May 2012 Newsletter

Contents:

Shipston Heart Alive Campaign

Transition Shipston Events for the Year

Join the Stratford Plastic Challenge

Help Needed in the Garden

Transition Network Podcast

Other Links

Local - For Sale

Diary:

Tuesday 15^th May, 7.30 - Shipston Heart Alive Campaign meeting

Formerly Save Shipston Town Centre Campaign. For more information see below.

George Hotel private meeting room

Wednesday 16th May, 6.00 - Transition Shipston Steering Group

Black Horse Pub lounge

Thursday 17^th May, 7.00 - Transition Film with Bring & Share Meal

In Transition 2.0 the new film from Transition Network, capturing inspiring stories of Transition initiatives around the world, responding to uncertain times with creativity, solutions and 'engaged optimism'.

Theme for “bring & share” meal - Mediterranean

Venue - Sharyn & Niall's place, The Apple House, Crimscote. Contact: Sharynsinger@btinternet.com

Sunday 20^th May, 2.00 - Community Garden

Clearing the central area around the fire + work on vegetable beds

Pop into the Community Garden at any time from 2.00 to 5.00

(For anyone who hasn't been before the garden is at the Darlingscote Rd crossroad with the Fosse)

Thursday 24^th May, 8.30 – Queen's Avenue Play Area & Orchard Group

George Hotel

Transition Stratford Events:

Saturday 12 May: Shared meal with Transition Stroud walkers

Lifeways, 30 Albany Road, CV37 9PG, 7.30pm. Admission free, bring a dish to share

Shared meal with five intrepid members of Transition Stroud, who are walking from Stroud to Derby this Spring, meeting up with Transition groups along their way.

Sat 12 – Sat 26th May - Stratford Plastic Challenge

For more information see below

For more information on events contact Dave on 01608 661816 or 07973 846605

Shipston Heart Alive Campaign

Over the last two months Transition Shipston has taken the lead in holding public meetings aimed at opposing the proposed Supermarket on the Campden Road and “Saving Our Town Centre”. At the follow-on meetings town centre traders, property owners, other local businesses and other concerned people all came along to support the campaign. To reflect the general support that the campaign has attracted the group has now adopted the name “Shipston Heart Alive Campaign” (SHAC).

At the first meeting of the group it was decided to ask Stratford District Council to consider commissioning a detailed study for Shipston of the likely impact of an out-of-town supermarket.

The meeting also considered the report of a parking subgroup who had studied the traffic in the Town Centre for 2 hours on Saturday morning. In that time the cars in the High Street came and went all the time. During the same 2 hours there was always plenty of parking in the Telegraph St car park and the other car parks around the town. There was a consensus that lack of parking in Shipston is a problem of perception. The group is going to consider asking for better signage, another long-stay car park and free parking in Telegraph St to help the situation.

The publicity subgroup reported that three members of the group had sent letters to the Herald in response to a pro-supermarket letter. It was decided that the group support a letter to Mary Portas asking for her support for the campaign and advice on how to save the vibrancy of the town centre.

Transition AGM & Events & Activities for Next Year

Mike Ashton was elected as Chair / Facilitator, Jo Ames was elected as Treasurer, Dave Passingham was elected as Secretary.

Here are some of the ideas we agreed to arrange over the coming months:

• A booklet updating the existing Food Directory but also including cooking & gardening tips, local places to visit, articles about successful local businesses / shops, transition ideas etc.
• A family cycle ride
• An electric car club
• Supporting the Transition Stratford Plastic Challenge from 12^th to 25^th May.
• Visit to Ettington Recycling centre,
• A Housing “Open Space” including a speaker on “self build” homes

Join the Stratford Plastic Challenge

Last year Transition Shipston held a “Plastic Free Week”. This year Transition Stratford have developed the idea into a two week plastic challenge including a film and an art event. Transition Shipston is supporting the initiative. If you would like to join in go to http://www.transitionstratford.com/wordpress/?p=226

What is the plastic challenge?

The Plastic Challenge is a two-week learning experience. In Week 1, we’ll find out how much plastic we use - and in Week 2 we’ll explore how easy it is to live with less. We’ll then measure the difference in a creative and fun way at a public Art Event in central Stratford.

Plastic facts:

• plastic is durable, flexible, and much lighter than alternative packaging materials – so food and drink can be transported easily and kept for longer
• but plastic is also one of the worst polluters, as it doesn’t easily degrade and can remain unchanged in the environment for a very long time
• plastic is particularly damaging in our seas – up to 100,000 turtles and other marine animals are killed every year by plastic bags
• the UN has estimated that there are an average of 46,000 pieces of plastic debris floating on or near the surface of every square mile of ocean
• plastics are made from oil, which is a non-renewable fossil fuel and one of the major contributors to global warming and climate change
• 4% of total world oil consumption is used to make food packaging – the vast majority of which will be used just once, before ending up in landfill
• almost all plastic bottles can now be recycled, but it can still be difficult to recycle other plastics because of the need to separate the different types

Transition Network Podcast
A Resilience Festival, Some Warmer Homes, and turning car-parks into food gardens! In this month's Transition podcast, we go into more depth with three of the stories from this month's Transition round-up. We hear about Transition Guelph's recent 'Resilience Festival', what Marsden and Slaithwaite Transition Towns did with their LEAF funding, and what happened when Transition Belper suggested turning a local car park into a vegetable garden.http://transitionculture.org/2012/04/13/its-the-april-podcast-a-resilience-festival-some-warmer-homes-and-turning-carparks-into-food-gardens/

Round-up of What's Happening out in the World of Transition
Tales from Spain, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Sweden, New Zealand, and around the UK in Buxton, Totnes, Exmouth, Clitheroe, London, Shrewsbury, Taunton, Marlborough, Worthing,http://www.transitionnetwork.org/news/2012-05-02/april-round-what-s-happening-out-world-transition

Help Needed in the Garden

Community Garden:

We need help at the next community garden afternoon to clear the central area around the fire and put down wood chip around the seating. This is in preparation for our mid-summer social event.

Anyone interested in a small plot of their own at the community garden contact Mike at locostashton@googlemail.com

Shipston High School Gardening and Eco-club:

One of our helpers at the Gardening and Eco-club is finishing at half term. If you are interested in helping contact Dave on davepassingham@hotmail.com

Other Links

Bug Life - Gardening for bumblebees

Gardens have become important refuges for bumblebees, and you can encourage them to visit your garden by following the simple tips provided here.

Bumblebees are dependent on flowers for nectar (sugary liquid) and pollen (protein and minerals for developing larvae). They also need a place to shelter and build their nest to maintain a successful colony throughout its life-cycle. http://www.buglife.org.uk/getinvolved/gardening/Create+a+bumblebee-friendly+garden