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We know the grass is growing long on the Three Tree Triangle patch on Festival Gardens so we want to assure you that we have not forgotten about it! It is all part of the plan to see what actually grows in there - if you keep cutting the grass then you get no idea of what there already is. The insects will be happy about it, even if tidy-minded humans aren't! We will be planting up the 2 raised beds later in May with herbs and fragrant plants and the wildflower patch seems to have taken well so let's be patient. Children from Christchurch School will be adding some artwork and a bug hotel for us in June too. So good to have them involved. Get in touch if you would like to help us with this site (and others that we have).  
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Another session with our volunteers to establish a bit more structure to the Three Tree Triangle section of Festival Gardens. Top layer of turf removed from a patch and wildflower seeds sown; a range of winter and spring flowering bulbs put in under the trees; 2 raised planters created in old crates which we will jazz up a bit soon; old pallets used for a noticeboard....again, some jazzing up required on that! Two trees to be planted soon and a check on what has taken root around the site. The pieces of bay, hawthorn and buddleia around the edges are mainly there to de-mark the site rather than to be healthy plants but if any of them take root then even better! Lots more planned in the coming months. Do get in touch if you would like to help out.   We have made a start on the 'wilding' of the triangle of land which borders Queen Street and the A51, marking out the space and planting a few plants which can get growing until we are ready to properly plan! Children from Christchurch School will be contributing the the area and also using it for learning about planting for climate change and about creating habitats for wildlife. Local residents will hopefully get on board too and come and help out or keep an eye on things for us! Get in touch if you are interested in helping too. Thanks to Staffs CC Climate Change Fund for a grant to help us buy plants and equipment.  News and recent activities
Our first event of 2022 went very well and thanks for coming along those of you who did. Held at the cosy Lichfield Pantry Café at the Plant Plot Garden Centre (thanks for having us Sam and for the delicious muffins!), Zoe Robinson, Professor of Sustainability in Higher Education at Keele University introduced us to the environmental projects that they are involved in and gave an overview of the Zero Carbon Rugeley project. Lots of questions ensued and hopefully attendees gained a better understanding of projects going on behind the scenes which will result in carbon reductions for us all. Those attendees from the community groups that we support gave a quick update on their activities. It was great to hear what they have been up to but we definitely need to hear more from them all, and ensure event dates are promoted through our website and social media, so do keep us posted if you are the rep for a group (add this email to your mailing list perhaps). We have our 2022 Calendar of Events at the end of this newsletter. LDC We are continuing to engage with LDC on their climate change strategy and have been invited to be part of a task group which their Scrutiny Committee have set up. Robin Taylor will represent us on this, with Pam on stand by! Robin was the founder of Low Carbon Lichfield 12 or so years ago and has a lot of relevant knowledge to bring to the discussion. Councils from across Staffordshire have joined forces to help tackle climate change in the county. Representatives from district and borough councils across Staffordshire came together last week to discuss what was needed to tackle climate change and to achieve the target of becoming net carbon zero by 2050. Working together, influencing change and encouraging residents, organisations and businesses that we all have a role to play, was the focus of discussions at the first meeting of the Staffordshire Sustainability Board. The partnership was created in January 2022 and will meet quarterly. Philippa will be running a session for officers and council leaders in March looking at how organisations can use the UN Sustainable Development Goals as reference points for working sustainably. Publication of the Local Plan has been postponed and discussions are underway as to how the Plan should be amended to ensure zero carbon development is fully embedded. Cllr Iain Eadie has responsibility for the Plan and can be contacted with questions/comments via email Iain.Eadie@lichfielddc.gov.uk Festival Gardens We have been successful with our application for funds from the Staffs CC Climate Change Fund, through Cllr Colin Greatorex. £500 has been awarded towards the costs associated with developing our ‘Three Tree Corner’ plot in Festival Gardens. Nick Burton of Forest Harvest has drawn up a suggested site plan which we will add to the website but any ideas and contributions are very welcome and we would love new people to join the regular team for planting and maintenance. We also want other groups to connect with the site and make use of it for education and wellbeing so make sure you come by to see it once there is something to see! Burntwood Repair Café The Repair Café has branched out, to run a second session in Burntwood. This session runs on the first Saturday of the month, 10.00-1.00pm. The two sessions held so far this year have resulted in a good number of repairs and attendees have been very grateful to have the volunteer repairers. The Lichfield one continues to be very busy (3rd Sat of the month) and skill share sessions are being planned for the year. Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints Housing retrofitting is something many of us have questions about – what exactly can we all do to our homes? Who are the best tradespeople to get in touch with? Take a look at the Blog section of our website for some tips and advice from Philippa Birch-Wood. Sign up to The Guardian newspaper’s ‘Down to Earth’ series. An excellent email roundup of environmental related articles and discussion points. Friends of the Earth are working hard campaigning on a number of issues and keeping track of government policy on plastic pollution is one of them. You can read more here. They have also developed a very handy tool called ‘Near You’ that provides detail on how well your local authority/local area is doing in relation to environmental issues/carbon emissions. Just put in the postcode! Amazing news just in from the Restart Community, a people-powered social enterprise that aims to fix our relationship with electronics. They are setting up two Fixing Factories in London, for people to get their items repaired. Read all about it here. “We’ll turn the Fordist factory on its head and forge new spaces for fixing, learning, curiosity and empowerment. Opportunities for 16-30 year olds, including skills development, training, and paid work – will be central. Our fresh approach, novel locations and community powered design can create new forms of climate action that meet local needs and involve new communities.” How brilliant is that?! Spotlight slot Lichfield Waterworks Trust – Sandfields Pumping Station, Chesterfield Road, Lichfield. The Trust was set up in 2015 to save the Grade II* listed redundant waterworks at Sandfields in Lichfield. Volunteers have been painstakingly restoring the building and the pumping equipment for the last five years and the station is now being used as a venue for a range of events, including music concerts for Lichfield Arts. There is also a meeting room that can be hired. “We have different teams working on various projects connected to the pumping station. One group, our engineers are doing hands on work to get the amazing engine moving again. Another group is doing practical work to maintain the buildings (Victorian 1873 and a much later 1960s building) and make the more modern part into a community and arts venue. We have heritage team who are looking after the archive and artefacts and researching the lives of the people who worked at Sandfields and other South Staffs Water locations. A small group look after our limited grounds including an area we are trying to turn into a wild-flower meadow. Our ethos is to 'green up ' the building where we can. Already we have utilised Freecycle for kitchen units for our kitchenette and we have received donations of various other tools and equipment that are no longer needed. Last year, to make the large room in the 1960s building available for performances we removed two large concrete plinths. Before smashing up the concrete we carefully removed what tiles we could for reuse and this is our way of working on all our projects. Although not open to the public on a regular basis, we love to give tours to groups of interested people to showcase the amazing pumping engine and the work we are carrying out. If you would like to have a tour that please let us know - Tues or Fri mornings are best for us but we can do other days if required.” Chairperson, Katy Shore-Kapsis. Get involved Please do get in touch if you can spare time to help with projects that we talk about in here or on our social media, whether that be in person or from home, and even better if you have specific skills that you think we could benefit from. If you are a member of other community groups then let us know ways that we can better connect – Lichfield is a small place and we ought to ensure we are helping one another out. Dates for 2022 February All month - Share the Love Campaign – Climate Coalition 19th – Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough Community Centre, 2-5pm 20th - Chasewater Burton Conservation Volunteers (BCV) 10.30am, Lawrence Oates 07732 608931 21st - Fairtrade Fortnight – Choose the World You Want Festival 25th-27th – Window Wanderland around various parts of Lichfield 26th – Festival Gardens Working Party, 9.30am 27th - Chasewater BCV 10.30am, Lawrence Oates 07732 608931 March 2nd – WFEG Green Drinks at the Dog Inn, Whittington 7.30pm 5th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 19th – Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with craft workshop using recycled materials 26th – Big Spring Clean with Litter Legends 10-3pm TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party April 2nd - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 6th - WFEG Green Drinks at the Dog Inn, Whittington 7.30pm 23rd - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc) 30th April – 8pm Lichfield Arts event at Sandfields Pumping Station TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party TBC – Sustainable business networking event with The Apiarist Drinks Co May 4th - WFEG Green Drinks at the Dog Inn, Whittington 7.30pm 7th – visit to Forest Harvest in Yoxall. Forest bathing session (fee for this) followed by a tour of the site. Can attend both or either. 7th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 8th – Gaia Earth Installation at The Hub at St Mary’s (until 5th June) TBC – Showing of 2040 Film (The Hub) 11th-21st – ‘Together We Can’ Summit – online events with Transition Network 21st - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc) 31st – Clean for the Queen, Stowe Fields, 11-2pm (Litter Legends) TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party June 2-5th - Platinum Jubilee Weekend (Garden Party at CCC with Litter Legends on 5th TBC) 5th – World Environment Day 4th – Bower Day (Litter Legends doing litter pick along route of procession) 4th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 18th - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc) TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party July 2nd - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 8-10th – Lichfield Arts Fuse Festival, Beacon Park – Transition stand 16th - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc) TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party August TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party September 3rd - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 24th – Great Big Green Week – ‘Ecofest’ event at Lichfield Methodist Church (TBC) & Repair Cafe 30th – Staffordshire Climate Expo, Uttoxeter Racecourse, The Globe Foundation TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party October 1st - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 15th - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc). International Repair Day! TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party November 5th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm St Joseph’s RC Church 19th - Lichfield Repair & Share Café, Curborough CC, 2-5pm with skill share session (tbc) TBC - Global Day of Climate Action TBC – Festival Gardens Working Party December TBC - Christmas social GET INVOLVED – GO GREEN – GET READING – GET ACTIVE News and recent activities The meet up at Speakers’ Corner and march through Lichfield on 6th November’s Global Day of Climate Action was a great success! Thank you to all who came along and supported it. Small by Glasgow standards but better than nothing! We wanted to talk about the actions that we can all take, such as moving your money out of banks that are still supporting the fossil fuel industry (check www.bank.green to see what your bank is up to!) and similarly, checking how your pension is invested. Green energy is of course another route to look at but currently not an option, with the utility market being in a mess. Video footage was shared on our social media pages if you wanted to see the march underway through the city centre!
 We had members from various groups come along, including the Fun Club Hub leaders Liz and Kerry (pictured above - our local youth group) so it proved a worthwhile exercise for Transition Lichfield in terms of networking. Here’s to an even bigger and better event next November! COP26 No doubt many of you will have been trying to follow the events at COP and will have received updates since on what actually happened. There is a useful analysis here from Friends of the Earth but please do share any others you may have seen. Discussions with LDC continue about their elusive Climate Strategy but rest assured, we will not let them off the hook! Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints Sustainable and Local Christmas Gift Guide Philippa has produced another gift guide to showcase local businesses with sustainable gifts. Find it here on our website and also showcased on the Transition Instagram feed. Shopping locally and ethically is another way of doing your bit! Climate Change Funding Staffs County Council has a fund specifically for projects that can demonstrate reducing carbon impact, improving air quality or show adaptation for climate change. If you have a local project that you think would benefit from the funding then take a look at the criteria here. Transition will be applying for funds to help with an area of Festival Gardens that the City Council have allocated to us. Spotlight slot Our group focus this month is The Whittington Waste Reduction Group If you are trying to reduce your plastic/packaging use and want an option to buy loose items then get in touch with Clare for further details of what is available (email wprbg@outlook.com or check their Facebook page). You can drop your own containers off and then collect once filled.  Get involved
Green Spaces We need a bigger team of people to call upon to help with planting and maintenance of local sites that are coming up and would love more of you to get involved! The City Council have allocated a patch of Festival Gardens between the subway and the path up to Queens Street that we would like to develop as an educational space, planting for climate change and for biodiversity, and involving groups who can contribute in different ways. Get in touch if you would like to be part of this. Other spaces around town and in Beacon Park are also on offer and it would be great to start having an impact on nature-based planting. If anyone spots any discounted bulbs this week then let us know! General Activities Currently, we only have a small number of helpers when it comes to keeping Transition ‘active’ and would appreciate any support if you have time and skills to offer. Repair Café Currently managed by Pam Beale who could do with someone to help with admin and event set up on a regular basis. Email lichfieldshare@gmail.com for further details. Dates for your diary If you are involved in a community group and would like to add your events into our calendar then do send through. 1st Dec, 7.30pm - WFEG Green Drinks – first Wed of the month (but not Jan). These will alternate between the Bell Inn and the Dog Inn. Dec meeting is at the Bell. 15th January then 19th February – Repair Café at Curborough Community Centre, 2-5pm. A Burntwood ‘branch’ will be opening soon (hopefully Jan 2022 if a suitable venue is found). Spread the word as lots of people still unaware of the sessions. Dates for Transition talks/film showings will be communicated separately. If people would like a ‘Green Drinks’ each month then please let us know. The get together earlier this month was not well attended so it is hard to know what people prefer! **** We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content, for Transition group projects and events, for groups that should be listed on our website and for useful connections. Thank you for reading and feel free to share the newsletter with friends and family. TRANSITION LICHFIELD  How is it that time of year again!? We thought we would do our ethical, eco, local gift guide again and celebrate some of our fabulous local businesses - and avoid Amazon. Once again we have made finding a more sustainable gift a little easier this festive period by doing the hard work for you. You will notice this year that there is a lot more emphasis on experiences now that we can get out and about with our loved ones. Let us remember that time spent together ought to be the biggest gift this Christmas, don't be lured in by the ads telling you to "Go all out" or "Go big." (*you may notice that one or two slightly creep over the £30 line, we hope you'll forgive us). 
  GET INVOLVED – GO GREEN – GET READING – GET ACTIVE News and recent activities The EcoFest event on 18th September was a great success! It was organised in conjunction with the Lichfield Methodist EcoChurch group and held at the church, as part of the Climate Coalition’s Great Big Green Week – over 5000 events took place across the UK. There were speakers covering food waste, living sustainably, green business, energy at home, slow v fast fashion. Exhibitors chatted to visitors about carbon footprint calculations, zero waste shopping, litter picking, repair café and the Big Red Bike rides around town. LDC Councillors were in attendance and were very engaged on the topics. The slow v fast fashion show, organised by Philippa and Clare, was a great success and many attendees were shocked to hear the figures relating to clothing production and over-use of resources. It was wonderful to be able to hold an event like this again and to engage with a wide range of people from our community. Our plan is to ensure regular engagement with the District, City and County councils on climate change. Thanks to everyone who took part or came along and to Waitrose for funding support. Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints The UKs Footprint on Global Biodiversity MPs on the Environmental Audit Committee have published a new report on the UK's footprint on global biodiversity. Read the report here. The committee said the Government must strengthen its own sustainable procurement policies, and it should be illegal for UK businesses to use deforestation-linked commodities, if the UK is to demonstrate global leadership to protect nature. The committee also called on the Government to: - Set an environmental footprint target by launching a consultation ahead of COP26 on how to model the overseas environmental impact of UK consumption. - Conduct sustainability impact assessments for all future trade agreements. - Increase sustainability within UK supply chains requiring all forest-risk commodities to be certified as sustainably produced. Ethical Consumer Week 16th-22nd Oct - A whole host of online events to tap into with the theme of ‘Closing the Climate Gap’. Certainly worth joining in as there are topics to suit everyone. Some sessions are free of charge, others are ticketed. Click here to find out more. Bus shelters for wildlife Aren’t there some innovative people? I really loved this idea and hopefully it will catch on across the UK. Read the article here. Carbon footprint analysis for business Staffordshire Business & Environment Network has just launched a fantastic tool for Staffordshire based businesses to use to assess their complete carbon footprint and to work out a strategy of how they can introduce changes. If you run a business or have contacts who do then please share The Carbon Tracker with them. Energy Price Rises It is even more important to find ways to better insulate your home and reduce consumption now that prices have rocketed and supply is uncertain. Visit the Energy Saving Trust’s website to check whether there might be ideas you could implement. Happy News! How many of you have come across this newspaper, which only publishes positive stories? What a great idea if you are sick of reading the depressing stuff – The Happy Newspaper. Makes a good gift for someone too! Spotlight slot Our group focus this month is Lichfield Foodbank. Sadly proven to be an absolutely essential service, they provide three days’ nutritionally balanced emergency food and support to local people who are referred to them in crisis. They are now operating out of Curborough Community Centre, in addition to Wade Street Church and the Life Church. Times can be found on their website. A big round of applause to all their volunteers and staff! Get involved Global Day of Action on Climate Change – 6th November Look out for events via the Cop26 Coalition who are co-ordinating efforts across the UK and will be directly involved with activities at COP itself. We would love to hold something in Lichfield if anyone would like to get something organised? Birmingham will be having a large gathering which is a local option to join in with. If you want to know more about COP26 (31st Oct to 12th Nov) and what is actually happening then take a look at this guide. A great initiative being organised by the Climate Crisis Hub during COP is a film festival, which will showcase ‘stunning, diverse, and eye-opening cinema, providing a systemic perspective behind the raw human stories of climate change’. I am sure this will put our own worries in the UK into perspective. Dates for your diary 1st Wed of each month, 7.30pm (venue TBC – 3rd Nov first date) - Transition Lichfield informal meet up is back on the calendar! Sessions with speakers and activities will be arranged quarterly. Check out the Events section of the Transition website. 16th October – Repair Café at Curborough Community Centre, 2-5pm, plus clothing upcycling workshop. Bring a clothing item you would like to have a go at doing something different with. 20th November is the following session. **** We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content, for Transition group projects and events, for groups that should be listed on our website and for useful connections. Thank you for reading and feel free to share the newsletter with friends and family. TRANSITION LICHFIELD News and recent activities  We have a new logo! Our thanks go to Chris Day, a local graphic designer whose work you may have seen around Lichfield Engaging with Councils Keep your eyes and ears open for the appointment of a LDC officer responsible for the climate change strategy! We are assured that this in the pipeline. The new LDC CEO should be in place within the next few months and it is hoped that he will be keen to work with community groups like ours. If you find it difficult to know how best to engage with the council then perhaps join in this forthcoming session with Friends of the Earth - Winning change from an unresponsive council (26 July, 19:00-20:30) “In this session we’ll explore how you can influence your council to take climate action where direct lobbying isn’t working. We’ll take you through some key arguments to use and discuss what tactics can help to push your council to go further and faster to address climate breakdown”. Register here. LDC are holding a ‘Public Realm Consultation’ and it is certainly worth taking part in this. Here are the details from a recent email we had from Simon Humble, Major Development Projects Officer: As part of the ongoing work to implement the Lichfield City Centre Masterplan, Lichfield District Council have recently commissioned Gleeds Management Services together with Austin-Smith:Lord Architects and Hydrock Consulting to develop a strategy that will enable us to provide a distinctive and high quality public realm throughout Lichfield City Centre. The Public Realm Strategy will, when completed, build on the proposals set out and approved by the Council within the Lichfield City Centre Masterplan, in order to further develop a detailed strategy for future implementation. We want to develop distinctive, local solutions with the people who know the city best, so central to this process, the team wishes to engage with you as key stakeholders to develop city centre-specific concepts, and we would welcome your involvement with this exciting project. From Monday 21 June to Friday 2 July 2021 we will be consulting with the public on some emerging ideas we want you to have your say on. The consultation has been developed to review specific themes that will be incorporated into our final strategy. These include:
There are three ways you can get involved:
The City Council have a new Green Spaces/Parks officer (Nigel Boden) so we will be liaising with him on planting/greening activities around Lichfield where possible. One of the areas that we have mentioned before are the Festival Gardens where the central area has been left wild. It is hoped that a log circle will be installed as a space to meet up, for social and crafting activities. As willow whips have been planted there, one idea would be to run willow crafting sessions, once there is enough willow to use of course! Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints The Globe Foundation We came across this fantastic looking organisation/centre in Uttoxeter – The Globe Foundation. We think it merits a group outing there one day! They are a non-profit working to reduce the impact of modern living on the climate and have an Eco Centre, Green Skills Hub, Zero Waste Shop and Recycling Hub. Do take a look and if anyone has a minibus then let us know….! Book Buying Where do you turn to first when you want a book? A local bookshop or Amazon? If you prefer online shopping but want to support small bookshops then look no further than Bookshop.org. You can choose which local shop you want to buy from and place your order that way and they get the full profit. So much nicer than supporting Mr Bezos! Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk The Committee on Climate Change has just published the Adaptation Committee’s 3rd Independent Assessment of UK Climate Risk. The report draws on an extensive programme of analysis, consultation and consideration by the Committee involving over 450 people, 130 organisations and more than 1,500 pages of evidence and analysis to sets out the priority climate change risks and opportunities for the UK. Read it here. Over 60 major risks were identified, with 8 as absolute priorities. Some areas that have relevance to the kind of issues we have been talking about for Lichfield:
Our Water Supply Some of you may already have seen this from South Staffs Water if you have paperless billing but we thought it was worth sharing:  And there is an app/website that you can make use of to monitor your water usage – we really do take our water supply for granted and should all be more aware of how much we use. The CCRA 2021 Report says that water scarcity in the UK will be a major issue by 2050, if not before. Spotlight slot Our group focus this month is The Big Red Bike
A volunteer run charitable organisation that takes older adults in particular but not exclusively, on short rides in a two-seater electric bicycle called a Trishaw, piloted by trained volunteer cyclists. Residents of care homes and any users of disability organisations in the Lichfield area can call/email to book a ride for family, friends and members of the community. Carers and family members are able to join the ride too and the route where possible can be determined by the passengers. The cycle ride experience is focused on kindness, a slow, gentle ride, conversation, building trust through relationships, the benefits of fresh air and having fun. What a wonderful project! If you want to find out more then check out their website. Please do share with anyone you know who may benefit. Get involved Letters to the Earth Project In February 2019 the British public were invited to put pen to paper and write a Letter to the Earth, perhaps to apologise for the behaviour of the human race or to reassure that things will get better. The invitation was open to all – to think beyond the human narrative and bear witness to the scale of the crisis. Letters of love, loss, hope and action were written by over 1000 people worldwide – from 4 year olds to great grandparents, authors, scientists, nurses. A book was put together of some of the letters received and it has inspired us to run something similar in Lichfield, and to display letters received at the Lichfield Arts Fuse Festival – the FREE community music and arts festival, held in Beacon Park – 13th to 15th August where Transition will have a stand. The project will be launched at the start of July, so watch out for further details! We would appreciate volunteers to help staff the stand at Fuse so please get in touch if you are able to help at all, but make sure you come along anyway as there are lots of great music and activities! Sign the State of Nature Petition The Government are currently debating the Environment Bill and put forward an amendment in the last few days which could have a big impact on wildlife. Read this piece by Richard Benwell, CEO at Wildlife and Countryside Link, where he explains why this falls far short of the promised "net zero for nature" and how a simple change could make a world of difference. Sign the State of Nature Petition too if you haven’t already (link in the article). Dates for your diary17th July – Repair Café at Curborough Community Centre, 2-5pm Tues 13th July – A tentative group meet up in Festival Gardens, Lichfield. Head towards the little red bridge that crosses the stream for 7.30pm and let’s see who comes along for a catch up! Great Big Green Week will take place from the 18th to 26th September – what should Transition Lichfield be doing locally for that? Lichfield Methodist Church plan to hold something so perhaps we could contribute to their plans. Other Transition Town groups are very active and have all sorts of talks and events going on. Here are some links from the Chesterfield group if you are interested. Something for us to aim for here in Lichfield! 11.00am - 12.30pm, Saturday 26th June: The Circular Economy The speakers at this Circular Economy event will talk about an introduction to the topic, packaging recycling, and repairing items and pushing for longer-lasting products, followed by Q&A. Click here to register for the event. Dates of forthcoming events can be found here: Transition Chesterfield: Countdown to COP26 *****We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content, for Transition group projects and events, for groups that should be listed on our website and for useful connections.
Thank you for reading and feel free to share the newsletter with friends and family. TRANSITION LICHFIELD Tree planting and green spacesWe have continued to help Nick Burton of Forest Harvest with the planting in Festival Gardens to increase biodiversity there and it was great to hear that the proposal by Staffs CC to build a slip road through the edge of the gardens as been shelved. There was quite an outcry by Lichfield residents! So if you are walking through the gardens during the coming months, please take notice of the willow planting and the new beds as they develop. We are also pleased to have made links with Monks Walk Garden. They are keen to build up their volunteer base too so if you are happy to help then get in touch (details on the Transition website). These ‘secret’ gardens are behind the former Lichfield library building and to the left of the college. They are open to the public for wandering and sitting in!
If you are involved in any green spaces or conservation work then do let us know. Engaging with the County, City and District Councils on Climate Emergency and NetZero Very little to report on at the moment - slow progress on engagement and progress on strategies. Rest assured we will continue to keep up the pressure where we can but do encourage you all to join in however you can. Learning opportunities and inspiration There are so many resources available now about how nations, businesses and individuals can reduce their carbon emissions. Some bring a sense of hope that humans can make changes to their lifestyles to drastically reduce their impact whilst others demonstrate what an enormous task it will be, with time not on our side. How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates breaks down the sources of emissions into a few broad categories – making things, plugging in, and getting around – and Gates knows how to frame issues in a way that everybody can understand and engage with, without dumbing down the material. Nigel Topping’s initiative, The Race to Zero is another ‘biggie’ - a global campaign to rally leadership and support from businesses, cities, regions, investors for a healthy, resilient, zero carbon recovery that prevents future threats, creates decent jobs, and unlocks inclusive, sustainable growth. What’s not to like about that? In terms of being proactive in your own community, there are many case studies to read about and learn from. The Transition Towns Network has been very active during lockdown, with the What Next? Summit and various follow up training sessions. Their website is worth looking at, especially to find out what other towns are achieving. Liverpool and the Derbyshire towns New Mills and Belper are all doing a great range of initiatives. Climate Action Ilkley are also very innovative and active. Here’s a sweet ‘feel good’ story for you about a young girl in Wales taking on the publishers of her favourite comics/magazines. Heartening to read that change can be made if you keep pestering. A similar success was achieved by the two young girls in 2019 with the plastic toys given out by the burger chains. There are some very enlightening episodes in the 39 Ways to Save the Planet series on BBC Radio Four, in partnership with the Royal Geographical Society. Covering such topics as carbon capture, disposing of harmful CFC gases and the importance of peat bogs. An easy listen at around 30 mins per episode and very informative. Ethical investing/banking If you are wondering how you can have an impact on the massive issue that is climate change then simply take a look at where your money is invested (ISAs and Pensions in particular but the right banks are important too). ESG or RI funds are the way to go – where analysis has been carried out to understand the Ethical/Environmental, Social and Governance credentials of the companies involved. (RI is responsible investments). Why not take a look at where your investments currently reside and see if you can move them to funds and institutions that will benefit and respect the planet? And check out what your bank/building society are up to and move to a more ethical one if they are not acting in a way that you want them to. If everyone ensured that their money was being used for the greater good then we would all feel that we have been able to make a contribution. The Good With Money website is an excellent resource and this newly published Good Investment Review provides a real insight. Supporting businesses to become more sustainable When Panel Warehouse MD, John Blaskey, wanted to make his business eco-friendly, he asked his staff to come up with ways they could reduce their footprint on the planet. In a short space of time, they were looking at all areas of their business such as removing single use plastic, reducing unnecessary printing and coming up with many ideas which helped the efficiency, productivity and found new ways of doing things. They have since started donating to a tree planting fund which will replace the trees they use for their office panels and are continuing to look at ways in which they can make a positive impact on the planet. It goes to show that changes don’t need to be big or costly to be effective. If you would like a free 30 min talk on sustainability for your business then contact Shobana on shobana254@gmail.com. Food Waste and Carbon Footprint An issue that many of you will be fully aware of - if food waste was a country it would have 3rd highest emissions! Each day, the UK throws away 24 million slices of bread and 4.4 million potatoes. Shocking, isn’t it? Rob Whitehouse is running the Waste Savvy programme for Staffordshire County Council, to help educate residents on the issues of food waste. He has held a number of webinars that are free to listen in on (via their Facebook page) and will also be at events throughout the summer to promote the work going on. Volunteers will go into schools to run sessions with the students so do get in touch with Rob if you know of schools that might be interested. Contact details are on the SCC page. There has also been a lot of discussion on food programmes about buying local and why it matters that you know the provenance of your food. This piece from WWF magazine is a handy guide.  Spotlight slot Each month, we want to focus on one of the community groups or enterprises. This month is the turn of: Woodhouse Farm and Garden CIC Annamarie and Andy Stone took on the development of this fabulous community farm and have completely transformed it. They have restored the enormous (3.5 acre) walled garden and grow a huge range of fruit and vegetables there. They keep a small herd of Irish Moiled Cattle, Gloucester Old Spot and Black Pigs and 150 chickens for eggs.  The farm shop is open every Friday or Saturday 11-4 and Annamarie attends local markets to sell produce. There are plenty of homemade jams and chutneys available, as well as cuts of meat and homemade sausages, and a good range of fruit and veg too! A number of community groups visit the Farm to make use of the outdoor space and to learn new skills, and regular events are held such as apple pressing/cider making and Heritage Open Days activities. Do go along and support the farm if you can or become a ‘Friend’ to support them on a regular basis. Woodhouse Farm, Fisherwick Wood Lane, Lichfield, WS13 8QG Local recycling options Wendy Nugent has been working on the list of places where items can be recycled around Lichfield. Do send your suggestions if you know of additions. See end of Blog for details. Dates for your diaryWe have been invited to take part in the Green Gathering, being held virtually on Sat 5th June, and then in person on Sat 4th September in Stafford. Repair Café – It is hoped that this will be able to start up again towards the end of May or into June so keep your eyes/ears open for details! 17th May – Transition catchup on Zoom with feedback from LDC on climate strategy. 1.00pm. Get in touch if you would like the link sending through or check out the Events page on the Transition website. We welcome your suggestions for newsletter content, for Transition group projects and events, for groups that should be listed on our website and for useful connections. We look forward to engaging with you. Thank you for reading. TRANSITION LICHFIELD Recycling Points in Lichfield A Aerosols – Recycling Centre B Batteries – Tesco Extra (bottom of escalator); Aldi; Recycling Centre Bedding (clean animal and duvets) - Bromley Hayes Cattery, Kings Bromley - turn into Common Lane, first house on left Belts - Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) Blister packs (tablets) C Cat carriers - Bromley Hayes Cattery, Kings Bromley - turn into Common Lane, first house on left Cat, dog and pet food – as above Carrier bags – Tesco Extra, Morrison’s car park CDs - Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) Clothes – Co-op (Boley Park), Co-op (Curborough Road), Morrison’s car park, Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot), Lichfield City train station Coat hangers – Tesco Extra Contact lenses and lens packs – Boots Opticians Crisp packets – St Chad’s Primary school (may be other groups eg Scouts) Coffee pods D DVDs - Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) H Handbags – Co-op (Curborough Road), Morrison’s Car Park, Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) Hats - Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) I Ink cartridges – Tesco Extra (Bottom of Escalator); Recycling Centre L Lego – The Buddy Bag Foundation charity (www.buddybagfoundtaion.co.uk) Lightbulbs – Tesco Extra (bottom of escalator); Recycling Centre M Makeup – Tesco Extra (by tills) Marigold gloves Used medicines Medicine bottles P Pens Pet accessories - Bromley Hayes Cattery Plastic Toys Pringle tubes Printer cartridges – Tesco Extra (bottom of the escalator); Recycling Centre R Reading glasses – David Arthur Opticians, Lichfield (and no doubt others) S Shoes – Co-op (Boley Park), Morrison’s car park, Co-op (Curborough Road), Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot), Lichfield City train station Stamps T Teddies – Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) Towels – Bromley Hayes Cattery Toothbrushes – Bore St. Dentist Toothpaste – Bore St. Dentist Toys - Cash4Clothes (The Plant Plot) See also https://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/Waste-and-recycling/minirecyclingpoints.aspx?fbclid=IwAR07akj4jtZErYBtiuGvECBsrhtjAiy-wabepnIWTNgDm6EdPJXN7Wt7cAo for items not mentioned on this list. Cash4Clothes – Open 10am-12pm, 1.30pm-4pm, Closed Wednesdays and Sundays Charity shops are another option of course and many may collect unusual items so just ask! |
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May 2022
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