• 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 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

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

We know we’ve been a little quiet the past few months. The truth is, despite being energetic, dynamic, passionate (etc) people, work and life in general sometimes gets in the way of fun.

Don’t despair though. After a Christmas break, we’ve regained our strength, found new motivation, and need to burn off an excess of Christmas cake!

So, what do we want to do this year?

First-up, work with Rutland County Council and local sustainability charity, Change Agents UK , to help their fuel-poverty campaign. We want to ensure Rutland and its good folk are left more resilient, with a better quality of life, and with lower carbon footprints individually and collectively. Energy prices have been a real issue, and many people forget that in rural areas, the true fuel-poverty is higher because of the extra transport fuel costs and many different heating systems. It’s a big issue, and one we are glad to see being tackled as it offers many benefits.

Next up, we want to organise a film evening with a discussion. I know I know, it sounds a little cliched, but there is nothing like getting people together, watching something and letting all of the thoughts, worries, hopes and ideas spill out amongst other people. So keep an eye out on here for more details, or better still, join our mailing list!

What else – well, we’ll update about you all about the progess with Transition Farming in the area, the exciting work being done on Grass-Fed farming which will be better for the environment, the animals, and us. Perfect.

Oh, and I think it would be nice to get the bikes out of the shed come March, and get back on our wobbly machines in the comfort of a Community Bike Ride. And who knows, maybe we’ll organise another Bike Doctor Day, which will delight not only local residents, but the owners of local coffee shops and delis who benefited from our love of snacks!

And then there is food. We all love food here at Transition Rutland. Not just eating it, though of course that is a big big draw. We like growing it, getting it fresh, locally, and helping local farmers and growers. Why don’t you get involved? Send us an email!

Then there are more serious things like the Localism Act. Two of its many features are Community Assets/Right to Buy, and Neighbourhood Plans. The former means we can protect key buildings and places that are important to the community. The latter, that means we can shape the work of the local authority, have a stake in Rutland’s future and make sure it’s a sustainable and resilient one.

Well, that’s enough for now. I just wanted to make sure you knew we were still very much here, and that we hadn’t forgotten about you!

Oh, and one last thing. We’ll have a meeting in the last week of January – please do come along. Email transitionrutland@gmail.com to find out more.

Happy New Year to you all,

Jonathan

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,900 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 32 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Would you like to get involved with… apple pressing; film nights; eco-house visits; our group; food themed walks or community bike rides? Those were the questions posed, and we had a lot of answers, from people of all ages! But what was the highest scoring?
Food themed walks came out tops!

Your Votes

Maybe the food stalls from local suppliers with their tasty wares tempted you, or was it the abundance of fruit in your gardens? Either way, we know what we are making a priority!

Needless to say, we enjoyed a day of speaking with the public about how the transition ethos can fit in to your life, and improve what we have in Rutland. Many people were enticed by the prospect of making your own bicycle-powered-smoothies!!! This wonderful contraption, courtesy of the Rural Communities Council and CycleMagic in Leicester, allows people to use their cycling skills to turn a blender and make fantastically healthy and yummy smoothies in a matter of seconds. It goes without saying that there was no fruit left well before the end of the day! It just goes to show what we can do, and it makes us think about the energy we use, how much hard work goes into something we take for granted.

We had a lot of interest, and some great questions, and feedback too. A big thank you to Voluntary Action Rutland for organising the marquee and stalls, and to Andrew Reeves at the RCC for being an all round star today,

If you could not make it today, do fill in the poll above or get in touch and let us know what you would like to get involved with. We’re always looking to have more people involved. It’s not all about meetings, drinking tea and eating biscuits (though they can be perks), it’;s about doing things, being positive and enjoying ourselves.

Get involved, keep up to date or offer ideas at transitionrutland@gmail.com
Thank you for a great day out!