Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Re-use

  • Donate and transform your old or broken umbrellas into a Jellybrella!

    Our Jellybrella participatory arts project reuses waste to celebrate creativity, diversity and sustainability. The main event is a free family day on May 11th at Sprout Community Arts in Furzedown, offered as part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. More info here.

    Donated at TTT’s ACE

    The raw materials we’re using are all saved from scrap, and the key thing we need is lots of umbrellas! 
    Maybe some of the lost umbrellas of Tooting which gather wasted and folorn in corners of pubs and cafes?
    Maybe an old or broken brolly of yours? 
    Maybe one you find in the road?
    You can donate in many ways to the Jellybrella project: your golfing or fishing brollies, pretty parasols, or classic old school British black rolled-up umbrellas.

    Where to donate a brolly in March & April:

    • Bring to the Tooting Community Garden any Sunday between 11:00 & 1:00. We’re at 5 North Drive SW16 1RN
    • Bring to any other TTT meeting – for example the Open Monthly Meeting on Tues 12th. Details on TTT events calendar.
    • Leave them for us at the Work & Play Scrapstore
    • Leave them for us at any of 3 Wandsworth Oasis charity shops – at Amen Corner, at 40-42 Trinity Road or at 127 Mitcham Lane
    • Leave them for us at the South London Makerspace in Herne Hill

    Thank you to partners and friends and well-wishers for contributing!
    And of course all welcome in May to the Jellybrella experience.

    Found in the street, still beautiful
    Donated by the Oasis Shop Trinity Rd

     
    What we’re doing right now is facilitating Jellybrella workshops with diverse adult groups. This week we worked with a group of adults with sight loss at the Balham Resource Centre of the Thomas Pocklington Trust. It was fascinating – we’ve posted the full story on TTT’s facebook page, and here’s a couple of snapshots from the workshop:

     





  • Jellybrella: TTT’s creative project for spring 2019

    In Spring 2019 TTT is inviting everyone to join in with Jellybrella, our free and participatory community arts sustainabity project reusing waste to celebrate creativity, diversity, welcoming, wellbeing and making alongside others.  
    We’ll be popping up in February, March, April & May. All invited!

    It’s early days to be sharing this, but we’ve started to share info on Jellybrella so it’s an opportunity to tell the full story on the blog. Yesterday we created an Instagram account – have a look.
    Thanks loads to David Pitt for donating time to create our logo!
    We’re proud that the May 11th event will be part of the Wandsworth Arts Fringe. It will be a free family creative workshop for adults & children where we’ll use scrap materials to create exciting sculptures. 
    Specifically we’ll be transforming the lost and found umbrellas of Tooting, getting together to enjoy some community making –  we’ll all become artists making our community beautiful with stories & hands-on making together.
    Why umbrellas? We’ve realised they are everywhere – in pubs, stations, public spaces; left behind, lost, broken…or maybe usable.
     
    Umbrellas represent shelter, put you into your own little umbrella-world and we use them to express ourselves, to look and feel good. They are so diverse…and that’s before we have decorated them.
    Why Jellybrella? Think umbrellas transformed into jellyfish: we’ll re-use waste materials to make giant sea creatures, sea flowers & jellyfish.
    Before the public event on May 11th we’re also doing a series of workshops with diverse local adult groups. Those will be differently-facilitated from the family day – an adult group’s response to creating with umbrellas will be different if, for example, they are visually impaired or a dementia group. Please get in contact here to chat if you are part of an adult group that may be interested to host a workshop.
    Whatever the setting, in the workshops neglected umbrellas will come alive with their trailing tentacles of many colours. Or make your Jellybrella into a message or poem with a cascade of words.  As proud makers we’ll parade them – the test ones we’ve made are great in motion. If it rains on our parade…we’ll have our Jellybrellas!
    There will also be a storyteller who will move us with tales of lost & found umbrellas & living with less waste, helping us all be artists taking care of the health and wellbeing of our neighbours, community and city.
    All materials will be provided – if you like please bring your own favourite or neglected umbrella (surprise us!) to transform into a Jellybrella.
    The venue in May will be Sprout Community Arts in Furzedown and we have 3 other key partners. Young people from CARAS are aiming to co-facilitate and we’re looking forward to fabulous materials from the Work & Play Scrapstore and from Wandsworth Oasis – thanks for all this community support!
    We are also very grateful for the support of the award of a Wandsworth Arts Fringe Grant. That’s great to make the project happen and to put it on the map, and having the funds enables local artists to maintain their own livelihoods. 
    “People don’t know that we need Jellybrella but afterwards we’ll wonder how we lived without!”

  • Restart Party & Toy Mending this Saturday

    Our next Restart Party in Tooting is at Mushkil Aasaan this coming Saturday 8th December, 13.30-16.30.  At this event, as ever, you can bring in broken electronics and see if our team of volunteer fixers can give them a new lease of life or at least identify the problem.  The ethos behind our Restart parties is to keep items out of landfill by repairing and re-using.  It’s an antidote to the throw away culture that can sometimes prevail.


    Mending Toys Too!
    Just in time for Christmas this event also includes toy mending.  Why buy yet more new stuff when we could help you to repair some old things that you or your family love?  Dig those cherished broken items out of the bottom of the cupboard and bring them along.  What better gift than a surprise repair for the kids?  Our Supermen (and Superwomen) fixers will do our best to make them good as new!
     Image result for picture of broken toys

    And our usual reminder …
    Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own gadgets and data, so please don’t forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant – and if possible arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing!  More info about the Restart Project here

  • We had a fun & creative seasonal session ReSparkling, Reducing and Re-using materials that would have gone to waste. And Happy New Year!

    Thanks loads to our partners in Tooting Library for hosting our fifth annual seasonal ReSparkle! workshop on the 17th December.
    Around 40 young people – from four-year olds to teenagers – joined in for two hours, solo or with parents and carers. Everyone learned how to do all kinds of imaginative things that can be repeated or adapted at home using everyday materials saved from going to waste.

    We used simple and practical methods and tools that are good for children and adults to learn how to handle confidently – folding, gluing, cutting-out with scissors, hole punching, stapling, decorating.

    What did we do? (If you look carefully you can see examples of the different things that participants made in the background of many of the pictures…can you work out how to make them?)

    Jane showed how to make angels using the pages of an old book destined for recycling.

    Rachel showed how to make snowmen and other figures from cardboard tubes – so simple!
    Plus, Hilary made cardboard boxes.

    Flora helped make present bags out of the Library’s out-of-date foreign-language newspapers.

    Below: look at the intense concentration when learning to use the hole puncher.  

    how did she keep her hat so straight?

    Jeni showed how to make your own lovely long ribbons – and then we stuck them on her papier- mache saxophone.

    Chuck showed how to make origami envelopes which we filled and labelled with seeds from Tooting Community Garden for planting in the spring. Beans, pumpkin or hollyhock – very different seeds, so all in the same packet.

    Thanks for the hats, Jenny!

    Here’s the giant saxophone. It’s still there in the children’s library, go and have a look.
    It was a very enjoyable session, and thanks to all. There’s lots more you can do at home re-using waste paper and card with familiar household tools.

    Look out for our Transition Town Tooting creative workshops: Happy New Year and see you in 2017!

    some made up their own activities !

  • Reduce, Re-Use, ReSparkle! Free seasonal crafts with Tooting Library on Saturday 17th December

    We’re running our fifth annual free ReSparkle! event at Tooting Library, 75 Mitcham Road, SW17 9PD on Sat 17th, from 2-4pm.

    All welcome, for all ages and all materials provided: the theme is learning how to make decorative and interesting things – perhaps presents for Christmas time – using re-purposed materials that would otherwise go to waste.
    No experience necessary…you can do all the activities, and take home what you make. And teach others at home how you did it!

    The venue is the beautiful Children’s Library on the first floor.
    We’re combining the fun workshop with artist Jeni Walker’s monthly Meet and Make sessions, so we can expect a really varied group.

    Click on the year to see what we made at Resparkle 2015 and Resparkle 2014 – the theme that year was ‘I never knew you could do so much with paper!’

    Here are two highlights, and we look forward to seeing you:

  • Outdoor Learning and doing with NCS Challenge

    On Sunday 17th July, Jeni Walker and Richard Couldrey continued with the 4th year of our annual pattern of work with the National Citizen Service through “The Challenge” – a personal development and social integration programme offered to 15 – 17 year olds which includes a project focused day with a Charity or Community Group.

    Emer Clark, our principle contact and Challenge Mentor, reflected that interaction with Transition Town Tooting challenges the participants to step out their comfort zones and enables them to make a contribution to a local community, which is a huge part of the overall aims of NCS Challenge.

    For us, this project chimes loudly with our aim to work with Young People of all ages – from the Reception Class of Gatton Primary to a poster competition with Graveney Secondary School for Foodival last year, to name but 2.

    The 11 participants of this years NCS Challenge with the results of their labours!

    Read on to find out what happened on the day…
    After an introductory session on Saturday 9th July, the 11 participants spent the week doing 2 tasks for Transition Town Tooting to bring back to the Project Day:

    • fundraising for the project day together – understanding the value of the work we do and championing that to raise money for materials and tools needed.
    • pitching for £50 to a Dragon’s Den of experts, again for the project day.
    Both activities are focused on the ideas and application of the Young People involved – if they don’t creatively engage and bring ideas, the project wouldn’t work. Jeni and I continued this theme, giving a palette of options for the project day and asking the participants to “vote” on the preferred options.

    Rubbing down for painting
    Noticeboard decoration!
    Signs from re-use bed slats

    During the project day, we completed…

    • Re-covering the Rainwater Catchment – a necessary bit of maintenance for this Gatton Primary Project of 2013.
    • Sign making and information board design and making – a wonderful addition to the garden for us to better communicate what is growing and the range of projects to visitors new and old.
    • Bottle Greenhouse repairs – another Gatton Primary School project, this time from 2015, that needed a dose of TLC.
    Back to Emer for closing remarks, “The feedback was very positive. On the whole these teams had never been involved in this kind of community project before, but they got involved and by the end they certainly all learnt something new and had a really enjoyable day! It was great to hear the stories about the day-all of them revealing just how stuck in and creative this project allowed the young people to be.”

    Thank you Challengers for your work in all aspects of this part of your programme! Richard and Jeni

  • Restart Party on Tuesday

    Broken electrical or electronic items that you don’t want to throw away? Good at fixing or mending stuff or would like to learn how? 
    Come to a Restart Party! 

    and help keep stuff out of landfill. The next Restart Party in Tooting is this coming Tuesday 21st June at 7pm.

    Restart Parties are the antidote to the thowaway society, why bin your sickly electronics when they could easily live a bit longer with some TLC?  Laptops, cameras, kitchen appliances, gadgets etc. – we will try to mend anything or at least tell you what’s wrong and what to do next and it’s all completely free!

    #TourdeTooting At Tuesday’s party you can also get your bike checked out by Dr Bike as part of our Tour de Tooting preparations.  So bring your wheels as well as your electronics!

    Do remember that Restart Parties are a community self-repair space where you take responsibility for your own electronic items and data, so please don’t forget to take any back-ups beforehand, if relevant.  Also, if possible, do please arrive during the first two hours to allow time for fixing! 

    The next 3 Restart parties in Tooting, all at Mushkil Aasaan, 220 – 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW are scheduled for :
    > Tuesday 21st June, 7 – 9.30 pm 
    > Tuesday 9th August, 7 – 9.30 pm 
    > Saturday 12th November, 2 – 5pm 

    More info about Restart including details of regular skillshares at www.therestartproject.org 

  • 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.

  • Wandsworth Oasis UPFest: Tuesday 3rd November

    ‘It’s all about waste’  That’s how Gill Perkins, CEO of the Wandsworth Oasis charity, describes the driving theme behind UPFest: the Oasis event on Tuesday November 3rd:

    All welcome to a fun and original evening: a catwalk and showcase of the joy of upcycling clothes and textiles. 
    TTT are proud to be involved via Jeni Walker and her initiative Sustainable Making and Arts Tooting – SMArT. 

    Location: the Oasis shop at 234-250 Mitcham Road, Tooting SW17 9NT
    Timings: 5:30pm to 10:00pm on Tuesday 3rd November.
    More UPFest details online here– entry by donation.

    Jeni has been making scrap silk skirt scrunchies in World AIDS Day red – available on the night next week. Here she is last week in the decorated window of the new Oasis shop at Amen Corner in Tooting:

    Oasis supports local people who are affected by HIV and have successful charity shops around the borough. Gill and the team work (tirelessly) to sell as many of the items donated as they can, but inevitably there is still so much that may be fated to become landfill. 


    Charity shops are a key local and affordable route for helping us all to ‘Re-use, Reduce and Recycle’. Shops across the UK may not think about this, but they are in the front line of supporting low-carbon living in the community and that should be celebrated.

    Gill and the Oasis team take this relationship with waste-reduction very seriously. They have struck up some ingenious partnerships over the years that have enable them to starve the dump of a bit more waste – for example engaging with a company who make shiny new candles from all the remnants that come in. 

    Oasis is offering TTT and SMArT materials that may not be saleable in the shops but which can be re-purposed in our projects: perhaps broken jewellery, or waste books…it’s an inspiring offer, and much appreciated!

    For example: The Rooting in Tooting project with CARAS hopes to use waste textiles from Oasis to make wall-hanging exterior planters, as shown here – in this case for strawberries.

    It’s fascinating that Oasis as an enterprise has the primary objective of raise funds for their charitable purpose and has the complementary positive goal of reducing waste in creative ways. 
    Others please take note!

    We hope to see you at the Oasis shop at Amen Corner on Tuesday evening.
    – Jeni and Chuck