Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Furzedown Low Carbon Zone

  • Three practical local projects: do join us!

    Furzedown Low Carbon Zone
    We had a productive monthly planning meeting last week – please see the minutes and actions here. 
    In outline we’re at the stage of visiting local partners to explore sites where there is space and interest to be involved by ‘hosting’ renewable energy generation equipment – whatever technology is appropriate – and sharing in the benefits.
    A second stage will be to engage with local people who can become involved as co-owners of a community generation scheme. The Furzedown Festival in June is a target for that, certainly for informal sharing of the project.
    Next planning meetings are on 8th May and 3rd June in Furzedown…please come along if you would like to be involved at this stage. Details will be on the TTT Events Calendar on this blog. Contact us on this email link for any further information.

    Eighth series of our ‘Carbon Conversations’ meetings
    We are going to offer a free series of local Carbon Conversations from the 19th May to early July this year. Running on Monday evenings (with one Tuesday for luck), this will be a set of six participative meetings which enable individuals to discuss, understand and take control of their carbon footprint, and work out ways to reduce energy consumption and expenses.

    It’s a very engaging and practical set of meetings…..and even fun.
    We’ll cover home energy, food, travel and transport, and general consumption of ‘stuff’.
    All the details are in the flyer for this next series: please click here.
    Please contact Charles at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com with any questions.

    ‘Cleaner Air 4 Communities’ Project
    This project brings citizen science and local action to the challenge of measuring and advocating for clean air. The toolkit – click here to link to a pdf copy – describes some of the steps that can be taken by a community group.
    Graham Petersen recently took part in air quality measurement at Clapham Junction, with the Battersea Society (there’s a case study on this experience in the toolkit). There is some funding available to support this project, and Graham is investigating that, with a view to improving air quality in Tooting. Please use the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone contact email for more info.

    All welcome to join in with these three projects. Please get in touch!

  • Community Renewable Energy in Furzedown


    We want to share this exciting news from the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone (FLCZ) AGM last week. There’s no time like the present, and we have decided to take the plunge and try our hardest to establish a community renewable energy project in Furzedown.

    What will that look like?

    In outline we’ll be supporting the generation of local power that should bring local benefits; probably a co-operative enterprise with a legacy for the future.  There are several models for this across the UK and abroad, and there is good local advice available: at the same time it is a pioneering project, and it will be challenging.

    Much more information to come as we get going, and we welcome local participation, partners, and support. We have a diverse team who want to make this work. More contributors welcome!

    We covered other topics too in the AGM, and the FLCZ aims to keep being active on accessible social, behavioural and technical projects that help demonstrate the value of low-carbon living, now.
    Links: 2014 AGM minutes  For background: 2013 Annual Report.

  • Furzedown Low Carbon Zone AGM – Thursday 23rd January

    Furzedown Project, 91-93 Moyser Road, SW16 6SJ
    We have postponed the AGM, originally scheduled for January 16th, to next Thursday 23rd January from 7:30-9:00 pm.
    The FLCZ was established in 2011 to promote practical local action on sustainability, energy efficiency, and green jobs.
    We are considering a community renewable energy generating project, and will be discussing this among other topics…..all welcome!

  • Community Responses to the Energy Crisis

    We hosted this meeting with the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone on Wednesday 27th November.

    Giles from http://www.thinkingworks.co.uk/ gave an interactive talk sponsored by the Citizens’ Advice Bureau.
    He focused on understanding our own energy supply bills, on the grants and support schemes currently available, and who is eligible, on the energy efficiency challenges in Furzedown’s housing stock, and on being aware of the energy consumption of many household items – all in a very practical 45 minutes.
    Of course we still had questions – and Giles directed us to many places to find out much more detail.

    Secondly, we briefly outlined the potential for a community energy generation scheme, and agreed to meet again in January 2014 to discuss this in more depth.
    We realised we are ‘surrounded’ by local energy generation experiments and potential good advice – with schemes developed or en route in Brixton, Streatham, Kingston, and Wandsworth.

    Andy, Headteacher at Eardley School, described the final stages of the installation at half term of £10,000 worth of energy efficiency measures in the school. The funds for these steps came via the FLCZ project which ran locally earlier in 2014, where local college students engaged with aspects of sustainability within their courses.
    (Have a look at our project video here).

    To get involved or learn more, please contact Graham Petersen by email – we look forward to being in touch.
    And thanks to Naked Loaf for making the delicious snacks in the same few days that they were painting floors and signs ready to open their new bakery and deli in Moyser Road.

  • BATCA Heroes Award for Gatton School & Tooting Community Garden

    The Gatton School Community Garden project won a team award at the BATCA Community Heroes event held this evening at Jasmin’s nightclub in Tooting. Congratulations to nominees Chuck and Deputy Head Hoosen Randaree pictured above with Head Teacher Rifat Batool and their awards. 
    Many thanks to everyone involved, especially the children!
    Some numbers about the project to date, since March 2013:

    • Around 180 children have taken part, rain or shine
    • There have been over 20 day sessions, each made up of 2 separate hours for different age groups
    • For each hour, 2 or 3 School staff come along in support – that’s around 100 ‘staff hours’
    • Over 20 TTT volunteers have helped to host the sessions, contributing over 150 ‘volunteer hours’
    • Plus the time, energy and enthusiasm in planning, preparation and follow-up from all…  

    Some of the impact of this outdoor learning on the children, and on adults?

    • Children experience and learn about some new things, in new ways, in a safe and supported setting
    • Children do these new things together alongside their classmates, with School staff, and volunteers
    • Individual children may show new or different skills and behaviours: concentration, problem-solving, creativity
    • The adults explore the practice of outdoor learning

    And a particular thank you – We could not be doing this project without the support of the owners of the Tooting Community Garden land: Mushkil Aasaan, which provides community care to Asian families in need.

  • Late November: Six ‘new beginnings’

    Even though the year is moving into winter, there’s six ‘new beginnings’ to share with you below.
    We hope to see you at these events – all welcome to come along and maybe try something new..

    1 On Tuesday 26th November we are starting to plan for the 2014 Tooting Foodival.
    Do join us and suggest some new ideas, or become a new participant for next year.
    We’re meeting at The Selkirk, 60 Selkirk Rd, Tooting Broadway from 1900 to 2100 (details on Events Calendar opposite).

    2 On Wednesday 27th November there is a SMArT Meet and Make workshop at Sprout in Moyser Road, Furzedown from 1830 to 2030. All welcome (details in the Events Calendar). The meeting will also start to look forward to the Christmas making and craft event on December 7th at Mushkil Aasaan – details to follow.

    3 Also on Wednesday 27th November, along with the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, we are co-hosting ‘Community Responses to the Energy Crisis’ at the Furzedown project from 1930. The meeting will help participants make sense of saving energy and reducing costs now, and we will start to explore developing a local renewable energy project.  Plus refreshments from Naked Loaf…please come along. See the complete flyer here

    4 Naked Loaf made creative use of the bread flour we grew in the Tooting Community Garden this summer to make sourdough starter for dozens of delicious loaves at the Tooting Foodival in September. The new beginning for Naked Loaf is the exciting opening of their new organic bakery and deli at 70 Moyser Road, Furzedown, SW16 6SQ. They are finishing the decorating now and expecting to be fully open from Thursday 28th November, all day from 8:00 am. Best go and visit soon and try some of the great produce!

    5 The ‘Big Build’ with Gatton School in the Community Garden is beginning to take shape, building on the children’s enthusiasm and energy.
    There’ll be a celebration at the end of term to mark the rainwater catchment completion.

    6 Not quite a sign of spring, but the broad beans planted a few weeks ago are beginning to show through – a very encouraging sight as the weather turns colder.
    Do come and join us in the Community Garden every Sunday from 1100-1300.





    For more info on any of these ‘new beginnings’, contact us on email at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com

  • Green Gown Awards 2012: the winner is our shared project in Tooting’s Furzedown Low Carbon Zone

    South Thames College has won the prestigious 2012 Green Gown Award in the ‘Best Newcomer’ category, from a strong field of 5 other finalists.

    Sadiq Khan MP will celebrate the Award with a local presentation to Sue Rimmer, Principal of South Thames College

    The Green Gown Awards recognise exceptional sustainability initiatives being undertaken in tertiary education across the UK
    This award was won for the project carried out in the Furzedown Low Carbon Zone with the Greener Jobs Alliance, Transition Town Tooting, and other valued local partners.
    That’s fantastic recognition of hard work, and will help enormously with the profile (and funding!) of further projects.









    For all the detail, see the Winner’s brochure: on page 4 there’s the detail about our project –  including a picture of a TTT Carbon Conversations workshop in action in Furzedown. Go to the Awards website at http://www.eauc.org.uk/2012_green_gown_awards

    We made this video in spring 2012 about the project – do have another look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNRx6tNFG8U

    Award celebration:
    There’s a celebration on Tuesday November 27th from 6 to 7pm at the Furzedown Project, 91-93 Moyser Road, SW16.
    Sadiq Khan MP will present the Award to Sue Rimmer, Principal of South Thames College
    All welcome for some celebration cake!
    Details in the Events listing here on the TTT blog, and for a .pdf copy of the celebration flyer, click here.

     
    For more information, email us at transitiontowntooting@gmail.com