Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Tooting

  • Welcome to TTT’s new governance team!

    There’s been another election recently in Tooting: TTT has a new governance team who will be carrying out their roles until spring 2019.

    TTT was established in 2008, and by 2011 we agreed to formalise the key governance roles and also fill them with willing volunteers who serve a term of two years. That means that:

    • no one has to do (or get stuck doing) the same role ‘for ever’
    • there’s an expectation that different individuals can step into these roles and carry them out in their own diverse & fresh ways
    • we share between us the responsibility for doing these useful roles which support us all in TTT

    Give them a wave! Welcome to TTT’s new governance team:

    From the left: meet the Treasurer David, the two Co-Chairs Jeni and Sharon and the Secretary Eleanor. They look forward to meeting you!

    All these roles are voluntary, and these four people work alongside TTT’s project co-ordinators – and maybe lead TTT projects themselves. Earlier in the year we shared the role profiles. The Co-Chairs, for example, fulfil a leadership rather than a management role for TTT as a whole.

    The election was part of TTT’s Annual Celebratory Extravaganza, where we invited partners, volunteers and the curious to join us to recap strategy and activities in the previous year and look forward to the next.

    We had an evening full of energy and heard from many colleagues who explored 15 projects large or small, long-term or one-off:

    • Thank you to all who spoke about projects and asked questions – and brought refreshments
    • Thank you to Dr Rosena Allin-Khan MP for her vivid summary of the value of bringing people together in a practical and creative way across the Tooting community’s diversity of views, voices and concerns.

    One group game we did was partly aimed at meeting new people and finding out who was in the room, and partly aimed at imagining (on the spot) some new potential taglines for TTT. There are some great comments written on these balloons! You’ll have to click to read them.

    There’s plenty to be involved with right now in TTT – no need to wait for the 2019 AGM. Please read the events listing and blog, sign up to our monthly email and keep an eye on facebook & twitter. Come and chat!

    1. Refugee Week 2017: Tooting activities starting Sunday 18th June

      Refugee Week is a nationwide programme of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contribution of refugees to the UK, and encourages a better understanding between communities. 

      Refugee Week 2017 starts in under a fortnight, and there are plenty of London activities to choose from.

      Plus here are two local events to share:

      1. Queens of Syria – free film Sunday 18th June

      We’re showing this thrilling and absorbing film about 50 Syrian refugee women joining together to prepare to perform an ancient Greek play about women and their families in war. It’s definitely NOT simply a ‘film of the play’ – it’s all about how the women explore telling their shared stories with passion and creativity. It’s a moving and positive film.
      Click here to see the flier, and save the date! Here’s the listing on the Refugee Week site.
      We’re showing the film in the Hall at Mushkil Aasaan, the local charity supporting families, young people and the elderly.

      • Date: Sunday 18th June
      • Timings: Doors open 4:00 pm for tea and samosas, film at 5:00.
      • Venue: Mushkil Aasaan, 220 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW

      2. Midsummer Merriment with CARAS
      – Thursday 22nd June
      Book now for the comedy night in Tooting Market, put on by TTT’s partner CARAS. The host will be Arthur Smith – the Night Mayor of Balham. Many of the tickets have been sold already, here’s the link.

      • Date: Thursday 22nd June
      • Timings: 7:30 to 10:30
      • Venue: Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SN

      Images from past Refugee Week activities:

    2. Three diverse events in Tooting celebrating refugees and migration

      We’re continuing our 2017 Gardens of Refuge project with local refugees and asylum-seekers with workshops during May and into June.
      Alongside that long-term project, we want to share three diverse and fascinating events in Tooting which celebrate refugees and migration:

      To celebrate Refugee Week in June:

      1. Queens of Syria – free film Sunday 18th June

      We’re showing this thrilling and absorbing film about 50 Syrian refugee women joining together to prepare to perform an ancient Greek play about women and their families in war. It’s definitely NOT simply a ‘film of the play’ – it’s all about how the women explore telling their shared stories with passion and creativity. It’s a moving and positive film. Click here to see the flier, and save the date!

      • Date: Sunday 18th June
      • Timings: Doors open 4:00 pm for tea and samosas, film at 5:00.
      • Venue: Mushkil Aasaan, 220 Upper Tooting Road, SW17 7EW

      2. Midsummer Merriment with CARAS on Thursday 22nd June 22nd
      Book now for CARAS’ comedy night in Tooting Market. The host will be Arthur Smith – the Night Mayor of Balham.
      A third of the tickets have been sold already, here’s the link.

      • Date: Thursday 22nd June
      • Timings: 7:30 to 10:30
      • Venue: Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street, SW17 0SN 


        Refugee Week is the annual festival which celebrates the contribution of refugees to the UK and encourages a better understanding between communities. We’ll share more & there’s online info here.

        Plus: this New Union Flag event has already happened but it worth looking up the project online 

        3. The New Union Flag project at Tooting Market
        Imagine what a British flag could look like if it reflected today’s multi-cultural society…
        Artist Gil Mualem-Doron brought this participative project to Tooting Market as part of the Wandsworth Fringe. Here is the link to the project on facebook.
        Gil is also took the project to Tara Arts on Sat May 20th.

      • Sowing the seeds in TTT’s ACE goody bags

        If you took home one of our TTT goodie bags and are wondering what to do with the packet of seeds in it, here are some simple planting instructions.

        Radish 

        You can grow these in the ground or in containers or window boxes.
        Sow thinly in soil and cover with 1.5cm fine soil. Firm down gently and keep moist.
        Seedlings should appear within 2-3 weeks.
        Thin out the plants if necessary and keep soil moist. Radishes should be ready to harvest in 4-6 weeks.

        Lettuce
        You can grow these in the ground, containers or even hanging baskets (good for evading snails!)

        Sow thinly in soil and cover with 1.5cm fine soil.

        Firm down gently and keep moist.
        Seedlings should appear in 7-14 days.
        Thin out seedlings if necessary and keep moist and weed-free.
        Pick and use when needed
        Peas 
        Grow these in the ground of a large pot. You will need to support the plants with netting or bamboo canes and string.
        Plant seeds 5cm apart and cover with 5cm of fine soil. Firm down gently and keep moist. Seedlings should appear within 10-14 days.

        Protect young plants from birds with twigs or netting and remember to support the plants. Keep moist and weed-free. Pick when ready.
        Send us some photos of your vegetable-growing successes!


      • Come to our Annual Celebratory Extravaganza Friday 28th April

        On Friday 28th April we are hosting our  

        Annual Celebratory Extravaganza!


        Everyone is welcome to join us at:   
        Derinton Community Centre
        101a/b Derinton Road
        Tooting, SW17 8HZ

        From 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm

        If you’re on our mailing list, like or follow our Facebook or Twitter accounts, have been to any of our events, or are just interested to find out what we do in Tooting – come along. And share with your friends!

        Celebrating and sharing at TTT’s 2016 ACE

        We will be celebrating all of the past year’s achievements and the partnerships that have developed to help deliver those projects.

        We will also be signposting the exciting projects we have planned for the future and inviting people to get involved in their own way.

        It’s a place to meet other local people who share our goals:

        Making Change in How We Live, Where We Live, 
        in Light of Climate Change.


        What to expect:

        • TTT sustenance: a.k.a tea, cake, samosas, Turkish bread & hummus
        • Energy and participation: a Tooting-themed quiz & more
        • A celebration of past successes
        • Information about TTT’s projects
        • Sharing ideas you might have to improve our neighbourhood
        • Looking ahead and an invitation to get involved
        • Conversations with friends new and old
        • A TTT goody bag
        • Please note: so we can open the door and celebrate with our whole community and all the local people and partners who support us, the celebration will be alcohol free

          Eleanor writes about last year’s ACE: 

          “I attended for the first time last year and it was a fantastic event. The presentation of the successes really opened my eyes to what can be achieved when like-minded people get together on a common theme and don’t give up. 
          Even though I was already involved and getting the regular newsletter, there were lots of activities going on under the radar that were ready to shared by the enthusiastic people leading the charge. All of the activities presented together showed an incredible achievement.

          The activities included things like: workshops inspiring beginner gardeners, carbon conversations, helping to create a neighbourhood plan, running a community garden, sustainable art projects and restart parties.

          The main theme that stood out to me on the night was partnerships. It was clear that it wasn’t just TTT working on their own. The strength comes from the partnerships that TTT has developed and nurtured. These partnerships were not all with other environmental themed groups either. They cross a variety of sections of society and combine the interests of both parties to create amazing results.

          Last year’s event inspired me to get involved in more TTT projects.
          I hope I have inspired you to come along and see what is going on.”

          See you there on Friday 28th!

          Facebook invitation to share: https://goo.gl/lviVH1

        • Urban Heat Research Report Published

          Today the Policy Studies Institute publish their research report Urban Heat: Developing the role of community groups in local climate resilience. It’s a readable, accessible and expert report.

          TTT are proud to have been able to contribute to this valuable piece of work, hosting and facilitating community conversations, mainly in 2015, about the increasing risks posed by localised heat in cities – including neighbourhoods like Tooting – in our warming climate.

          Cold weather challenges are much better recognised by most of us, including health and social care professionals, in terms of individuals’ vulnerability. So it was useful to be part of research showing that urban overheating is a significant risk, and we can take action to reduce its impact.

          We commenced the project in a cold spell in winter two years ago, when the priorities seemed very different. It was hard to visualise that later the same summer we would hold a workshop near Tooting Broadway on the hottest day of 2015. Very appropriate!

          Funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the Urban Heat project examined the potential role of the local voluntary and community sector (VCS) in the development of local climate resilience.

          In Tooting the research engaged with over a dozen relevant community organisations with diverse services and areas of focus: health care, social care, low-carbon living, community development. A number of local individuals were interviewed as well. Finally, a group of Wandsworth local authority and statutory organisations also explored the impact of Urban Heat.

          To read our past TTT blog posts about the whole project since its inception, please click here.

          Other partners in the Urban Heat research programme explored the same topic in Hackney and in West London, all co-facilitating alongside the Policy Studies Institute team.

          Finally, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation funded a sister research project at the same time, about ‘Climate Resilient Communities’. This was developed in the context of local flooding in the Scottish Borders, mostly rural, but much of the experience and lessons are relevant to all communities working proactively with practical climate challenges. We’ll share that report when it is published.

        • ‘Gardens of Refuge’ project wins 2017 funding from the Aviva Community Fund

          We are thrilled that Gardens of Refuge, the 2017 project working with Tooting refugees and asylum-seekers, has been awarded funding by Aviva. The project application was made by the local charity CARAS (Community Action for Refugees and Asylum-Seekers) and TTT are the partners along with The Grange respite centre in Norfolk.

          Thank you for all your votes and support! 

          Here’s our vision for the Gardens of Refuge project: please click here to read

          This funding award lets us look forward to a fascinating 2017, developing and delivering the new project and building on our learning and experience from our previous project together.  

          We want to do some things that we know work well, and also some new things.

          Plus we’ll invite ideas (and resources) from the many well-wishers who voted for Gardens of Refuge last November.

          A new feature that will add value is the new CARAS Youth Council. This governance group will help provide a voice for project beneficiaries in the youth club.
          We’ll also be working with other members of the CARAS community.

          We all expect to learn and benefit. One of our first reactions, apart from joy at the award and making the project real, is that this award gives profile and visibility to the fact that refugees’ lives matter, and that they have much to contribute in our shared communities.

          We’ll post more information on project plans as they develop.
          Yes, we all worked hard to get to this stage, so it’s great to have the affirmation from the Aviva Fund judges.
          It took us a while to be sure on announcement day: students of communication will be interested that Aviva made the ‘Project Winner’ info available online and by twitter…and it was 24 hours before CARAS received a direct email saying ‘You’ve won!’. By then we’d taken the public messages at face value and trusted that it was all true.

          And there are some extra surprises – such as a reception at Parliament in late January where all the funded projects can meet each other and their constituency MPs.

          We’ve worked since early 2015 with CARAS – that was on the ‘Rooting in Tooting’ project, supported by the Royal Horticultural Society’s ‘Greening Grey Britain’ campaign and by Sir Walter St John’s Educational Charity – more info here. That project brought new volunteers to CARAS & TTT; we’re really delighted with that.

          Thanks again for all your interest and support – 
          this is a very motivating start to the New Year!

        • TTT 2016 Gardening Celebration tonight!

          Tonight is the TTT 2016 Gardening Celebration – plus we’re looking forward to exciting things in 2017. The event is at The Selkirk near Tooting Broadway from 7:00 pm.

          To celebrate the celebration:
          here are five current growing, gardening and sustainability events and ideas to follow up even if you can’t make it tonight:

          1 TTT attended the bi-annual Wildlife Gardening Forum last week at the Natural History Museum. This is always an amazing and cross-cutting event with around 100 participants – private gardeners, schools, local authorities, biodiversity and growing charities, researchers, enterprises.

          The theme this time was learning from European experience in Germany, Belgium, Austria the Netherlands, Ireland (oh, and Scotland).
          Why learn from Europe? Click on the photo…

          We learned a German word – schwammstadt  – meaning ‘sponge city’. A sponge city is redesigned to be responsive and adaptive to climate change impact and allow for more natural rainfall retention, reducing runoff. (See the event on December 8th in para 4 below).
          Anyone can attend the Forum; it’s a great day when you can meet experts and work out what ideas you can use yourself. And all the presentations appear for free on the WLGF website in due course.

          2 TTT joined Capital Growth’s ‘Roots to Growth’ workshop.
          We looked at the experience and potential of farming as an enterprise within London.

          There’s tons of good info on the Capital Growth site – all these reports are free downloads.

          While the pleasure and impact of growing together is not only about saving money and managing our budgets, what do you think is the annual value of the crops grown by 2000 London gardens linked to Capital Growth? Include crops for sharing, not only veg which are sold, so you can include Tooting Community Garden’s pumpkins in the calculation. Have a guess – the answer is at the end of this blog.
          We could take up the challenge of recording our crops – see the Harvest-ometer from Sustain.  
          This kind of data is very valuable in order to be able to make our case for more growing in London!
          TTT’s friend Mark at Vertical Veg has documented the equivalent value of what he grows – click here to read about it.

          Plus here’s a great idea: three new projects each pitched their idea for two minutes – and we voted during the day so that one project won £50, one £100 and one £150.
          You really can make your point in two minutes – it was very impressive!

          3 We hosted a meeting with the RHS
          The Royal Horticultural Society supported our 2015-16 Rooting in Tooting project via their Greening Grey Britain campaign. Ten days ago we met Brid O’Dwyer from the RHS for a ‘walk and talk’ around Tooting to discuss our own experience of urban growing and what gardens like ours look for in terms of support. At the same time the RHS is refining its own approaches to supporting community projects. We had a short chat with Sarah Bailes at Share Community gardens in Springfield Hospital:

          There the conversation included making the RHS certification schemes accessible to a wider audience, for example people with a range of learning difficulties.

          4 Looking forward, TTT is a partner in a 2017 hot-composting project originated by our friend Martin (who ran most of Growing Tooting earlier this year). This project has received support from Wandsworth Borough Council, and will ask individuals, families and schools to compare experience of using hot composting bins. Please contact TTT for information.

          5 Also looking forwards, on 8th December Joanna Ecclestone from London Wildlife Trust will be speaking at the Wandsworth Environment Forum about the benefits of replacing areas of paving with planting to create rain gardens. Free to join in, details here.

          Early in 2016 TTT also helped build a green roof at Brockwell Park Community Greenhouses, a project funded from the London Wildlife Trust. Green roofs have exactly that purpose of allowing downpours to slow down and soak into soil rather than being trapped by paving. That’s urgent, and not just a ‘nice to do’ in areas prone to flooding.
          Plus on December 8th there will a special TTT prize for anyone who uses the word schwammstadt.

          Good Growing and enjoy the celebration this evening!
          PS the value of crops grown in London in spaces linked to Capital Growth is over £2 million – see the Reaping Rewards report

        • Gardens of Refuge: yes we are through to the finals of the Aviva Community Fund!

          Brilliant success at the voting stage: Aviva Community Fund has just confirmed that we’re through to the finals for the Gardens of Refuge project! 
           
          We now do some further application steps by December 7th, and then there’s judging and then the results are announced January 10th ’17.
          Great news & thanks for all the support!
           

          To see the project description, click here: https://goo.gl/y6b66Y

        • First feedback after voting closed Friday 18th on Gardens of Refuge via Aviva Community Fund

          We’re proud to share where we reached when voting closed yesterday on the Gardens of Refuge campaign with CARAS.   
          Over 600 people supported the project online.
          We believe we came THIRD, with over 6200 votes. 
          WHICH IS WONDERFUL!

          Our formal ranking will be confirmed on 22nd Nov by Aviva & we’ll communicate wider after then. 

          If we’re in the top 4 in our project category, we go through to the next round – to a more familiar bid process.

          By the way votes went from 3400 on Weds morning to 6200 by lunchtime yesterday!

          Thanks for your votes, patience and energy in this period of repeated messages and nudges in every medium possible, dominating the TTT airwaves.

          Normal service can soon be resumed on communicating the rest of TTT’s rolling projects.

          Every vote really did count!