Solar Together from Charnwood Borough Council

Our local council are offering a chance to group-buy solar panels and battery storage: They do the hard work for you, even inviting several installers to bid for your business.

Full details here: https://solartogether.co.uk/charnwood/home

The Community Allotment – Spring has Sprung! An invitation to join us every Wednesday …

As the days pull out and the temperatures increase, we are once again back to our regular meets on a Wednesday. We are normally there from 4pm or so until darkness comes along and people come and go as their schedule allows. Anybody is welcome, from novice to expert, and we are pleased to report we have a no-dig (as much as possible), organic stance with our gardening. Growing season has started and it would be great to see you there. If you want any more details feel free to send us a message via our contact form and hopefully someone will be in contact with you. One or two previous messages may have been missed so resending a message now may be a good idea – apologies if that was you. A handful of small, personal plots should be available this year but we mostly use the space for communal growing. We’re a pretty friendly bunch and there’s room for a few more – we’d love to meet you.

Here’s a map showing where to find the Transition Loughborough Community Allotment.

Eco-Socal on 25th April from 8pm at the Boat Inn, off Meadow Lane, LE11 1JN.th April 2022

The next event we have planned in Transition Loughborough is another of the popular “eco-social” evenings.  This will take place on 25th April from 8pm at the Boat Inn, off Meadow Lane, LE11 1JN.  The eco-socials are informal meet ups for local people to get together and discuss eco-friendly issues, climate change and share ideas for events and projects.  They aren’t limited to Transition Loughborough volunteers – all are welcome to buy a drink (non-alcoholic available!), sit down with us and have a chat. In the past we’ve been joined by people from other local organisations, local politicians and even other Transition Towns members.

So pop along to the Boat Inn from 8pm on Monday April 25th 2022 and join us for some chat and eco-friendly inspiration!

Transition Loughborough Showcase Event 26th March 2022

We’re holding a showcase event on 26th March 2022 between 1.30pm and 3.30pm at Fearon Hall. This is a chance for people to come along and see what we’ve been doing, what we have planned and talk to people involved in various Transition Loughborough projects. Transition Loughborough has aimed to produce local, practical projects to help tackle the huge global issues surrounding the climate emergency. These have included:

• The community allotment, Potato Day, apple pressing, seed & seedling swaps and gardening workshops where we aim to help local people grow more of their own food,
• Repair Cafe events where we bring volunteer repairers together with people who have broken items destined for landfill to see if we can save them, and also transfer skills and knowledge about repair to a wider audience.
• Energy projects, which in the past have included solar panel purchase schemes, workshops and talks on energy efficiency and demonstration “open homes” showcasing various renewable energy generation, insulation and energy efficiency techniques and technologies,
• Bike workshops to help people keep their low carbon transport on the road,
• Courses and training to explain the issues behind carbon footprints and provide hints, tips and information on how to live a more eco-friendly life.

So if you’ve been wanting to find out more about Transition Loughborough, get more involved, have a great idea for a new project you’d like to push forward on, or ask us questions about climate change or carbon footprints, this is what you’ve been waiting for. Pop along to Fearon Hall on the afternoon of Saturday March 26th 2022 and get up to speed on Transition!

 

Transition Loughborough Showcase Event poster

Events on 26th February 2022

On Saturday 26th February 2022 we have a couple of events going on in Fearon Hall.

The first is an all day, face-to-face Carbon Literacy project course, funded by Charnwood Borough Council.  If you live, study or work in the Charnwood Borough Council area you can book on this course for a subsidised, accredited course aimed at helping you understand and tackle your and your organisation’s carbon footprints.  You can find out more and book on the course on our EventBrite page.

The second event is a “Seed Share” which takes place in the morning in the main hall of Fearon Hall. This is a second chance at seed swapping, in case you missed the first we held during a Potato Day a couple of weeks ago.  Once again please bring your old, unwanted or self-saved seed packets, pop them on the tables and then have a rummage to see what packs you’d like to take to try growing.  The swapping is free and it’s a great way to try growing new plants in the coming gardening season!

February Allotment Session this Saturday (12th)

Our final group session for the winter is this Saturday from around 1:30pm until four or so. We will be preparing beds for the new growing season, looking at a little more pruning and cutting back plus continuing work on our new composting area. Everybody welcome – we will hopefully have tea and biscuits on offer plus a chance to talk with other volunteer gardeners. Be great to see you there.

Here’s a map showing where to find the Transition Loughborough Community Allotment.

Remaining Potato Day tubers & seeds.

It was so good to be able to make an event of Potato Day and the Seed Swap.  Thanks to all who helped make it possible.

It was lovely to see friends again and the knowledge, ideas and info that gets passed around is what we have all missed.

We have some tubers and seeds available as follows :-

Tubers @ 20p each –

1st earlies – 10 x Casablanca,  87 x Pentland Javelin

Green Manure @ £1.50 pack (will cover 25 square metres of soil)

3 x Mustard White Tilney

If you’re interested in these please email transitionlboro@gmail.com

In person Carbon Literacy course on Saturday 26th Feb 2022

• Are you concerned about the climate emergency?
• Do you want to know what you, your community and the organisations you are involved in can do to tackle it?
• Do you want to help Charnwood achieve net zero carbon?

If so, a Carbon Literacy course might be just what you need!

After running a number of Carbon Literacy courses online during the last two years of the pandemic, we’re hoping to be able to do an “in person” course with the last of our funding from Charnwood Borough Council.  You’ll need to live, work or study in the Charnwood Borough Council area to attend this course due to the funding source, and it will take place at Fearon Hall on Saturday 26th February 2022 from 9.30am to 4.30pm.

Carbon Literacy is defined as “An awareness of the carbon dioxide costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis.”  This accredited Carbon Literacy course will offer a day’s worth of learning, covering topics such as:

• Climate change science
• Carbon footprints
• Social equity in relation to climate change
• What you can do to act – as an individual and at community level
• Strategies and skills for communicating action on climate change
• A chance to reflect on the impact climate change is and will have.

For more details and to book your place on the course please see our EventBrite booking page at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/carbon-literate-charnwood-in-person-february-2021-tickets-244356927147

 

Reminder: Potato Day and Seed Swap at Fearon Hall this Saturday

Just a quick reminder that we’ll be holding our annual Potato Day and seed swap events at Fearon Hall this coming Saturday morning, 29th January 2022.  If you’ve pre-ordered supplies for Potato Day2022  this is where you can pick them up, we’ll have limited quantities of seed potatoes for sale on the day on a first come-first served basis, and indoors there will be space to bring your old & unwanted seed packets, add them to the swap tables and then pick up some different seeds you fancy growing in 2022.

We’ll be there from 9am to 1pm – hopefully see you there!

January Saturday Allotment Session this weekend (15th)

And just like that it’s 2022! We hope everyone has had a restful festive period and January is treating you well. Tempting though it is to stay snuggled up at home, even in the depths of winter there are still tasks to do around the allotment. This in mind, we are announcing our third Saturday session there this Saturday (15th) from around 1:30pm until 4pm or so. The raspberries need cutting back, the buddleia needs a prune and hopefully a brave soul or two will cut back the apple tree, among other things.

Jason will endeavour to bring hot water, tea bags, sugar and milk. Bring your own speciality tea bags if you want anything different to brown tea. Martha will bring bread and jam. If you’ve never been down before you are most welcome (as are our regulars!) – our allotment plots are situated on the allotment site just off King George Road – map link below. Obviously this is weather dependent but the weather looks likely dry at the time of writing . Any more than the odd light shower on the day will probably mean we will change the date as the clay soil around the plot is difficult to work in really wet weather.

Here’s a map showing where to find the Transition Loughborough Community Allotment.