Reducing home heat loss, storytelling, skillshare and repair + lots more!

Hi everyone

There are lots of great events this week, from the energy forum tomorrow evening (Tuesday) on how to improve the thermal comfort of older homes (insulation, windows and grants to help cover the costs), to a chance to hear travelling storyteller Stephanie Bradley tell the tale of her travels on foot around the UK's Transition initiatives on Thursday evening. Then on Saturday, there's a choice between "Wildlife Wanderings" (nature walk) at Fulbourn Fen, the "Perfect Summer's Day" Skillshare and Repair event with Cambridge Carbon Footprint (with loads of great activities!), a swishing (clothes swap) event in Trumpington, and in the evening, Cambridge's first FOODISCO, where you can enjoy food made from surplus or unwanted produce while listening/dancing to some great music. So we hope there's something for everyone this week!

CONTENTS

Transition News and Events

  • Monday 16 June: Transition Cambridge hub meeting
  • Tuesday 17 June: Food Group meeting
  • Tuesday 17 June: Thermal Comfort in Older Houses
  • Thursday 19 June: Tales of our times - storytelling with Steph Bradley
  • Thursday 19 June: Media group meeting
  • Saturday 21 June: CropShare - Be an organic farmer for a day
  • Saturday 21 June: Wildlife Wanderings
  • Sunday 22 June: Abbey forest garden project - get involved!
  • Saturday 28 June: Grow Your Own Session in Trumpington
  • Events for your calendar

Other News and Events

  • Wednesday 18 June: Talk: Modern and Ancient Genetics
  • Friday 20 June: Talk: Feeding the World without Costing the Earth
  • Saturday 21 June: Trumpington Swishing
  • Saturday 21 June: 'A Perfect Summer's Day' Skillshare and Repair
  • Saturday 21 June: Foodisco!
  • Thursday 26 June: Low Energy Light Bulb Evening
  • Thursday 26 June: Presentation and workshop training
  • Sunday 29 June: Swift Tower Grand Opening
  • Friday 04 July: The Liberated Feast
  • Events for your calendar

Transition News and Events

Monday 16 June: Transition Cambridge hub meeting

19:00-21:00, Anna's house, off Coleridge Road

At the hub's monthly meeting, representatives of the groups and projects report on their activities and make plans together for future events. Meetings are open, so all are welcome to attend. Attending hub meetings is a good way to see how Transition Cambridge works, and to get a sense of the range of projects that make up Transition Cambridge. Contact Anna for details of her address.

Tuesday 17 June: Food Group meeting

18:30-20:00, CB2 restaurant (upstairs room), Norfolk Street, CB1 2LD

The Food Group's fortnightly meeting to discuss and update on current projects and future events - including reviewing Arbury Carnival in June and planning for the Big Weekend in July. All welcome!

Tuesday 17 June: Thermal Comfort in Older Houses

19:30-21:00, Friends Meeting House, Jesus Lane

This energy group forum will be about energy efficiency measures for older houses. What can we do to reduce heat loss and be more comfortable in our older (pre war or earlier) homes without damaging the features that we love about them? Our panel includes Matthew Smith from Natural Building Technologies (standing in for Jason Dorks who can't make it after all, so thanks Matt) and Jim Ross from Cambridge Architectural Research - both of whom have many years of experience in this area. More details here.

Thursday 19 June: Tales of our times - storytelling with Steph Bradley

19:30-22:00, The Six Bells Pub, Covent Garden, off Mill Road, Cambridge.

In 2010 Steph Bradley walked 2000 miles around England collecting tales of the everyday heroes who are making our world a better place, for her book “Tales of Our Times”. This summer she is re-visiting some of those inspirational places gathering tales for her new book “Flip Flop”. Come along to hear her stories and share new stories. (Read more about what she is doing here. This event is free, however donations are welcome to cover Stephanie's travel costs (by public transport rather than walking this time!) - suggested donation approximately £3. There'll also be a raffle to win a limited edition copy of Stephanie's book, and the chance to buy one. To read more about her travels, here's her blog from that first journey (she was in Cambridge on 20 May 2010).

Thursday 19 June: Media group meeting

19:30-21:00, Toni's house

This the monthly meeting of the media group. The agenda for this meeting will be to finish looking at the content for the website page representing the group, and to discuss how we can help to promote upcoming events. Newcomers are welcome to attend and take part in the discussion. Contact Oscar if you would like to join us.

Saturday 21 June: CropShare - Be an organic farmer for a day

09:30-16:30, Waterland Organics, Willow Farm, Lode CB25 9HF

Join Transition's community farming project, CropShare, to experience life as a real organic farmer for a day. We will be having fun helping out on the farm from 9.30am to 12.30pm, and 2pm to 4.30pm, sharing a lunch and a chat in between. You can join us for the morning or afternoon session, or both. See our blog to get a flavour of what workdays are like. It will be good healthy fun,a great chance to see our local countryside, and how food is grown on a large scale. Fill in this form if you would like to take part, and we'll also help you arrange travel to the farm. Everyone is very welcome! Family friendly.

Saturday 21 June: Wildlife Wanderings

10:45-12:30, Fulbourn Fen

Join us a Fulbourn Fen, for another Wildlife Wanderings, where we hope to see that last of this season's orchids on this ancient grassland. Wildlife Wanderings is a friendly and informal gathering of local people who want to get to know their green spaces better. We take a casual wander around the site looking for different plants and animals. All welcome, including children. Meet at Stourbridge Lane entrance. Please bring sensible shoes, and plenty of water if it's hot. Read more about Fulbourn Fen here. If you have any questions, please get in touch with Jade. Free, all welcome!

Sunday 22 June: Come be part of the Abbey forest garden project!

15:00, Whitehill Road Orchard

Live in Abbey? Interested in forest gardening? Come join the Growing Spaces project and Abbeypeople in making a new forest garden space for the community. View the orchard, have some tea and share in this exciting new project. If interested, please contact Nicky for numbers and precise directions.

Saturday 28 June: Grow Your Own Session in Trumpington

10:00-13:00, Trumpington allotments

Join experienced allotmenteer Dave Fox on his plot in Trumpington. Novices and experienced growers all welcome - this is a mutual sharing, not a lesson:) In the 28th June session (please note change of previously-advertised date) we will tend tomatoes and other recently-planted summer crops, harvest broad beans, peas and new potatoes, sow more seeds, hoe and mulch for weed control. Join in here. More details here.

Events for your calendar

Other News and Events

Wednesday 18 June: Modern and Ancient Genetics - Lunchtime Seminar

12:00, Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Professor Eske Willerslev, Professor and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Geophysics, National History Museum, University of Copenhagen, gives a lunchtime seminar entitled: "Modern and Ancient Genetics as a means to understand migrations, population dynamics and environmental changes." Part of a lunchtime seminar series run by the University of Cambridge Department of Zoology.

Friday 20 June: Feeding the World without Costing the Earth - Lunchtime Seminar

12:00, Main Lecture Theatre, Dept of Zoology, University of Cambridge

Professor Andrew Balmford, Professor of Conservation Science at the University of Cambridge Department of Zoology, gives a lunchtime seminar entitled "Feeding the World without Costing the Earth". Part of a seminar series on Ecology and Evolution run by the Department of Zoology.

Saturday 21 June: Trumpington Swishing

10:00-12:30, The Pavillion, Paget Road, Trumpington, CB2 9JF

Swishing is a clothes swap - bring along your unwanted clothes in good condition and take away something you love instead - a simple idea but a great one! Bring along your unwanted clothes at 10.00 am, the actual swishing will start at 11.00. Tea, coffee and home-made cakes will be available. Any profits will support the Trumpington Stitchers to pay the weekly hall hire allowing local residents to meet and share their skills. No admission, donations greatly appreciated!

Saturday 21 June: 'A Perfect Summer's Day' Skillshare and Repair

12:00-16:30, Newnham Scout and Guide Centre (end of Chedworth St, Nr Newnham Croft School) CB3 9JF

This is one of Cambridge Carbon Footprint’s highlight events of the year and we are really excited about it. It’s a Greeniversity event and is all about learning new skills so you can set about both creating and mending those things that’ll prepare you for your Perfect Summers Day in Cambridge. The venue is a spacious wooden cabin set in some lovely grounds. It’s right on the edge of Sheep’s Green and Grantchester Meadows so we hope to head out for a bike ride sometime during the day to enjoy the fruits of our labours. A flavour of the workshops we hope to offer: bike maintenance; sewing bunting, kites and a picnic blanket; fixing electronics (radios, mobiles); making eco-friendly lotions, potions and suncreams; making cordials; foraging; making jams, pickles and other preserves; instrument repair; seasonal picnic foods; jewellery repair. The event is FREE! More details here.

Saturday 21 June: Foodisco!

17:00, Ross Street Community Centre, Ross Street, Cambridge

What do we hate? - FOOD WASTE! What do we love? - FOOD! What else do we love? - DISCO! FOOOOD DISCO!! Get your knives out, for a peaceful, meat-free (vegetarian or vegan) meal made out of surplus food which we have sourced from shops and farmers, prepared, cooked and ENJOYED by you. While you're doing that, the experience will be further enhanced by the sweet sounds from a couple of brilliant DJs and solo artists. So far we have Axel aka AxWax (he will adopt his alter ego DJ Crouton for the night), playing some lovely Jungle, and Adam aka Jaro presenting his special blend of grunge and blues. If you are interested in playing (vocals & acoustic instruments, PA provided) or DJing, please do give us a shout, you'll get an extra large portion and obviously it will be made for you as you'll be AT WORK! :) After the successes of this concept in Berlin, Paris, NYC, and recently in UK cities, we thought it's about time for Cambridge to get its first own Foodisco. Here's what it's all about. Cost £2. All welcome! Foodisco facebook event here.

Thursday 26 June: Low Energy Light Bulb Evening

19:00, Girton Baptist Church 103 High St, Girton, Cambridge CB3 0QQ

Sustainable Girton invite you to our Low Energy Light Bulb Evening. Low Energy Light Bulb have come a long way since the early days so come and see for yourselves: What do the latest light bulbs look like? How bright are they? How fast do they come on? How much money do they save? Please park on Manor Farm Road or at the recreation ground car park. Light bulbs will be available to order from My Green Lighting at 10% discount. Contact Shane for details More details here.

Thursday 26 June: Presentation and workshop training

19:30-21:30, St Lukes Church, CB4 3DZ

Looking for an opportunity to develop your presentation and workshop skills? Why not help spread the word on climate change and carbon reduction by joining the CCF outreach team? For the right candidates we are offering full training in how to communicate effectively about climate change, and how to plan and deliver engaging workshops and presentations. The training will include 2 (or possibly 3) 2 hour sessions (depending on the number of participants). We are ideally looking for people who have completed a Carbon Conversations course or have a background in low carbon living/sustainability and who have some experience of leading groups or speaking in public. Training will take place 7.30pm – 9.30pm Thursday June 26, July 10 and (possibly) July 24. If you would like more information or are interested in taking part please email alana@cambridgecarbonfootprint.org or visit the CCF website. More details here.

Sunday 29 June: Swift Tower Grand Opening

11:00-13:00, Trumpington Community Orchard

Over the past year the Trumpington Community Orchard Project raised funding for a specially designed swift nesting tower to be built. Now, that the tower is in place after help from many differing sources we like to celebrate and say ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped. So please come along to the Orchard and learn more about swifts and how we can to help them survive. Apple juice and cake will be on offer. No charge for the event, but donations very gratefully received. If you would like to help on the day please get in touch with us by email More details here.

Friday 04 July: The Liberated Feast

19:30-23:30, St Paul's Centre, Hills Road

Yes it's back, the tasty event raising awareness of global food waste! The 4th Liberated Feast creates another beautiful 3-course vegan banquet for over 100 lovely people from surplus produce that would otherwise be wasted. Produce sourced from farms, markets, veg box schemes, local producers, allotment holders, foraging and retailers. Book online via Eventbrite. If you'd like to help to prepare or serve this amazing banquet, contact Jennie. Proceeds from the event go to supporting a school feeding project at the Milimani School on Kenya's Rusinga Island. The Liberated Feast Project is also developing an educational programme, working with schools and communities to explore the global food system and create their own Liberated Feasts.

Events for your calendar

Have a great week!

Anna

Our Mission

Transition Cambridge aims to help Cambridge make the transition to ways of life that are more resilient in the face of rising energy prices and a changing climate.

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