Just a quick update to say that planting and tidying work will be taking place on Three Tree Triangle and Tamworth Street as the weather improves!  Look out for info on social media and on our noticeboards.

If you want to get involved then get in touch!  transitionlichfield@gmail.com

What is a Transition Town?
Given that a lot of new people have joined our mailing list, we thought it would be useful to explain/remind what Transition is all about, and in turn, hopefully garner more interest in contributing to initiatives.  We really DO need more input and support from the community to make it viable.
Taken from ‘The Essential Guide to Doing Transition’
Transition is a movement that has been growing since 2005. It is about communities stepping up to address the big challenges they face by starting local. By coming together, they are able to create solutions together. They seek to nurture a caring culture, one focused on connection with self, others and nature. They are reclaiming the economy, sparking entrepreneurship, reimagining work, reskilling themselves and weaving webs of connection and support. Courageous conversations are being had; extraordinary change is unfolding. It's an approach that has spread to over 50 countries, in thousands of groups: in towns, villages, cities, universities, schools. Telling inspiring stories helps the movement grow.
Why do people get involved?
People get involved with Transition for all sorts of reasons:
• To get to know their neighbours
• To feel that they are making a difference in the world, both now, and for future generations
• To overcome the sense of disconnection they feel from self, others and from the nature around them because the world's huge challenges feel more manageable if addressed at the local scale
• To catalyse all manner of new projects, enterprises and investment opportunities
• To learn new skills
• To feel like they are creating a more life-enhancing story for their place
• To feel connected to other people, to the natural world, and to something historic and exciting happening around them
• Because they feel it is "the right thing to do"
• Because they feel disenfranchised by politics and want to be able to take back a sense that they can influence the world around them
 
Head, Heart and Hands
‘Doing’ Transition successfully is about finding a balance between these three things:
The Head: we act on the basis of the best information and evidence available and apply our collective intelligence to find better ways of living.
The Heart: we work with compassion, valuing and paying attention to the emotional, psychological, relational and social aspects of the work we do.
The Hands: we turn our vision and ideas into a tangible reality, initiating practical projects and starting to build a new, healthy economy in the place we live.
 
So, our question to you Lichfield is ‘Are we achieving this?’
Does Transition add value to the community? What else can we be doing?  Which existing groups could we be working with?  How do we bring about more obvious change for good in our District?  We would love to initiate discussion on these topics if there is appetite for it and if it will result in action. Take part in our poll HERE so we know whether to organise a gathering.
 
News and recent activities
Woodhouse Farm Celebrate 15 years
Andrew and Annemarie have been at the farm for 15 years this year. Some of you will remember what the space was like when they first took it on, and the complicated ownership issues! What an amazing job they have done though since 2008.
To mark the occasion they are creating a special photo book which future visitors can look at and follow the development of the business and the farm itself and would like contributions. Cast your minds back...Did you attend a cider day, volunteer or have a party or event here? Do you have stories to tell and photos they can share from the last 15 years? If you do, then email them to thewalledgardenatwoodhousefarm@gmail.com. If you don't have them in electronic format or would like to tell your story rather than write it down, just let Annemarie know and she will arrange a convenient time.
Transition will be having a visit/tour there on Saturday 29th April, 10.00am. Come and join in and enjoy a free drink/cake on us!

Repair & Share Café
This initiative is going from strength to strength!  Both the January and February Lichfield sessions had over 50 repair requests, which has kept the volunteer repairers busy from start to finish. The Burntwood one has now been running for a year and is not quite as busy as Lichfield yet so please do spread the word to Burntwood residents. Although not everything is repairable, it is just as important to get items checked over to see if it is viable. Generally, around 60% of items brought are repaired, with another 10-15% needing parts or further investigation. Great work repair team!
The sessions have also been used as a skill share opportunity, with Becky from Yarny Bees teaching the basics of crochet and Debbie from Protean Art making flowers from aluminium drinks cans for a community art project. More ‘learning’ opportunities to come.
The 17th June Lichfield Repair and Share Café (2-5pm) will become ‘Thrift Fest’, celebrating the ‘make do and mend’ mentality. The date falls at the end weekend of the Great Big Green Week and it seems fitting to show people other ways of saving money such as clothing upcycling, grow your own, making things from ‘scrap’, swapping/sharing, cooking on a budget and so on. More detail to follow but do save the date!
The next big idea to be explored is to create a ‘Library of Things’ for Lichfield if funding and a suitable space can be found. Anyone interested in helping with this then get in touch.

Lichfield District Council Consultation - Housing
Have your say on housing development in the District at the Lichfield District Design Code Workshop. Work has started on a new set of guidelines for housing development in the Lichfield District to ensure that future homes meet residents’ expectations for design, quality, beauty and sustainability. Workshops are taking place on 7th and 8th March, chaired by BDP, a build design consultancy, and representatives from Lichfield District Council and Staffordshire County Council. The sessions will focus on the design coding for Lichfield, Burntwood and local villages and provide an opportunity to discuss the existing character of the area, your likes and dislikes and suggest how the design code could enhance developments. If you have not received a personal invite to attend but would like to participate then email aileen.beesley@lichfielddc.gov.uk for more information. We need to press for immediate zero carbon and sustainable infrastructure.
​
Sewage in our Waterways
The XR Tamworth & Lichfield Group in conjunction with Transition unveiled a ‘blue plaque’ at Speakers’ Corner in Lichfield to shine a light on Michael Fabricant, who on 20/10/21 voted to allow raw sewage to be dumped into local waterways. Similar initiatives took place across the country where MPs had voted in the same way. It is shocking to see how many had done this.

City Nature Challenge 2023
Started in 2016 as a competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco, the City Nature Challenge (CNC) has grown into an international event, motivating people around the world to find and document wildlife in their own cities. Run by the Community Science teams at the California Academy of Sciences and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County (NHM), the CNC is an annual four-day global bioblitz at the end of April (April 28th - 1st May), where cities are in a collaboration-meets-friendly-competition to see what can be accomplished when we all work toward a common goal.
Over the 4 days, all wildlife observations made in the county of Staffordshire, not just our cities, will go towards our total where we will be competing with areas across the globe to see who can record the most species.
The Lichfield Wildlife Group are hoping to provide a Lichfield focus to the Staffordshire participation in this project, and they are planning to organise at least one training event to help people not familiar with iNaturalist (where observations need to be recorded) get started with the app.  Please contact Lin Norbury for further details - p_l_norbury@hotmail.com
 
 Lichfield Cathedral
Working with Staffs Wildlife Trust, who have provided the know-how and seeds, pupils from year 7 at the Cathedral School joined other volunteers in a special Forest School session. Seeds were planted along grassed areas along with south-side of Lichfield Cathedral. Grass around the Close will be left to grow longer. A laurel tree by Minster Pool has been removed to give the native trees and flora space and light in which to thrive. Plans are progressing for a hedge by the East Wall.
They are currently looking for volunteers to adopt and maintain some of the large flat gravestones in the Stowe Pool vicinity. Feedback is welcomed on the changes that are being made.
David Primrose from Lichfield Cathedral comments “In 2022 we achieved our Silver Eco Church Award and we are committed to ‘go for gold’ in the coming year. Our commitment at Lichfield Cathedral is to help make a positive impact on the environment for generations to come and the groundwork we are doing is just a small part of our work this year.”

Zero Emissions Flights
Recent news via the Birmingham Chamber on a collaboration at Birmingham Airport for hydrogen-powered air travel for short haul flights by as soon as 2025. Worth looking into!

Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints
Reading
Juliet Davenport, Founder of Good Energy has written a book for startup businesses with advice on being sustainable - an essential toolkit for the modern-day entrepreneur. More detail here.
 
Food and farming dilemmas. Find out more about plans for a way forward for the future of farming, on the Nature Friendly farming Network website.  And the issue of disappearing food varieties in the UK which need urgently addressing.
Coastal erosion – not a topic that immediately concerns us as residents of Lichfield, being bang in the middle of the country! But we SHOULD be concerned for those people whose lives are being affected it. This map highlights the 21 English coastal communities most at risk of coastal erosion, which is accelerating because of the climate crisis.

Watch
‘Fashion Reimagined’ is in cinemas from 3rd March – a documentary about sustainable fashion designer Amy Powney (she runs the high-end Mother of Pearl label) and the other pioneering women who are leading the way with connected sustainable businesses.

Get involved
Green spaces work
The WFEG (Whittington & Fisherwick Environmental group) Events Programme for 2023 is taking shape and they have some fantastic talks and walks planned.
Regular working parties - first Sunday of the month - are great opportunities to get involved and transform our local area as well as meet like-minded people. The next one is Sunday 5th March - please meet at Swan Meadow (off Burton Road before the Swan Bridge) at 10am. If you'd like to know more please email Lisa at lcmason73@gmail.com. The events in March focus on gardens and "rewilding" to encourage native plants and wildlife.
The Whittington village Open Gardens event takes place on 24th and 25th June. If you would like to open your garden but have not done so before or would like to know more before committing, please contact Clare Jansz via clare@hotmail.com.
St Michael’s Church in Lichfield will be running a churchyard nature day on Sat 1st April 10-4pm – talks on wildlife, herb and lichen walk, churchyard working party work, children’s activities and more. As their churchyards is one of the largest in the country then there is plenty to keep on top of!
Don’t forget to keep us posted on your events/activities so we can share!

Spotlight Spot - Missfit Creations
Although Missfit are not officially part of Transition, we thought we would introduce you to Debbie Murphy’s business and her fascinating story.
Based in Tamworth, Debbie provides an alternative to fast fashion by restoring and reworking second-hand and vintage clothing – anything from 1940s de-mob suits to 1970s psychedelia, to the present day.
The Energy & Bioproducts Research Institute at Aston University used her business as a case study relating to carbon emissions in the fashion industry - with a production of 4% of global carbon emissions and 920,000 tonnes of clothing sent to landfill annually, the clothing industry is a significant source of environmental concern. By analysing the recirculation of second-hand clothes alone, EBRI found Debbie’s current fashion collection has the potential to save the CO2 equivalent of three tonnes – equal in size to at least three semi-detached houses. Read the case study here.
 
As well as running her business, Debbie runs community sessions in Tamworth each month (The Mending Circle) to encourage repair of clothing or re-use of fabric.

​JANUARY 2023
Happy New Year! Let’s make it a year of positive action to reduce consumption, reduce carbon and get involved in our community more!
 
News and recent activities
Planting on Tamworth Street grass verge and bank
At the start of December a few of us braved the cold and met at the Tamworth Street site to plant up a bed with a lovely range of plants for biodiversity. Kathy Maskell, a new recruit, created the planting plan and sourced everything from a local nursery, using funds allocated by LDC Cllr Deb Baker. A crab apple tree was also planted – a great food source for birds in the autumn months.  Bulbs have already been planted so they should be making an appearance soon.
Let’s hope that the plants and tree are not trampled on my dogs and car park users! If you are walking past there, please do report back if you see any problems. 
And on the topic of reporting things back, why not give some positive comments to the Councils if you like what they are doing in green spaces eg the wildflower beds on the edges of Festival Gardens?  We hope to be seeing a lot more ‘wilding’ going on and grass not being mowed as often so rather than them just getting complaints that things should be tidied up and cut back, why not let them know that you LIKE the wilding?! We need more voices about giving nature a chance.

​We also made use of some of the fabulously decorated wheel hubs from Litter Legends members to liven up the car park barrier. The Christmas themed ones will be replaced with generic ones in the next few weeks.

News and recent activities
​
Congratulations to Woodhouse Farm and Garden CIC!
Winners of the Rural Vision Community Food and Local Supply Award at the recent Rural Community Business Awards (organised by Plunkett Foundation in London). Great news!  Your commitment and hard work has paid off Annamarie, Andy and your team!

LDC Appoint a Climate Change Officer
Neil Young (no, not that one!) has been appointed as the Council’s long-awaited lead officer on all things climate. We will ensure that good communication is established with him and hope to set up a face-to-face meeting soon.
All LDC decisions will now require climate change and biodiversity to be considered and documented, a move we had campaigned on for some time. They are also carrying out a feasibility study for the provision of EV chargers on LDC and LCC land so watch out for any consultations or updates.
 
Day of Action for Climate Justice – 12th November
A group of just 6 local people attended the march in Birmingham (as far as we are aware) but better than nothing! The marchers made a lot of noise through the very busy city centre and hopefully raised the profile of climate action.

Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints
Energy Prices and Renewable Energy
Who understands where the ‘renewable energy’ element comes from in their tariff?!
This Which? Guide to understanding green energy tariffs provides some background and then an explanation of the ‘REGO’ certificates which are referred to.  Not as simple as you might imagine!
Education
Amazing stuff happening in this school, educating children on growing and cooking food. If only all schools could do this type of thing!
Reading
Much of the focus of the COP27 talks was on financial support for developing nations and those already struggling with the impact of climate change. Fjii is one of those countries. They have detailed climate change plans in place which involve moving whole villages due to sea level rises!  Read about it here.
Watching
All the following are short films with an environmental slant and an important reminder of the individual’s power to affect change.
Eve
Eve is the intimate story of a nine-year old girl living in one of the oldest off-grid communities in the UK, Tinker’s Bubble. A fledgling climate activist, we follow her as she navigates her way back into traditional schooling after a moving off-grid and proudly standing up for what she believes in: the environment.
The Return
A family reconnects with the Amazon as Covid threatens their village. While millions of people around the world go into lockdown amid the coronavirus crisis, a family in the Ecuadorian Amazon opts to move deeper into the relative safety of the jungle. As they reconnect with dormant ancestral knowledge, away from the distractions of modern life, their affinity with nature begins to flourish. As news spreads that Ecuador might lift lockdown soon, will the family stay?
 
The Wolf Dividing Norway
Few things create a more heated debate in Norway than the wolf. For decades it has split up political parties, families and communities. It divides the big city and the rural parts of Norway, sheep farmers against conservationists. Norway has also received sharp criticism from environmental organisations across the world for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves. In this documentary, we take a deep dive into the conflict that this debate has created.
Sam and the Plant Next Door
Sam, 11, is always being told not to worry about the nuclear power plant rising next door, but for him there is lots to think about. Hinkley Point C will be Britain’s largest nuclear plant, and it’s only two miles away. Most of his classmates expect to work at the plant but Sam is determined to escape that fate. His dream is to protect the surrounding marine life. Like the fish, he feels unappreciated by the adults.
Lady of the Gobi
On Mongolia’s coal mining highway, Maikhuu dreams of a better life and financial security for her family. The more she drives her truck up and down this perilous highway the more she realises she is working for the very industry that is destroying Mongolians’ land-based livelihoods and forcing many into the highway industry. The road is riddled with accidents, toxic pollution, poor hygiene and corruption, and she is left wondering if the financial gain is worth the cost.

Ethical and Sustainable Christmas
We are all aware of how much waste there is at Christmas, whether that be buying gifts for the sake of it, buying too much food or the amount of paper/card that is used just to wrap a gift or send a Christmas greeting. There are lots of resources and ideas out there to help you have a more sustainable Christmas.
The December edition of CityLife Magazine has a useful article on ideas for gifts and our own ‘resource’ on the Transition website provides some of the facts about waste at Christmas.
We are blessed with a wide range of independent businesses in Lichfield District and we should all be supporting them when we can – none of this Black Friday rubbish! Harriet’s Plants, Woodhouse Farm, Apiarist Gin and Mercia Food Hub are businesses that are part of our Transition network so check them out first and buy products or vouchers from them if you can. Or alternatively, the many local organisations such as the Sandfields Waterworks Trust and the Canal’s Trust would always appreciated a donation.
Lichfield Wildlife Group have some ideas and tips on their Facebook page.
A new shop has opened on Tudor Row – Artisan Upcyclers - whose products are all made from recycled items – re-worked leather, teapots and cups turned into things, decorated bottles and jars.  Go and check them out.
And of course, the Ethical Consumer website is full of facts about what you are buying and how ethical it is.

Get involved

Earth Vigil for the Planet
Join this event organised by the Tamworth XR Group, at Speaker’s Corner, Sat 17th Dec from 5pm. “ Whatever the weather, we will sit in silence and hold the Earth in our hearts.  By being visible to passers-by, we are speaking up about the climate and ecological crisis which needs our urgent attention. People are invited to just turn up and join us, sitting in silence for 30 minutes or say hello to one of our outreach people.  Bring a fold up chair, cushion or yoga mat and dress appropriately for the weather.  As it will be dark it would be good to bring a candle in a jar and a small poster or placard ideally hung around the neck.  These vigils can be very powerful and moving, both for those taking part and those who witness them. In coming together in this way, sending our compassion to the planet, we trust that there will be an effect, in helping us feel more connected to the planet and the choices we make, and for some, in more spiritual ways.  Whether of different faiths or philosophies, or no particular belief whatsoever, all are welcome.

Green spaces work
As usual, just a request for those of you who enjoy working outdoors to let us know if you would like to help on any of the wilding spaces or develop new areas. Boley Park area seems depleted of wildflower/planted areas and could do with something starting there. Could you help? There will be a ‘Growing Communities’ project starting in the new year, lead by the Nurture Community CIC group.

Campaigning
The paediatrician who heads up the WASUP group (plastic waste reduction) has been trying to get his local health authority (Walsall) to help with the safe disposal of asthma inhalers – surprisingly, a highly polluting item! You can read more about the problem here but if someone would be interested in taking up this campaign with our local health authority then please go ahead but keep us in the loop!
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Dates for your diary
3rd Dec – Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm, St Joseph’s RC Church, Cannock Road
3rd Dec – NCT Cloth Nappy Library. People can come along and ask questions about using cloth nappies or hire a kit (contains a mixture of nappies). It is £10 to hire a kit (+£50 refundable deposit) which allows people to try out cloth nappies without the initial upfront expense. 10:00-12:00am, Lichfield District Children's Centre WS13 7PH. nappies.lichfield-tamworth@nct.org.uk
6th Dec – Lichfield Wildlife Group - Talk on Mapping Staffordshire's Biodiversity from Rory Middleton and Victoria Edwards of Staffordshire Ecological Record. Wade Street Church, 7.30pm for 7.45pm start.
10th Dec - Whittington Traditional Christmas Market, 10-4pm
11th Dec – Festival Gardens wilding area working party, 10.30 -12. Meet at the site.
17th Dec – Earth Vigil for the Planet, Speaker’s Corner, Dam St, Lichfield. 5pm.
 
*****
7th Jan - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm, St Joseph’s RC Church, Cannock Road
7th Jan - NCT Cloth Nappy Library. 10:00-12:00am, Lichfield District Children's Centre WS13 7PH. nappies.lichfield-tamworth@nct.org.uk
21st Jan – Lichfield Repair & Share Café, 2-5pm, Curborough Community Centre with an additional craft workshop, making flowers and foliage from recycled drinks cans, for use in an art installation at Shugborough in the Spring.
 
Transition won’t be holding regular meet ups for the group as such but will try and connect via events being held by Transition groups such as Forest Harvest so keep your eye out for invites!

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.

Festival Gardens
Bat boxes being erected and general maintenance

Tamworth Street

We carried out a survey of plants on the patch of grass down Tamworth Street and despite it being late October, we recorded over 40 species!  We will do another survey in the Spring and see what else is lurking. This grass would normally just be mown every few weeks so it is great to see that there are a lot of well established plants there.
More bulbs have been planted and a bed prepared that will be planted up with plants to attract a wide range of creatures as well as looking lovely for humans! If you would like to help with long term maintenance of this then do get in touch. Helpers always appreciated!

October and November will see some grass cutting and tidying of the spaces on Festival Gardens and down Tamworth Street, plus bulb planting and preparation for seed sowing.  Many of the plants are self seeding so we should see even more colour next year!
Bat boxes are being added to the Festival Gardens site too! You may also see some brightly coloured wooden butterflies appearing too, thanks to the Tiddlers Toddlers group at Lichfield Methodist Church!
Feel free to come and join us - 10am at Festival Gardens (corner of Queen St and A51) on Sun 30th Oct.
​

News and recent activities
‘EcoFest 2022’ was an inspiring day! 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.
Speakers covered topics such as pros and cons of electric vehicles, reducing food and other waste, retrofitting your home, slow travel, biodiversity net gain, Greenwashing, our food supply chain, and support for businesses wanting to be sustainable. A fashion show highlighted the dire consequences of ‘fast’ fashion and participants showed off outfits sourced from charity shops or revamped items.  Exhibitors chatted to visitors about, zero waste shopping, repurposing of plastics, Tiny Forests, City of Sanctuary, the Big Red Bike scheme, alongside traders with beautiful art, crocheted and knitted items and bee-friendly plants. Younger visitors enjoyed making Eco-warrior crowns and decorating butterflies to go into our wilding spaces.
Our thanks go to all who attended and helped at the event and for support from Waitrose. South Staffs College were filming the event and we will share their film when the students have completed the editing – a great opportunity for them.​

e were lucky enough to have Ira at Ecofest, a new resident of Lichfield who left Ukraine to escape the war. This is her story:
“I launched a nonprofit organisation 2 years to promote sustainability, conscious consumption and waste management in Zaporizhzhya, Ukraine. Ukraine's recycling sector isn't developed enough, our recycling rate is 5%, so it's highly important to raise environmental awareness and offer different recycling schemes to citizens. So, we gave lectures and workshops on how to produce less waste and how to waste in an eco-friendly way. Then, last year, with my team of like-minded eco-activists, decided to launch a plastic recycling workshop in Zaporizhzhya. We ran a successful crowdfunding campaign and got a grant from an international fund to buy equipment and get the space ready. We started accepting plastic for recycling in December 2021. We experimented with different types and ways of their processing and made home decor, jewellery, plant pots, phone standers, costers, etc.
When we were ready to hold plastic recycling workshops for citizens of Zaporizhzhya to get them interested in conscious waste management, Russia invaded Ukraine. We put our workshop on pause, as it was scary to leave the flat and family as any time a Russian missile could strike you. When you don't feel safe, the environment and recycling are the last things you think about. That's why I moved to the UK with my son. My friend, who is braver than me, still lives in Zaporizhzhya and continues our work. Ukrainians learnt how to live with the war and continued to come and give us their post-use plastic. So, we have materials to recycle. The small profit that we generate from selling our recycled plastic products we give to support the workshop, the rest goes to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
As now I am in the UK, I would like to continue working with on plastic recycling craft. So, now I'm looking for a suitable place and opportunities to get funding on necessary equipment.”
If you are able to help then please do get in touch with Ira, or even just to say hello!
zerowastezp@gmail.com, or Instagram page @zerowastezp

​Happy 6th Birthday to Nurture!
Nurture Community CIC had their 6th birthday at the end of September. They have connected with so many families and organisations in that time and made such an impact. Congratulations and keep up the good work!
Congratulations to Repair Café!
The Repair Café won the Environmental category of the BBC WM Make a Difference Awards! Well done team!  Forest Harvest were also highly commended in that category. Great to get recognition for both of these local initiatives.

ongratulations to WFEG – Heart of England in Bloom 2022 Gold!
The Whittington Parish retained its Gold award, with the following comments made: “Whittington and Fisherwick continue in their role as exemplars of all things Bloom most especially in the Environmental field. The Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group were and are the bedrock of the Bloom efforts and each year sees a new initiative being developed. This time Bit End native tree planting project undertaken by numerous volunteers is added to the ever growing list. Some lovely floral gardens are supported by an increasing use of perennials and the use of wildflowers in many areas and in large numbers too is very encouraging. The now well established community orchard has been left to wildflowers with no obvious detriment to the trees and their cropping. Real community effort is making this entry a very special place indeed, a well-deserved Gold Award.”
Well done to all involved.

Whittington Village Heat Decarbonisation Update
The Village Heat Decarbonisation Project report commissioned by the Parish Council has now been completed and the consultants have concluded that a heat network drawing on the water in local underground aquifers, together with an energy centre for additional heat, could pump hot water to buildings in the village core with potential savings for residents and big CO2 savings. However they say that a further more detailed study is required to verify and refine the findings and provide a detailed financial plan. The Parish Council is in discussion with Staffordshire County Council and Lichfield District Council about a possible application to the Government Heat Network Development Unit for funding for the Phase 2 study.

Forest Harvest Polytunnel
With a little help from their friends…this National Lottery funded polytunnel was successfully erected on a windy day at Forest Harvest in Yoxall and will be used by a range of groups and for workshops. The gardens are looking fabulous there too. Check out the website for events.

​Lichfield Cathedral
Eco Church has been a useful framework, enabling the cathedral community to consider various aspects of its impact on creation care. The scheme addresses issues in Worship & Teaching, Buildings, Land, Community & Global Engagement, and Lifestyle. Having achieved Bronze, it then was awarded Silver at the beginning of September. There is an evening meeting on 22nd November to consider what “Going for Gold” would entail.  
The cathedral has also become a Partner in Action with A Rocha, committed to care for the land around the cathedral in a way which is sustainable and promotes biodiversity. Participating, along with the Cathedral School, for a second year in Churches Count on Nature week, confirmed the significance of churchyards as ancient grassland. Following a trial with a strip on the north side, next year wildflowers within grassland on the south side will be encouraged to flourish. A three year management plan is being developed for the whole site, with valuable support from Staffordshire Wildlife Trust and Caring for God’s Acre.
As a Healthy Healing Hub, the cathedral is committed to the wellbeing of all and recognises the connection between care for creation and mental health. This is equally applicable to local residents and the cathedral community, tourists and pilgrims visiting the Shrine of St Chad.
From mid-November, the Cathedral will be joining the District-wide scheme of Places of Welcome and other venues offering warmth and company on a weekly basis over the winter months.
A hundred people gathered in the cathedral for a fun evening in August, aptly named ReDress . Hosted by the Dean, the Vicar of St Michael’s recounted her involvement in a previous event, and eight members of the cathedral community modelled outfits purchased for £20 from local charity shops. Vicky James talked of how repairing clothes is at the core of sustainability, and Lindsey Hall shared both her personal experience and the wider context of exploitation and excessive consumerism within the textile trade.
For further information about the cathedral’s commitment to the environment and social justice, do contact Canon David Primrose
 
Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints
​
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.
Pensions
What do you know about the companies that your pension is invested in? The Hidden Emissions Report shows that leading UK businesses are unintentionally funnelling billions of pounds into carbon intensive industries, despite their climate commitments. As a result, the billions invested through their pensions are not only damaging the planet, they are directly contradicting the values, commitments, and sustainability strategies of those same businesses. Read the report here.
Nature decline
The WWF produced a report this month on the terrifying nature decline. Not a surprise to many of us but it is a stark reminder of the fragile state we are in. Read it here.
Reading
Unstoppable Us: How Humans Took Over the World
This new book by Yuval Noah Harari is aimed at children and make might a good Christmas gift for those young people wanted to know more about climate change and our impact.  
 
Spotlight slot
Our group focus this month is:

We want to promote and support this lovely local business as Harriet is doing a great job with UK grown, peat and pesticide free plants, direct from the glasshouse in Lichfield.
“I’m Harriet and I founded Harriet’s Plants whilst studying plant science at the world-famous Eden Project in Cornwall. My passion for plants started with sowing and growing seeds, foraging hedgerows and getting my hands dirty. It really was that simple. It wasn’t long before I knew that I wanted to take this further and turn my dream of growing plants full-time, into a reality.
Since setting up my glasshouse, I am proud to say the business has flourished. I am a passionate, environmentally friendly grower and have put all my efforts into growing peat free, pesticide free, and plastic free houseplants for people all over the UK. You can order plants via my website or get in touch if you have any questions.”
And on the topic of plants and peat free, this Plantlife blog piece is worth a look.
A reminder too that there are lots of resources on gardening for wildlife through autumn and winter on the Bumblebee Conservation Trust’s website.
 
Get involved
Day of Action for Climate Justice – 12th November
COP 27 is being held 7th to 18th Nov and there will be worldwide demonstrations and events being held on 12th November. Our closest one will be Birmingham (unless someone would like to lead on a Lichfield one again?). Find out more here.
Endorse the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty – sign up to show your support, along with thousands of academics, scientists, parliamentarians, cities and civil society leaders who are calling for a new global treaty to manage a global just transition away from fossil fuels.

Dates for your diary
29th Oct - Pumpkin Carving at Woodhouse Community Farm, Fisherwick/Whittington 11-4pm. Pumpkins for sale too leading up to that.
30th Oct – Festival Gardens wilding area working party, 10-12. Meet at the site.
30th Oct – Burton Conservation Volunteers Group – newt pond restoration. Meet at Hanbury, junction of Anslow Lane and Chapel Lane. Email bcvflowerman@gmail.com
1st Nov - SinCH (Sustainability in the Haywoods group) Upstairs Room, Sports & Social Club, Great Haywood, ST18 0SU. Topic “People and Groups Working Together to promote and work for Sustainable Living, inc the role of Councils - in Staffordshire and Beyond” with Mike Deegan, Consultant. 7.30pm - 9.00pm
1st Nov - Wildlife talk with Lawrence Oates; 30 years of Burton Conservation Volunteers, All Saints Church, Branston Rd, DE14 3GP 7.30pm. £3.50
5th Nov – Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm, St Josephs RC Church, Cannock Road
5th Nov - NCT Cloth Nappy Library - borrow nappies to try out! 10:00-12:00am at Lichfield District Children's Centre WS13 7PH
12th Nov – Global Day of Action for Climate Justice
19th Nov – Lichfield Repair & Share Café, 2-5pm, Curborough Community Centre – bring your old photos for renovation with an expert restorer!  Also bring your Christmas lights for a check over!
20th Nov - Burton Conservation Volunteers Group - Woodland Management at Weaverslake DE13 8AD. Email bcvflowerman@gmail.com
Whittington Produce Market – 3rd Sat of the month (mornings)
 
Transition won’t be holding regular meet ups for the group as such but will try and connect via events being held by Transition groups such as Forest Harvest so keep your eye out for invites!
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.

GET INVOLVED – GO GREEN – GET READING – GET ACTIVE
August 2022
News and recent activities
The Lichfield Cathedral’s Re>Dress 10th August event went well, highlighting the issues faced in the fashion industry – use of resources and abuse of workers in particular. Great to have Vicki, one of our sewing repairers from Repair Café as one of the event speakers!
Maintenance work on our wilding areas has continued although of course, the hot weather has meant that some of the plants have not done so well, but that contributes to the use of these spaces for education purposes – we will have to adapt planting to suit the changes in our climate! Thank you to all those who helped out.
The volunteers at Monks Walk Gardens arranged a sunflower growing competition, in solidarity with Ukraine, for the residents of Chapter House apartments. It resulted in some fabulous flowers as you can see in the photo! The Sheriff of Lichfield, Cllr Janice Greaves came to award prizes at a special event. Over £500 was raised for the DEC from the competition entries, raffle and sale of sunflower cupcakes. Well done everyone!

Angela Lax, the LDC Cabinet Member for Housing, Ecology and Climate Change, is working with LDC, LCC and SCC green spaces departments to bring about some consistent working practices and look at ways of reducing the impact on nature ie use of weedkillers, grass cutting and so on. We look forward to hearing more on this.

LDC Local Plan
The delayed Local Plan 2040 is now available to view between the following dates - 12/08/22 and 16/11/22 – online as well as hardcopy in the council offices. Worth following up on and feeding back to LDC if you have comments. Good luck though as not all that easy to read and understand!
 
Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints
Ecofest
Sat 24th September sees our second Ecofest event, to be held at Lichfield Methodist Church from 10am through to 4pm. There are speakers covering a range of topics, exhibitors, Repair Café, activities to join in, snacks and lunches from the church café and a FREE drink for attendees! Please do spread the word and come along and support it and learn something new too!

Tiny Forests
Do you know about the five Tiny Forests that have been planted in Lichfield District? You may have wondered what the fenced off areas were in places like Cherry Orchard (Mesnes Green) and St Michael’s Road. Take a look at the information on the LDC website.  Nick Burton of Forest Harvest is one of the volunteer ‘keepers’. If you want to get involved then follow the link on the website.

Solar Panels
If you don’t have panels already but have been wondering if it is worthwhile then this useful article on the Money Saving Expert website might help with some of your questions.

Worth a Read
The actress Emma Thompson’s views on ‘greenwashing’ by the oil and gas industry and how we can work to bring about change in the same way as has happened with the tobacco industry. A good example of a business doing what it can to help its customers see what impact it is making is Decathlon – full disclosure about the sustainability of its products.
The Bumblebee Conservation Trust have lots of tips and resources regarding bee-friendly plants, including this menu for September!

Worth a Listen
The Big Green Money Show Podcast – we have mentioned this one to you before but it is absolutely worth listening to. The excellent, and very eco-conscious, Deborah Meaden and Felicity Hannah cover all the main topics of interest and properly probe key business leaders on what changes they are making. Find it on BBC Sounds or Spotify.

Worth Checking
It has been brought to our attention that residents in Fazeley, which is part of the Lichfield District, are being affected by high levels of air pollution from nearby industry. Air and water pollution monitoring are not areas that we as a group have been proactive about but it is worrying that local people are suffering the consequences of industrial pollution and not getting the support that they need.
You can check out pollution levels where you live through the Address Pollution website – just put in your postcode. If you can offer any support/expertise on pollution then please do get in touch as we would like to try and help with environmental issues that are affecting people’s health and wellbeing. Health data is available by Ward on request.

Get involved
Friends of Lichfield City Station
Bob Harrison, of Litter Legends fame, has taken on the role of co-ordinator in getting Lichfield City Station ‘adopted’ with West Midlands Trains so that planters can be maintained there and the station kept neat and tidy. If you are interested in being part of this initiative then email Bob – harrisonbob1@gmail.com.

Tamworth Street Green Space
We need a few more people to help with the section of green space down Tamworth St and round to Backcester Lane which LDC have allowed us to leave wild. Wildflower seeding and bulb planting will be tasks to sort over the coming months. We are working with Lichfield Methodist Church groups too, as being local to the site they can keep an eye on things and contribute as part of their own activities – Brownies, Boys Brigade and Toddler group are all keen to help. Get in touch with Pam via transitionlichfield@gmail.com.
We welcome any support with projects that we talk about in here or on our social media.
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Forthcoming events
**No repair cafes through August**
20th to 27th Aug – Alrewas Arts Festival. A fabulous range of activities to join in with, exhibitions, talks, displays and fun!
20th/21st Aug – Brownhills Canal Festival, organised by LHCRT. Full details here.
27th Aug – Lichfield Wildlife Group bat walk. Fisherwick Lakes, Fisherwick Wood Lane, Whittington WS13 8QF. 8:00pm, meet in the car park.
28/29th Aug – Burton Conservation Volunteers - Meadow cut at Rosliston Forestry Centre, followed on 30th by 'Grabbit for your rabbit' where people can collect surplus hay for their pets. Email bcvflowerman@gmail.com
2nd to 18th Sept – ‘PoliNations’ in Victoria Square, Birmingham. Not to be missed! Full details here. The city centre will bloom into a vibrant living oasis filled with thousands of plants and brought to life through free garden tours, audio baths, live music and light shows, costume design workshops, sensory experiences, poetry and performance and more!
3rd Sept – Burntwood Repair Café, 10-1pm, St Joseph’s RC Church
4th Sept – ‘Folk on the Farm’, 11.15am onwards, Woodhouse Community Farm in conjunction with Lichfield Arts. Tickets available here. Music, storytelling, Morris dancing, licenced bar….bring a picnic!
6th Sept – Lichfield Wildlife Group. Talk from Nicola Lynes of Transforming the Trent Valley project. Wade Street Church, 7.45pm start (preceded by AGM).
7th Sept - WFEG Green Drinks, (The Bell Inn or The Dog Inn) Whittington. 7.30pm
18th Sept – Burton Conservation Volunteers, wetland work at Goose Green Yoxall. Email bcvflowerman@gmail.com

19th & 26th Sept – Painting Seasonal Florals sessions with Bryony Halsted at Forest Harvest, 1-4pm. Booking essential

24th Sept – ‘Ecofest’, Lichfield Methodist Church, 10-4pm – includes ‘Repair Café’ session
29th Sept – Plant Propagation Course, Forest Harvest. 10.30-1.00pm Booking essential
 ****Check directly with Lichfield ReCycle for their bike ride events*****

A little update on our wilding project!

Children from Christ Church Primary School created some bug hotels for the site and some cute little signs too. Lovely to get them involved. And the students from Rocklands School enjoyed connecting with nature by creating some art using natural materials and nature themes.

​We now have additional trees and shrubs in the space and the wildflower planting has worked out SO well! We will be planning for the autumn soon no doubt!