Transition Town Tooting

Category: Other stuff

A place to gather things that have no category!

  • 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.

  • Growing Tooting: learn about growing in our free series of gardening workshops starting March 18th

    Do you want to learn about local food growing and
    build up your practical gardening skills, where you live?
    Our FREE series of gardening and growing workshops 
    starts on the weekend of March 18th 
    and runs to the end of June

    This free fortnightly programme runs in three different locations in Tooting, Balham and Wandsworth – and at different times of the week (see the schedule below).

    In each series of eight fortnightly workshops between March and June we’ll be covering the basics of growing food at home, including wildlife-friendly gardening – even if you don’t have your own garden.

    Everyone’s welcome, and no previous gardening experience is necessary.

      
    Workshop series venues and start dates:
    There are three locations; the full series of 8 workshops will run in each.
    If you would like a copy of the flyer with all the venues listed, please click here to download.

    Balham: We’ll run on Friday mornings at 11:00am, fortnightly from Friday 18 March. Venue: St Mark’s United Reformed Church, 53 Rowfant Road, SW17 7AP
    Tooting: We’ll run on Friday afternoons at 2:00pm, fortnightly from Friday 18 March. Venue: Rechere’s Education, Health and Wellbeing Centre at Route to Juice, 163-165 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SY
    Wandsworth: We’ll run at 2:00pm on Sunday afternoons from 20 March. Venue: Penfold Centre, Neville Gill Close, SW18 4JT

    Please attend whichever series suits you in terms of timing & location.
    We encourage you do join in the whole series for the maximum social and learning benefit – it’s not intended to be separate drop-in events.

     Schedule and duration:
    We have a calendar of all the 8 sessions at each location – click here to read or download a copy.
    Sessions will last 90 minutes.

    Workshop series style:
    Interactive, practical and participative. We’ll also look at books and web links, and visit other gardens. We’ll build on participants’ knowledge and interests.

    To ask any questions, and to book: contact Martin:

    Workshop series content:

    • We’ll cover seasonal planning, preparation, sowing, growing and harvesting – always with an eye on what works well right here
    • We’ll explore: What varieties are good to grow locally? How to manage compost, soil fertility and watering? What about wildlife gardening, and sustainability? How can we make or build what we need for our own setting? Which tools are most useful?
    • We’ll show you that in the city you can grow successfully on balconies, in windowboxes, in containers on paved yards, on walls – and in back gardens
    • We’ll introduce you to local community gardens
    • We won’t forget about recipes, cooking and enjoying eating what we grow
    • We’ll finish the series with a celebration!

    What to bring:
    All you have to bring is enthusiasm and readiness to learn! We’ll provide all the tools you’ll need.

    Why join in?
    As well as learning and sharing a lot about growing, you’ll meet new people, spend time outdoors and get some exercise – and grow healthy food. What’s not to like?

    The wider Growing Tooting project:
    The purpose of this whole Growing Tooting project is to encourage local people to grow good local food by sharing and teaching the basic skills of growing and gardening.
    Plus, the project is helping to create a number of new community gardens across the borough. We’ll share more about that later on.
    Our vision is that these growing spaces with be able to network to share experience, equipment and enjoyment….and help make Wandsworth a growing-friendly place to live. TTT is very grateful to the Wandsworth Big Society Fund for support.

    If you have any questions, and to book your place on one of the series of workshops: contact Martin on 07980 095152 (or use one of the other methods above). 

     

     We look forward to seeing you Growing in Tooting
    & Balham & Wandsworth!

  • Restart Returns To Tooting

    TTT is happy to announce the first Restart Party of 2016 on Saturday 20 February from 2 to 5pm at Mushkil Aasaan, 220 – 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW (next to Nando’s).  Download the POSTER.

    You may recall that Restart is the project that aims to keep electronic items out of landfill by trying to fix things as opposed to throwing them away. 

    Could you get involved?

    Maybe you have something that needs fixing?  Laptop? Toaster? Phone? Kettle? Toy? Hairdryer? 

    Or maybe you are good at mending stuff and fancy working out how to fix something?

    Either way come down to Tooting on Saturday 20th Feb and join in! You might be amazed at what is possible.


    Alongside this Restart Party, TTT will be running an Open Day. If you’ve ever wondered what Transition Town Tooting does and if you might like to be involved, then do come along and find out about all the great projects in Tooting, from the Foodival to the Community Garden, Oak Carving to Neighbourhood Planning. Join us for a cuppa and a chat!

  • WEF – Rubbish, recycling and the circular economy

    Wandsworth Environment Forum are holding a public meeting on Tue 19thJanuary(7pm, Room 123, Wandsworth Town Hall) covering such questions as:
    • What can be recycled and where does it go after sorting?
    • Is incineration of non-recyclables better than landfill?
    • How is Wandsworth performing on waste processing and recycling? (Here are the government’s latest statistics for London: http://data.london.gov.uk/dataset/household-waste-recycling-rates-borough/resource/6f7bc5cd-217b-4eed-9450-af086f17908e) Unfortunately Wandsworth doesn’t compare well with the London and England rates.)
    • Why doesn’t the council collect food waste?
    • How might we do more together to minimise waste locally?
    Sharon Ross from Western Riverside Waste Authority / Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) at Smuggler’s Way and Cllr Jonathan Cook, Wandsworth Council’s environment spokesman will be fielding such questions and no doubt there will be some lively discussion!
    The Circular Economy

    The concept of the circular economy will be presented by Gemma George from London Sustainability Exchange. As you may know, this is a new way of thinking about creating systems which re-use materials and effectively minimise waste and dramatically reduce our need for new raw materials. 

    The idea is currently being promoted to the top end of the business world by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (founded by the former solo yachtswoman – see www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/).

    The final discussion will look at how we, the community sector, and Wandsworth Council might work together to take forwards improvements to the current systems and any ideas for new initiatives.
    TTT will be having a stall there and we hope to see you there! If can’t come to the meeting but have a question, please either sign up to Project Dirt Wandsworth Cluster, http://www.projectdirt.com/cluster/wandsworth/, or e-mail Vicki Carroll, WEF chair, on vickigoat@hotmail.com.

  • Rooting in Tooting update: TTT’s project with local refugees and asylum-seekers

    We’d like to update you on the Rooting in Tooting project: TTT’s joint project with the Tooting charity CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers).

    In our past blog posts (view them here) we’ve outlined that we have a year of diverse activities planned with CARAS.

    Participant groups include the CARAS Youth Club and After-School Club, with families and the Women’s Group still to come.

    The project purpose?
    Threefold – to help develop teamworking and relationships while enjoying new activities, to help develop language and communication skills, and to help participants feel that they are joining in with the local community.
    We’re so proud that CARAS won a Team Community Hero award at the Balham and Tooting Community Association annual celebration of local contributions on December 10th.

    Working with the Youth Club
    This is the group with whom we did the pilot project in spring – and it’s typical of working in the refugee setting that the individuals and participant numbers have been changing all the time.

    In one session we were making models of the rain-fed growing planters that we hope to build for real outdoors – a fun and focused session with a dozen young people.

    In another session two dozen young people carved pumpkins, and in another we did more screenprinting using local photos of Tooting scenes. That day one or two lads were on still in their first few days in England…others translated and helped them join in.

    What else?
    We’ve embarked on measuring and preparing timber for some of the outdoor planter construction projects that will turn into flourishing gardens in the spring.

    In December we did a mighty evening session printing 70 cloth bags with nearly 30 young people and volunters, again using local leaves as stencils.  These bags went home as presents over the holiday season, and many others were exchanged for a donation to CARAS.

    The Youth Club designed and printed many different bags!

    Working with the After-School Clubs
    In November and December we joined the clubs, in four age groups from 4 to 11 yrs old. We designed and screenprinted cloth bags with each child, using local leaves as the stencils (..’rooting in Tooting’..!)

    The children were great – and hats off to their energy to join in until 7:30 on mostly wet Monday evenings after full days at school.

    What’s next?
    We continue with the plans and preparation for building flower and vegetable beds, and we’re developing a new strand: designing and making a mural for the site. We have the Women’s Group and family groups to meet. We’ll be planting, growing and harvesting with the 2016 Tooting Foodival in mind.
    The reality is that our project approach has to be very flexible and responsive…we’re learning about the best approaches, all the time.
    In parallel the participants have other activities – for example the Youth Club have support for their college studies and they cook and enjoy meals together. They are taking part in games and training to explore stress, sleeping well, and keeping fit – all those as part of CARAS’ own Happy Future Project.

    Who is supporting Rooting in Tooting?
    People like you! We’re all keen to learn and contribute to alleviating a global challenge that we can work with on our doorstep – thanks so much to all who have volunteered so far.
    In the spirit of flexibility and responding to change, we’re a group of a dozen – some of us do a lot of other things with TTT, some join just this project. We’re never all there at once; some do more time and some do less and we have a mix of skills.
    This has worked out well so far – and if you are reading this and feel you would like to contribute, please get in touch with Charles or Jenny by email at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

    We’re very grateful for funding and materials from the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Greening Grey Britain’ campaign and from the Sir Walter St John Educational Charity.
    Further support is welcome!
    Thanks to all – Charles

  • Crossrail 2 : Tooting or Balham? Consultation ends on Friday 8th Jan!

    As you may know, Crossrail 1 is currently under construction linking East London with West London and passing right through the centre of town – Tottenham Court Road perhaps being a known example  of the huge impact in time and space of the project.

    Well, Crossrail 2 is a proposed new train line, broadly linking North London to South London from Southgate to Wimbledon, involving 50+ stations.

    The project is just beginning its life, with construction and funding many years off. There’s already been 3 versions of the route that directly affects Tooting:

    1. Tooting Broadway was a station along the route with a ventilation and emergency access shaft proposed by the Skylark Cafe, Wandsworth Common.
    2. Due to public outcry, the ventilation and emergency access shaft was shifted to an overspill car park near Wandsworth Prison, with Tooting Broadway still the proposed station in our neighbourhood. Everything seemed good, until…
    3. Due to more detailed geological surveys revealing challenging conditions underground at Tooting Broadway, Balham Station was proposed as a more practically feasible option with the ventilation and emergency access shaft returning to Wandsworth Common, this time adjacent to Bolingbroke Grove, because of track curvature constraints between Balham and Clapham Junction.

    Still with me?  Critically, there is a consultation open NOW which is gathering public feedback on the Balham (and by association Tooting Broadway) plan.

    This consultation closes on Friday 8th Jan. 
    We encourage you all to contribute your views!

    Please do fill in the questionnaire on TfL’s site following the hyperlink HERE , click on “Balham” as there is no Tooting Broadway option… tactics..?.. make your comment on Tooting Broadway in Question 23.

    Here’s some useful information:

    An EXCELLENT 6 minute video championing Tooting as a destination for the station and explaining why.

    TfL’s site is HERE

    the Save Wandsworth Common campaign page on Facebook and web

    Conservative Parliamentary Spokesperson for Tooting Constituency, Dan Watkins carried out his own survey across the area, results and comments are HERE

    And Sadiq Khan, Labour MP for Tooting and Mayoral candidate reported in the Wandsworth Guardian HERE and HERE

    A dated, but useful video showing the Tooting Broadway option, useful because it shows the rest of the route and interconnections.

    Crossrail 2 Managing Director, Michelle Dix, explains the benefit here, again dated by showing Tooting Broadway as the preferred option.

    All best and look forward to seeing you soon,
    Richard

  • Reduce, Re-use, ReSparkle! Our seasonal family crafts workshop with Tooting Library

    On Saturday 12th December TTT offered our fourth annual Resparkle! seasonal crafts session at Tooting Library –  this time combined with Jeni Walker’s monthly Meet & Make.

    The aim was to teach children and adults how to make interesting, fun and attractive decorations or presents using household materials – newspaper, drinks cartons, scrap textiles.

    Here’s what we had on offer to make:

    • drinks carton wallets
    • newspaper present bags 
    • textile and paper decorations
    • paper flowers
    • adding to the Library’s collage Xmas tree
    • and some children made up their own ideas…

    All these activities are easy to repeat at home – for us it’s all about mixing creativity and upcycling everyday waste.
    And it’s all about enjoyment and making things together. 

    Some children did every single activity on offer, then went back for more..

    The afternoon was delightful – a real mix of Tooting’s cultures, with a lot of concentration and focus from three dozen young people. There were rewarding challenges working with new materials and techniques, and persisting with folding, cutting, punching and sticking to make beautiful things.

    Most of the adults were making too – it was great to see the mix of generations and also whole families doing these engaging activities together.
    There was a lot of achievement, pride and quiet celebration.

     

    Thanks so much to the multi-tasking TTT volunteers who ran the day: Jane, Jeni, Hilary, Rachel & Chuck.
    Thanks to Tooting Library – to Heather and Khalid for inviting us (and for helping to clear up at the end).

                    

                                          
     More photos in this slideshow  

    See you at December 2016 Resparkle!

  • BATCA Community Heroes

    BATCA Hero Hilary

    It was a good night for TTT and our partners at last night’s BATCA (Balham & Tooting Community Association) Community Heroes Awards.  Our Rooting in Tooting colleagues at CARAS (Community Action for Refugees & Asylum Seekers), won a Team Award, while Hilary Jennings ex-co-chair and key player in TTT since 2008 was a highly commended hero(ine).

    Eleanor Brown, CARAS Youth Services Co-ordinator, with Hafsa and Waseem
    We were happy that our nomination for the ever helpful Ilesh Patel at Miss U Stationers also resulted in a highly commended award.  

    Hilary, delighted (and somewhat surprised!) with her award, reported that “it was a great evening with a real sense of warmth and pride in how this area is a place of community and diversity. A few people mentioned it being an example of how diverse community can live well together.”

    All the Community Award winners are listed in the BATCA press release – click here to read it.


    Email us if you’d like to find out more about our Rooting in Tooting project and check out the newly launched CARAS website!  And don’t forget tomorrow’s Reduce Reuse Resparkle at Tooting Library!


  • Resparkle! plus Meet & Make: Free upcycled crafts activities in Tooting next weekend

    Two long-running TTT crafts projects which mix creativity and attractive recycled materials are coming together on December 12th at Tooting Library.

    Reduce, Re-use, Resparkle! has been offered with our partners Tooting Library at Christmas for the past four years.
    Meet & Make is community artist Jeni Walker’s monthly project for local upcycling and making.
    On Dec 12th we are bringing them together for a free event.

    Resparkle! is all about making fun Christmas presents or decorations out of recycled materials – do come along from 2-4 at Tooting Library on the 12th. All ages, all welcome, all materials provided.

    The regular attendees (and others!) at Meet & Make are invited to come along too – make some great upcycled festive decorations and also get some inspiration and encouragement on any making project of your own. All artists and makers welcome.

    Three inviting photos from last year’s Resparkle! –


    More Meet & Make news:
    Our newly formed connection with local charity Wandsworth Oasis was knitted a little closer last month with the generous hosting of our monthly Meet & Make in their new shop near Amen Corner. 

    Helen brought along the finished shopper trolley started at last months M&M, Jeni whipped up a couple of tiny aprons for her toddler art classes and Martin chatted at length about the possibilities and challenges of starting a social enterprise based on up cycled making.

     
    Elsewhere in the TTT arts story the power of making saw many hands came together to put paint, paper and glue to the Giant Saxophone. The friendly yellow giant was witness to young mums with their children, Pilates teachers, Meet & Makers, local arts practitioners, people claiming that they ‘aren’t any good at this art stuff‘ another saying they ‘literally hadn’t made anything in years’ all creating a very pleasing result both visually and in the sense of connecting together.
    We have plenty more participatory making planned – please come and get involved, and also do share your ideas for new projects or community groups and partners to join up with. 
    Contact us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com