Green Volunteers Bristol 2011 – Launch at Create’s Live Local Saturday, 11 June (10-5)
Create Centre, Smeaton Road, Bristol BS1 6XN

To celebrate the European Year of Volunteering, a group of organisations have come together to promote Green Volunteering in Bristol and showcase the array of opportunities to get involved in nature and sustainability through volunteer work.

From blogging about sustainability issues to joining a work party on your local nature reserve; from helping out at a one-off event to regular shifts with a conservation group, there is a green volunteering opportunity for everyone.

To match volunteers up with their perfect opportunity, Bristol Natural History Consortium, Volunteer Bristol, Voscur and Bristol City Council are working together to create the Green Volunteers Bristol Portal – a unique online gateway where organisations and individuals can search for volunteering opportunities and register their interest in green volunteering.

To see the portal in action for the first time, join us at our launch event as part of Live Local Day at the Create centre on Saturday 11th June: a celebration of sustainable living in the city with loads of activities and information available. At the launch you will have the chance to talk to some of Bristol’s green volunteering champions about their experiences and hear from a range of organisations offering volunteering opportunities, as well as registering on the portal itself!

www.createbristol.org

…on a grey and rainy morning, here’s a bit of a livener to perk you up before the weekend and bring cheer in the face of all the gloomy news.

Next week Montpelier folks are planning, connecting and celebrating a bunch of lively and positive community actions, all of which are open, welcoming, free, run by volunteers, and looking for help.

So turn the TV off, get your bum of the couch, leave the pub out for a moment, and join in in any one of next week’s events outlined below.

Or forward this to a mate, neighbour, dog or dinosaur – and subscribe for our newsletter.

Sunday 20th March: all day in various people’s homes
Insulation Celebration – visit homes to learn more about insulation from the horses’ mouth
View Insulation Celebration page on website

Wednesday 23rd March: 6:30pm, Arts House, Stokes Croft
Beanfeast planning meeting: if you want this fantastic free party again, join in and help make it happen – they need the help
View Beanfeast planning event page on website

Thursday 24th March: 7 – 9pm, Fairfield Resource Centre, Montpelier
Big Open Meeting: Worrying about all the grizzly cuts? Get together with neighbours to work out how to take the edges off
View Big Open Meeting page on website

Saturday 26th March: 12-2pm: Montpelier Park
Picnic in the park: Celebrate the fantastic work of the Montpelier Park Group in the new and amazing Montpelier Park with BBQ, planting, boules, picnics and more
View picnic page on website

Other stimulating stuff while you’re here:

• Transition Heathrow celebrates its first birthday: inspiring stuff
• What are we for? George Monbiot knows what we’re against.. but not what for…
• Transition Montpelier drop in evening: 5th May, after work, location to come
• 10 reaons why nuclear was a mistake: stirring thoughts from Transition Culture
• Turning banks into Libraries: 19th March: fun (serious) from UK Uncut
• On being shortlisted for Climate Week Awards: more stirring thoughts from Transition chairman and local chap

freebus logo

This is from our mates in the Bristol FreeBus project:

Bristol FreeBus is a community owned non-profit organisation. We aim to provide a comprehensive, environmentally friendly and free bus service for Bristol.

Please come along to our first full Operations Meeting.

• Wednesday 17th November @ 7:30pm
• Hamilton House (above the Canteen)
• Stokes Croft, Bristol.

We now have over 400 members and are preparing for our trial weekend on December 10th/11th.

We need you! Come down, get involved and we’ll make FreeBus a reality!

www.freebus.org.uk

Get in touch with the project via email

Some quick notes on the Streets discussions for reference:

• We *think* we know what the situation is, but do we? Lots of talk about ‘too many cars’ but we don’t really know how many, owned by who, why, etc. etc.
• Get knowledge of area and situation through a survey – door to door, online, in the shops
• Leads to meetings and discussions to explore the topic and frame the situation in a reasonable way (ie not just ‘give up cars’, but ‘we all want to use our streets’)
• Start practically mapping the streets to get an idea of what can and can’t be done
• Need community buy-in to get formal council support (which will be vital to any significant change)
• There are alternatives to car ownership – city car clubs, neighbourhood hire schemes
• Need to find benefits for individuals to give up their cars, not just demonise them

The ‘Streets’ ‘group’ has struggled to find a path to finding its feet, and this may be a way to mix small actions with getting the neighbourhood’s input while finding out more about Montpelier. In a parallel group, the ‘energy’ group were interested in doing an energy survey to find out how much energy the neighbourhood is using – maybe we do a big survey in 2011?

Here is Pete’s presentation:

The first Community Tree Planting day will be Saturday 13 November with trees kindly provided by the Woodland Trust.  Please download and print this poster and put up in your window, noticeboard or local shop.  All welcome: meet in Picton Square (outside Bells) at 10.30 for a morning’s clearing, digging and planting.

If you can’t make this community tree planting day, our next one will be on the weekend of 4/5 December, with trees kindly provided by the Forest of Avon Trust.  Further volunteer workdays are being run to build the community planting area in Montpelier Park on November 16 and 20.  Hope to see you soon!

Present: Sue, David, Karen, Claudia, Rachel,  Shiona

Free Trees – 50 orders so far, closing date 19 Nov.  Delivery and distribution on Sat 4 Dec.  Engagement and fundraising activities to include mince pies, cakes, spiced tea, plant sale, creating bird feeders, tree planting in planters. Planning meeting for this on Monday 29 November.

ACTION: Shiona to create ‘subscription form’ and email to UG list along with flyer pdf file.

ACTION: All knock on doors with subscription form to get neighbours’ orders on the spot.  Could pair up to do this, making it more sociable.

ACTION: All to approach ‘market stall’ in Picton Square if seen to let them know about distribution date to avoid clashing.

Community Tree Planting – 2 deliveries, 2 planting days.  First Saturday 13 November, second 4/5 December.  First day will be with donations from the Woodland Trust, with unknown number (of hazel, hawthorn, blackthorn, oak, rowan and birch) and to go into known ownership sites.  Second with donations from Forest of Avon Trust, ordered specifically for each site, and can include Station Path, Rainbow Bridge (both sides), Picton Square.

Issue with Woodland Trust is unknown number of hedges vs large trees.  Hedges at 30cm distance apart are relatively easy to find planting sites; 105 oak trees would not be! Four potential sites under negotiation for first planting day: Apsley House, Kwik Fit, Scrapstore and Montpelier Park.

ACTION: Claudia to continue liasing with Apsley House to identify how many and which type of tree, what support they want/need from community, when is good to receive delivery.

ACTION: Sue/Shiona to scope out Kwik Fit substrate and potentially negotiate for compost cost.

ACTION: Rachel to liase with Scrapstore to agree planting plan.  David to inform Ivy Church.

ACTION: Shiona to chase BCC agreement for Montpelier Park planting.

ACTION: David to contact St Barnabas’ school, Shiona to contact Lucy re allotments, Shiona to contact Montpelier Industrial Estate, Rachel to contact Health Centre at same time as putting up posters.

ACTION: Karen, Shiona and Rachel to bake for volunteers on 13 Nov.

ACTION: Shiona to write a blog piece detailing planting event, to include poster.

ACTION: Shiona to email Steve with wording for community tree planting poster.

ACTION: David to register planting event with Woodland Trust.

ACTION: All to forward details of free trees and community planting events to all known local/school newsletters.

Montpelier Park – BTCV agreed to take on project and running workdays on 16 and 20 November.  Building planters, filling and planting, and details of volunteers needed to follow.

Meeting closed 8.45.

shift bristol logo

Shift Bristol are holding a big event in the Council House on 28th November. It looks good.

We’re going to host a stall there, representing all things Transition. Shaun Chamberlin is a top man, brain the size of a planet and soul to match, Stephan Harding is wildly inspiring, the permaculture speakers really know their stuff, and it’s even got our very own Ciaran ‘the monster’ Mundy speaking.

Here’s the blurb:

A one-day event aiming to provoke discussion and inspire informed individual community action towards a healthy, productive and sustainable city for the future.

Shaun Chamberlin, author of Transition Timelines speaking about the latest information on Peak Oil and Climate Change and the inspirational work of Transition Towns in responding to these twin problems at a local level.

Stephan Harding, author of Animate Earth, is an ecologist and head of Holistic Science at Schumacher College. Speaking about the earth and all its inhabitants (including us) as a living system.

Scilla Elworthy has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize, founded the Oxford Research Group and Peace Direct. Speaking on the internal shift that is necessary to make the Big Shift possible.

And workshops on

Community-owned renewable energy with The Bristol Energy Network. Trevor Haughton, energy and climate change researcher and consultant, explores ways we can own the production of local renewable energy, reinvesting in our communities and creating energy security.

Permaculture with Mike Feingold, international permaculture teacher and founder member of the Bristol Permaculture Group. Permaculture is a simple, commonsense design for growing and living sustainably. Mike looks at how we can create systems that regenerate rather than degrade the environment we live in.

Collective land buying with Land Roots. Sharon Pollit explains how, by pooling our resources, we can buy land to be developed as a showcase for permaculture design, good stewardship and sustainable community as a legacy for future generations.

Agroforestry. Patrick Whitefield, permaculture teacher and consultant and author of The Earthcare Manual and The Living Landscape looks at combining farming with trees for more productive, biodiverse and resilient land use.

Who feeds Bristol? Joy Carey has been commissioned by Bristol Green Capital Momentum Group to develop a resilient food plan for the city. Looking at where our food comes from and what we need to do to future proof our food supply.

The Bristol Pound with The Bristol and Bath Local Currency Scheme. Ciaran Mundy looks at the importance of a local currency in promoting the relocalisation of trade, production and exchange and at the possibility of Bristol havingits own Pound in the near future.

Community Supported Agriculture with Sims Hill Shared Harvest. Bobby Sunderland and Tim Laurence explore the benefits of community run farms dedicated to feeding the local community. An approach that puts the farmer and the consumer back in touch with each other and the land. Find out how far Sims Hill have got in setting up a CSA for Bristol.

Grass, Our Most Bio-diverse Crop. Simon Fairlie, author of Low Impact Development and Meat: A Benign Extravagance and editor of The Land magazine examines the complex issues around the use of animals in the food system. He argues that our society needs to reorientate itself back to the land and explains why an agriculture that is most readily able to achieve this is one that includes a measure of livestock farming with a less industrial and more humane approach.

The Work That Reconnects with Jenni Horsfal, Jenny Smith and Jewels Wingfield, An experiential workshop based on the work of Joanna Macy that invites us to connect with our concerns for the planet and turn our fears into positive action.

Community-Led Local Transport Plans with Transition Stroud’s Tripswitch initiative. Helen Royall explains what can be achieved when local groups and transport campaigns work collaboratively with the council, bus companies and other organistions on developing a sustainable vision for local transport.

Local, natural healthcare with Max Drake, founder of The Urban Fringe Dispensary. Max looks at the role of locally sourced and grown herbs in a relocalised health care system that puts the knowledge and skills needed to stay healthy back in our own hands and gardens.

Plus an Open Space session where you can put forward ideas for everyone to discuss in groups.

Stalls from Eco-logic Books and The Bristol Green Store , Source Magazine and information stalls plus a chance to buy the brand new book Bristol- A Guide to Good Living at a discount price.

www.shiftbristol.org.uk

Autumn is now officially with us, we’re moving back into gear after summer’s growing, camping, walking, and generally not being indoors-ing.

The Urban Greening group are having their next meeting soon, we’re holding a big open event in November to catch up on the projects’ work and find more things to do, we’re giving hundreds of trees away to Montpelier households, Bristol Green Doors have written up their amazing event, we’re doing a showing of ‘The Yes Men Save the World’ and more… read on…

Urban Greening Meeting: 14/10/10
Get your diaries out for the Urban Greening’s Autumn meeting on October 14th, 20:00 – 22:00
The Autumn meeting will be Thursday October 14, 8-10pm in the old Fairfield School.  Hope you can come!  At the moment, this will be discussing group progress and how to keep momentum going.
Read more about the Urban Greening meeting

Free Tree Giveaway: advance notice
The Urban Greening group are delighted to have joined forces with a local tree planting fund and will shortly be distributing FREE TREES to Montpelier households. A mix of fruit and native trees will be available to chose from.
Read more about the Free Tree Giveaway

Film showing: The Yes Men Fix the World
In order to lighten the load on the day all the government cuts are announced (20th October) and the fascinating Big Society saga takes another twist in its tail, we’re going to show a great film about two keen inspired young activists, who are busy hacking corporations’ tidy varnished facias.Yes that’s right – we’re showing
Read more about The Yes Men Fix The World film showing

Bristol Green Doors event write up
It is now two weeks since the first Bristol Green Doors open homes event and after a lot of very, very hard work Kate and I have both had a chance to relax and reflect. So how was it? Well basically it was great and we want to do another one next year! Here are a few thoughts and an update so you appreciate where we are at.
Read more about the Bristol Green Doors event

Well done you Beanfeast-ers!
On behalf of the organising group I just wanted to say a huge thank you for giving up your time on Saturday to help the Bean Feast run smoothly and keep the happy vibes going.  It was a really lovely day and that is in no small measure down to you.  We certainly couldn’t have done it without your generosity!
Read more about the Beanfeast-ers thank you

Make your home an eco-home course
Following Bristol Green Doors is a timely 6 week course entitled: ‘Make your home an eco home.’ This aims to demystify what it takes to start living more sustainably in your house.
Where Green Doors inspires, we hope to get people on the journey themselves! Book now – it starts on October 5th.
Read more about the Make your home and eco-home course

Wood buying in bulk, anyone?
Do you have a (efficient and clean) wood burning stove? Would you be interested in being part of a group bulk-buying wood in Montpelier? Jo has kindly offered to co-ordinate a bulk wood purchase from a recommended wood provider (approx price £85 per metric cubic tonne), but only if there is significant interest.
Read more about buying wood in bulk

Can you help research Bristol’s Sustainability history?
Our friends over at The Schumacher Institute have got some cash to document Bristol’s history of Sustainability. They are looking for some volunteers to help out. Can you get involved?
Read more about the Sustainability research

Admin meeting minutes
The TT Montpelier admin group meet every month to discuss exciting things like when to hold events, what the website does and doesn’t do, who owes who want money, etc. etc.
Read the admin group’s meeting notes from October 2010

Hi Everyone,

On behalf of the organising group I just wanted to say a huge thank you for giving up your time on Saturday to help the Bean Feast run smoothly and keep the happy vibes going.  It was a really lovely day and that is in no small measure down to you.  We certainly couldn’t have done it without your generosity!

If you have any comments, either things you thought went well or things that could be done better, please let us know.  If you’ve heard anyone else raving or ranting about it, please pass on what they’re saying.  It’s always a learning process and feedback is really important.  We have a debrief meeting tomorrow (Thurs) at 7pm in the Old England – if you’d like to come along you’d be most welcome.

Also, any great photos you’ve got, send them on over!

We hope you enjoyed the day and many thanks again,
Sally and the Bean Feast Team
xx

Beanfeast in local news

Download Evening Post Article 21sept2010

This phase is expected to take about 8 weeks, during which the playground will still be accessible, but the ball court will not.  For those living next to the park it will clearly be unpleasant to be next to a construction site, and the contractors have committed to working co-operatively with neighbours wherever possible.  They will need to ensure parking doesn’t obstruct plant entering, but machinery will not operate before 8.30am, and is unlikely to operate on weekends.

Two further phases of work are dependent on two further funding applications; to SITA Trust for the ball court, and Biffaward for the spectator seating.  We have been accepted through to their funding boards and hope to hear from them both by November. Funding searches for the skateable space in the corner have not been started (about £15k); if you have any ideas for where we could look that would be great!  The Council have also just sent the landowner of the strip across the middle of the park an offer for his land, so hopefully all the park will shortly come into community ownership.

There will be an info board at Saturday’s Beanfeast in the park with a large map of the different phases and if we can get hold of a key, we hope to keep the phase plan on the noticeboard in the Park, so you can see it even if you can’t make Saturday.