Recent Activities
Brockley is a hive of activity!
Saturday 12th September saw the first event showcasing the work of one of our local beekeepers, Camilla Goddard and her busy little bees at St.Peter's Church. Camilla took us through the ins and outs of beekeeping before exposing us all to one of the many hives at the site. The event was extremely popular with many people missing out but don't fear there are more events planned in the future!
2nd Film Event
The group held its second film event on Thursday 10th September at St.Andrew's Church, Brockley. We showed a short film about Transition Brixton and how they have developed within the community followed by the main film, A Farm for the Future which was a very poignant reminder of our reliance on fossil fuels that we use to grow the food we eat.
August Meeting
We met on 20 August and welcomed some new people. The main items covered were:
1. 9 CARROTS: Annesley Newholm from 9 Carrots gave a presentation about the initiative to engage local businesses in becoming greener by the 'carrot' of offering to support their enterprise in return for a promise that the business will invest 10% of the takings in making the premises more energy efficient. A number of businesses in north London near 9 carrots office are already signed up, although the project is still being developed with a number of practical issues to resolve. The project offers a good way to get to know local firms and raise awareness of climate change issues. The next stage will be to approach local firms and ask them to sign up. 9 carrots will provide training and the necessary administrative support. We'll need a small team to take this forward - if you are interested contact Katie: kt_dick(at)hotmail.com. The website is still under development at: http://9carrots.org/
2. LEWISHAM DEVELOPMENT PLANS: Geoffrey and Liz from the Central Lewisham Action Group (CLAG) spoke about Lewisham's proposed plans for various uncoordinated and (in respect of Loampit Vale) highrise developments which the group is opposing (info@lewishamgateway.org, and online petition at www.ipetitions.com/petition/loampitvale). CLAG are not against development per se but there are many aspects about the current proposals they are unhappy about (overcrowding, more traffic but less road space for it, less green space with partial covering of the river, more pollution and token low-carbon building measures). The Transition angle would be to work with CLAG to propose a more user-friendly and zero-carbon approach to any development which reflects what local people find acceptable. This could be an exciting project to pioneer a low-carbon building programme. Fran is following up on this and if you are interested in joining this initiative, please email fr2rogers(at)gmail.com.
Following on from this the Strategic Development Meeting was held last Thursday (10th) and the application was passed at committee although only on the chair's vote after a split decision. We will continue to fight these proposals and strive to improve the environmental credentials of such a major development in our Borough.
3. GARDEN SHARE: A request was made for help with clearing a neighbour's garden in Wickham Road to prepare it for growing - willing hands were raised. Rosa/Olivia taking this forward.
4. SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES ACT: The only proposal (out of a total of 50 from various sources) to be taken forward for the Local Government Association to consider, was one of Transition Brockley's proposals - "To increase the funding under the Low Carbon Building Programme by a significant amount" (watered down from the original amount of £1 billion requested). This is a fantastic achievement for us as a fledgling group and much praise must go to Fran who drafted out the proposals. We'll keep you updated on any new developments.
You can keep us with all the daily goings on by joining the Transition Lewisham Yahoo Group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/transitionlewisham/
Third Transition Brockley Meeting
Transition Brockley held its last meeting on 18 June. The next one will be on Thursday 16 July at 8.00pm at Brockley Social Club, 240 Brockley Road (next to the garage).
New people are welcomed so just turn up if you can. The meeting is held in the back room and drinks are available at the bar. Meetings are being held monthly so watch this space for next date and for dates of events.
At the last meeting we discussed the various strands underway (see below) and also heard back from those who had been to the Transition Town conference in London. It had bought together people from across the country and been very well attended with lots of well organised discussions.
There are several strands underway:
1 - awareness raising there are plans for film showings in August, hopefully on Hilly Fields with a mobile cinema! A simple leaflet had been produced and distributed by Fran and Alex and drew in several new people to the meeting. Alex would lead a group in producing a logo and another iteration of the leaflet which would advertise future events including the film showings.
Contact Alex at: alextcrane@hotmail.com if you'd like to get involved in the leaflet or Fran at: fr2rogers@googlemail.com if you'd like to get involved in the film showings
2 - Three tonne club to reduce your carbon footprint
For further details see:http://www.wen.org.uk/general_pages/Newsitems/pr_3TClaunch1.12.08.htm
3 - Food growing identifying possible spaces in the neighbourhood. London Orchard project may be supportive if there is interest in setting up an orchard somewhere.
Contact Tamara at: tamaraearly69@yahoo.co.uk if you want to get involved
4 - St Saviours Community garden
This community garden in the grounds of a local church has just been started by Ruth. For further details see here
Contact Ruth at: rufina36@hotmail.com
5 - Fun event at Brockley social club to raise awareness
Plenty of support for the idea of a social event with freecycle / swishing (swopping clothes you no longer want!) alongside. Rosa would take this forward, most likely in September.
Contact Rosa at: rosa.rogers@btinternet.com if you want to get involved
6 - Sustainable Communities Act
A new act which Transition Towns can be a big part of. Fran has been leading the way on this and the deadline is tomorrow to get proposals to the council. Please see attached file for details and make any comments to Fran today!
Contact Fran at fr2rogers@googlemail.com