Transition Rutland AGM and Future Actions

Transition Rutland held it’s AGM on Wednesday 26th September 2012. The difference this year? We brought some delicious food to share! Below are the key points that came out of this:

• Transition Rutland has had a successful year with ‘On Your Bike’, being accepted into the Sustainable Transport bid, being accepted onto the ‘Greeniversity Skill Share’ scheme, along with continuous engagement
• The sad news is that Jon Ward (founder of Transition Rutland) is moving on to start a new job. Anna Hughes is also moving on to a new life very soon. So we wish these two fantastic hard-working individuals the best of luck in their new adventures.
• Anna’s Secretary role has been taken over by Greg Hewitt
• Karl’s Treasurer role has been taken over by Lorienne
• Nick will remain as chair
• Activities for the next year will be:
  • Rutland Skill Share
  • Transition Veg Garden in Oakham
  • Workshop space in Oakham
  • ‘On Your Bike’ in March/April 2013
  • Film Screenings

The official launch of Rutland Skill Share

On Sunday 9th September Transition Rutland officially launched Rutland Skill Share! We had a stall as part of the Summer Fun event at Cutts Close, Oakham where we set up a table tennis table for people to have a go, and also taught people how to make a salad window box. 

The table tennis was in non-stop use and many people of all ages planted some salad seeds. Thanks to all those who came along. We used the event as an opportunity for people to sign up to Rutland Skill Share, either as a learner or a teacher, or even both! We will be soon be launching our fantastic new skill share website soon!

The Men Who Made Us Fat

The third episode of this excellent and often shocking BBC series on food, farming, diet and obesity. What can we do to improve our health, enjoy our food, and support local agriculture and food networks? Let us know your thoughts

The Men Who Made Us Fat

Click here for more information on the series http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k0fs0

Films to make you see the world in a different way….

It can be quite dull just reading about so many things, so many issues, and problems, and then working out what you can do about it, and wanting to feel excited about it, not just tired, scared, confused.

That’s why we’ve prepared a short menu of films to take you on a journey through the difficult things, to making it personal, to a simple way to make life better and sort out these big problems. And we’re not a cult, or a pyramid-selling scheme. Just normal folk who want to create a future, rather than wait for one to happen.

We don’t necessarily agree with everything in the films, but they are good at provoking the grey matter into challenging what we think and know!

See below for a fascinating documentary film on the how crises in food, climate change, energy, finance and security link together, and a path forward from this. More info here crisisofcivilization.com

The Crisis of Civilization: Full Film from thecrisisofcivilization on Vimeo.

To make us think more clearly about our individual role in all of this, try the wonderful Story of Stuff

Which is all very well, but you need then to have some simple ways to make changes, positive ones that improve your life, that tackle all these problems that seem quite messy and difficult to solve. Luckily, there is Transition Towns (that’s us), and once more, a nice little movie to watch, to show what it means, and some inspiration from communities making this exciting and positive journey around the world. Get a nice drink, and some nibbles and behold, Transition the Movie:

In Transition 1.0 from Transition Towns on Vimeo.

Community hub and the launch of Rutland Skill Share

Did you think we’d gone a little quiet of late?

Fear not, we’ve been busy behind the scenes, and are proud to tell you about a couple of our latest ventures – Your Shop – a community hub for several weeks in Oakham’s Market Street and Rutland SkillShare – to be launched in the summer – practical learning that’s free and fun.

 

Already in Your Shop, we’ve started with an energy week, with free energy auditing and advice from Dan and Dave from the Energy Action for Rutland scheme that’s been running in a consortium led by Change Agents UK and Rutland County Council.  The shop space has been kindly provided to us by Oakham School, and we think it’s a great opportunity.

 

 

Are you feeling tyred and deflated this Spring? Gear up for Dr. Bike!

Is you bike being used as a hanging rack? Is your bike struggling with the shopping? Need a good excuse to get the kids out of the house? Could your commute be made more comfortable? Are you embarassed by every squeak and groan?

Transition Rutland have already brought you two weekends of our Dr’s expertise to help you on your way to Spring cycling. With this Saturday 31st March, the third and final this Spring, we want to make sure all those wonky handlebars, flat tyres, and rusty bolts are shined, pumped and straightened ready for the Summer weather.

Bring your bike along for a FREE and speedy diagnosis, service and all the tips, advice and tricks of the trade that you could ask for. We will be at OAKHAM CASTLE from 10:00 ’til 15:00 with a team of experts led by Graham from Rutland Cycling. We will also have some bike safety freebies and maps of local cycle routes to whet your apetite.

Last year was a huge success with many happy customers going home with a new spring in their suspension! After two weekends of surgery we’re pedaling up a gear to find all remaining bike ailments and help our two wheeled friends become fit for purpose.

Transition Rutland have their eye on bringing more cycling related activities to the county so even if your bike is fit and healthy come down for a chat and sign up to our mailing list to ensure that you make the most of the beautiful place you live in!

See you between 10am and 3pm on Saturday 31st March!

On Your Bike 2012

They're on their bike, are you on yours?!

Oakham residents are once again being offered the chance to get back on their bikes this March with the help of a local community group. Transition Rutland (that’s us, just in case you got here without knowing!), a group of local residents (who love cycling) are running a series of “Bike Doctor” days giving people the opportunity to bring their bikes for a bit of TLC in time for the spring.

After the success of last year, and the fun we had, it wasn’t a hard decision to bring the good Bike Doctor back to Oakham and have a spring cycling surgery once more. As with last year, we hope by increasing the amount of people cycling around the town , by overcoming simple problems, we can help residents cut their carbon footprint, whilst getting healthy, having fun and saving money on petrol too! Ok, ok, sounds great, but there’s always a catch? Well, you do have to turn up, but that’s about it, no catch, so what are you waiting for?

The free sessions, organised by ourselves (Transition Rutland), are being run in conjunction with Rutland Cycling. Specialists will be on hand to offer bike maintenance advice, undertake basic repairs and give cyclists the confidence that their bikes are safe, and that they can keep them safe. The “Bike doctors” will be outside Tesco’s on the 17th March, the train station on the 24th March and at Oakham Castle on the 31st March (all events between 10am and 3pm).

Nick Goodman, Chair of Transition Rutland is looking forward to the events, “like last year, our group just wants to help residents feel safer and more confident on their bikes. By bringing back the bike doctors, we can help this and we are looking forward to once again, helping Oakham residents to get “On your bike”!

For Rutlanders, who are in on the joke, the Bike Doctor and On Your Bike schemes are truly a case of Multum In Parvo! So come along and we hope to see you soon.

To know how all this came about, you can read about last year’s inaugural On Your Bike scheme here.