Hive of activity

On a rainy afternoon in Tooting last Saturday, preparations continued for decorating the piñata bee which will be part of  the 'Treasuring Tooting' wellbeing walk on May 12th (scroll down in this blog for more on the piñata and on the walk...)

What's it going to be like? How big will it bee?
More images to come - keep a look out!

Here are the notes from the April Core Group Meeting

Local Hustings for London Assembly elections

On Tuesday evening, around 80 people gathered at Wimbledon's  St. Mark's Church to ask  four of the candidates for the London Assembly what they would do if they got into power on May 3rd.
The candidates fielding questions were Leonie Cooper (Labour), Shas Sheehan (Liberal Democrat), Richard Tracey (Conservative and current Assembly Member for Merton & Wandsworth) and Roy Vickery (Green).

This excellent meeting , ably chaired by the Rev Clive Gardner of St. Mark’s Church, got far beyond the personality politics of the Mayoral election. Lively questioning included how to make cycling in London safer, what to do about policing, the shortage of affordable housing, whether we need school buses, and how to make London more self-sufficient in energy.

The Hustings was hosted jointly by St Mark’s Church, Transition Town Wimbledon, Wimbledon Civic Forum and Transition Town Tooting.

Spending time designing money

Two workshops on 21 and 22 April provided lots of lovely ideas for the design of the Tooting Pound.

It's early days for the community currency but that didn't stop the heated debates about who should be on the notes - should it be Wolfie (Citizen) Smith or Nurse Edith Cavell on the T£1; Hester Thrale or Samuel Johnson on the T£5 note; an ordinary Tooting mum or an Upper Tooting Road shopkeeper on the T£10; Paul Merton or George Cole on the T£20 note?

The workshops were convened by Sue Rentoul and took place in Sprout, the community arts space on Moyser Road in Furzedown, which proved an excellent venue. Casual visitors to Emma Forrester's show were also asked for their opinion about what the Tooting Pound could look like.

We have some lively lists full of ideas. But the workshops didn't stop there: some lovely drawings were created by budding designers and these will all inform the final designs. Here's one design:

Have a look at the lists of Tooting people, places, objects and animals that participants came up with over the weekend by placing stickers on images, or contributing new ideas:

Growing Successfully in the City

The 'Monthly Do' on Sunday April 22nd at Wandsworth Borough Council’s Pump House Gallery in Battersea Park saw several of us from Transition Tooting join with gallery staff to offer a drop-in afternoon about on ‘Growing Successfully in the City’. Yes - that broad topic included different prompts for the ways ‘urban growing’ is expressed: growing food and flowers; developing green space and experiencing nature; building wellbeing and happiness; growing knowledge and skills; playing; and making new links across the community.

We were lucky to a few hours of sun within a weekend of blustery weather. After a quiet start, 145 people were counted into the Gallery by 4pm. The activities and displays attracted some of them – usually in couples it seemed – to join in:   

Ø  to explore the networks of waste and new social relationships created and recorded by Jane in her Plastic Bottle Tops project

Ø  to pick cards and share ideas, and think of personal actions to take in the DIY Happiness game guided (in the wind) by Belinda

Ø  to play an outdoor Food Footprint game about CO2 in the UK food chain with Charles, using painted boxes from Tooting market

Ø  to make urban-styled seed planters with Li

Just as Charles’ talk on urban growing and transition was about to kick off at 3:30, the sky went black and a strong gust capsized one of the gazebos. All the helpers and audience went out to sort it out in the driving rain – a great image of community spirit in action…
Difficult to plan, but I recommend it as a way to start a talk!  We began with a vivid sense of shared experience among a group who met as strangers: completely relevant to the topic.

Thanks loads to Laura, responsible for Participation & Education at the Gallery, for conceiving the idea and inviting us, and to all the Gallery staff & Justin for a lot of work on the day. The Pump House is a great venue, and we’d love to develop something else together in the future.        Charles

Well Beeing Project

Local artist team Jeni Walker and Leon Lawes have begun work to create a giant bee piñata that will process with Treasuring Tooting, the Transition Town Tooting wellbeing walk, on the 12th May. At a point on the walk the pinata will be smashed open in the traditional manner, what goodies will come forth is anybody’s guess.

Why a Bee?
The decline in honey bee numbers has been big news recently and the importance of our role in helping the numbers to grow has never been clearer. Treasuring Tooting is a celebration of the things in our local area that make us happy, and this giant bee symbolises the arrival of bees at Streatham Cemetery this May which makes us very happy indeed.
See details of our sister project at the Cemetery at: http://www.friendsofstreathamcemetery.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=111&Itemid=201 

Why smash it up?
The idea to create a piñata as our walk mascot was was initially met with mixed reactions. A lot of work went into the first two celebration creations and this would be no exception.

Our thoughts turned to the Tibetan Buddhist tradition of creating complex circular pictures called Mandalas from coloured sand, only to destroy them soon after their completion. The practice is a reminder of the transient nature of material life, and so destroying a beautiful piñata will be an apt expression of the idea that true happiness does not come from the material and the transient.

See the flyer for Treasuring Tooting if you scroll down in this blog.
& more info to come as we make the bee - here and at http://thedaisybugco.com/well-beeing-project/

Four events between 21+22 April and 12 May

We are very pleased to be able to share details of 4 events that are coming up between the weekend of 21+22 April and the 12th of May
Help shape the Tooting Pound

Design workshops: Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd April, both 11am-1pm

Sprout, 74 Moyser Road, Furzedown, London SW16 6SQ

The Tooting Pound is coming!
Help design your local currency at these workshops:

• who should be on the notes?

• what local landmarks should be on them?

• what colours should they be?

All welcome - families, individuals, all ages.

Tickets for this event are FREE but booking is recommended. Space in Sprout is limited so please make sure you can attend before booking: www.tooting_pound_workshop.eventbrite.co.uk

More information about the Tooting Pound can be found here: www.tootingpound.org

Growing Successfully in the City

Sunday 22nd April from 11am-4pm

Pump House Gallery, Battersea Park

We are proud to be co-hosting the Pump House Gallery's April 'Monthly Do' in Battersea Park.  All welcome to an interesting and entertaining afternoon in a beautiful location.

It's going to be National Gardening Week, so we decided to get thoughtful about Growing.
Join us to explore ideas of Urban Growing of all kinds including gardening, low-carbon living, growing food and wellbeing.
Make your own planter from recycled material to take home with you, 'play with food' on a giant scale, try some games about personal wellbeing and happiness, and meet members of TTT to find out more about transition's varied approach to community growth.
At 3.30pm Charles, TTT Co-Chair, will talk about the transition movement and different kinds of urban growing. Click on the link below for more information and to reserve a place for the talk: http://pumphousegallery.org.uk/events/april-monthly-do

London Assembly Election Hustings

Tuesday 24th April from 7:30pm

St Mark's Church, St Mark's Place (behind Wimbledon Library), Wimbledon, SW19

In partnership with a group of community organisations,TTT is helping to host a hustings with candidates from the main parties on April 24th.

Wandsworth and Merton Boroughs are represented together by one London Assembly member, and elections to the Assembly are on May 3rd. Assembly members oversee London policy on transport, planning, the environment and policing.
Come and meet candidates from the main parties, and ask them your questions.
Hustings are 8:00-9:30, followed by informal discussion. All welcome!
Venue: http://www.stmarkswimbledon.org.uk/
Partners include the Wimbledon Civic Forum, Transition Town Wimbledon, St Mark's Church, and Transition Town Tooting.
Enquiries: ttwimbledon@yahoo.co.uk

Treasuring Tooting - Treasure in Tooting

Saturday 12^thMay

A day-long interactive walk around Tooting to celebrate wellbeing

'Happiness and fulfillment come less from material wealth and more from relationships; less from focusing on ourselves and more from helping others; less from external factors outside our control and more from the way in which we choose to react to what happens to us.’ (Action for Happiness: 2012)

On May 12^th we’ll take a free dawn to dusk walk through Tooting celebrating the many places and things that contribute to our happiness.
Following on from the Tooting Earth Talk Walk in 2009, the walk will visit favourite places from the Lido to the Library, Brickbox to the Bingo Hall, at each of which an aspect of our happiness and wellbeing will be experienced and celebrated.
A map will guide us down the road and give timings for each location so people can join at any point. All ages welcome!
Put the date in your diary and look out for more information soon....

Lovely Graphic of our planning meeting

Transition Town Tooting hold regular planning meetings - all are welcome. To get a flavour of the kind of things we  discuss see HERE the first graphically recorded meeting notes, from our last meeting on the 20th March. This move towards the pictorial - done by Jeni Walker - was inspired by Alice Maggs' graphic documentation of Carbon Conversations...

Locally-made video on community approaches to our low-carbon future

In the post below on 'Community Approaches to the Green Deal', we mention the video that was being made to accompany the project.
Now it's finished and ready to enjoy on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRx6tNFG8U 
It's seven minutes long - do have a look, and keep an eye out for the local locations and stars!
The partners in the project are meeting in early May to develop next steps to keep the momentum going.
We'll keep you up to date with progress, and do get in contact via transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you would like to be involved.

Snippets from Ecobuild 2012

Ecobuild was again a source of wonder this year.  I liked the re-use of materials such as the pallet arch, rubber band lampshade and some lovely tiles made from impressions in every day bowls and dishes.  And then there was water bottle man publicising the amount of water wasted in the home.

It's always amazing what you can overhear too ...

"Cities are shaped by the environment, economy and equality, and the environment must guide the others".

"We need 'urban respiration' across systems such as food, water, energy, jobs"

At a stand promoting ready-made turf full of wild flowers: "the best way to start is to kill off everything with glyphosate weed killer!"

Making the local low-carbon future happen now!

On Thursday 15th March there were two fascinating local meetings which illustrated some of the interrelated aspects of making the low-carbon future a reality.

The first one was held in the afternoon at S Thames College in Wandsworth, and speakers examined ways that the community can anticipate, influence and make the most of initiatives such as the Green Deal.
(TTT has been a partner in a 4 month project organised by the Greener Jobs Alliance). As well as the work experience with S Thames College students, and sharing the excellent activities in local schools, and encouraging the development of the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, an outcome of the project will be a short video examining some of the challenges and practical responses. The video was premiered on the 15th. When the edit is complete, we'll make it available on YouTube... Oscars look out!
For more information on the project, please email TTT at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com


The same evening saw a celebration party and an interim thank-you with the many volunteers, partners, advisors and investors who have helped establish the Brixton Energy share offer which is funding the rooftop renewable energy power station in the Loughborough Estate.

They are keen to share experience and learning, and we'll be talking in detail with them to help 'Repowering South London', and explore developing a local project like this that is suitable for Tooting.
Congratulations! http://brixtonenergy.co.uk/

It's Climate Week

There are lots of different ways to support Climate Week: encouraging... taking action... challenging... celebrating... What's yours?

Looking forward to this week, three Transition Tooting colleagues - Susan, Alice and Charles - facilitated a workshop a fortnight ago with a dozen staff in a UK Government department, to contribute a stimulus for the senior director to write a personal blog during Climate Week. That blog has been posted yesterday on the department's internal website: it touches on individual behaviours and choices as well as the department's activities. 

Why invest the time? For context, as in many organisations, there is a range of views and assumptions in this department about climate - and some sensitivity to change. It is easy to underestimate the  potential impact in an organisation of even a simple blog like this that demonstrates awareness, humanity and personal leadership. Clear communication is such an effective way to support change!

What did we do in our workshop? Charles and Susan ran the 'Home Energy' section of Carbon Conversations (the five-part series of meetings TTT has offered locally over the past year), and discussed Susan's own experience of carbon reduction in her own family's house.
Alice captured some of the interchange and questions from participants in a graphic record - also placed on the department's internal web. Here's one of her super drawings, reflecting discussion about Susan's house:

You'll see the mention of the OWL electricity monitoring meter: that is where the senior director starts his blog. Please read on.......

SPRING STEPS

I step down after four years as TTT's Co-Chair - an energising and rewarding role. Daunting at times, (what are we doing??? how do we DO this?) and ultimately inspiring on a daily basis to see what incredible opportunities there are to bring about change,  using our imaginations and our wits to invent a more liveable future.  Thankyou thankyou thankyou to everyone collaborating to establish TTT since 2008.  I think we have opened up possibilities for re-imagining a more aware, creative and resilient Tooting.  A warm welcome to Tim Bage who joins Charles Whitehead as our inventive and resourceful Co-Chairs. 

Our TTT AGM last week, gave us a chance to imagine ways in which the derelict chapel in Streatham Cemetery could be used as a community resource for quiet contemplation and re-skilling activities.  Some fantastic ideas came up, from a bio-diversity hub to cinema screenings to bee-keeping to a Passivhaus chapel.  We'll be feeding them back to Lambeth Council who have expressed an interest in seeing the pretty Victorian chapel in use once more.  (Come on the Spring Wildflower walk there on March Sunday 25th 2.30pm with Roy Vickery. See http://www.friendsofstreathamcemetery.co.uk/)

Transition and the Arts - As writer-artist in residence at Battersea Arts Centre join me for 3 (free) Playing For Time public sessions on March 16th, March 23rd and March 30th (all 5pm-6pm) to look at how the arts play a role in transitioning to a more ecological age. http://www.bac.org.uk/whats-on/playing-time-talks/

AND HOW ABOUT THIS for bringing about change!  Lido bins, bought by the South London Swimming Club are now installed at Tooting Bec Lido! 

Lucy

AGM Report

Thanks very much to everyone who attended the 2012 AGM on Tuesday evening, in the Vestry at Streatham Cemetery on Garratt Lane. Following the adoption of our new constitution a year ago, this short annual formal meeting:

• confirms by vote the people who will hold the key roles in helping us achieve our vision and support our projects 
• hears a statement of TTT’s finances 
• hears information about TTT’s communications choices, IT profile and users 
• hears a brief summary from each of our main current project groups. 

The graphic below represents TTT’s structure, roles and current projects, all on a single page:

We are proud of this - thanks Leon! - as it is beautiful, creative, and easy to use image to support visualising and describing our activities and relationships.

US sustainability students walk the Transition talk in Tooting

24 college students from the USA doing a 'Sustainability in Europe' course based in Denmark came to spend half a day in Tooting on Monday 5th March to kick off a week in the UK.

Their curriculum explores the role of local communities as agents of change towards greater wellbeing and a more sustainable future. This includes getting out into the real world and seeing what people are doing.

Two of us from Transition Town Tooting took them on a talking and walking tour.

Lucky it was sunny...even if there was a freezing wind.

We started at the busy road junction by Tooting Broadway tube, then north to Streatham Cemetery, where we explored the opportunities that the Friends of the cemetery are developing. We went back through residential streets and past Gatton Primary to Tooting Market, where we had snacks by the Brick Box and soaked up the atmosphere. Then into the meeting room at Mushkil Aasaan (thank you!) for a fuller discussion, and on up to Tooting Bec tube via asian sweet shops, and a peek into the Wheatsheaf. Three hour tour complete!

At each place we talked about the students' own first impressions of opportunities for supporting sustainable living in Tooting, and we described diverse existing and future local projects.
In the longer discussion, the students offered very useful observations based on what they had seen, and on their own experience. It was valuable for us, and both humbling and exciting to think that some insights into community and sustainability in Tooting will find their way back to two dozen locations across the USA.
- Charles and Lucy

Furzedown Low Carbon Zone meeting 1st March

All welcome to an update meeting on the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, at the Furzedown Project, 91 Moyser Road, Tooting SW16 6SJ, on March 1st from 7:00-9:00.
We will:

• hear from Brixton Energy http://brixtonenergy.co.uk/, who are launching their exciting share offer right now for the UK's first inner-city renewable energy project. That's a scheme we would love to see in Furzedown in the future....!
• share details of our current project with South Thames College, using video and work experience to engage local young people with low-carbon employment opportunities
• and more! Please come along...
  

Transition 2.0 Vox Pops

Here is 2-minute selection of Tooting vox pops as selected by Transition HQ as part of the new film's promotion. Thanks to everyone who agreed to be interviewed, whether featured here or not. DT

In Transition 2.0

The Trashcatchers Carnival and Brixton e-currency featured in the premiere screening of Transition 2.0 at the Sivayogam Hall in Tooting last night alongside some very interesting and inspring stories of transition inner and outer from around the world. Fuelled by the excellent Pooja samosas and a classic Lucy fruit cake (that's a food item not an individual), a crowd of 60+ enjoyed the film and a good natter afterwards around the thought-provoking issues raised.

I loved the idea of interest on investment capital being paid in locally baked bread and the Italian transitioners who ran for public office and won!  What stories inspired you?  And what similar kinds of project could we initiate in Tooting?                                                              dt

World Premiere in Tooting!

We are delighted to announce that the World Premiere of the film Transition 2.0 will take place in Tooting in a simultaneous broadcast with Totnes and other Transition initiatives around the world on Thursday 2nd February.

And look that's the Upper Tooting Road taking centre stage on the poster, the day the Trashcatchers' Carnival took over the streets!  Tooting features and so might you, so put the date in your diary!

Film venue:
Sivayogam Hall, First Floor, Sri Muthumari Amman Temple

Address:
180-186 Upper Tooting Road
Tooting, London, SW17 7EJ

Note: please use entrance on corner of Hebdon Road and Upper Tooting Road.

Time: 7:30 for 8:00 pm screening prompt. Strictly no alcohol.

Entry will be free, but donations are welcome.

Watch the trailer here.  

TTT First Tuesday on January 10th: 'Just Do It'

For the first of our free monthly meetings in 2012, we looked at What are the actions you’d love to take this year to help build your own and Tooting’s resilience, sustainability, wellbeing?

This took us into the territory of New Year Resolutions - maybe easily made, and maybe hard to act on?

We shared some of our own hopes for action in 2012 - personal and / or communal.



We looked at some
meanings of resolution:
making a decision...
reaching consensus...
and getting things into
focus, as in 'high-resolution'
photographs.

We all need inspiration to make bold plans, especially in a challenging period of complex change, when we often need to act without being sure what will take place en route. To encourage us, we shared two exciting stories where Tooting people took action when 'what would happen next' was not guaranteed.

Liz described One Little Wheel, a cycle trip between Europe and Thailand last year.

Jake described his own experience of non-violent direct action, as shown in the film Just Do It.

Finally, bringing what you would love to do in 2012 back to the experience of the meeting participants, Belinda outlined a set of keys to happiness to explore what supports each of us to act.