A note from the TTL team on their AGM next week...

Celebrating and Stepping Forward

Transition Town Leamington's First AGM

8th October, 7pm - 10pm
Oddfellows Hall, 6 Clarence Terrace, Warwick Street, Leamington Spa

*Nominations for Secretary and Treasurer requested in advance by email

Please join us to celebrate how far we have come with Transition Town Leamington and to find out more about how you can get involved. This will not be a boring AGM but a fun and interactive evening of sharing, dreaming and socialising!

*We are strongly encouraging nominations for Secretary and Treasurer to be on the Steering Group in advance of the meeting. Please volunteer yourself or nominate someone else by emailing Kath by the 8th October at kath@pasteur.net (let the person know you are nominating them and copy them in please).

These are the only two elected positions. Other members of the Steering Group are representatives of the TTL Working groups (transport, communications, energy etc).

• the Treasurer's role is to manage accounts and keep receipts, and will be one of the three signatories on cheques. We don't have much money so this shouldn't be hard!
• the Secretary's role is to ensure that regular meetings are called, minuted and the minutes shared on the website. They do not have to do these activities, just ensure they are done! They will be the second signatory on cheques.

Neither are arduous tasks, but it would be great to have a Treasurer with accounting experience.

Look forward to meeting/seeing you next Thursday!

Work party needed for Action21 project!

The Dobson Lane Allotments

Ground Clearance Work Party

Friday 25th September, 9,30am - 4.30pm

Work is finally starting to happen on the Allotments at Dobson Lane! Action21 needs your help, in clearing the brambles and debris on site - this is in preparation for getting the land ploughed and then plotted into allotments.

Please come along to asssist staff, directors and other volunteers, and you can also register your interest in an allotment on the day. It should be a fun day and a good chance to find out about the vision for the allotment development.

Hot drinks will be available throughout the day and a lunch for those who volunteer for the whole day. Please wear old work clothes with long sleeves, long trousers and sturdy footwear. If you have tools such as loppers, rakes and gloves then please bring these along too.

Please note that the allotment site is right at the end of Dobson Lane, adjacent to the cemetery. If you have any questions about the day, please contact Louise Male, the project manager for the allotment restoration (and Canalside member!), on 01926 456076 or louise@action21.co.uk

FREE HARMONY - a'cappella group CD launch

Free Harmony would like to invite you to the launch of their debut cd

'off the beaten track'

on Sunday August 23rd at Taylor John's House, The Canal Basin, Coventry

from 7.30pm where they will be performing songs from the cd.

Tickets will be £5 on the door and limited signed copies of our cd will be on sale.

Hope to see you there

Love from Free Harmony www.chrishoskins.co.uk/freeharmony.html

The Dervaeses of Pasadena - the story of an inspirational family

Many of you will know Ali, one of our longest standing workshare volunteers, who has recently taken 6 months out to travel round the world visiting different friends and family. Her first stopover was the States and a couple of weeks ago she sent me the following link to an article about the Dervaeses, a family living in downtown Pasadena doing inspirational things from their very own backyard. Here's a snippet from the article to whet your appetite:

"For the past eight years, the Dervaeses have worked every inch of their 4,356 sq ft garden (including the front drive, which is covered in buckets of strawberries) and have produced more than 6,000lb of fruit and vegetables a year. From this modest tenth of an acre, which wraps around the front and back garden, situated 150 yards away from an 11-lane motorway, the family produce enough food to meet 80 per cent of their dietary needs in summer and 50 per cent in winter (the remainder is anything they can’t grow, such as oil, flour, rice, butter and cheese). They even have enough left over to sell to local restaurants."

Want to read more...? Then click on The Dervaeses for the whole thing. There is also a link in the article to the Dervaeses' own website (pathtofreedom.com) which really does make for amazing reading.

ORGANIC FOOD FESTIVAL 2009!
September 12th & 13th
at the Bristol Harbourside

"The Organic Food Festival is Europe’s largest showcase of all things organic. Now in its ninth successful year, the Festival demonstrates the growth of the organic movement and the increased recognition of the role organic production can play in creating a sustainable future.

Whether you are in search of delicious organic food and drink, gorgeous skin care, fabulous fashion, organic textiles, home design, tips on organic gardening or you are looking for an entertaining family-friendly outing, this much loved festival is just what you are looking for.

The Organic Food Festival provides the chance to meet producers face to face, watch recession-busting cooking demonstrations, sample street food from Bristol’s top chefs and introduce your kids to special taste workshops designed just for them."

Click here for more information!

THE GREEN BALL!

Saturday 4th July 2009 at 7.30pm

• Gathering at:

27 Milverton Crescent West
Leamington Spa

• Carriages at Midnight
  

• Formal or Creative Attire
  

• Glass of Bubbly and Buffet Provided

Please bring a bottle for further enjoyment...


This is a GREEN PARTY fundraiser
Suggested donations:
Generous Benefactor £12
Skint but Supportive £6

For further information, please telephone:
01926 422624
01926 332965

Tom's News from the Field

May 2009

Since last writing, we’ve come through the Winter and are enjoying a truly splendid Spring. It’s been fairly dry but peppered with rain that has kept the ground workable. Right through March and early April the share was simply bulging at the seams with everything out in the fields desperately needing picking before it went to seed. There’s no holding back at this time of year, it’s a real Spring bounty with last years plants lapping up the warm weather and putting on rapid growth. We therefore saw both varieties of Kale in the share regularly during this time accompanied by some impressive shares of Purple Sprouting Broccoli that we were particularly pleased with.

It’s a nervous time for us growers as we try to juggle the harvesting so as to keep a steady flow of veg in the yurt each week. With crops running out one after another we start to keep a keen eye on all those early crops that we’ve mollycoddled in the polytunnels and outside under the fleece. As well as all this, we had the extra task of fencing our third field from the rabbits before being able to plant out the first Spring Cabbages. But we’ve been able to focus our time much more on the job of growing vegetables this Spring compared to last year when we were erecting the last two polytunnels.

With the Hungry Gap upon us, it’s time to look forward to the crops that are coming on; both the Onions and the Potatoes are progressing very well now with the first early spuds just starting to poke their leaves out of the ridges. The Onions were planted on the Spring Equinox by a large group of volunteers before the Mabon social.

Inside the polytunnels it’s all turning around too; the salads and greens are coming out and the summer crops of Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Aubergines are rapidly being planted. In between these crops and in every spare space we’re squeezing in quick successions of radish and oriental leaves to keep us going. Excitingly, the new polytunnels erected last Spring have allowed us space to grow some early Mange Tout Peas that are almost ready to start harvesting and some extra early baby bunched Beetroots too. These are the sort of crops that will hopefully see us through the leaner weeks before June leads us towards the real bounty of Summer!

Storytelling at Gaia...

The lovely folk at Gaia have recently sent us this poster about a new storytelling evening they are hosting on the last Thursday of every month. Bit late notice for today, but the first one is tonight... Maybe see you there sometime!

The Age of Stupid is coming to the Royal Spa Centre

Well, after the Apollo cinema mysteriously pulled the plug on showing The Age of Stupid back in March, the Leamington Royal Spa Centre has come up trumps and will be showing the film on Sunday 26th and Monday 27th April, at 6pm (for more details, click on the link below).

Whether it sways you or not, apparently even Ken Livingstone was moved to say that "every single person in the country should be forcibly made to watch this film"!

So... if you possibly can, get yourselves down to the Spa Centre in a couple of weeks' time and we'll see you there!

The Age of Stupid at Leamington Royal Spa Centre

US regulation HR875 and its impact on sustainable food systems

Canalside member and fellow blogger, Elizabeth, recently forwarded on the below link about the new 'Food Safety & Modernization Act of 2009' that was introduced in the USA in February this year. This new proposal (as it still is) seeks to set in place heavy bureaucratic hoops for small producers to jump through, leading to the very likely destruction of small-scale and truly sustainable food production systems such as farmer's markets and CSAs. Cynics will certainly pick up on the point that the woman behind this Act, Rosa Delauro, is married to a political consultant who has worked with Monsanto in the past - need I say more?

We are not in America, so this may well not affect us now, but who's to say this draconian proposal won't find its way across the pond at some point...?

HR875 - The Death of Farmer's Markets, CSAs and Local Food

Master Pasta Event in Lillington

All welcome to consume or to help at the Action 21/Lillington Fresh Food Group Master Pasta family food event, on Thursday April 16th from 1pm to 3pm at the Youth Centre, Mason Avenue, Lillington (next door to children's centre near library).

Make fresh pasta, cook it and eat it with our sauces, or take away to cook at home.

Blendavenda smoothies too, and lots more…

Tell all your friends!

An Evening of Networking & Delicious Ayurvedic Snacks & Advice...

You are invited...

On Thursday, 16th April at 7:30 p.m., Michelle Palmer, Holistic Chef and Ayurvedic Health Consultant, and Beth Forster, Editor and Creator of Mosaic Magazine, will host an evening delicious snacks and networking. See below for photographs of dishes.

Come to Michelle's home at 32, Davidson Avenue, Leamington Spa, CV31 1LT, for a satisfying selection of dishes, including chai spice biscuits and chai tea; curried rice with cashews, peas, peppers and sultanas; mixed green vitality salad with citrus vinaigrette; Brussels sprouts with spiced maple pecans; chickpea millet tomato pilaf; spicy masala soup with lentils and veg; and chocolate coconut 'risotto'.

Attendees will also receive Michelle's best tips for a long, healthy life through proper diet and lifestyle, as well as a selection of recipes from dishes served.
There will be enough for everyone to have a satisfying, healthy meal. Any dietary needs can be catered for with advance notice.

This evening is also a great opportunity to meet and mingle with like-minded people for social and business networking around the region, so please bring along your business cards!

All this for just £12. Space is limited, so please RSVP by phoning Michelle Palmer on 07988 848308, or writing to ayurvedachef@gmail.com. Pre-payment is needed in order to supply the meal, so we kindly request that a cheque for £12 be sent to Michelle Palmer at: 32 Davidson Avenue, Leamington Spa, CV31 1LT. If you have any questions about the evening, please do not hesitate to make contact.

About the Hostesses:

Michelle Palmer is a certified Ayurvedic Health Consultant, Yoga Teacher and Life Chef. She is passionate about cooking delicious, healthy food tailored to meet the health objectives of those who eat it. She has run cooking classes, demonstrations, dinner parties and personal chef services for three years in the US and UK. Michelle studied at The Ayurvedic Institute under Dr. Vasant Lad and continues to expand her knowledge of natural health, cooking and yoga through courses around the world. She brings a sense of joy and playfulness to food, as well as rigorous attention to the health benefits and effects of ingredients she uses.

Beth Forster is editor and creator of Mosaic; a community magazine (www.mosaic-lifestyle.com) that brings together green, complementary health, creative, ethical, holistic and spiritual articles to the core of our awareness. She is also co-founder of the Warwickshire Spiritual Network – an open forum for spiritual-minded people to connect and share experiences.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

The Age of Stupid

The Age of Stupid is a 90-minute film about climate change, set in the future. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking back at 'archive' footage from 2007 and asking: why didn't we stop climate change when we had the chance?

Whilst the film had its world premiere in London yesterday, 15th March, the weekend of the 20th, 21st and 22nd of March is monstrously important to the whole future of The Age of Stupid. The length and breadth of the UK theatrical run will literally be determined by the number of bums on seats in cinemas during this opening weekend. The box-office success of these 3 days is crucial to the overall success of everything that happens after this point; overseas cinema groups, TV deals and DVD distribution will all take their lead from what happens during this pivotal weekend.

So... please please please come along on at least one of these days to the Apollo cinema in Leamington to see your local viewing - and take 10 friends along with you too. It's really impossible to overstate how much depends on these 72 short hours!

(If you can't make it over the weekend, be sure to make sure you and everyone you know sees it in the very near future! This film may change all of our lives...)

Tom's News From the Field

February 2009

Well, with Spring on its way and a bit of time on our hands whilst the fields were covered in snow, we were able to get really stuck into the first full days seed sowing over at Ryton Gardens at the end of February. Danny and I spent a long day in their sowing shed, bench heater angled at our hands, sowing a multitude of seed varieties mainly for early crops to cover the dreaded hungry gap. Amongst these will be Spring Onions, Baby Bunched Beets, Lettuces and Spinach. With some 14,000 seeds sown during the day we certainly left their greenhouse fuller than when we arrived!

It’s certainly approaching that time now when we start to focus on the many tasks of the coming season whilst trying to maintain a steady flow of fresh veg for the share over the leaner months of April/May. Just recently the weather has really warmed up, with several days feeling almost Spring like. This has prompted the drilling of our early Peas and Carrots in the polytunnel.

So what’s to look forward to? Well, we’ve been eagerly awaiting the new season of Purple Sprouting Broccoli for some weeks now and we've finally been able to start putting it in the share as of this week. Also we’ve varieties of Cauliflower due to begin cropping any time now too. The Leeks have begun bulking up and should be in the share for most of the Spring having unfortunately been largely absent in the Winter months. Really it’s a matter of waiting for the warm weather to let everything begin growing again.

Happy feasting folk!

World Water Day - would you like to get involved?

A new WaterAid campaign and fundraising group is being launched on Saturday 21st March to mark Word Water Day.

WaterAid enables the world's poorest people to gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene education. The scale of the problem is enormous:

• About 1 in 8 of the world's population do not have access to safe water
• Almost two fifths of the people in the world do not have access to adequate safe sanitation
• 5,000 children die everyday from diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation
• It costs only £15 per head to provide lasting safe water, sanitation and hygiene education

WaterAid will have a stall on the Parade in Leamington to raise awareness of their work. The stall will be outside the old Woolworths shop on the Parade, between 10am and 4pm on Saturday 21st March.

Please go along to show your support. James Plaskitt MP and the press will be coming at 10.30am and it would be great to have a large number of people there. Or just turn up whenever you can.

Felix Mindham is organising the event and could do with more help on the stall - so if you would like to help out please give her a ring. She will be doing a couple of briefing sessions on the evenings of Tuesday 3rd March and Thursday 12th March.

If you are interested in getting involved but can't manage the 21st March, there will be plenty of other opportunities.

Thanks!

For further information please contact Felix on:
01926 316429 or 07963 835580

Palestine Fairtrade for a Sustainable Future

on Wednesday 4th March
The Herbert, Jordan Well, Coventry CV1 5QP at 12.30pm
Bath Place Community Venture, Bath Place, Leamington Spa from 5 - 7 pm

Presentation by Taysir Arabasi, who will demonstrate a positive story for change in Palestine with Fairtrade as the core message. Olive and olive oil production is often the only feasible agricultural activity that can take place on fragile and marginal lands and is a crucial alternative to abandonment or desertification. As a result of the conflict in the region, Palestinian farmers continue to face severe barriers in carrying out their normal day-to-day agricultural activities caused through restrictions on movement and water shortages which exacerbate levels of
deprivation and marginalisation.

Come along and learn more - free admission!

Sponsored by Leamington Spa Fairtrade Steering Group, Bath Place CV,
Gaia Cooperative, One World Link, Barry Johns Greengrocers.

Organic Food & Farming Talk by Ulrich Schmutz

100% organic food and farming - the future for a post-oil-based farming industry?
A talk by Ulrich Schmutz

Monday February 16th

Ulrich’s career as a researcher in organic farming and horticulture shapes his take on the possibilities – and possibility - of total organic farming. He will draw on several projects he is involved with and other current and published research. He will outline the strength and weaknesses of the organic approach, and look at the fossil-fuel (aka carbon footprint) issue and other environmental economic issues of current conventional food production.

As everybody has to eat, and many grow their own food and even have some farming links, Ulrich is hoping for a lively discussion - as some of his organic-scenario thinking will demand personal lifestyle changes!

Ulrich Schmutz worked at Berlin University in Germany and as farm business consultant in East Germany before joining the HDRA research charity (new name - Garden Organic) at Ryton as an environmental economist seven years ago. He has been working on research projects with various UK Universities (including Warwick University’s organic research facility at Warwick HRI Wellesbourne). He is also visiting Professor for Organic Farming at Bolzano University, Italy.

http://www.cafescientifique.org/leamington_spa.htm

Low Carbon Day

LOW CARBON LEAMINGTON EVENT

Saturday 31st January, 2009 - 10 am – 1.00 pm

Wolseley’s Sustainable Building Center, Harrison Way (Spa Park)
Leamington Spa CV31 3HH

Confused by how you can make a contribution to a more sustainable future? Not sure what are the best ways of reducing your carbon footprint?

Leamington Spa is working towards being a Transition Town – a place where all its residents are less reliant on oil and other scarce and increasingly expensive resources. To achieve this it is important that everyone in our community is aware of the sustainable alternatives that are readily available and affordable.

Royal Leamington Spa Town Council has joined with Wolseley, the UK’s leading distributor of plumbing and heating products and a major supplier of construction materials, to provide an opportunity for everyone to see the various energy efficient products now available and obtain advice on how to use these to maximise energy conservation and financial saving. Fittingly this event will be held at Wolseley’s Sustainable Building Center at Spa Park. This
exemplar building is a UK first and showcases the latest sustainable products and renewable technologies in their working environment, all of which are available now, through Wolseley’s nationwide branch network.

Go along to their “Low Carbon Leamington” day on Saturday 31st January between 10 am and 3 pm to find out more.

MICHAEL ROADS ON TOUR 2009

2-DAY WORKSHOP AT GARDEN ORGANIC RYTON, WARWICKSHIRE

Sat 4^th - Sun 5^TH APRIL 2009, 9.30-5.30pm

“CONSCIOUS GARDENING AND THE POWER OF LOVE”

Spiritual author and teacher Michael J. Roads makes his only stop in the UK on his European tour 2009. With a huge following on the continent, Michael is now being discovered in his homeland.

During this 2-day seminar, Michael will take participants on a journey through his own experiences of communicating with nature to the realisation of consciousness connecting with love. The seminar will be a combination of talks and experiential inner-exercises.

It is also possible to attend for 1 day.

Cost: Full 2-day seminar £110, 1-day: £60

(Includes tea and coffee. Organic lunch may be purchased separately at Garden Organic’s restaurant and coffee shop.)

For bookings and further information please contact Julia Wright, email: jwright@bananahill.net Tel. 01926 316962

****PLACES LIMITED****

See Michael’s website: www.michaelroads.com

2009 Burn's Night Ceilidh!

A special message from one of our members, Steven, who is organising this year's Burn's night ceilidh:

'It's a special year for Burns' night in 2009 as it is the 250th anniversary of the great bard's birth!

For this read "even bigger excuse than usual for ceilidh fun and extreme spinning"

Details below of the Burns' Night ceilidh in Leamington on the night of the 24th January and tickets available in advance from Steven at stevenahunt@hotmail.com or call on 07811 127741 to arrange.

Dress-code – anything you like, but a flash (or more) of tartan encouraged!

Hope to see you there!'