On a bright, crisp Saturday morning this October 2011 we…as in Transition Finsbury Park members Phillipe and Danielle found ourselves with a group of local people in Dalston, Hackney at the Arcola Tent, at 2 Ashwin Street. The tent is tucked behind doors on a quiet road behind the bustling main road in Dalston, amongst a row of galleries, cafes and hidden public gardens with growing spaces. Within the tent sat a group of 30 people and 6-7 stalls advertising local recycling, sustainability, community photos, storyboards, messages and interest. The event was an organised community event called ‘Greener Hackney Event’. Organised by Francesca Bury and her colleagues from the Environmental Sustainability Projects & Programmes Team the event kicked off at 10.30am with tea, coffee and yummy cake, and three speakers welcoming the community on behalf of the Environmental Sustainability Projects & Programmes Team.
Following the opening talks were presentations from the Association for the Conservation of Energy, regarding the laws and rules surrounding home insulation and energy preservation. There was also a presentation on LB Hackney Sustainability Programme and our presentation about the good work that Transition Finsbury Park and other Transition groups, such as Transition Crouch End and Belsize Park are currently undertaking.
So, what is the good work that we’re all doing and part of? Well there are many concurrent projects within the N4 postcode, such as;
• Local food growing
• Sustainable transport
• Buildings and Energy
• Reskilling/reusing materials
• Local economics discussions and business ideas
• Meditation
• Community building
What are the Transition groups about? A Transition Initiative is a community-led response to the pressures of climate change, fossil fuel depletion and increasingly, economic contraction. Transition Finsbury Park has been around for 2 and a half years.
There are seven live growing projects in the N4 area, including the Hackney-based at the John Scott Medical Health Centre, Parkwood Primary School and St John’s Church. Within Finsbury Park itself, by the Manor House entrance, there is our first social enterprise called the ‘Edible Landscape London Ltd’ where a nursery of perennial plants are being cultivated by a team of 4-8 who tend to the nursery two days a week. Further topline details about this nursery are, it's;
• Our first social enterprise
• Company limited by guarantee
• In partnership with Metropolitan Support Trust
• Volunteer-led project with educational aims
• Open 2 days a week and some weekend times
• Formal teaching sessions from 10am to 3pm where lunch is picked and eaten at 1pm. All welcome!
Future plans for the nursery include the application for funding to get 2 part-time admin staff and the site is looking to be relocated somewhere in Hackney to a more secure tenure (ideally with 10 years for tree propagation).
Other initiatives such as re-skilling workshops involving knitting, foraging and carpentry. There are building and energy workshops, in partnership with Transition Stoke Newington and Crouch End such as cob building with Linda. Trading our cars in for bicycles there are various workshops for parents and children from the community and bike energy conversion projects to get people thinking about how much energy is consumed by everyday electric activity. Otherwise, more holistic and calming exercises such as meditation, yoga and singing practice.
Finally the Greener Hackney Event ended with a series of group workshops for the community to work as a team and to think about greener and more sustainable ways to live together. The event ended around 1pm, when everyone departed to continue their Saturday in the park, doing a spot of shopping or if you were me chopping and eating lots of apples at the Urban Harvest Annual Apple day at Hornsey Community Centre in Hornsey.
Any support or time that you can offer any of the above initiatives would be welcomed, please contact the Transition Finsbury Park team via the website or Facebook.
