Transition Town Tooting

Category: Wellbeing

  • TootingCAN: A Day of Skill-Sharing, Connection, and Hope

    TootingCAN: A Day of Skill-Sharing, Connection, and Hope

    All Photos credit: George Dixon

    What a day! On 9 May 2026, the United Reformed Church in Rookstone Road buzzed with energy, creativity, and a shared passion for making Tooting a better place. TootingCAN, organized by Transition Town Tooting (TTT) and funded by the Wandsworth Grant Fund, brought together 108 participants from all walks of life to celebrate the skills, resilience, and kindness that make our community thrive.

    From the moment you walked in, you could feel that this was more than just an event. It was a testament to what happens when we come together to learn, share, and care for one another. Whether you were trying your hand at British Sign Language (BSL), crafting a comic book, or whipping up date balls in the kitchen, there was something for everyone, and everyone had something to give.

    Stitching the Totes

    A Celebration of Skills and Community

    TTT’s mission is to tackle the climate and ecological emergency through volunteer-led, community-driven action right here in Tooting. TootingCAN is our moment to convene the people with skills and experiences from our locality to do exactly that through sharing, showcasing that our work is nothing without the vibrant and diverse community right here in Tooting. Participants left with new experiences, fresh ideas, and a sense of belonging that’s vital to build a flourishing sustainable future.:

    • 108 participants engaged across 15 activities.
    • 15+ workshops delivered, from worm composting to AI sustainability and Indian dance.
    • Around 75% of attendees were Wandsworth residents, proving that the best solutions start right where we live.

    But the real magic was in the story we all started to weave:

    • 9 out of 10 participants praised the event’s warmth and inclusivity, with many highlighting the friendliness and the diverse, healthy food as standout features.
    • Activities like the BSL workshop and Creation Station, led by children and supervised by Core Group member Abby, (where attendees crafted badges, mugs, and comic book stories) were particularly beloved, with participants calling them “inspiring” and “connected to family heritage.”
    • Special mention for Kelly’s cooking class for children; firstly as it enabled children to experience the joy of cooking nutritious meals from scratch, secondly as it introduced them to cooking sustainably through plant based recipes. It is hoped that this will plant the seeds for these children to enjoy cooking and cook meals that are good for the planet – potential huge long term gains if they can be sustained (through more Tooting CANs!)
    • The event closed with a community meal, performances of the fresh BSL skills and slick Indian dance moves before a collective sing song with the Lido Choir which brought the room to life, proving that joy is a skill we all share.

    Lap around a Laptop, take a look inside…

    Feedback That Warms the Heart and nourishes our work

    This year, we had an engaging and creative way to gather feedback on the walls of the entrance corridors. One attendee, a 70-year-old singer, said:

    “I loved the community atmosphere, anyone can sing! I’d love to see more singing in future events.”

    Another, a 50-year-old stitching enthusiast, shared:

    “I connected sewing to my family heritage and loved the Lido Choir. The whole event felt so welcoming.”

    Contributors (our 30+ volunteers) echoed this sentiment. They loved seeing the diversity of skills on display and the buzz of activity, and the collective effort of hosting TootingCAN.

    Indian dance, clack! clack!

    What’s Next?

    Transition Town Toting have run TootingCAN for the last 3 years and the enthusiasm for it grows each time. This year, we received loads of ideas for workshops at future TootingCANs, such as:

    • More singing and creative workshops (think choral singing, book clubs and dance)
    • Deeper dives into IT topics like AI and sustainability.
    • Arts and Crafts from crochet to lino printing, collage to painting & sketching
    • Food and cooking workshops like fermentation, kimchi and baking
    • Finally, the practical stuff: gardening, bike maintenance and woodwork.

    Most importantly, TootingCAN proved that community resilience isn’t just a buzzword, it’s something we build, day by day, skill by skill, in community. Let’s see how next year’s tootingCAN develops!

    Serving lunch

    A Huge Thank You

    To every participant, volunteer, and contributor, thank you for making TootingCAN a day to remember. Your energy, creativity, and kindness are what make Tooting special. Huge thanks to Amy and the United Reformed Church, our home from home. And to the Wandsworth Grant Fund, thank you for believing in this vision and helping us bring it to life.

    The future is bright, and it starts right here in Tooting. Let’s keep sharing, learning, and growing together—because when we do, there’s no limit to what we can achieve.

    Want to get involved? Perhaps you have something to offer for next year’s TootingCAN? Transition Town Tooting is always looking for volunteers and new ideas. Get in touch at [TransitionTownTooting@gmail.com] to join the movement!

    Close with a sing song

    Tooting can!

    By Rich Couldrey

    Step in to the creation station, stick, squeeze, badge
    Take a lap around a laptop, who knew AI was…
    Stitching ties, totes to carry your prize, whirrr, prick, chat, chat
    Chaat chaat, making chaat, spiced cascade,
    A taste of tooting in date …
    balls and pizzas made, squeeze, need and dough 
    The meal begins to assemble ...

    But wait, we dive underground, dark, as worms wriggle and squirm outside, 
    Past quests for reflection,
    to planters repaired and hands in the soil, plants go in... grow, grow!

    In community, we relate, a rainbow human family,
    What did you say? Hands sway and flow, in letters made as we move, my name, your name, hello hello. 

    Gestures turn to dance, sticks clack clack! As Ragini moves, with such grace and poise, we follow, Kathak, Kathak.

    And back, to find a way into a digital world, clickety clack of fingers on keyboards learning to excel, nearly time to relax... 

    Wooosh! A gleeful child runs and newspaper kites fly out back, time to rise up...     up...  up... to see a drawn map of us all, BAT BAT. 

    Enough of all that, 
    Take a breath, in and sing, 
    feel the healing, "hold on, my dear, here comes the dawn" rings,
    And stop, pause, time to eat and reflect,
    A leek and potatoes soup to fill the...head… 
    heart and hands, and celebrate...
    Tooting's rainbow soul, 
    ‘til next time we gather and change the world once more.
  • Sewing & Sanctuary

    Sewing & Sanctuary

    Sewing and Sanctuary is a women’s sewing group which was founded in May 2022.

    It is a Transition Town Tooting project run in partnership with Oxfam Tooting.

    We are a place of sanctuary where women of refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds and women from the local community meet, stitch and chat. We enjoy learning together, sharing skills and helping one another. With an emphasis on reuse, we make beautiful creations whilst reducing textile waste.

    Our priority is promoting good mental health. We use lots of different textile related techniques including hand stitching, machine stitching, crochet and knitting. Have a look at this lovely video of our work.

    The group has produced banners, taken part in fundraising projects and run workshops at local events including Tooting Can and the BATCA Funday. The highlight of last year was our ‘Community Stitching Upcycled Fashion Show’. Here is a blog about our activities from Spring 2025.

    We meet every Friday morning. For more information send us an email at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • #createfoodival

    There’s a lot to share about all that’s happening at the Tooting Foodival on 14th September, so we’ll cover all of these in separate blog posts.

    We hope you enjoy the info about our creative offer for adults and young people. All invited to our base in the large yard part way down Hereward Road.

    Here’s your invitation 
    to a diverse 6 hours of creativity:

    Our schedule:

    11:00-12:30 We’ll be micro-observing with Annie, Nikki & Chuck using magnifying glasses and a microscope, drawing and creating the first small worlds which we’ll post on Instagram with the hashtag #createfoodival. We started with posting a first example today – have a look.
    We can’t wait to encourage visitors to be drawn to nature!
    We’ll continue these activities all day in parallel with the timed special sessions below.

    12:30-1:30 We welcome May Webber from the UK national charity Butterfly Conservation
    May will bring specimens of insects for us to explore with the help of her expertise and enthusiasm. With May and Nicola we’ll draw and realise that what’s good for insects in London is also good for people.
    MAYBE we will be able to run moth-trapping locally on Friday night, and bring the catch in unharmed to observe and draw.

    1:30-3:00 Nikki and Matt will be creating Microbrellas – our spin-off from this spring’s Jellybrella project which created big jellyfish-sculptures using scrap umbrellas and linked sea life with ocean plastics.

    Making beautiful detailed microbrellas also aims to highlight how minute nano-plastics in the oceans are as damaging pollution challenge as large-scale waste.

    We may have a visit from Jasmine the Mermaid and her stop ocean plastics campaign!

    3:00-4:30 Paul will lead us to create easy-to-use small home planters out of re-purposed materials. You can take these home and keep growing fresh food this autumn.

    All day Think Outside will join us in the creative yard with excellent outdoor learning activities complementary to #createfoodival – thanks for joining us, Beata & Think Outside

    We’ll display what you make on this inspiring sea turtle table made by Jamie Pattinson – it’s a wonderful object with a plastic waste message.

    The #createfoodival facilitators look forward 
    to seeing you on the 14th from 11:00 to 5:00. 
    And there’s all the rest 
    of the Foodival to enjoy, too!

  • Growing Community across London – Part 2

    Our previous blog post describes Growing Community Part 1 – and to recap in the last week of July our long-planned collaboration between Ravenstone School and Tooting Community Garden offered two interlinked local ‘Growing Community in the Heart of the City’ workshops as part of The Mayor of London’s National Park City Festival

    The common green thread running through both events was celebrating city growing and the outdoors, creating an environment which is good for ourselves, for the community and for nature.

    Blog post Part 1 describes the Ravenstone School event on July 22.
    Here we’re sharing what we did together in the second of the two events, the Tooting Community Garden open day on July 28th.

    The garden team of a dozen volunteers met early (no Sunday lie-ins) to put up signs, hang our TTT bunting, set up activities and then provide a warm welcome and an invitation to join in the day in any way people wished. We wanted to demonstrate that being outdoors together is accessible and enjoyable.

    Over 80 people came along on a Sunday with an on-off forecast for rain. We decided to not put up gazebos, and we were all rewarded with a lovely afternoon.

    The welcome table gave a focus for saying hello and having a chance to talk with visitors who either explored the garden, relaxed or joined one of our fun and practical activity workshops:

    1. Creating vertical wall planters with Paul: sharing environmental, DIY, creativity and urban growing benefits.

    2. Being guided by Sharon to select plants and re-purposed containers to take home – building growing skills and wellbeing.

    3. Joining Jane’s ‘Drawn to Nature’ drawing workshop: enjoying taking time to observe and be present, with wellbeing and drawing practice benefits.

    4. Annie’s creative workshops in the family zone: sharing benefits of creating together in unusual ways across generations or with people new to you and learning fun techniques to take home.

    Feedback from visitors included:
    ‘A lovely place, and lovely people’ ‘A lovely celebration of nature and community spirit’ ‘The day was beautiful, well thought-out and sustainable’ ‘A nice peaceful day and a great community feel’ ‘Loved the community feeling and how positive and welcoming everyone has been’ ‘What a lovely garden, and such friendly people. We’ll be back’

    Our own responses to the day?
    It was very affirming for the Community Garden team to welcome so many people who enjoyed what we offered together. Sundays in the Garden are fun and informal, and it was a good challenge to do something different, facilitating an engaging and outward-looking day.
    Plus, it was our 8th birthday as a garden project since being generously offered use of the land by Naseem Aboobaker.  

    Many volunteers have opened the Garden space on over 400 Sundays. 
    That’s worth celebrating!

    Thanks to all the volunteers: Amanda, Annie, Chuck, Deb, Jane, Kay, Keith, Paul, Ryan, Sharon & Tom. A big shout out to our new friends and qualified first aiders Alice & Charlie who joined us on the day to provide that cover – thankfully they had no cause to leap into action. Kudos to photographer Bryony Williams for images used here (plus more for another time) and to Kay and Chuck for other pictures in this blog.

    Everyone is welcome to join us at the Community Garden every Sunday from 11:00 to 1:00 (sometimes later into the afternoon). No experience necessary and we share any updates or changes on our Tooting Community Garden Facebook and Instagram pages.

    The annual Tooting Foodival – our twelfth! – is TTT’s next big community event! It’s taking place on Saturday 14th September and we hope to see you there – it’s going to be great!

  • Jellybrella: TTT’s invitation to be creative

    A second set of photos of our Jellybrella creative workshop on May 11th. These  are all about the day as an invitation to be creative…welcoming people in new ways…and what participants thought about it.

    All the background on this participative creative community sustainability project is in a past blog post – please click here It includes “what and why is a Jellybrella?” 

    We asked for feedback and below there’s a photo of two of the evaluation forms completed on May 11th (click here to enlarge):

    We’re proud that participants found the Jellybrella day welcoming and inviting.

    Reaching parts we had not expected, David even wrote a very special Jellybrella song for one young girl who is a fan of Morrissey (think ‘Jacky’s Only Happy When She’s Up On The Stage’).

    May 11th lyrics here


    About 60 people came along on May 11th; over half were children. The participants were very diverse: half were english and half from many other places: several European and S Asian countries – and Mexico!

    In our earlier adult workshops in March and April the balance was 2/3 of participants from countries other than the UK.
    Lastly, everyone was from other countries in our February family workshop with CARAS refugee family participants. 65 took part in that workshop (2/3 were children).

    A total of 140 people of all ages and cultures took part in our 5 Jellybrella workshops.

    We’re going to write up our collective reflections on the Jellybrella project, and we’ll share our learning soon.
    And we’ll share our ideas for Jellybrella 2!

  • Making together to create a Jellybrella on Saturday

    We were thrilled with the Jellybrella creative workshop on last Saturday May 11th which we facilitated at Sprout Arts in Furzedown as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
    The weather was mostly kind and we did most of the day outdoors. Thanks for all the support and to Nikki, David, Jane & Chuck for facilitating.

    Lots of people came and many of them worked together – parents and children, friends, siblings, grandparents and grandchildren – as well as others who created solo.
    It was fascinating to experience the energy of all these different relationships expressed in making together. 

    Do you work closely, or independently? Is there a plan or are you both developing the Jellybrella as you go along? Who’s leading? What’s the energy like – thoughtful, stimulated, quiet, noisy?
     

    These photos celebrate making together – and we’ll share some more sets of photos on other aspects: happiness, pride, fun, wellbeing, surprise, working with the re-purposed materials, the Jellybrella’s message & story. 


    Jellybrella has been fascinating and we have a lot to reflect on in terms of community participation and carrying off bold ideas.
    We also have more to share on the adult workshops that led up to this public event on Saturday.
    If you missed it, here’s a link explaining the Jellybrella project which we’ve been working with throughout this spring: https://tinyurl.com/y6t9pb9o

  • What combines creativity, community participation, charity, fun, repurposing waste, wellbeing, inclusion & shopping for good?

    Jellybrella does! (now we know…)
    On the Bank Holiday weekend and all next week: combine your love of creativity and fun with shopping in a good cause.

    Visit the super new Wandsworth Oasis shop at 61 Balham High Rd & admire windows full of Jellybrella creations. 

    The Jellybrellas were created last week by local adults with sight loss from Thomas Pocklington Trust Balham Resource Centre nearby: these two photos are from that workshop.

    Thanks so much to Gill the Balham Oasis shop manager for all the support collecting customers’ umbrellas since February and saying ‘yes, have the window!’ as a wonderful opportunity to share the joy of Jellybrella! Thanks also to Michelle the manager at Oasis Trinity Road and Joy in Oasis Mitcham Lane.

    Make your own Jellybrella on Saturday May 11th at our free public workshop at Sprout Community Arts – all the details at tinyurl.com/y6t9pb9o
    What will your Jellybrella be like? 
    We can’t wait to find out!
     

  • Jellybrella creative workshop takes off on May 11th

    We’re thrilled to be running the Jellybrella creative workshop in a fortnight as part of Wandsworth Arts Fringe.
    Free and for all ages: all welcome to join us!

    We’re holding the Jellybrella workshop from 10:00 to 4:00 on Saturday May 11 in Furzedown at Sprout Community Arts.
    Bring an umbrella or two if you can – perhaps you can re-make a neglected one or celebrate your favourite loved brolly.

    We’ll get straight into making led by Nikki and Chuck, and at intervals our storyteller David will move us with tales of lost & found umbrellas & living with less waste. He’ll be helping us be imaginative and thoughtful about the links between being artists for the day and taking care of the health and wellbeing of our neighbours, community and city.
    We’ll finish with a parade right outside Sprout – and if it rains, there’s no problem as we’ll have Jellybrellas.

    To  book workshop places – don’t hesitate to bring the family – please visit Transition Town Tooting & Jellybrella event pages on Facebook here and send us a message.

    A bucket of donated brollies  – each of them waiting to be transformed by you into a Jellybrella.
    Come on May 11th to our creative workshop and find out the difference!

     

    We’re very grateful to Wandsworth Grants Fund and the Wandsworth Arts Fringe team for supporting Jellybrella.
    That’s all the May 11th workshop details; please read on for more of what we have learned so far while doing the Jellybrella project.


    Why transform umbrellas into Jellybrellas?  
    When we developed this idea in November last year we felt that re-purposing umbrellas would strike a chord. Umbrellas are practical and give us shelter, make us beautiful and fashionable, play roles in literature, style, faith and celebration, can make us private and isolated when we navigate a busy pavement in the rain. They are often discarded (look around in pubs and cafes – you are never far from a lost umbrella) – or maybe they are kept in a cupboard at home, perhaps neglected or superseded. We love them when they do their job…what value could they have at other times? All these values and relationships are rewarding to explore.

    Linking with local and global waste
    In the workshop we make the link with waste, plastics pollution in the oceans and the circular economy. Creating a Jellybrella makes those big challenges real as choices right here in Tooting.

    The similarity with a wonderful ocean jellyfish is obvious when our creations are in motion. Every item we use in the workshops is re-purposed – from many sources, from participant donations and in particular from two community partners, Wandsworth Oasis and Work & Play Scrapstore. Thank you so much for the support!

    Creativity and adventure 
    Making a Jellybrella is adventurous – maybe you like to have a plan and have a vision for what you want to create, or maybe you add materials until the right moment emerges to call it finished. Maybe you work solo or in a group…maybe adding to someone else’s creation. Experiencing them as sculptures, they can be static, folded up and rolled loosely or tightly; when opened they invite movement and expansive gestures. Take a look at a broken umbrella – simple and ingenious construction…what does it remind you of now?

    Wellbeing 
    Making together – ‘thinking with your hands’ – is beneficial and positive as a small group or community experience – and solo. Sometimes we need an opportunity like this workshop to encourage us…

    Think of all the links between being creative together and the Five Ways to Wellbeing:
    Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Learn, Give.
    There’s a good description on the Mind website here.


    Come and explore all of the features of making a Jellybrella!
    Jellybrella workshops we have done so far with adult and family groups have revealed many fascinating aspects of the umbrellas we take for granted.  We’ll share more on the adult workshops carried out with seniors and with people experiencing sight loss or dementia.

    “People don’t know that we need Jellybrella but 
    afterwards we’ll wonder how we lived without!”

  • TTT’s next series of Carbon Conversations is postponed until early 2019 – in time for New Year’s resolutions!

    We’re postponing our new series of Carbon Conversations until the New Year.
    Tonight’s first session is cancelled, as are the following 5 meetings. The series of meetings needs a critical mass of local people to join in so we have rich and diverse discussions – we are nearly there but not quite for the series due to start this evening. So we will find new dates early in 2019 with that existing participant group, and encourage more people to sign up and join them. Let us know if you are interested!
    Very early New Year’s resolutions, anyone?
    All the info on the six free meetings organised by TTT’s Ben Cuddon in a recent blog post here. Just ignore the dates.

    The facilitated workshops enable individuals to explore the areas of our lives where we can reduce our own carbon emissions: travel, food, domestic energy, consumption and waste.
    During the six weekly sessions you’ll discuss in a supportive atmosphere all the practicalities of making your own ‘low-carbon lifestyle’ changes. Making these changes is never one size fits all. 

    A quote from a past participant:  
    “The beauty of Carbon Conversations is the 
    optimism, creativity and shared ideas” 

  • Local Stories of Sustainability Success – four vivid can-do examples of reducing carbon footprints and increasing wellbeing

    We’re hosting a new free event: Local Stories of Sustainability Success in the afternoon of Saturday 20th October, from 2:00 to 4:00 at the Mushkil Aasaan Hall, 220 Upper Tooting Road SW17 7EW.

    The event will illustrate vivid can-do stories by local people who have reduced their carbon footprints and increased their wellbeing 

    Martin, Susan, Tanya & Dermot – clockwise from top left
    • Martin Cobley and several hundred worms will demonstrate why he is the borough guru for how worm composting
    • Susan Venner will share the steps to make a 19th century family house in Balham warm and cosy, emphasising how to tackle the high-impact things first. More detail on Susan’s experience on the Superhome Database at https://tinyurl.com/y94mqnsb
    • Dermot Jones will share his experience of switching to an electric vehicle. Dermot also tweets as @ElecticVanMan about the story of his first 4000 miles – and the myths and memes
    • Tanya de Afonseca will share her own experience of reducing (refusing?) household plastics. Tanya’s BYO Zero Waste Shop is in Tooting Market https://byo.london/
    We’ll discuss these inspiring examples of what can be done, share ideas, be energised, make some new resolutions & links.
    For the ‘Local Stories’ flyer, please click here.

    The session is designed for anyone who is interested in these lively local stories. You do not need to be an expert!
    Please share with friends and colleagues who you think would appreciate the event.
    Bring the family! We’ll have a crafts table alongside for some making.

    Thanks to the Zero Waste Shop for sharing this diagram of five core elements of zero waste.

    We’ll also introduce the next run of Carbon Conversations starting on Thursday November 1st. For details, click here. Please encourage friends to join in with this 13th series!