Transition Town Tooting

Category: Other stuff

A place to gather things that have no category!

  • Carnival Factory Opens on the High Street: 11 – 6pm Every Day!

    Come and join us at The Trashcatchers’ Carnival Factory at Broadway Studios, 28 Tooting High Street! 

    Drop by between 11am and 6pm for Carnival making. Make your own design or help with larger structures for the day.  Please bring plastic bags – the more coloured the better, also coloured plastic bottle tops, jewellery and shiny silver foil. All clean please!  Children under 16 should be accompanied by an adult.

    For details about the Carnival day – how to get involved, what to make, bring and where to go see our Carnival site

  • ANNOUNCING TOOTING’s 3rd HARVEST FOODIVAL September 19th 2010

    ANNOUNCING TOOTING’s 3rd HARVEST FOODIVAL
    September 19th  2010
    September 19th sees the return of Transition Town Tooting’s Harvest Foodival for the third year running and I’m looking for people to pitch in and make this year’s event even better! 2009’s Foodival was a fantastic success and saw six restaurants cook up a feast with locally grown fruit and veg for local residents to try with a finale of children’s events and a cooking competion at Fircroft school. This year we’re looking for ideas to make the Foodival bigger and better and look at ways to get more people to come along and join the fun.
    If you’d like to add some ideas or fancy volunteering your help and expertise for this year’s event, I’ll be holding a special Foodival planning meeting after the unleashing of TTT so watch this space for details and help make 2010 the best Foodival yet! For more information and to get involved please email giles@cen.org.uk and you can see last year’s Foodival at http://www.tootingfoodival.blogspot.com/
    Giles

  • ONLY ONE MONTH TO GO!

    The Trashcatchers’ Carnival takes to the streets in 4 weeks’ time. Lots happening to get ready between now and then. There are workshops in many of the schools building floats, costumes, musical instruments and head pieces. Artists will be travelling between Tooting’s 15 schools on an almost daily basis. The South London Swimming Club have been creating the different elements of their Lido float – lacy waterfalls of blue shimmer, golden suns and shiny lettering.  It really is completely amazing what can be created from some coloured plastic bags. There are Carnivalista workshops now happening each weekend – see right for details and email transitiontowntooting@gmail.com if you would like more information.

    More soon on designs you can make for musical instruments and things to carry, wear, shake and make.  Full details on our latest Trashcatchers leaflet and more on the Trashcatchers Blog.

  • Tuesday 1st June – Carnival Creation Event

    Come and take part in creating the Trashcatchers Carnival on Tuesday 1st June at Mushkil Aasaan, 222-222 Upper Tooting Road, 7-9pm. There will be loads of creative people giving advice and tips on how to make beautiful things from rubbish, including a bunting and a plastic cloth making workshops.

    We will kick start the evening by showing a short film on the development of the Carnival and what has been happening so far. We will hear from various Carnivalistas and local groups talk about what they have been creating and what they plan to do for the Carnival. Followed by your chance to get involved in one of the creative workshops and make something for the Carnival. The evening will close with shared refreshments and showing what we have produced.

    It’s going to be a fun evening, all are welcome, don’t worry if you haven’t got any creative skills, this is your opportunity to learn something new and be part of a great event taking place in your local community.

    If you have access to any of the following please do bring it with you:
    Scraps of fabric, old clothes etc, you don’t need any more
    Colourful plastic bags
    Good cutting scissors
    Cotton tape, thick ribbon or even ticking tape if you have any.

    And do bring food to share as usual!  Hope to see you there, Malsara

  • Govt & TTT Both Committing on Climate Change

    The government commits to 10:10:

    The Government Signs-up to 10:10 from 10:10 on Vimeo.

    while Tooting continues to commit to Carnival!

  • Walking in Flip-flops

    At the weekend the remarkable Steph Bradley dropped in on TTT as we checked out potential venues for our Unleashing in July.  Steph, pictured above with Malsara, David & Lucy, has spent the last seven weeks walking from Transition HQ in Totnes, in, you guessed it, a pair of flip-flops!  She intends to spend six months in total walking between as many of the country’s transition initiatives as possible, checking out all the fantastic work that is being done.  You can follow Steph’s blog here.  Her description of Tooting High Street really struck me:

    “In its colourful High Road selling fruit and veg from all over the world and silks of every colour and decoration I hear every language from Greek, Polish, and all different Indian and Pakistani dialects. I haven’t had an experience like this since my time exploring the wonderful markets of Ceuta in northern Morocco in 1992.”

    It’s funny, sometimes I forget that we live in quite an unusual and culturally diverse part of the UK and it’s quite uplifting to note the impression it can make on a visitor.  Good luck on your trip Steph.  DT

  • A Canopy Under Which We Grow – TTT’s Sara reflects on her recent travels

    TTT’s Sara has been away from us since last year studying permaculture in Sweden and India.  She has sent us some fascinating reflections on her experiences….

    I have since the middle of October been living amongst poor farmers in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The reasons I’m here are many, and the things I’ve learned so far even more. It was difficult to believe, when the chaos that is India hit me in the face, that I’d be able to decipher anything and learn more than a few valuable lessons.
    As a former resident of Tooting I started my journey with plenty of “ahaa”s, and one time I even met a man who used to live in my beloved borough. It was as far away from the hustle and bustle of London it could be, in an idyllic village with thatched coconut rooves and outdoor kitchens. It made me wonder how many people in Tooting and the rest of the world long to be back here, back home but are having to work and earn the remittance that outsizes aid money many times over…

    Continue to read this post here

  • Sand, Trash, Events, Well-being etc

    Here we are greedily consuming the world’s resources (thanks to the artists at Portugal’s Fiesa festival for this great sand sculpture).  Will our political parties do something about it?  Attend the hustings and ask the local Tooting candidates before deciding where to mark your big X next Thursday.  BATCA have organised hustings tomorrow at St Anselms Church from 8pm.

    Thanks to Malsara and Garry for the Trashcatching workshop photos already posted on the Trashcatchers site.  More to come. 

    Meanwhile again tomorrow (Weds 28th) meet other local people concerned about plans by Lambeth Council & Tescos to put a temporary ice rink on common land.  Surely they can do better than this for our near neighbours in Streatham?

    Don’t forget we have a great First Tuesday Well-being Event “What’s Good For The Climate Is Good For Health” coming up with Jenny Griffiths OBE, independent consultant and author of the Faculty of Public Health’s publication Sustaining a Healthy Future on May 4th.  All welcome, it’s free and open to all – full details here

  • Kites & Carnivals

    A great day was enjoyed by many just a mile down the road at the 12th Streatham Common Kite Day a few days back.  Check out the massive kites!  Some inspiration for the Trashcatchers’ Carnival maybe?  

    Meanwhile the next Carnival workshop awaits this Sunday at 11 (EMAIL us if you want to be part of the action – plenty of creative things to get involved in) followed by the Jam ‘N Beets night at the Bedford co-hosted with TT Wandsworth. 

  • First Tuesday Food & Seed Swap

    Tuesday’s food and seed swap event attracted a good crowd and provoked a wide range of food growing discussion. Giles Read reviewed TTT’s past Foodivals, talked about plans for Foodival 2010, showed a film and gave away a collection of tools refurbished by inmates at Wandsworth Prison.

    The Tools Shed project takes broken tools collected at Neal’s Nurseries, a garden centre opposite the prison, and elsewhere, which are then given a new lease of life and returned for use in schools and community gardens.  The project helps prisoners’ rehabilitation and also teaches them new skills. 

    We also heard about urban growing from Toni Scott of Food Up Front before thronging around the seed swap table to pick up some interesting new seeds to try out.  This correspondent has already planted Borletto and French beans courtesy of Springfields Hospital SHARE garden project.  Thanks to everyone who brought seeds and plants, to Bob Winter at Tools Shed for the tools, which were quickly snapped up, and to Peter at Neal’s Nurseries for his discount offer.

    The next “First Tuesday” on May 4th will be a Well-being Event with Jenny Griffiths as guest speaker.