Transition Town Hastings
4/12/17
Approval of last minutes/Matters arising.
Old bathing pool- ken?
Cycling route- Laurie?
West Street Celebrations- TTH Swap shop made- £51.60
Admin-
Complete signed Constitution- Action-Is there anything to do on this?
Membership – Sarah trialing an option on ESC website
Projects-
Garden– New bench, Waiting to see about 2nd water butt- don’t know until end of next week- Action Chris to find out.
Plan separate meeting for gardeners to look at buying tools and what to plant in future. Action- Alison to ask for dates/doodle poll in Jan & set up quarterly garden meet at end of a session?
Action- Alison contact Natalie again
Karen can’t lead on garden on 9th Dec- Action- Chris volunteered to do. Thank you Chris!
Energy– free workshops- Scrappy Dog Draught Excluder, Making your own solar panel & Charger- Ore Community Centre & Broomgrove Community Centre. Running training modules look on Energise Sussex Website.
Action- Karen to promote them all more.
Sarah said if there are ideas for other workshops- let ESC know.
Energy clinic in Ore -Sat 9th Dec- Action- Karen is working there
Campaigns
Green Party Food Waste- see leaflet- Action- Chris to send us Peter Chowney’s correspondence.
Grow wild- sarah’s email?
Action- Sherry, Mischa, Richard etc to meet re creating a Wellbeing Hub at Silchester Rd. Funding from Mind?
Promotion
Facebook updates
Newsletter – someone to take over January newsletter while Karen away? Action- Sarah and/or Chris to do
Events
Thought café, Nov 24th, The Beacon- update/next one?
Mischa- Film nights, Pot Luck, Talks, food workshop around Mischa’s Table by Daphne Lambert (Green Cuisine Trust).
Mischa- ‘We the Uncivilised’ & A wind farm on boat film to look into?
Next -Christmas Green Drinks- 21st Dec- at Beacon- Action- Karen to promote? Get poster design from Scott G?
Swap Shop- next one?
Pot-luck in New year- Action- Alison to check with st Johns Feb 2nd?
Healthy Culture Workshops
Community spaces- Mischa enquired?
Central Hall (Blind Centre)
Salvation Army
Christ church
Garage
Action- Chris to ask re Concordia Hall prices
Fundraising
Mosaic- anyone want to do another funding app- Andrea?
AOB
Student Volunteering (Sussex Coast College)- filling roles, publicity etc. Students due to do placements next year March, April & June but will need Employer’s Liability, risk assessments, policies, inductions etc- to e want this level of responsibility and complication? We all agreed- no!
Podcasts – can anyone send relevant ones to Karen to use in newsletter etc
Next meeting-
When- Weds 17th Jan
Who is chairing?
Who is taking minutes?
Action- Sarah to book please.
Great news. We were successful in our application for a Sustainability & New Economy Grant from Quakers UK. We will receive £200 to help fund the development of our community garden at St Leonards Warrior Square station, specifically around the water collection.
There is no water supply close to the garden and we so for the past few years volunteers have been carrying buckets of water across the foot bridge to top up water needs over the spring and summer months. We’re really excited to be able to take control of the water supply by purchasing some large water butts for the north platform. These will allow volunteers to spend more time focusing on planning, designing and planting.
FILM NIGHTS
– New suggestions (from Linda):
We the Uncivilised (suggested by Karen) – showing in Lewes at “The Depot” on Wed 29th Nov at 20h – could somebody go and check whether it is worth bringing to Hastings
Issue of cost of movie rental, but this could be covered by donations or a small ticket (e.g. £3 per person)
As a side suggestion – Karen suggests sending a podcast with each newsletter, invited everyone to send through interesting podcasts
Location:
ACTION: Linda to follow up and check cost of screening for her suggested titles
UPDATE ON QUAKERS MEETING (Sherry)
OLD BATHING GROUND AREA (Update from Ken)
FOOD WASTE CAMPAIGN (Update from Chris)
ITEMS ON THE AGENDA
ADMIN
Complete signed constitution
ACTION: Sarah and Chris to finalise
Clarification of roles –Co-Chairs, Co Secretaries to meet separately to clarify division of roles
Monthly meetings: first Monday of the month, postponed by a week if it falls on a Bank Holiday. Next meeting on Monday 4th December
ACTION: Sarah to book meeting room for next meeting
MEETING WITH NEW STATION MANAGER (Alison) – see Appendix I
SECOND WATER BUTT
“DONATION PILE” at the garden (suggestion by Linda)
SIGN-UP SHEET for “Leaders” at the garden sessions
ACTION: Sarah to review dates for fortnightly sessions and update sign-up sheet
ENERGY GROUP MEETING on 9th NOVEMBER
COMMUNITY COMPOSTING
EVENTS
ACTION: Green Drinks: Karen to arrange with Scott and Anna (possibly again in Ore?)
ACTION: Karen to put together next issue of newsletter
FUNDRAISING
MEMBERSHIP
SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT HASTINGS
ACTION Update from Laurie to be put on the agenda for next month
FINANCE
AOB
By Clara Beaufort
Horticulture knows no such thing as time off. There’s work to do right now if you want your flowers and vegetables to enjoy lush, healthy growth when warm weather returns. Use the tips in this post as your guide to gardening success.
Start your autumn chores by removing dead or dying plants from your garden beds. Give the remains a close look-see for evidence of mold or blight. If you see such signs, then burn the infected plants. If you don’t, then add them to the compost pile so they can work for you all winter long. Remove any foreign matter and give the soil a good, deep raking or tilling to break up clumps and aid aeration. Taking these steps now will lay the groundwork for next year’s harvest, according to the experts at Mother Earth News.
Too much of anything is a bad thing; that includes mulch. You should add a thin layer to your beds on top of 1-2 inches of compost. Anything more can actually work against you by preventing the cold from killing mold and blight.
While you’ve got your hands in the dirt, remove the roots of weeds like Bermuda grass and nutsedge. Otherwise these pests can overwinter in your garden to menace you next year, according to the gardening gurus at DIY Network.
Hard winter soil can block rain and melting snow from nourishing the roots of your trees and shrubs, according to Better Homes and Gardens. So get the jump on frost by giving these plants a generous watering now. This will act like the hump on a camel’s back, providing much-needed moisture throughout the cold season.
Autumn is for fertilizing your grass. Turf can store nutrients over the winter, digesting them in a gradual process that will help to ensure greener results next spring. You should aerate your lawn before winter cold sets in.
Plants like hairy vetch and cereal rye can safeguard your soil over a long, severe winter, making them good choices for cover crops. Just make sure you till them into the ground next spring before they go to seed. This is a favorite trick of organic gardeners, according to Rodales. The seeds are small and even modest rainfall can help to establish them in the soil, making this idea almost effortless to implement.
The term “hardscape” refers to stone walkways, retaining walls, and other non-organic elements of a garden or landscape design. While less fragile than living plants, these structures do need annual care. This should include:
Performing these needed steps will protect your garden and your landscape features from winter’s wrath. So give it your best, then brush off the dirt off your pants and start planning for next spring.
Guest blogger: Clara Beaufort
Join Transition Town Hastings and Energise Sussex Coast for an exciting evening featuring two writers with their eyes firmly fixed on climate change, the Anthropocene and, of course, language. Nicholas Royle and Alex Lockwood will be reading from their recently published books and will take questions around the topics discussed. The Beacon will also open their kitchen for a special vegan dinner that can be bought after when the conversation can continue.
See the event page for more details and a link to book tickets.
Ore Community Land Trust (OCLT) has a stated purpose of “Seeking to acquire land in the Upper Ore Valley to save and enhance urban woodland and green space for community use and to protect animal habitat”.
OCLT was set up in 2009 and is now registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). This widens their scope as they are keen to take on other green spaces and woodland in the Ore Valley, although their primary aim is to bring Speckled Wood into community ownership.
The organisation’s recent AGM reported the following activities:
1) HBC is planning to transfer the green spaces in the Ore Valley over to OCLT.
2) OCLT are in the process of buying a container as a volunteer base in Speckled Wood. They need more volunteers to support this.
3) OCLT are working with TCV to organise some green gyms in Speckled Wood. The first one will be for women.
A number of local community groups working on issues relating to transport and the environment have been looking at ways of sharing information, working collaboratively and to act as a focal point for consultation and engagement on matters related to sustainable transport with other public and private bodies. more “Hastings Sustainable Transport Forum”
Gardening is a favorite pastime for many people, but it’s not just a hobby that yields pretty results; it’s also a great way to get in shape and improve your mental health at the same time.
Working in the sunshine, creating something beautiful that also has tangible rewards, and doing something physical after working in an office or other fairly inactive environment can have many benefits for your health, not the least of which is the fact that you get in a workout every time you go into the garden. Bending, kneeling, stretching, weeding, watering, planting, and reaping all take a measure of physical strength and endurance and allow you to work several muscle groups at once, which makes it a great activity for those living with arthritis or joint pain because you can customize your movements and only do as much as your body will let you.
Of course, having a garden also benefits the planet in many ways, so you really can’t go wrong. If you’ve never thought of yourself as someone with a green thumb, now may be the time to reconsider and get to planting. Here are some of the best benefits of having a garden and tending it.
Working outside in the sunshine gives you a boost of vitamin D, which has been shown in studies to help with stress, depression and other mood disorders. Gardening allows for plenty of fresh air while giving you the option to work only as hard as you want, so it can be done by just about anyone, regardless of their abilities or mobility concerns.
If you choose to plant edibles in your garden, pick things you know you’ll eat so that nothing goes to waste. Tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, and peppers are all great options that are relatively easy to grow depending on your climate, and you can harvest quite a few of them. Think about foods that you can grow nearly year-round, as well; beans, broccoli, turnips, and squash are great choices for a fall harvest.
If you’re interested in year-round crops, you might also consider building a solar greenhouse that will help you keep your plants healthy and abundant during all kinds of weather. Make sure you have the space in your yard and check with the city to see if you need a permit to build.
Many people who garden report a positive boost in their mental health, especially people who spend a lot of time in an office setting or don’t get to work with their hands much. There’s something relaxing about working in the dirt and knowing which move comes next, spending time choosing the right plants and watching them grow under your care, and it can help boost your self-esteem, as well.
Seniors who garden are more likely to battle the risk of Alzheimer’s and other cognitive function disorders because the act of working outdoors and planting helps the brain stay active and vital. Not only that, but many studies have shown that people who work in the garden have a reduced risk of stroke.
Remember that gardening can include heavy lifting and other physical work, so ask for help if you need it. Always wear sunblock and wear light-colored layers of clothing in the summer to stay cool. Being prepared and careful will help you get the most benefits out of working in the dirt.
Maria Cannon © 2017