Newsletter20121029

Hi everyone

This week we have a crafts night at the Transition cafe on Thursday - come and found out how to make 'plabric', a material made from recycled plastic bags. Then on Friday you can meet the energy group at their stall with the new Switch-Off group at the Grafton Centre. On Saturday you can join the Cropshare team for a fun day on the farm, and on Sunday Romsey community garden is having a bonfire party to celebrate another successful year in the garden - all welcome!

CONTENTS

Transition News and Events

  • Thursday 01 November: Cafe evening - recycled crafts
  • Friday 02 November: TC Energy Group collaborating with Switch-Off at the Grafton Centre
  • Saturday 03 November: CropShare - Be an organic farmer for a day
  • Sunday 04 November: Romsey Community Garden bonfire party
  • Tuesday 06 November: Food Group meeting + Cambake meeting
  • Wednesday 07 November: Permaculture Group Meeting: The Way Forward.
  • Thursday 08 November: Energy Group Meeting
  • Saturday 10 November: Warm Homes in Trumpington
  • Transition Cambridge Permaculture Group survey
  • Events for your calendar

Community News

  • Mill Road Winter Fair needs your help

Other News and Events

  • Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st October 10.00am - 12.30pm: Autumn at Wandlebury
  • Wednesday 31 October: The Great Global Sustainability Treasure Hunt!
  • Thursday 15 November: The Bioregional Economy - A talk by Molly Scott Cato
  • Saturday 17 November: Hedge Laying at Coton Countryside Reserve
  • Tuesday 20 November: Starting a community garden
  • Monday 26 November: Green Tide Turbines
  • Saturday 01 December: Tree Dressing Day
  • Events for your calendar

Transition News and Events

Thursday 01 November: Cafe evening - recycled crafts

19:30-21:00, CB1 cafe, Mill Road

This cafe evening will focus on crafts using recycled materials. One thing we'll be making is 'plabric' - converting plastic bags into a stronger material which can be used to make other items (take a look at this youtube tutorial). And if you can bring along a few non-degradable and attractively coloured plastic bags to work with, that'd be great! Also, if you know a recycled craft which you'd like to share with others, please contact Liz.

Friday 02 November: TC Energy Group collaborating with Switch-Off at the Grafton Centre

13:30-16:30, Grafton Centre

This will be your last chance to meet Switch Off - a team of students with a novel approach to explaining how to save energy, this time under cover and in the relative warmth of the Grafton Shopping Centre. The Energy Group will be sharing a stall in the Grafton Centre with Switch Off to mark the end of the energy saving challenge week. We shall see how it went. And you can test your knowledge with the Energy Group quiz cards or take our survey and tell us what we should be doing to help you save energy.

Saturday 03 November: CropShare - Be an organic farmer for a day

10:00-16:30, 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. This Saturday, CropShare will be having fun helping out on the farm from 10am to 12.30am, 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 this weekend, we'll also help you arrange travel to the farm. Everyone is very welcome! Family friendly. More details here.

Sunday 04 November: Romsey Community Garden bonfire party

16:00-18:00, Community garden on the junction between Marmora and Madras Road

Join us for a bonfire at the community garden! There'll be hot drinks, cakes and marshmallows. All welcome, particularly those with small children! We'll probably do a little bit of work on the garden and then light the bonfire at 5. Bring something to sit on if you'd like to sit down, and food and drink to share. There's more information about the community garden with some pictures and a map here.

Tuesday 06 November: Food Group meeting + Cambake meeting

18:30-20:00, The Emperor pub, 21 Hills Road, CB2 1NW (upstairs room)

The Food Group's regular fortnightly meeting - we'll be reviewing our projects. At 8pm, there is a meeting of Cambake (Cambridge's community bakery project) - with updates on new (and exciting!) developments... see here on their website.

Wednesday 07 November: Permaculture Group Meeting: The Way Forward.

19:00-21:00, Claire's House Trumpington. Contact Ceri and Dave for more details.

The focus of this evening will be to discuss how we would like the group to proceed over the next year. The hope is to have a few larger group meetings that may include visits to permaculture sites, workshops, skill sharing events, and work party dates. This would be combined with a more regular, informal meeting group to focus on particular parts of permaculture practice and design. This is more specifically for people who want to meet for support and discussion regarding permaculture practice and its role in our everyday lives. It would be great to see lots of people there for some tea and cake and all contributions and ideas are welcome. We will also talk about the proposed Eastern Region Convergence next year, probably @ Ringfield 19th-21st July. More details here.

Thursday 08 November: Energy Group Meeting

19:30-21:00, Margaret's house on Oxford Road

Note change of date, time and venue. There will probably be some activity with Switch-off to review and plans for our next event in January. We should have a new FAQ on wall insulation too. Contact Nicola for details of venue.

Saturday 10 November: Warm Homes in Trumpington

10:00-16:00, Trumpington Pavillion, Paget Road, Cb2 9JF

CCF and Transition Cambridge in collaboration invite you to Warm Homes in Trumpington, an all-day energy saving event! There will be stalls, displays, DIY workshops, talks and home visits to help you learn how to make your home more energy-efficient, comfortable to live in and cheaper to run. A schedule of talks and more information is available on the Cambridge Carbon Footprint website.

Transition Cambridge Permaculture Group survey

Transition Cambridge Permaculture Group will have been meeting for 3 years next spring and over that time, we’ve been pretty busy. In the spirit of the permaculture we have put together a survey using design principles to help us plan our way forward into 2013. If you have participated in the group in the past or hope to join us in the future it would be great if you could take a few moments to answer these questions and let us know what you'd like the group to be doing in the future. Download the questionnaire here (rtf file). Please email your responses to Ceri and Dave by 5th November or bring them along to the meeting on the 7th (see Events section). Thanks! For more information about the Permaculture group's activities, see their web-site here.

Events for your calendar

Community News

Mill Road Winter Fair needs your help

The Fair is on Saturday 1st December this year - it's a wonderful vibrant community event which is made possible by many volunteers! They are appealing for people to help out during the day (any time from 8am till 6pm) with various things - setting out tables, putting up banners and posters, overseeing venues. If you can help, contact Adeline Douard. If you can help out by stewarding for an hour or two, contact Jonathan Goodacre (Tel: 07774 907 099). More details here.

Other News and Events

Tuesday 30th and Wednesday 31st October 10.00am - 12.30pm: Autumn at Wandlebury

10:30-12:30, Wandlebury Park

Enjoy autumn at Wandlebury Park during half term at one of our two sessions for children age 5 plus. Take part in crafts inspired by beautiful autumn leaves, fruits and seeds and look out for autumnal animal activity in the park. Book now to ensure a place at these popular sessions run by our field teachers. Children must be accompanied by an adult. £6.50 per child (members £5.00) Contact us by email or ring 01223 243830 x 201

Wednesday 31 October: The Great Global Sustainability Treasure Hunt!

13:30-16:00, Mill Rd Cemetery - avenue entrance

As part of the Festival of Ideas the Global Sustainability Institute at Anglia Ruskin University is running a sustainability themed treasure hunt for families from 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm on October 31st at Mill Road Cemetery, Cambridge. There will be treats for all teams! More details and registration at: www.anglia.ac.uk/gsi_treasurehunt

Thursday 15 November: The Bioregional Economy - A talk by Molly Scott Cato

19:30, St. Phillips Church Centre, 185 Mill Road Cambridge, CB1 3AN

What happens when ecology meets economics? Join Cambridge Carbon Footprint and leading Green Economist Molly Scott Cato as she sets out a visionary account of what a bioregional approach to the economy would mean — and how to get there from here. Full event details are available on our website.

Saturday 17 November: Hedge Laying at Coton Countryside Reserve

11:00-15:00, Coton Countryside Reserve.

Help the Rangers restore some of the old hedges the traditional way and work on the hedges along the concrete track to open up the views. Bring a picnic and suitable clothing and shoes. Tools etc provided. Free event, donations welcome. Booking essential. Contact Head Ranger 07833 598155 or email. More details here.

Tuesday 20 November: Starting a community garden

19:30-21:30, Wesley Methodist Church, Victoria Avenue, Cambridge

Community gardens are definitely good news! There are many benefits - bringing neighbours together, making neglected areas beautiful and productive, growing food close to home. But how to start one? How to find land, and get permission to use it? How to bring together a group of people who want to work in the garden? What's good to grow? How do you integrate nature and wildlife? The evening's panel of experts include Stephanie Ferguson, coordinator of Transition Cambridge's Growing Spaces project; Anna McIvor, co-founder of Romsey Town Community Garden and Keith Jordan, Community Worker for Abbey Action and Grow-your-own guru. Reserve your place by booking ahead. Please email the CCF office or call 01223 301842. More details here.

Monday 26 November: Green Tide Turbines

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

Michael Evans will share the story of Green Tide Turbines and the challenges they’ve faced in developing ways to generate renewable power from rivers and estuaries. Michael is an experienced entrepreneur who’s clearly innovative about financing his ventures: Green Tide turbines started as a crowd funded charity! As usual in Green Enterprise events, the evening will be participative and will include plenty of time for discussion with the speaker and other participants. Cost £5. More details here.

Saturday 01 December: Tree Dressing Day

11:00-15:00, Wandlebury Park

Take a walk to collect natural materials and use them to make decorations to take home and to help the rangers decorate a tree in the park as part of National Tree Week (National Tree Dressing Day) Cost: £6.00 per child (£5 for members). Contact Head Ranger 07833 598155 or email. More details here.

Events for your calendar

Hope all's well, and maybe see you at some of these events!

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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