate the National Park City Festival and also our 8th birthday (we've opened the garden on around 400 Sundays!)

 












What will we be doing on Sunday?

• Welcoming everyone to come along and enjoy the space - no need to book.
• Bring a picnic, and we'll provide activities, green space, shade and plenty of cool water!
• We're offering a particular welcome to families with young children or babies - come and have some outdoor time in a safe and welcoming place.
• We'll have a range of fun garden-themed activities for families and young children.
• We're also offering three timed workshops, just drop in:
  • 12:30 - 1:30, learn about making vertical wall planters so you can garden anywhere with very little space
  • 1:00 - 2:00, learn about selecting and taking care of plants, and choose some to pot up and take home
  • 2:30 - 3:30, be 'Drawn to Nature' and join our plant life drawing workshop for adults and teenager
• Of course you can simply come along and enjoy being in the garden - so do bring a blanket to sit on and a picnic.

All welcome!

You can follow Tooting Community Garden on Facebook and Instagram - join us!

 

We're celebrating city growing and the outdoors, creating an environment which is good for ourselves, for the community and for nature.

We also facilitate other community programmes in the Community Garden. 
For six years we have run outdoor learning with Gatton School and garden and wellbeing activities with the beneficiaries at CARAS the Tooting charity working with asylum-seekers and refugees.  

We're proud to be able to offer to share the space with everyone locally and also very grateful to Naseem Aboobaker of Mushkil Aasaan for the free use of her land to create this community garden during these years.

Join us at the London National Park City Fair on 21st July to co-create a Greener, Healthier and Wilder London!

We're thrilled to be invited to contribute to the London National Park City Fair on Saturday July 21st 11:00 - 5:00 - all the details here.

The purpose of the Fair is to celebrate's London's potential to be Greener, Healthier and Wilder.
Two dozen stands & an A-Z of short talks will show how that potential can be an imagined & achieved right now.


Our stand focuses on our partnership projects and facilitation since 2015 with CARAS the Tooting charity who work with refugees and asylum-seekers: all about social sustainability in the community.

We'll be sharing our thoughtful, creative and fun Signs of Welcome making workshop - come and join in: any ages, any languages welcome and you can take your signs home to brighten up your neighbourhood.

We'll share 5 short case studies that explore our work in partnership with CARAS beneficiaries, and explore options with stand visitors who are interested to get involved as volunteers.
You can read the case studies here.

There's also a more formal description of the history and impact of the partnership since 2015 - read it here.

Finally on sharing learning, there's an article on our Stay With Love pallet-benches on the London National Park City website in the Making a Difference section here.

We'll have a prize draw to attract a lucky winner plus family or friends to Tooting for a Taste of Tooting experience! You'll enjoy our diverse food culture, try recipes from CARAS participants and cook on an open fire on the Tooting Community Garden. Here's a copy of the prize draw details: you have to come along to the Fair to enter!

Please join in the fun of the Fair and meet us at the stand - we look forward to seeing you and we're proud to be contributing alongside so many fascinating London groups.

All welcome at The Tooting Twirl! This Sunday 16th July, 12noon - 4pm

4 days to go to Tooting's Pop-Up Village Green comes to life at the Bus Turning Circle, Longmead Road.

We'd love for everyone in Tooting to come along to the Tooting Twirl on Sunday to celebrate all the cultures of our town, make a grey space green and have a good dose of fun by opening a highway to games, music and food!

What's happening when?

12noon - 1pm: Come join in building the Village Green - hang some bunting, place some benches... give the Bus Turning Circle a beating heart!
1pm - 2pm: Twirling Street Games and a sharing picnic
2pm: Parade around the Bus Turning Circle in your Twirly best!
3pm - 4pm: Meet, mingle and relax on the pop-up village green

Do you do social media?

Please do tweet, Facebook and share on the day #TootingTwirl

We'll also be joined by the Tooting Bec and Broadway Neighbourhood Plan...

What is it about Tooting that you love? What might you want to change? What do you think we don't have that we need? What stories or places from the past do you cherish? The Tooting Twirl is the perfect place to collectively imagine what good change might look like for our town.

Would you like to take part? It'll take all of us to make the town green... 

Bring a colourful potted plant for the Giant Twirly Flowerbed or plant up a wheelbarrow to turn this grey space green...



Make something Twirly to wear in the 'What's your Twirl?' parade...


Bring a skipping rope or a street game you'd be happy to share...







Decorate your wheels to cycle in the 'What's your Twirl?' parade...





Bring a sharing picnic and a blanket...

All images: Rachel Miller

Jeni, Lucy and Rich - Co-Twirlers from TTT!

It's International Compost Awareness Week! Here's lots of ways to get involved for 52 weeks & more

Over seventy years ago the 

organic agriculture pioneer 

Sir Albert Howard stated :

 "The health of soil, plant, 

animal and man 
is one and indivisible"

Taking care of the soil where we grow our food, making compost, reducing waste, healthy eating, exploring the 'circular economy' of growing plants, beginning to understand the web of beneficial organisms that exists below and above ground:  

our gardens, kitchens, eating and shopping preferences are the forums for all of these.

We can all learn more and make our own contributions even more valuable, right here in Tooting.

Wandsworth Borough Council has published a post in its website about food waste and composting, and we're copying some of the links here because they are accessible and practical ways being offered this spring and summer to learn more and share experience.

• Firstly, there's the Wandsworth Composting Project - all the details are here in this flier. TTT and other partners are contributing too.
• Secondly there's a practical workshop on composting skills on June 4th at Bramford Community Garden - here's the flier.
• Thirdly, there's the Grow Your Own at Home! gardening classes sponsored by Be Enriched, taking place near Tooting Broadway and starting on June 10th. Here's the flier.

In June and early July there are further public compost advice sessions planned - when the dates are fixed we'll share them.

Home composting may look like a dark art: 

these events will share the skills to demistify it for local residents.

The Wildlife Gardening Forum has a website that's a treasure house of experience, including a good web page on soil and fertility: click here to read it.

Home composters provide a community service as well as benefiting our own gardens by returning organic material to the soil. We remove kilos of kitchen waste per household every week from the borough's waste transport and processing. That borough service has a carbon cost as well as a financial cost - we can reduce both costs by working with our waste to recognise it as a valuable resource.

Urban Heat Research Report Published

Today the Policy Studies Institute publish their research report Urban Heat: Developing the role of community groups in local climate resilience. It's a readable, accessible and expert report.

TTT are proud to have been able to contribute to this valuable piece of work, hosting and facilitating community conversations, mainly in 2015, about the increasing risks posed by localised heat in cities - including neighbourhoods like Tooting - in our warming climate.

Cold weather challenges are much better recognised by most of us, including health and social care professionals, in terms of individuals' vulnerability. So it was useful to be part of research showing that urban overheating is a significant risk, and we can take action to reduce its impact.

We commenced the project in a cold spell in winter two years ago, when the priorities seemed very different. It was hard to visualise that later the same summer we would hold a workshop near Tooting Broadway on the hottest day of 2015. Very appropriate!

Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Urban Heat project examined the potential role of the local voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the development of local climate resilience.

In Tooting the research engaged with over a dozen relevant community organisations with diverse services and areas of focus: health care, social care, low-carbon living, community development. A number of local individuals were interviewed as well. Finally, a group of Wandsworth local authority and statutory organisations also explored the impact of Urban Heat.

To read our past TTT blog posts about the whole project since its inception, please click here.

Other partners in the Urban Heat research programme explored the same topic in Hackney and in West London, all co-facilitating alongside the Policy Studies Institute team.

Finally, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded a sister research project at the same time, about 'Climate Resilient Communities'. This was developed in the context of local flooding in the Scottish Borders, mostly rural, but much of the experience and lessons are relevant to all communities working proactively with practical climate challenges. We'll share that report when it is published.

Urban Heat 2nd October '15: our third Tooting workshop on community-led approaches to urban heatwaves

Today we hosted the third workshop in the Urban Heat research project. This is an 18-month research process into community-led responses to urban heatwaves, with a particular focus on the local impact on vulnerable people. The research is led by the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
For the details of the wider project, please see our short posts on the two previous workshops in June and July. TTT has been inviting and convening local groups to take part, and hosting the events.

Today's workshops saw diverse Tooting community organisations meet a group representing the strategic and borough-wide institutions who have a mandate to act on heatwaves alongside many other priorites.
This was not intended to be adversarial...! The purpose was to bring together key players who respond at different local and city 'levels' to heatwaves, all in the interest of local people's wellbeing and health.

The community groups summed up their ideas and proposals identified so far, and these were grouped into three themes:

• Bridging and making connections
• Communications and awareness
• Resources and infrastucture

Everyone present discussed each theme in detail - so we can all understand, anticipate and respond to the impact of urban heatwaves, together. There was a lot to talk about!
The research team will be summing up points made and actions proposed. This is 'action research' - it is up to us all locally to decide which of these ideas are most valuable and can be put into practice, while the researchers continue with the next steps of the project.
We'll keep you informed.

Represented today were: Age UK (Wandsworth), Be Enriched, Emergency Planning at St George's Hospital Trust, Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, Housing Strategy & Development at London Borough of Wandsworth, Neighbourhood Network SW17, Public Health at London Borough of Wandsworth, Thinking Works and Transition Town Tooting. Thank you all!

Urban Heat Workshop 2

Last week, on appropriately the hottest day of the year, we held the second of our Urban Heat workshops, led by the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster
(See http://www.psi.org.uk/site/project_detail/urban_heat for more details).

This project work is taking place in Tooting, Hounslow and Hackney and will also engage with the local councils, emergency services, and other public bodies to see how actions for and by the community could feed into their emergency plans.

A range of different community groups have so far been involved in the research (check out the logos above) and last Wednesday produced some useful brainstorming around the issues, resources and possible actions in our local community's response to extreme heat.  

One of the interesting and energy generating exercises involved mapping the local area, identifying both community resources such as large indoor spaces (bingo hall, mosque) and problems (no shade & few plants in the High St., air pollution).

Interviews with community members and a further workshop in September are the next steps in this project.  If you are interested to find out more, do contact us via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

Urban Heat in Tooting

Today we facilitated our first workshop on a new project in Tooting which aims to explore how communities can best deal with the impact of heatwaves. Called "Urban Heat" the project is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and run by the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster (See http://www.psi.org.uk/site/project_detail/urban_heat for more details).
 
In an age when average global temperature is on the rise, the workshops will look at the effect of heatwaves on communities, particularly with regard to more vulnerable members of our society. Tooting is one of three locations chosen to participate alongside Hounslow (with South West London Environment Network) & Hackney (with Age UK). 

Workshop held at CFC in Tooting today

In parallel, the project will also be working with the local councils, emergency services, and other public bodies to see how actions for and by the community could feed into their emergency plans.

Today was a successful first foray into this area, on an appropriately warm day, if not anywhere near the heatwave threshold for London of two consecutive days at 32°C or above.  We look forward to the second workshop on July 1st and aim to disseminate some of the findings and developments via this blog.

If anyone reading this is interested in taking part please do contact Charles to find out more via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com
DT

WHY A Wild Afternoon in Tooting? Part 3

We've had two posts about WHY? we're offering this urban 'Wild Afternoon' on Sunday (details in Events Calendar opposite).
The first post was about making the commitment to get outside more - and enjoying the benefits of chance discovery here in Tooting. 
The second post looked at some of the ways young people can take part in the outdoors - including examples of structured programmes. This post looks at connecting the outdoors to health & wellbeing.

We'll see the Project Wild Thing film on Sunday at 4pm. Another of their projects is developing information for maternity units, to help staff and mothers explore the value of being outdoors from week one: 

Looking at all age groups, there's a well-researched family of actions to promote wellbeing.  The 'Five Ways to Wellbeing' is a practical shortlist: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give. 
These activities are simple things we can do in our everyday lives.
The '5 Ways..' were developed from evidence gathered in the UK government’s Foresight Project on Mental Capital and Wellbeing and published in 2008 by the New Economics Foundation.

For example: In the second WHY? blog post we saw the young people from The Challenge group connecting with nature in a way that was new to them as they dug for potatoes; they were certainly being active, taking notice, and inquisitive about flowers and seed sowing. Yes they were learning and giving. Actions to benefit our wellbeing are simple and accessible, and outdoor opportunities are all around us.

Here's a great example from the National Wildflower Centre which summarises the '5 Ways' as outdoor actions, and on a 'loyalty card':

 
Brilliant, I wish I'd thought of this!
It's very neat method for reinforcing these positive actions. It makes me want to borrow this idea for the outdoor learning activities we do with Gatton School...there's a lot to explore on just one small card.

Come along on Sunday 22nd for a top-up of your natural 5-a-day.

Finally: the Project Wild Thing film talks about how to 'present' nature to people who have lost the habit or fluency of getting into the outdoors. 
Does nature need a local marketing campaign?
TTT, fanSHEN Theatre, the Tooting Community Garden, the Friends of Streatham Cemetery and other partners will all help with that locally. Please join us. - Charles

Tooting's Air Quality - community meeting Wednesday 26th Nov

We'll share the results of this local and practical 'citizen science' project to measure local air quality, and hear from knowledgeable speakers who are involved with this challenge.

All welcome to take part in this urgent discussion, look at the issues in depth, and consider: 'what's to be done?'

When: Wednesday 26th Nov, 1930-2100 
Where: Tooting United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ

Speakers:
Samantha Heath - CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
Rex Osborn - Borough Councillor, Graveney Ward
Houda Al-Shafiri - Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
David Thorne - Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting

TTT has been running a campaign on air pollution locally in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and with Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council. We have carried out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting, and our surveys have produced some interesting results.
See a graphic summary of the local results by clicking here.

• Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
• The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting. 
• Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
• Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average
• Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
To see the event poster, click here

For more information, please email us

Part of: Furzedown Low Carbon Zone

Change Picture

Air Quality in Tooting

Starts

19:30, Wednesday 26th November

Ends

21:00, Wednesday 26th November

Location

London | Wandsworth | Tooting
Tooting United Reform Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ (map)

Workshop

You are attending this event (change)

Created by Charles Whitehead

About

We'll share how we have been involved in a practical 'citizen science' project to measure local air quality
Transition Town Tooting has been running a campaign on air pollution in Tooting in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council by carrying out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting. Our surveys have produced some interesting results:

• Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide levels that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
• Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
• Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average

The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting.
Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

This event will look at the issues in depth.
Speakers:

Samantha Heath - CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
Councillor Rex Osborn - Graveney Ward, Wandsworth Borough Council
Houda Al-Shafiri - Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
David Thorne - Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting
To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
To see the event flyer, click here

- See more at: http://www.projectdirt.com/apps/event/32292/#sthash.Sd6nVmrX.dpuf

Part of: Furzedown Low Carbon Zone

Change Picture

Air Quality in Tooting

Starts

19:30, Wednesday 26th November

Ends

21:00, Wednesday 26th November

Location

London | Wandsworth | Tooting
Tooting United Reform Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ (map)

Workshop

You are attending this event (change)

Created by Charles Whitehead

About

We'll share how we have been involved in a practical 'citizen science' project to measure local air quality
Transition Town Tooting has been running a campaign on air pollution in Tooting in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council by carrying out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting. Our surveys have produced some interesting results:

• Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide levels that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
• Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
• Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average

The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting.
Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

This event will look at the issues in depth.
Speakers:

Samantha Heath - CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
Councillor Rex Osborn - Graveney Ward, Wandsworth Borough Council
Houda Al-Shafiri - Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
David Thorne - Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting
To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
To see the event flyer, click here

- See more at: http://www.projectdirt.com/apps/event/32292/#sthash.Sd6nVmrX.dpuf