Transition Town Tooting

Tag: Wandsworth Council

  • Mushkil Aasaan Needs Our Support!

    Mushkil Aasaan could be under threat because the Council has withdrawn its contract to provide social care to vulnerable people in our local community.

    Of course the Council has a right to seek the best deal for constituents, but in this instance one wonders whether commercial expedience is trumping common sense in the Council’s offer of the contract to non-specialist providers, who may lack MA’s local experience, knowledge and cultural sensitivity.

    Local people are getting together to try to get the Council to change its mind. 


    The flyer above explains how to get involved in either the public meeting at Mushkil Aasaan on Monday or at the Council meeting on Wednesday of next week.

    You can follow latest development on the Mushkil Action twitter feed and website.

    From TTT’s perspective we are incredibly grateful to Mushkil Aasaan director Naseem Aboobaker for her offer of free meeting space in the hall over the last 10 years, and provision of a space for Tooting Community Garden in the grounds of 5 North Drive for the last 7 years.  Many reading this will have been to Foodival, Restarts, Gardening sessions or other meetings all of which have been faciliated by Naseem’s kindness and community spirit.

    Now Naseem requests that the Council reinstate Mushkil Aasaan’s contract and status as a Specialist Provider and TTT strongly supports this.  Do get involved if you can over the next days.  Naseem and Mushkil Aasaan have been a great help to TTT;  let’s see how we can offer support in return at this stressful time.

  • All welcome at The Tooting Twirl! This Sunday 16th July, 12noon – 4pm

    4 days to go to Tooting’s Pop-Up Village Green comes to life at the Bus Turning Circle, Longmead Road.

    We’d love for everyone in Tooting to come along to the Tooting Twirl on Sunday to celebrate all the cultures of our town, make a grey space green and have a good dose of fun by opening a highway to games, music and food!

    What’s happening when?

    12noon – 1pm: Come join in building the Village Green – hang some bunting, place some benches… give the Bus Turning Circle a beating heart!
    1pm – 2pm: Twirling Street Games and a sharing picnic
    2pm: Parade around the Bus Turning Circle in your Twirly best!
    3pm – 4pm: Meet, mingle and relax on the pop-up village green

    Do you do social media?

    Please do tweet, Facebook and share on the day #TootingTwirl

    We’ll also be joined by the Tooting Bec and Broadway Neighbourhood Plan…

    What is it about Tooting that you love? What might you want to change? What do you think we don’t have that we need? What stories or places from the past do you cherish? The Tooting Twirl is the perfect place to collectively imagine what good change might look like for our town.

    Would you like to take part? It’ll take all of us to make the town green… 

    Bring a colourful potted plant for the Giant Twirly Flowerbed or plant up a wheelbarrow to turn this grey space green…

    Make something Twirly to wear in the ‘What’s your Twirl?’ parade…

    Bring a skipping rope or a street game you’d be happy to share…

    Decorate your wheels to cycle in the ‘What’s your Twirl?’ parade…

    Bring a sharing picnic and a blanket…

    All images: Rachel Miller

    Jeni, Lucy and Rich – Co-Twirlers from TTT!

  • TTT receives Wandsworth Recycling Golden Ticket prize – THANK YOU Ms Osmond!

    Wandsworth’s Golden Ticket prize draw scheme means that every two months a properly-sorted bag of recycling – complete with a WBC golden ticket put there by the householder – is selected to win a £5000 prize. Half of the prize is a community pot which the winner donates to local community groups, and half is the householder’s own reward.

    Three weeks ago the first of four monthly draws took place, and Ms Osmond from Tooting selected Transition Tooting as one of the winners. We have received £1000, and so have two other organisations: FAST, a young people’s project in Nine Elms and Share Community which offers training support for disabled people.

    Charles from TTT; Michaela, Kerry and Jason from FAST; and Annie from Share Community

    All of us in TTT are bowled over at being selected by Ms Osmond.   We hugely appreciate it, and will report back on what we do with these valuable funds in order to help make Tooting a more sustainable and happier place. Thank you again!

    Ms Osmond’s donation is extra generous because she added £500 of her personal prize to make the community pot a round £3,000 – so her three selected organisations each received £1,000.

    NB this scheme continues for three more draws, so it is really worth householders popping their golden tickets into correctly-sorted recycling, and certainly worth community organisations registering as potential beneficiaries. To get more tickets or to register, click here on the WBC website or  here on the WRWA site 

    Here we are joined by Michael Singham, WBC Waste Strategy Manager…and yes, a bag of recycling. 
    The next draw is on the 18th December – Good Luck and Happy Recycling!

  • Urban Heat 2nd October ’15: our third Tooting workshop on community-led approaches to urban heatwaves

    Today we hosted the third workshop in the Urban Heat research project. This is an 18-month research process into community-led responses to urban heatwaves, with a particular focus on the local impact on vulnerable people. The research is led by the Policy Studies Institute at the University of Westminster, with funding from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
    For the details of the wider project, please see our short posts on the two previous workshops in June and July. TTT has been inviting and convening local groups to take part, and hosting the events.

    Today’s workshops saw diverse Tooting community organisations meet a group representing the strategic and borough-wide institutions who have a mandate to act on heatwaves alongside many other priorites.
    This was not intended to be adversarial…! The purpose was to bring together key players who respond at different local and city ‘levels’ to heatwaves, all in the interest of local people’s wellbeing and health.

    The community groups summed up their ideas and proposals identified so far, and these were grouped into three themes:

    • Bridging and making connections
    • Communications and awareness
    • Resources and infrastucture

    Everyone present discussed each theme in detail – so we can all understand, anticipate and respond to the impact of urban heatwaves, together. There was a lot to talk about!
    The research team will be summing up points made and actions proposed. This is ‘action research’ – it is up to us all locally to decide which of these ideas are most valuable and can be put into practice, while the researchers continue with the next steps of the project.
    We’ll keep you informed.

    Represented today were: Age UK (Wandsworth), Be Enriched, Emergency Planning at St George’s Hospital Trust, Furzedown Low Carbon Zone, Housing Strategy & Development at London Borough of Wandsworth, Neighbourhood Network SW17, Public Health at London Borough of Wandsworth, Thinking Works and Transition Town Tooting. Thank you all!

  • Tooting’s Air Quality – community meeting Wednesday 26th Nov

    We’ll share the results of this local and practical ‘citizen science’ project to measure local air quality, and hear from knowledgeable speakers who are involved with this challenge.

    All welcome to take part in this urgent discussion, look at the issues in depth, and consider: ‘what’s to be done?’

    When: Wednesday 26th Nov, 1930-2100 
    Where: Tooting United Reformed Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ

    Speakers:
    Samantha Heath – CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
    Rex Osborn – Borough Councillor, Graveney Ward
    Houda Al-Shafiri – Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
    David Thorne – Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting

    TTT has been running a campaign on air pollution locally in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and with Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council. We have carried out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting, and our surveys have produced some interesting results.
    See a graphic summary of the local results by clicking here.

    • Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
    • The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting. 
    • Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
    • Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average
    • Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

    To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
    To see the event poster, click here

    For more information, please email us

    Change Picture

    Air Quality in Tooting

    Starts
    19:30, Wednesday 26th November
    Ends
    21:00, Wednesday 26th November
    Location
    London | Wandsworth | Tooting
    Tooting United Reform Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ (map)
    Workshop
    You are attending this event (change)

    Created by Charles Whitehead

    About

    We’ll share how we have been involved in a practical ‘citizen science’ project to measure local air quality
    Transition Town Tooting has been running a campaign on air pollution in Tooting in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council by carrying out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting. Our surveys have produced some interesting results:

    • Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide levels that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
    • Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
    • Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average

    The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting.
    Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

    This event will look at the issues in depth.
    Speakers:

    Samantha Heath – CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
    Councillor Rex Osborn – Graveney Ward, Wandsworth Borough Council
    Houda Al-Shafiri – Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
    David Thorne – Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting
    To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
    To see the event flyer, click here

    – See more at: http://www.projectdirt.com/apps/event/32292/#sthash.Sd6nVmrX.dpuf

    Change Picture

    Air Quality in Tooting

    Starts
    19:30, Wednesday 26th November
    Ends
    21:00, Wednesday 26th November
    Location
    London | Wandsworth | Tooting
    Tooting United Reform Church, Rookstone Road SW17 9NQ (map)
    Workshop
    You are attending this event (change)

    Created by Charles Whitehead

    About

    We’ll share how we have been involved in a practical ‘citizen science’ project to measure local air quality
    Transition Town Tooting has been running a campaign on air pollution in Tooting in collaboration with London Sustainability Exchange and Battersea and Wandsworth Trade Union Council by carrying out ‘citizen science’ measurements around Tooting. Our surveys have produced some interesting results:

    • Some parts of Tooting High Street record levels of nitrogen dioxide levels that are 2 to 3 times higher than the European safe exposure limit
    • Around 4,250 people die each year from long-term exposure to fine particles in London
    • Those affected lose 11.5 years of their life on average

    The Mayor of London’s ’ultra-low emission zone’ does not include Tooting.
    Much more needs to be done to ensure Tooting has a clear bill of health!

    This event will look at the issues in depth.
    Speakers:

    Samantha Heath – CEO, London Sustainability Exchange
    Councillor Rex Osborn – Graveney Ward, Wandsworth Borough Council
    Houda Al-Shafiri – Head of Public Health, Wandsworth Borough Council
    David Thorne – Co-Chair, Transition Town Tooting
    To see our recent leaflet on local Air Quality, click here
    To see the event flyer, click here

    – See more at: http://www.projectdirt.com/apps/event/32292/#sthash.Sd6nVmrX.dpuf

  • ‘Brightside’ article including Gatton School project in Tooting Community Garden

    Wandsworth Council’s May 2014 Brightside magazine has come though our doors, and the eagle-eyed will spot the nice short article with photo mentioning our Tooting Community Garden project with Gatton School. See it on page 8 of Brightside by clicking here.
    Here’s the photo:

    Year Six children planning how to construct the cold frame

    The article is about Project Dirt’s Wandsworth cluster for local projects: to have a look at over 90 projects, and join in, click here!.