Donate and transform your old or broken umbrellas into a Jellybrella!

Our Jellybrella participatory arts project reuses waste to celebrate creativity, diversity and sustainability. The main event is a free family day on May 11th at Sprout Community Arts in Furzedown, offered as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. More info here.

Donated at TTT's ACE

The raw materials we're using are all saved from scrap, and the key thing we need is lots of umbrellas! 
Maybe some of the lost umbrellas of Tooting which gather wasted and folorn in corners of pubs and cafes?
Maybe an old or broken brolly of yours? 
Maybe one you find in the road?
You can donate in many ways to the Jellybrella project: your golfing or fishing brollies, pretty parasols, or classic old school British black rolled-up umbrellas.

Where to donate a brolly in March & April:

• Bring to the Tooting Community Garden any Sunday between 11:00 & 1:00. We're at 5 North Drive SW16 1RN
• Bring to any other TTT meeting - for example the Open Monthly Meeting on Tues 12th. Details on TTT events calendar.
• Leave them for us at the Work & Play Scrapstore
• Leave them for us at any of 3 Wandsworth Oasis charity shops - at Amen Corner, at 40-42 Trinity Road or at 127 Mitcham Lane
• Leave them for us at the South London Makerspace in Herne Hill

Jellybrella: TTT's creative project for spring 2019

In Spring 2019 TTT is inviting everyone to join in with Jellybrella, our free and participatory community arts sustainabity project reusing waste to celebrate creativity, diversity, welcoming, wellbeing and making alongside others.  
We'll be popping up in February, March, April & May. All invited!

It's early days to be sharing this, but we've started to share info on Jellybrella so it's an opportunity to tell the full story on the blog. Yesterday we created an Instagram account - have a look.

Thanks loads to David Pitt for donating time to create our logo!

We're proud that the May 11th event will be part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. It will be a free family creative workshop for adults & children where we'll use scrap materials to create exciting sculptures. 

Specifically we'll be transforming the lost and found umbrellas of Tooting, getting together to enjoy some community making -  we'll all become artists making our community beautiful with stories & hands-on making together.

Restart Party & Toy Mending this Saturday

Our next Restart Party in Tooting is at Mushkil Aasaan this coming Saturday 8th December, 13.30-16.30.  At this event, as ever, you can bring in broken electronics and see if our team of volunteer fixers can give them a new lease of life or at least identify the problem.  The ethos behind our Restart parties is to keep items out of landfill by repairing and re-using.  It's an antidote to the throw away culture that can sometimes prevail.

Mending Toys Too!
Just in time for Christmas this event also includes toy mending.  Why buy yet more new stuff when we could help you to repair some old things that you or your family love?  Dig those cherished broken items out of the bottom of the cupboard and bring them along.  What better gift than a surprise repair for the kids?  Our Supermen (and Superwomen) fixers will do our best to make them good as new!
 

And our usual reminder ...
Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own gadgets and data, so please don’t forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant – and if possible arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing!  More info about the Restart Project here

We had a fun & creative seasonal session ReSparkling, Reducing and Re-using materials that would have gone to waste. And Happy New Year!

Thanks loads to our partners in Tooting Library for hosting our fifth annual seasonal ReSparkle! workshop on the 17th December.
Around 40 young people - from four-year olds to teenagers - joined in for two hours, solo or with parents and carers. Everyone learned how to do all kinds of imaginative things that can be repeated or adapted at home using everyday materials saved from going to waste.

We used simple and practical methods and tools that are good for children and adults to learn how to handle confidently - folding, gluing, cutting-out with scissors, hole punching, stapling, decorating.

What did we do? (If you look carefully you can see examples of the different things that participants made in the background of many of the pictures...can you work out how to make them?)

Jane showed how to make angels using the pages of an old book destined for recycling.

Rachel showed how to make snowmen and other figures from cardboard tubes - so simple!
Plus, Hilary made cardboard boxes.

Flora helped make present bags out of the Library's out-of-date foreign-language newspapers.

Below: look at the intense concentration when learning to use the hole puncher.  

how did she keep her hat so straight?

Reduce, Re-Use, ReSparkle! Free seasonal crafts with Tooting Library on Saturday 17th December

We're running our fifth annual free ReSparkle! event at Tooting Library, 75 Mitcham Road, SW17 9PD on Sat 17th, from 2-4pm.

All welcome, for all ages and all materials provided: the theme is learning how to make decorative and interesting things - perhaps presents for Christmas time - using re-purposed materials that would otherwise go to waste.
No experience necessary...you can do all the activities, and take home what you make. And teach others at home how you did it!

The venue is the beautiful Children's Library on the first floor.
We're combining the fun workshop with artist Jeni Walker's monthly Meet and Make sessions, so we can expect a really varied group.

Click on the year to see what we made at Resparkle 2015 and Resparkle 2014 - the theme that year was 'I never knew you could do so much with paper!'


Here are two highlights, and we look forward to seeing you:

Outdoor Learning and doing with NCS Challenge

On Sunday 17th July, Jeni Walker and Richard Couldrey continued with the 4th year of our annual pattern of work with the National Citizen Service through "The Challenge" - a personal development and social integration programme offered to 15 - 17 year olds which includes a project focused day with a Charity or Community Group.

Emer Clark, our principle contact and Challenge Mentor, reflected that interaction with Transition Town Tooting challenges the participants to step out their comfort zones and enables them to make a contribution to a local community, which is a huge part of the overall aims of NCS Challenge.

For us, this project chimes loudly with our aim to work with Young People of all ages - from the Reception Class of Gatton Primary to a poster competition with Graveney Secondary School for Foodival last year, to name but 2.

Read on to find out what happened on the day...

Restart Party on Tuesday

Broken electrical or electronic items that you don’t want to throw away? Good at fixing or mending stuff or would like to learn how? 

Come to a Restart Party! 

and help keep stuff out of landfill. The next Restart Party in Tooting is this coming Tuesday 21st June at 7pm.

Restart Parties are the antidote to the thowaway society, why bin your sickly electronics when they could easily live a bit longer with some TLC?  Laptops, cameras, kitchen appliances, gadgets etc. - we will try to mend anything or at least tell you what's wrong and what to do next and it's all completely free!

#TourdeTooting At Tuesday's party you can also get your bike checked out by Dr Bike as part of our Tour de Tooting preparations.  So bring your wheels as well as your electronics!

Do remember that Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own electronic items and data, so please don’t forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant.  Also, if possible, do please arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing! 

The next 3 Restart parties in Tooting, all at Mushkil Aasaan, 220 - 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW are scheduled for :
> Tuesday 21st June, 7 – 9.30 pm 
> Tuesday 9th August, 7 – 9.30 pm 
> Saturday 12th November, 2 - 5pm 

More info about Restart including details of regular skillshares at www.therestartproject.org 

Cleaning Up A Tooting Grot Spot

Earlier this month TTT organised a clean up of the Church Lane car park, which had embarrassingly been listed as one of the UK's Top Grot Spots.  With the help of Wandsworth Council this notorious dump was "cleaned for the Queen" and TTT held conversations about, well, anything really with a surprising number of passers by, in the hastily set up pop-up Living Room. Amazing what Lucy and Simon can fit in that van! 

TTT Team in the Pop-Up Living Room in Church Lane Car Park

And with Council Leader Ravi Govindia

More on this site from the Council here.  Do you know any other neglected areas of Tooting or around that could do with cleaning up?  Let us know.  It would be great to convert some unloved urban spaces into something the community can enjoy.

Conversations About Waste

Today, Saturday March 5th 12.30-3pm, join us in our colourful Pop Up Sitting Room in the Church Lane Car Park in Tooting, near the junction with Mitcham Road! TTT is hosting community conversations about reducing waste and how we make 'good change' in Tooting. Supported by Wandsworth Council, as part of the Keep Britain Tidy nation-wide celebrations to 'Clean for the Queen we'll be doing our bit to tidy up, save resources and cherish the place we live in. The nearby Al Farah cafe will be providing some provisions! Drop by! We would love to see you.

Wandsworth Oasis UPFest: Tuesday 3rd November

'It's all about waste'  That's how Gill Perkins, CEO of the Wandsworth Oasis charity, describes the driving theme behind UPFest: the Oasis event on Tuesday November 3rd:

All welcome to a fun and original evening: a catwalk and showcase of the joy of upcycling clothes and textiles. 
TTT are proud to be involved via Jeni Walker and her initiative Sustainable Making and Arts Tooting - SMArT. 

Location: the Oasis shop at 234-250 Mitcham Road, Tooting SW17 9NT
Timings: 5:30pm to 10:00pm on Tuesday 3rd November.
More UPFest details online here- entry by donation.

Jeni has been making scrap silk skirt scrunchies in World AIDS Day red - available on the night next week. Here she is last week in the decorated window of the new Oasis shop at Amen Corner in Tooting:

Oasis supports local people who are affected by HIV and have successful charity shops around the borough. Gill and the team work (tirelessly) to sell as many of the items donated as they can, but inevitably there is still so much that may be fated to become landfill. 

Meet & Make Thursday 8th October

Any Electrical or Electronic Items that need fixing....

Electrical or electronic items that need fixing?

Broken something and don’t want to throw it away?
.

The Restart Project, encourage and empower people to use their electrical and electronics longer!  They are back in Tooting this weekend so do come along!

Saturday 26th September - 2.30 - 5.30pm
Mushkil Aasaan, 220 - 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW (next to Nandos) 

Do note that Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own gadgets and data, so please do not forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant – and if possible arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing!

Read more about one of our previous parties here.

We hope to make Restart Parties a regular feature in Tooting and are on the lookout for skilled local fixers. If you are interested come along and say hello - or email Hilary Jennings on transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

More info at Restart Project (http://therestartproject.org/) including details of regular skillshares.

Restart Party Report

Last Saturday, TTT hosted another Restart Party with the Restart Project at Mushkil Aasaan in Tooting.  As usual the brilliant volunteer repairers did their utmost to help prevent an assortment of electrical goods from laptops to kettles to cameras from going to landfill.

It can be scary to see your beloved item taken apart (see the DAB radio and laptop above!).  However these things go wrong so readily these days due to built in obsolescence, that learning how to provide a simple fix can make you feel good and save you money, while doing your bit to lessen human impact on the planet.

The Fixing List

The Restart Project is a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electronics longer, by sharing repair and maintenance skills. Thanks again to Ugo, Janet and all the fixers. 

It would be great to set up a local group so if you are interested in becoming a local repairer in Tooting, contact us via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com.  The next Restart Parties in Tooting are on Saturday July 11th and Saturday September 26th.  Put the dates in your diary and keep any broken electronics out of the bin till then!

Broken electrical and electronic items? Restart are back in Tooting!

Do you have an electrical or electronic item that needs fixing?

Something broken you don’t want to throw away?

Challenge the culture of built-in obsolescence and take back control of your electronic stuff....

The Restart Project, a London-based social enterprise that encourages and empowers people to use their electrical and electronics longer, are running regular “Restart Parties” in Tooting. Sounds interesting? Then come along to one of the events below:

Restart Parties
at Mushkil Aasaan, 220 - 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW (next to Nandos) 2.30-5.30:

Saturday 25th April

Saturday 11th July

Saturday 26th Sept

Do note that Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own gadgets and data, so please do not forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant – and if possible arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing!

Read a great blog about one of our previous parties here.

We hope to make Restart Parties a regular feature in Tooting and are on the lookout for skilled local fixers. If you are interested come along and say hello - or email Hilary Jennings on transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

More info at Restart Project (http://therestartproject.org/) including details of regular skillshares.