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

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

The aim is to identify:

• existing green space (however small)
• potential hard space for planters or digging out
• potential green roof space
• untended gardens to approach to offer assistance and/or gardenshare

Action points from the meeting are here; our next meeting will be Thursday 25 March at 8pm in the Old Fairfield School to discuss the results of the Mapping Day.  We will aim to focus our energies on a few ‘quick win’ areas of Montpelier to demonstrate what’s possible over the next few months, with the goal of creating a Trail across the whole area over the next few years.