For richer, for poorer

From the day I discovered Transition, I was wedded to the idea.  A pathway from fretting and frustration to positive, practical action, an approach “more like a party than a protest march?”  Brilliant!

The spark came from reading a review of the Transition Handbook.  Soon after a series of serendipitous events started to unfold. I passed a favourite wee bookshop, and there was the handbook in the window.  I bought it, delved in and the spark began to glow.  Then a flier appeared in our veg box for a talk in Inverness by Carin Schwarz of Transition Town Forres.

Among those in the audience were some founder members of Transition Black Isle (TBI), who had decided to start an initiative covering the whole of their area.  This struck me as a bold move.  The Black Isle is a peninsula of about 100 square miles to the north and east of Inverness.  There are no large settlements; the population is scattered among small towns, villages, farms and rural homes.  The livelihood of a significant number of people from the area depends directly or indirectly on the North Sea oil industry. 

The Black Isle is blessed with some of the most fertile soils in the Highlands.  In common with most prime agricultural areas, farming has become increasingly industrialised, with most of the produce shipped away.  The opening of the Kessock Bridge in the early 1980s created a direct road link between the Black Isle and Inverness for the first time ever, triggering seismic social change.

In early 2009, when TBI was born, I was living near Beauly to the west, and involved in a small group trying to set up Transition Town Inverness.  Growing curiousity and an encounter with Sophy Banks of Transition Training at a meeting in Inverness led to me going to the Transition Conference in London, which blew me away.  That autumn we moved across the local boundary to the Black Isle, and I was well and truly aboard the Transition rollercoaster. 

The pace was astounding.  In December 2009, a Question Time debate on climate change, timed to coincide with the Copenhagen summit, drew a full house.  At Energy Crunch, a peak oil event with campaigner Mandy Meikle and local MP Charles Kennedy just a few weeks later, there was standing room only in a packed hall.  More people started showing up at film nights.

In spring 2010 TBI was awarded £85,000 from the Climate Challenge Fund, and sprang into action on a raft of exciting projects.  Community gardens and allotments were established and Grow North got underway, helping people learn to grow their own fruit and vegetables in the Black Isle climate.  The Highland Food Challenge, inspired by the Fife Diet, raised awareness of the array of tasty local food available.  Greening Homes and Gardens days focusing on cutting energy, proved hugely popular.  A website was created, a local food directory and growing guide produced and newsletters published. Community markets  market were set up at North Kessock and Cromarty and continue to thrive. 

The money boosted the Black Isle, raising awareness and enabling employment to be created (including paid work for me).  It allowed the fledgling TBI to lay a solid foundation for the future.  Networks formed and friendships flourished. 

In spring the funding year drew to a close in a frenetic whirl of activity and a fresh application to the Climate Challenge Fund was turned down.  Disappointing in many ways, but a relief too.  There are, of course, as many opinions as there are TBI members, but I count myself among those relishing the calm of Transition at a gentler pace.