Open Space

Open Space allows small-group discussions on whatever topics you want to discuss. If you have views about how Transition Norwich should be developing, or any thoughts that don't fit into the existing theme groups, please bring them along. And if you don't have such thoughts, come anyway for an enjoyable morning. If you haven't joined a group, or been to a Transition meeting yet, this a great opportunity to try it out.

Please bring (vegetarian) food to share for lunch. P.S. If you would like to bring your recipe the Transition Party crew are collecting sustainable dishes from resilient cooks for a Transition cookbook. For more details email transitionparty@hotmail.co.uk. 10am-2pm at the Parlour Room, United Reform Church, Princes Street.

Resilience Plan

One of the original “12 steps” set out in Rob Hopkins’ Transition Handbook for any Transition Town is to put together an “Energy Descent Action Plan” (EDAP), setting out a vision of how that town can become more resilient, less oil-dependent, and reduce its carbon footprint. Here in Transition Norwich a group has been meeting since summer 2009 to develop our EDAP – except that we decided we wanted to call ours a Resilience Plan.

The Resilience Plan is an important document for Transition Norwich. We hope that it will help members of Transition Norwich to think about the kinds of changes we might want to make in our own lives, and the kinds of projects we might want to develop across Transition Norwich to help to build a more resilient city. We also hope it will help policymakers, for example in the city and county councils, to think about what needs to be put in place now to protect the population from shocks in the future. For that reason the Resilience Plan will ideally include quantitative information, that is, not only will it show what is needed, but how much of it is needed.

The Resilience Plan Group has aimed to be a facilitating group, drawing on the specialist expertise of the Theme Groups, but drawing it together into a coherent vision. We have met a number of times during 2009, and our members are drawn from most of the Theme Groups.

We set ourselves the target of having a first draft by Christmas 2009 – a target which we have met in part! That is, we have a draft but there are still some gaps in it.

In December 2009 the Group organised a successful “World Café” meeting where we invited other members of Transition Norwich to contribute their understanding of the gap between where we are now and where we want to be, what the obstacles are to achieving that vision, and how we can overcome those obstacles.

The Group intends to complete and publish a first version of the Resilience Plan in 2010. We expect that the Plan will never be finished, though – it needs to be a living document that will continue to evolve as circumstances change and understanding grows.

Contact: Jane Chittenden jane@janechittenden.co.uk

Click here to view / join the Resilience Plan email discussion group (Google Group)

Photo: World Cafe on Behaviour Change, organised by the Resilience Plan group, Dec 2009

NEWS: Core Group Reforms!

After two dynamic meetings of the Supercore Group (a temporary forum composed of reps from all TN groups) a process for electing a new core group has finally emerged. Anyone from Transition Norwich who would like to offer their skills for this role is now invited to contact Chris or Tully. This is an informal "first round" stage and more details of the election process will follow shortly (watch this space). At a recent original core group meeting it was decided that three new members should be elected to join Chris, Tully and Christine. Core group membership will run for a maximum of two years. Do you have what it takes? Contact Tully tully@transitionnorwich.org or Chris chrishull@phonecoop.coop.

Reskilling Group

The Reskilling group aims to spread practical skills that will be useful in a post-peak-oil world, by connecting people who do not have those skills to those who have them and are willing to teach them.

Reskilling is about the learning of new skills and brushing up on old/traditional practical skills, which contributes towards developing a self-reliant community, better able to sustain itself and thrive. Reskilling aims to give people in this community a sense of self-reliance, raise self-esteem, and of course there is also quite a social aspect too! Meeting new friends of similar mind, sharing, learning from one another, helping each other, and ultimately, passing on to the future generations what we have learned.

The Reskilling group will work in harmony with the other groups, directing people toward any existing or planned workshops or events being offered by the other Transition Norwich groups, or organisations outside of the Transition initiative, and to bridge any gaps where workshops are not currently available by providing them. Reskilling will help to promote capability, to prepare for an energy scarce future, and to allow those involved to feel empowered to do things for themselves.

The Reskilling group wants to make it possible for everyone in Transition and beyond to learn the skills they would like to know and need to live a sustainable life. This covers everything from knitting to jam-making, carpentry to cob building, any skill you could potentially think of.

In 2009 we were involved in organising the Transition midsummer summer party and we held magazine bead and material bag making workshops at the Green Christmas Fair in NR3, organised by one of our members. We also had a group excursion to the Weird and Wonderful Wood fair and had a go on a pole lathe!

Our current activities are organising workshop sessions on certain themes. In the spring we ran several 'textiles' workshops where we learnt how to knit, to crochet and to make rag rugs. This autumn we are going to be running some workshops on food related skills. These workshops are organised by a small group of interested people, our meetings are always put on to the calendar and everyone is very welcome to come along join in the fun, help out and contribute any suggestions you may have for workshops.

There is a list of skills required for a post-oil world in the Resources Section, starting with skills most people will need to know and broadening out to conside local and city services. These skills range from growing and cooking food from scratch (preserving, gleaning, brewing), to repair (everything from shoes to plumbing) and artisanal skills (tailors sharing resources, natural healthcare and low-carbon entertainment.We are a very open group and would love to welcome anyone who wants to share or learn any skills. Do join the online group to learn more about upcoming events and discussion.

Contact: Kerry Lane at kezereky_the_first@hotmail.com

Click here to view / join the Reskilling email discussion group (Google Group)

FILM: The Vanishing of the Bees - Tuesday 27 October

THE VANISHING OF THE BEES (U) is showing at Cinema City on Tuesday 27 October, 8.30 Director: George Langworthy. USA/UK 2009. 102 mins.

Honeybees pollinate one third of the food we consume, from apples to tea, but populations across the globe are declining dramatically. The causes are unknown, with theories ranging from poor weather and pests to pesticides.

THE VANISHING OF THE BEES investigates this potentially catastrophic problem through interviews with scientists and beekeepers, in the process asking wider questions about modern intensive agricultural processes. Presented by The Co-operative as part of their Plan BEE programme. Find out after the screening what you can do to help halt the decline.

For more information visit http://www.vanishingbees.co.uk/ www.facebook.com/PicturehouseDOCS Book online or on 0871 704 2053

The Strangers' Circle

The Strangers’ Circle is one of the Transition Circles established through the “Transition Norwich 2” discussions. Like Transition Circle West, we are a small group of individuals who are working to reduce our own carbon footprint and environmental footprint, coming together to learn from each other and support each other in this endeavour.

The members of the Strangers’ Circle all live outside Norwich, and mostly to the south of the city. (The word Stranger was used historically to denote people who came from outside of Norwich ).

So far we’ve had meetings looking at our home energy use, transport, food and “stuff” (that is, consumption of goods and services in general). We have been quantifying how far we’ve managed to reduce our footprint. Some of us were determined to reduce to below half of the average UK footprint during the first Transition Circle year (and succeeded!) and then work on further reductions after that.

Since July 2010 we have embarked on the sequence of discussions about Resilience and have begun a Wholefood Buying Co-op.

Because we live in geographically dispersed locations, some of us are thinking about seeding new groups in the places where we live.

For find out more about the group or to take part please contact Tully Wakeman tully@transitionnorwich.org.

Dragon Dreaming - Lord Mayor's Procession - 11 July

It's been a year of dragons for Norwich - a whole flock of dragons camped out in the Forum earlier this year. Norwich itself is symbolised by a dragon, so it seemed to be the obvious candidate for a pedal-powered creation to represent Transition Norwich in this year's Lord Mayor's Procession.
The Procession is one of the most colourful and best-loved events of the year. The TN dragon will be making its first appearance so do volunteer to join us on the night if you can. Back to the Streets, an Arts Council England funded project is bringing international and national artists to work with local people on an exciting element of the parade.

Dragon construction is taking place in Belona's back garden in Waldeck Road. As this bulletin goes to press she has a beautiful shape and is being fleshed out with strips of theatrical backdrop and she will painted in the Transition colours of green and blue. There will be a dragon rider who will pedal her on a borrowed bike trailer through the city street. Transition volunteers will have the opportunity to leaflet the watching citizens of Norwich.

If you would like to help in her construction or on the day please contact Belona on 01603 250122 or email info@transitionnorwich.co.uk. Lord Mayor's Procession. .6.45-9pm, Norwich City Centre.

NR3 Group

We’ve been meeting regularly since January 2009, bringing together like-minded people wanting to help the planet we inhabit, and the local community we live in.

It started in a local pub, over local beer, and through mutual appreciation of the humble pint and a desire to be involved in something important, the seed grew.

Since those early days, the group met most weekends in 2009 both to continue developing ideas and used the Rangers House on Mousehold Heath as a base from which a range of activities were organised including building willow benders, the equinox picnic and Earth hour. With the transition philosophy in mind, the group has developed many ideas for grass roots level community projects, with the aim to engage and benefit the local community.

As the group continues to grow and flourish, hopefully the seeds we have planted will do also, and we will blog regularly on This Low Carbon Life (the TN blog) to share how things are going.

Since the emergence of the NR3 group there have been a number of changes around the locality... A local artist put a directions sign between the Whalebone pub and the Church that said ‘pub/church’. This then led to a carol service took in the pub. The local florist has started providing biodegradable cellophane and another shop has started selling vintage clothes. Artists living or working in NR3 have started exhibiting their work in Anna's Farm Stores.

Meetings have taken place all around the local NR3 / Sewell area and have been in the Cider Shed and Whalebone pubs, Anna's Farms Stores back garden, Aladdin's Cafè on Magdalen Street. The meetings are advertised on the TN calendar and in Anna's for the non- computer types! They are fairly informal and tend to centre around a specific activity i.e. the Christmas fair or more recently the Magdalen Street Celebration which started out with a small gathering of interested folk and has turned into a huge event involving local businesses, the five ways to Wellbeing network, communty groups and lots more local people!

Contact: Helen Simpson Slapp at helenofnorwich@hotmail.com

Click here to view / join the NR3 email discussion group (Google Group) 

Communications Group

The communications group is a small working group comprised of people with skills relevant to the dissemination of Transition – writers, editors, event managers, performers, artists and designers. We are responsible for publicising what is going on within the initative to both Transition Norwich and to the wider public. We have also taken part in public debates and liase with the local media, including EDP,  Future Radio and Triangle magazine. In 2013 much of the work pioneered by the group formed the basis for national Transition projects, including the quarterly newspaper, Transition Free Press.

Our work has fallen into two main categories: written publications and events.

Blogs The two Transition Norwich blogs were launched on TN's first birthday party on October 4 2009. The news blog serves to carry up-to-date news and reviews and appears on the website’s front page. From 2010-12 it worked as a monthly news bulletin and reported everything that was happening within Transition Norwich. It now broadcasts relevant events and TN project news.

The TN blog, This Low Carbon Life, was a community blog that ran on a daily basis between 2009 and 2012. Over 1000 posts were written by 17 Transitioners from different groups within the initiative and showcased the personal lives and experiences of people undergoing Transition. The contributors took take turns to post, and past topics have included: flying, the industrial food system, books, sustainable livelihoods, fashion, green building, climate change and the seasons and feedback from our various projects and enterprises.

TN also takes part in Transition East’s blog which showcases Transition initiatives in the Eastern Region, the Transition Network Social Reporting Project and the national newspaper, Transition Free Press.

Events The communications group have helped organise many of the events within the initative and with the wider community. Appearances have ranged from the Lord Mayor's Procession in Norwich, to the Wave in London to Nicole Foss and Rob Hopkins at the United Reform Church. The communications team set up many of the talks, films and parties held in the primary years of Transition Norwich, and have also been involved in promoting the Magdale-Augustine Street Celebration.

Selection of pictures from the First Anniversary poster (designer Andy Croft)

The Norwich bloggers

The Wave, London

Flowers at the Midsummer Transition Party

Contact: Charlotte Du Cann on theseakaleproject@hotmail.co.uk

Click here to view / join the Communications email discussion group (Google Group)

Transport Group

Transitioners are committed to reducing their personal footprints by walking and cycling more; using public transport wherever possible; car-sharing when the car's the only way to go; avoiding air travel, whether it's for personal journeys or the goods we buy. As a group, we're campaigning for the infrastructure to help us to make the transition.

The TN Transport group aims to help to achieve a resilient transport infrastructure for Norfolk, working in partnership with other transport groups and local government - at city level, at county level and taking account of important links outside the county. In particular, we want to help reduce dependency on road use, both for private cars and for road freight.

We are campaigning for improved public transport within the city and across the county:

-better rail services on the existing lines, bringing disused railway lines back into service to improve connections between the market towns and the city;
- investigating the feasibility of train/tram services;
- better bus services, with rapid transit services linking the railway station, city centre and major destinations eg N&N hospital, the university, science and business parks; services that are clearly integrated, with reliable and easily understood bus times; affordable fares and tickets that can be used interchangeably on buses, trains and trams.

We encourage more cycling, with support for the City and County Council’s plans for more cycle routes. Several of our members are actively involved in events to promote cycling

We support the City Council’s proposals for working towards a car-free city centre.

We are also actively researching more resilient approaches to transporting freight – by rail and by water – and working with others in Transition Norwich towards reducing the need for travel via local sources of supply rather than national distribution of goods.

The Transport Group meets monthly, to keep up to date with the latest news and developments and to share ideas for further activities. We usually meet at Take Five in the city centre, by kind permission of their staff. Our members include cyclists, rail users and tram passengers, inner city residents who want to be able to walk around the city without being mown down by cars, city councillors, county councillors…. and people just looking for ways to cut down their road use!

Contacts: Jane Chittenden jane@janechittenden.co.uk

Click here to view / join the Transport email discussion group (Google Group)

Transport Group

Transitioners are committed to reducing their personal footprints by walking and cycling more; using public transport wherever possible; car-sharing when the car's the only way to go; avoiding air travel, whether it's for personal journeys or the goods we buy. As a group, we're campaigning for the infrastructure to help us to make the transition.

The TN Transport group aims to help to achieve a resilient transport infrastructure for Norfolk, working in partnership with other transport groups and local government - at city level, at county level and taking account of important links outside the county. In particular, we want to help reduce dependency on road use, both for private cars and for road freight.

The Transport Group will continue to campaign for a better transport infrastructure for Norfolk and Norwich in the light of the coalition government's report on its spending review in the autumn of 2010 and local councils' responses to that report.

We are campaigning for improved public transport within the city and across the country:
- better rabetter rail services on the existing lines, bringing disused railway lines back into service to improve connections between the market towns and the city;
- investigating the feasibility of train/tram services;
- better bus services, with rapid transit services linking the railway station, city centre and major destinations eg N&N hospital, the university, science and business parks; services that are clearly integrated, with reliable and easily understood bus times; affordable fares and tickets that can be used interchangeably on buses, trains and trams.

We encourage more cycling, with support for the City and County Council’s plans for more cycle routes. Several of our members are actively involved in events to promote cycling.

We support the City Council’s proposals for working towards a car-free city centre.

We are also actively researching more resilient approaches to transporting freight – by rail and by water – and working with others in Transition Norwich towards reducing the need for travel via local sources of supply rather than national distribution of goods.

The Transport Group meets from time to time, to keep up to date with the latest news and developments and to share ideas for further activities. We usually meet at Take Five in the city centre, by kind permission of their staff. Our members include cyclists, rail users and tram passengers, inner city residents who want to be able to walk around the city without being mown down by cars, city councillors, county councillors…. and people just looking for ways to cut down their road use!


Contacts: Jane Chittenden jane@janechittenden.co.uk

Click here to view / join the Transport email discussion group (Google Group)

Pix: Carfree city centre; Gridlock at Christmas

Heart & Soul

One of the things that makes the Transition movement unique is its recognition that we need to address our problems spiritually and psychologically as well as practically. Whether at the level of education and awareness, in group and community processes, or through commitment to a spiritual practice, it’s about changing consciousness as well as changing our way of life.

The first Transition Town in Totnes formed a group dedicated to this aspect of the work and they called it ‘Heart and Soul’. Taking our cue from them, we have formed a Heart and Soul group in Norwich. Our purpose is to explore how we can build inner resilience to help us all make the shift from a high-energy consumer lifestyle to a life-sustaining one.

The Norwich group has been meeting since October 2008. During this time we’ve explored what’s important to us in the context of Heart and Soul, and what makes us tick as a loosely-bound community. We’ve had some lively workshops and discussions on a variety of subjects, including Clowning, Authentic Movement, The Work That Reconnects (Joanna Macy), The Dreaming of Norwich, Soulcraft, the Endorphin Effect and Collective Intelligence.

We initially described the group as ‘Heart, Soul, Art, Culture and Wellbeing’ but have now narrowed this down to: anything relating to consciousness, psychology and spirituality. This might include, for example:

• bringing psychological and spiritual awareness to our view of self, community and the natural world.
• reconnecting with nature.
• creating community celebrations, and rituals to mark seasonal and other transitions.
• learning and sharing skills in communication, group process, interpersonal dynamics, and conflict resolution.
• expanding our capacity for presence, stillness, joy, creativity, empowerment, love, and aliveness.

We have formed a small ‘Pulse Group’ who are meeting regularly to help create an enabling structure for Heart & Soul work. We’ve decided that the group should be no more than six, and every 6-12 months we’ll open the membership up to new members.

We would love to hear from you if you would like to run or organise a workshop or if you’d like to join the Pulse Group.

Jo Guthrie - joannaguthrie1@yahoo.co.uk
Liz Day - liz@anniemoxham.wanadoo.co.uk (01603 628892)
Jo Mack - jomack@talktalk.net
Naomi Duffield - trust@mangreen.co.uk

Click the following link for The Story So Far - a narrative put together by a member of the Heart & Soul group, reflecting on the themes and concerns that we explored during our first year.

Click here to view / join the Heart and Soul email discussion group (Google Group)

Core Group

The core group has existed from the very first days of planning Transition Norwich - that is since January 2008.

The core group is not an executive, management or steering group. Transition Norwich is a gathering of empowered individuals who come together in various groups, and the core group doesn't seek to manage that process.

Rather, the core group seeks to "hold" or support Transition Norwich, noticing what's happening across TN as a whole, seeing where there are gaps, opportunities or problems, and looking for ways to fill those gaps.

This means that the role and feel of the core group has changed over the years. Between January 2008 and the Unleashing in October that year, the core group took a lead on raising awareness and preparing for the Unleashing. Then for the next two years the group was active in initiating groups and projects, from organising and supporting the first round of theme group meetings, to suggesting the TN2 initiative, the Resilience Plan and the proposed Transition Norwich Projects company.

From October 2010 it feels like the core group is entering a third phase that is more focused on process than content. That is, the group wants to work with other groups in TN on issues like conflict resolution, consensual decision-making, and creating activities as an alternative to meetings.

A principle of the core group is that its membership should change over time. In its first phase the core group members were self-selecting; in the second they were elected by TN's membership. In this third phase we invite anybody who has been involved for a while with TN and wants to join the core group, to apply to join. Applicants are invited to attend a couple of meetings and then assess their potential contribution to the group. If they want to stay, other members will choose to step aside in order to keep the group to a manageable size.


At its October meeting the outgoing members of the Core Group began the process of handing over to an almost entirely new group. Chris, Christine, Jane, Alex and Tully have all decided to step aside. We thank them all for all they’ve done in starting and supporting Transition Norwich over the last 3 years. Fortunately Tom stays on, while Jane and Alex have agreed to attend a couple more meetings to smooth over the transition. Elena, Kerry, Liz and James were the new faces trying on the Core Group for size, and we hope that some or all of them will decide to join the group and make it more valuable than ever to Transition Norwich. New members are always welcome, so if you are active in Transition Norwich and are interested in joining the core group then let Kerry know (kezereky_the_first@hotmail.com).

Minutes of the Core Group are public and can be downloaded from the "files" section of the tn-announcements google group page.

Pix: Tully, Jane, Chris and Christine at the TN2 First Meeting on June 16, 2009; Christine at the TN stall in the Forum; Chris with Celeste at the Lord Mayor's Procession; Alex feeding ducks.