Back in September, Charles Whitehead wrote a preview piece about 8 of us from Tooting heading to the Transition Network International Conference at Seale Hayne, Newton Abbot. We went by caravan, car share and train arriving the day before, early afternoon and late at night.
You can read all about how we contributed to the conference in
Charles' blogpost here. Following the conference, we were all excited to share our experience of it as it had so much energy to give! Please do click on the links in the highlighted words, if they are of interest. There is also a
Storify of the Conference and a blog on the
Transition Network site.
Tooting heads West!
 |
Home away from Home, with cake! |

After arriving, pitching our tents, siting and re-siting our caravan and finding our rooms, Jenny , Hilary and myself participated in the Transition Skills day, learning lots about
Transition Thrive , designing a new economy in "
REconomy" and how to "Become your own Developer" before the conference actually began.
Meanwhile, Lucy was running her own workshop on Creative Engagement, she writes...
"Once I'd recovered from the news that my main collaborator, Ruth Ben-Tovim (she of the Tooting Transition Shop from 2012), was sick and I would have to get on and run the day long
Transition workshop on the arts and creating community on my own,
I decided this Transition Conference (my 4th) was going to be about getting on and doing it with the resources I had to hand. I calmed myself by imagining the 14 strangers I was about to meet and wondering why they could be interested in learning about the craft of making things happen, and the art of creative participation. The knowledge they would all be doing this in a Transition context i.e. making the world we want to live in by modelling the changes in how
we live where
we live, immediately made me relax. I felt I could be myself and invite them to give all of themselves
to the workshop, which they did! The day was astonishing for the rich diversity of their expertise, their generosity to give and gain from one another and the final artworks they created together. I was bowled over by how much creative ground we covered and my abiding faith in the central role our imaginations and creativity play in Transition. I have spent 3 years capturing this in the transition book in the arts, Playing for Time - making Art As If the World Mattered and it felt as if the book had in a sense, come home
.
This feeling of generosity, sharing and common goals was echoed by Jenny's experience, she reflected later:
"It was inspiring and encouraging to meet other people from around the world who share a vision for a fairer, more community-led world. A focus on collaboration, partnerships and relationship building was a common theme. It's something we cherish in Transition Town Tooting and will continue to build in 2016. A Neighbourhood Plan, Foodival and our garden projects wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the generosity and energy of our partners and volunteers".
My experience during the Transition Thrive training was similarly applicable to our activity in Tooting and encouraged me to be active in looking after the wonderful volunteers and core group of Transition Town Tooting as well as offering the opportunity to participate to more people through Open Days and outreach.
Our Workshops: Outdoor Learning with Young People and Creative Facilitation with FanSHEN
Day 2 and the conference proper begins... Jenny, Charlie, Sharon and I hosted a workshop on
Outdoor Learning with Young People. We shared our work in Outdoor Learning in 3 areas: