Last newsletter of 2024

News and recent activities
We have one big piece of news to start with.
Transition Lichfield is evolving. Our website is up for renewal in March 2025 and Philippa Birch-Wood and I (Pam) have taken the decision to not renew. After several years acting as Transition Lichfield we are taking the opportunity to combine forces with Nurture Community CIC and bolster their impact going forwards. This will mean less time on admin and more time on meaningful action. We will keep the Transition name going for now but will reassess this a little further down the line.
We have the same values, we can benefit from Nurture’s reach and project focus and they too can see benefit from our connections and areas of expertise.  Nurture have a 5 year plan for their activities and funding in place to support a lot of their work. We will continue to promote groups and initiatives that are making a positive difference. We will transfer much of the content from our website to Nurture’s website and support their social media channels. We will continue with a newsletter, most likely a combined one with Nurture, so we will be in touch with a sign up link for that once we know more.
We are looking forward to this new adventure helping Nurture Community CIC to maximise positive climate impact and we hope you are too.

Repair Cafes
We have come to the end of another very successful year for our 2 monthly repair sessions with an average of 50 items brought to us each month and an approximate 65% success rate of either repair or advice on spare parts/action to take to resolve issues.  That’s a lot of items saved!  We have had some lovely stories of family heirlooms being restored and everyday items that make a real difference being mended.  We have also held a number of ‘skillshare’ sessions which attendees have enjoyed.
So, a big thank you to all our repairers and volunteers who make these sessions happen.  We look forward to more successful repairs and sharing activities throughout 2025.  Our thanks also go to Burntwood Town Council and Lichfield City Council for grants to support out room hire fees.
 
Christ Church Primary School
Christ Church school are very lucky to have a large outdoor space. The School Association have big plans for developing this area further (they already have an environmental area and raised beds for growing) and have put together a detailed 3 year plan for a Forest School which they hope will provide the children with a much greater opportunity to spend more time outdoors; whether it’s to learn about nature and protecting our environment, taking their science and geography lessons outside or for looking for inspiration in their art creations and creative writing. The opportunities are endless.
Transition will be able to support the school in various ways, such as signposting to funding opportunities or to people with particular expertise. If you think you could help in some way then do let us know and we can put you in touch.

Beacon Park
Lichfield District Council want to hear your views on their plans for introducing different sports/leisure activities to Beacon Park.  More information can be found here.

Lichfield City Station Friends Group
Make sure you take a look at the festive décor at the City Station! Beautiful wooden Christmas trees with wooden ‘baubles’, alongside the wonderful Litter Legends wheel hub display.  Looking very festive indeed and the choirs performing over the coming Saturdays will add to that Christmassy feeling! Well done to all involved.
 
 
Learning opportunities, inspiration and handy hints
Read
If you take an interest in where your food comes from then there are a couple of interesting articles here. One is looking at factory farm waste and pollution – you can check out how polluted your local area is – and this Farming UK one has details of how all 8 big UK supermarkets are promoting British growers/farmers by having a button on their websites.  There is a lot of discussion going on around Staffordshire about food – production, buying local, supporting small farms, sharing land etc so keep your eyes peeled for initiatives or get involved if you want to do more.
The  Staffordshire Nature Recovery Strategy – sign up to their mailings to find out more about what’s going on and read the blog for ideas about suitable things to plant for particular environments.
Look what are Sunderland are planning!  Wouldn’t it be great to have this kind of thing in Lichfield – a central hub for the community to make use of and share resources/ideas.

Listen/Read
The music industry is looking to decarbonise.  There have been some excellent discussions on 6 Music (Mary Ann Hobbs show last week), including music being made with mushrooms (!) and the band Massive Attack’s work “Act 1.5” . Listen back on BBC Sounds or just follow some of these links to find out more.
Massive Attack -  and more info here in the NME.
The music industry climate foundation – EarthPercent
SWG3 - a music venue in Glasgow experimenting with capturing body heat from audience to help with overall heating!  And other initiatives….
 
Visit
Take a trip to the National Memorial Arboretum to see the national collection of Amelanchier trees – they are colourful from Dec to Feb!
We hope many of you have called in to check out our wilding area on Backcester Lane (back of Lichfield Methodist Church/car parks) and admired the amazing artwork on the abandoned wooden pallet!  Mariana Karasel is a Ukrainian artist now living in Lichfield and she was only too happy to help transform the pallet, along with some beautiful rocks from Louise at Lichfield Kindness Rocks. Mariana will take art commissions so do get in touch if you would like her contact details or find her on Instagram – @artstudio_karma. Currently also adorned with festive wellies!! There are even some wildflowers still flowering!  Bulbs have been planted so it will be lovely to see them pop up in the spring.
 
To Do
Stop using Google as your main search engine and try Ecosia instead!  Do good whilst searching the internet. They plant trees for every search done and you can check out the extent of their impact here.  Amazing!
 
Make sure you have checked out what government support there is for home insulation and other energy saving initiatives.
 
Get your Christmas meat order in with Woodhouse Farm before the end of 2nd Dec (today!!) for gammon or 11th Dec for everything else.
 
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR!
 
Dates for your diary
December
3rd - Lichfield Wildlife Group. Talk – Bees, by Ron Rock. Wade St Church. 7.45pm £3.50
5th – Lichfield Science and Engineering Society talk - THE CHALLENGES OF MEETING NET-ZERO BY 2050, Professor Michael Kelly, Emeritus Prince Philip Professor of Technology, University of Cambridge. 8pm, Lichfield Garrick
7th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm, St Joseph’s RC Church, Cannock Road, WS7 0BB (this is final repair session before Christmas)
7th - NCT Cloth Nappy Library. 10.00-12.00am, Lichfield District Children's Centre WS13 7PH. [email protected]
7th - Christmas Choirs at Lichfield City Station, 10-3pm (tbc)
14th - Christmas Choirs at Lichfield City Station, 10-3pm (tbc)
14th – Whittington Traditional Christmas Market, Village Hall, 9.30-2pm
15th December – Festive wreath making, Forest Harvest, 10am Email [email protected]
21st - Christmas Choirs at Lichfield City Station, 10-3pm (tbc)

January 2025
4th - Burntwood Repair & Share Café, 10-1pm, St Joseph’s RC Church, Cannock Road, WS7 0BB
4th – Lichfield Wildlife Group NY Bird watching walk, 10am Tucklesholme Nature Reserve
18th – Lichfield Repair & Share Café, 2-5pm, Curborough Community Centre WS13 7NY
 
Burton Conservation Volunteers have a range of activities – if you are interested in helping with projects around the Burton area then contact Lawrence Oates – [email protected]