Ways to take part include:
performance (music, spoken word, walkabout)
making decorations
hosting a craft stall
running a skills sharing workshop
sharing your homegrown produce
being a candidate for Montpelier Mayor or Queen Bean in the mock elections
helping to run silly games and craft activities
help to organise a ‘heritage lunch’ for older residents of Montpelier

On the day, we need volunteers to help with stewarding, putting up decorations, assisting with cake/bean/tea stalls and clearing up afterwards.

If you’re able to join this happy team, please get in touch!  You can see the ‘get involved’ flyer here
Sally Jenkins
Event Coordinator
montpelierbeanfeast@yahoo.co.uk
07866 748193

About the event
This community street festival is a resurrection of an annual event from the eighteenth century, which historical accounts say originally featured mock elections of a Mayor and Sheriff, ‘delighted spectators’ and ‘various high jinks’. It is now a celebration of local heritage, local harvest and local genius and features music, mock elections, crafts workshops and procession, local produce exchange, ‘homemade’ stalls and lots of neighbours getting to know each other.
The event takes place in St Andrews Road and Montpelier Park. It is free to attend, although donations towards costs are much appreciated.  All organisers are unpaid volunteers from the local area.

Can you help out with this year's Bean Feast? We need lots of people to make it a success!

5.30pm -Doors open, food served (bring contributions if you’d like), plants, stalls, literature

6.00pm - Introduction to the evening, Transition and local projects 

6.15pm -Food INC -sound powered by bike! 

8pm -Q+A to expert panel…*NoTescoinStokesCroft; *GROFUN; *Sim’s Hill CSA/ Shared harvest scheme; *FareShare SW food “recycled” for the homeless; *Transition Montpelier’s Urban Growing group; *Cllr Jon Rogers, Bristol City Council 

8.45pm -Open space session- your space to discuss whatever you want about the topics or create new ones 

9.30pm -Summary 

9.45pm -Close

£2 donations on the door

We will be asking for donations (£2) to go towards covering the costs of licensing and hiring the film venue etc, just so you are aware. We won’t turn anyone away if they can’t contribute for any reason. Hopefully the more we link up local food and local economy/Freeconomy, swapping services… (as we hope to do with this event).. the more the local economy/community will benefit and the less we’ll all have to pay in terms of the planet (for one thing). Thanks for your patience and look forward to seeing you tomorrow

 Venue- Old Fairfield School (now Fairfield Resource Centre), Fairfield Road, Montpelier, BS6 5QG.

Contact Jess-  trying2begreen@gmail.com 07904 044213 if any queries

Transition Montpelier is hosting a screening of the highly acclaimed Food Inc film in conjunction with the ‘Say NO to Tesco’ campaign and we want you to be there!

The night will consist of a film showing, with a Q&A to a panel and discussion about the issues it raises, followed by an open space to further discuss practical ways to resist the opening of a Tesco on Stokes Croft  and the benefits of locally grown, low impact food options. We will also be selling literature on local food and Transition, food plants and displaying the great work our Urban Greening group have been doing. Learn more about local food initiatives and how to get involved.

Sharing good food is the theme of the evening, and we’re hoping to provide some delicious examples of sustainably grown dishes…  And that’s where you come in!

We’re looking for people to contribute locally produced; cakes, snacks, vegetables, soup, salads, elderflower cordial, etc. Anything you could offer would be massively appreciated! Also any literature promoting local good food groups, allotments, or vegetable boxes for example, let us know and we can make them available to people at the event.

We are also hoping for some help with publicising the event (could you forward information on to a mailing list when it’s ready / put a few flyers in your local shop?), and some people to help out on the night. Can you help?

More information to follow, WATCH THIS SPACE!

Please get in touch with Jess at trying2begreen@gmail.com or 07904044213 if you can help in any way!

Links:-

http://www.foodincmovie.co.uk/

http://notesco.wordpress.com/

www.transitonbristol.net

We have decided to postpone the date of the energy group meeting on Monday 24th May to give more time to complete the actions from the last meeting.

Watch this space… Thank you for your patience!

*Jess apologises for the lateness of this post*

Present: Dan, Dave Sproxton, Ciaran, Flo, Mima, Jess, Liquorice the dog

Agenda:

Home Energy Audit training follow up;

Art trail;

Malcolm X Centre audit;

Bristol Green Doors;

World Environment Day June 5th.

Date of next meeting 24th May- next Monday.

For brief actions and agreements click here: TMEG minutes 19-4-10

Planning permission has been applied for the whole Park, and is currently being considered. The plan submitted is here. It is due to be decided upon by the end of April. The work has been put out to tender, and prices are due to come back in the first week of April.

BT have now removed the telephone kiosk, and we plan to infill the hole and match the wall to the surrounding when funds allow.

The Community Cashback fencing is now installed, and as the tendering prices came in below budget, the £10,000 has also funded new drop bollards at the entrance and new self-closing gates at the pavement to prevent children running out on the road, and dog signs for the playground.

The fence is not as high as we would have liked, so we are working with the council to raise it; the funding had to be spent by March, so they ran out of time to get planning permission for a higher fence.

We met with the Council this week to discuss progress, and may have made a breakthrough on the issue of the land strip within the Park that is not owned by BCC. As this land has been untended for 9 years, BCC legal department had been advising that we do not contact the owner and wait for a further 3 years to enable them to apply for possession. BCC have now changed their stance, and we are hoping to meet with the owner of the strip soon. We aim to secure their permission for work on their land, which will enable us to secure the Biffaward £50,000, and enable us to continue applying for further grants. Without their permission, grant funds cannot be spent on their land.

We are currently working hard on the Lottery bid to reclaim the rear wasteground, which is due in on May 12th. This is a standalone project on council land, so will go ahead regardless of whether we manage to resolve the ownership / permission issue of the land strip.

We are still waiting for a reply to our letter from Jon Rogers about the chronic underfunding of Montpelier’s parks. Hugh Holden of the Bristol Parks Forum also raised the issue with Tracey Morgan, the new manager of the Parks department. If you feel like dropping them your own note about it, their email addresses are: jon.rogers@bristol.gov.uk and tracey.morgan@bristol.gov.uk.

Happy Easter!

Simon, Shiona, Will and Piers

The Mapping Day on Sunday went very well, with about 30 people in attendance and everyone enjoying the walk and cakes.  Many people felt uncomfortable identifying gardens as ‘untended’.

ACTION:  Pete to compile an overall map of Montpelier from the individual ones we walked with, to be published here, excluding the untended gardens as we felt this was more subjective and potentially insulting.

ACTION: Sally, Ingrid and Claudia to design a community gardening space in the grafitti wall / bench corner of Montpelier Park for the Lottery funding bid.  Andy Spargo (park landscape architect) is happy to draw this up formally for us, but needs to have it by end April.

Six potential ‘hotspots’ were identified:

1. Station (platform, embankment and approach)

2. Rainbow Bridge (Fairfield and Hurlingham sides)

3. Picton Square (between Bells and Gallifords)

4. Coburg Corner (meeting Ashley Hill)

5. Rosa Parks Lane (at Albany Green)

6. Magpie (Picton St / Ashley Road)

The issues for each hotspot were briefly discussed, and it was agreed to focus on those where there were clear ‘adopters’ taking responsibility for the area to ensure we don’t spread ourselves too thinly in the early days.  The first three hotspots were chosen by the group.  If someone wants to take responsibility for any of the other hotspots (or indeed, any other area – we were short on attendees from around Albany Green), we will be happy to support them too.

We then split off into hotspot groups according to our interests, and discussed how to get things moving.

Station: (Sally, Lucy, Steve) Holding two action afternoons to initiate planting w/c 26  April or w/c 3 May.  Lucy to contact Period Fireplaces regarding triangular strip.  Shiona to contact Miles Harris to establish land ownership and block grass cutting.  Sally to contact Eastside roots re Network Rail.

Square: (Shiona, Ingrid, Karen, Simon, Esther) Holding a May Day consultation and planting event, with a waterbutt installation workshop, planter building session and inviting design ideas for the space.  Esther identifying cost savings to businesses if recycle waste.  Meeting Fri 26 to speak with business owners re bin issues.

Rainbow: (Chris, David, Claudia, Danny, Mima)  to make contact with Mary Bright and discuss her plans and the best way to work together.  Sally/Claudia to approach Fairfield School to initiate work in playground.  Shiona to contact Miles Harris to establish land ownership and block grass cutting.

ACTION: Shiona to send round an email regarding a group name.

Steve’s leaf image was liked by everyone and picked for use on posters and signs.  ACTION Steve to forward blank leaf image to group for use in posters etc.

ACTION: Shiona, Danny and Karen to look for funding, with Quartet, Network Rail and greenspaces as a starting point.

As well as our most valuable resource – people power (!) – we are also in need of materials to transform these spaces. If you have anything to offer, or know of a great place to get things (either for free or at good value) then please let us know by posting a comment below or emailing shiona_macp@hotmail.com.  The most obvious items we will need are:

• Compost
• Well rotted manure
• Top Soil
• Wood and other materials to make raised beds
• Screws/nails etc
• Water butts (or equivalent)
• Seeds
• Plants
• Trees for replanting
• Organic plant food (eg comfrey tea, seaweed extracts)

Any ideas on sources of funding for these items would also be extremely welcome!

Many thanks, the Growing Team