Shipley as a Transition Town. So what is it? Our interpretation:
An invitation to change our local communities at grassroots level with real action. The transition model is based on helping communities plan for the real concerns of climate change and lack of peak oil in the future. In practice, transition towns are so much more. The practical applications of this work boost communities enormously.
Lots of the work can help people save money and build relationships. It is all down to the people and what they can vision and taking small steps forward towards this vision. Whether you help with time, money or other support everyone can be involved. Inclusion is all. Our initial visioning includes:
Food: creating a responsible food culture, helping people set up small fruit and veg plots in their gardens or on local land, sharing surplus crops, working more with surplus food from local businesses, skill sharing cooking skills, food foraging, working with local producers. Skills : up-skilling people, sharing skills with the community everything from how to use the internet for getting better deals on day to day bills to how to transform a small garden into a veg plot, to how to mend your own clothes, how to bake bread and loads more. Time : a local time bank so people can swap their skills
Transport: could we have a bike share scheme ? Money : how about a local currency to ensure that money stays within our area? Education: teaching people the basics of recycling, upcycling and making the most of what they have. Sharing our knowledge and skills with young people. Local enterprise - creating a fund of money and support for interesting local start-ups to bid for (without the mountains of paperwork, hoops to jump through, real support for real action)
We want to take ownership of Shipley, it belongs to the people and we are the ones who can really make the difference. Get involved! :-)
