The Brixton Belsize London Tour
Two different faces of the big city, the same Transition Story.
Monday 17th September, the day after the Transition Network annual conference.
Description
Brixton and Belsize. Come and find out more about two of London’s most established Transition Initiatives, each in very different parts of London.
Brixton We begin in Brixton, an ethnically diverse and fascinating area of inner-city South London. Projects include the Brixton Pound (arguably the coolest bank notes in circulation, anywhere), the Remakery (formerly Brixton Reuse Centre), Community Draught Busters and Brixton Energy. www.transitiontownbrixton.org
Belsize After lunch we travel by tube to Belsize, a neighbourhood in the north London Borough of Camden. Here we find food growing and permaculture projects, draught busting and other interesting, and often surprising, partnerships in the community including council collaboration; Premier Inn Hotel; Royal Free Hospital (one of London’s largest); local churches, and London grocery chain, Budgens. www.transitionbelsize.org.uk
We end the day in conversation with Andrew Thornton, owner of Thornton’s franchise of Budgens, and sharing some local-ish beers and wild weed pesto on bread with local Transitioners with long experience of starting up neighbourhood Transition initiatives and working within the Transition Network.
This is a busy day!
Start time
9.30am, Transition Centre, 6-8 Robhart St, SW9 0DJ. On the corner of Slade Gardens park. Look for the TTB (Transition Town Brixton) signs.
To get there: 15 min walk from Brixton tube along Brixton Rd. There are plenty buses along Brixton Rd (towards Oval).
End time
From 6.30pm, although you are welcome to stay longer. Nearest tube to end point is Belsize Park (Zone 2).
Cost
Voluntary donation. Please give what you can and / or what you think its worth. We need to cover our overheads. Any surplus will go to the Transition Initiatives you visit.
Please bring some money for lunch (suggested £5-10) and to buy local-ish beers at the end.
Please have a Zones 1-2 Travel card or have your Oyster card topped up in advance. This will save time in stations when travelling as a group.
Who you will meet
Duncan Law is the co-founder of Transition Brixton and has a background in acting, directing and climate change. Duncan will host us in Brixton, where he seems to know everybody, and he’ll connect us in with as many of the people and projects as he can.
Sarah Nicholl is one of the founder members of Transition Belsize and is a Trustee of the Transition Network. Sarah has an arts and project management background, working within the charitable, educational and environmental sectors. She will take us through the highs and lows of Transition Belsize and be able to answer questions from a Transition Network perspective.
Alexis Rowell is one of the founder members of Transition Belsize. His professional background is in journalism, then business development, and he now runs a climate change and peak oil consultancy, cuttingthecarbon. He spent four years as a councilor in the London Borough of Camden and Chair of the council's all-party Sustainability Task Force. He is author of "Communities, councils and carbon - what we can do if governments won't", in the Transition Books series. Alexis will be joining us later in the day after work. As well as adding to the Belsize story he will be able to share his experience progressing the Transition agenda as a London councilor.
Andrew Thornton owns the Budgens franchise for Crouch End and Belsize Park and to both he has brought a fresh vision and a commitment to the community. “I really believe that food stores should be a central part of our community, just as food is such a central part of our lives. For me, being a more sustainable retailer involves embracing your community and being environmentally aware.” Andrew will meet us at his store in Belsize at the end of the day to explain this in more detail and to answer your questions.
Hal Gillmore has been actively involved in Transition Town Totnes since 2008 in a number of roles. This includes setting up Transition Tours which recently relaunched as a new Transition Enterprise, Big Green Canoe, that offers experiential programmes of tours education and personal development around the Transition theme. Hal’s background includes tourism, business development, outdoor education and leading wilderness expeditions overseas. Hal will help facilitate the day and will be able to explore ways we can engage and educate business groups and young people in Transition. www.biggreencanoe.org
What you need to bring with you
We will be walking and standing for much of the day. Please dress accordingly with comfortable shoes and rain jacket / umbrella, if necessary.
Bottle of water & snack.
Please bring some money (suggested £6-10) for lunch.
Please have zones 1-2 Travel card or have your Oyster card topped up in advance, to save time when travelling as a group.
Accessibility note
Please note this is a long, busy day for people of average fitness and mobility. We will be walking and standing up for much of the day, using public toilets. Please let us know in advance of any mobility issues and we shall do our best to accommodate.
Limit to numbers
Numbers are limited to 30. First come, first served.
Food arrangements
We will be having lunch at Brixton Village, a covered market locally known as ‘Granville Arcade’. Please bring some money to change for Brixton Pounds which we will use to buy our lunch.
How to book and when booking opens.
Please email info@biggreencanoe.org to let us know you would like to come. Find us at the Big Green Canoe stall at the conference if you would like to discuss. www.biggreencanoe.org
