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Teign Estuary Transition ‘Food Group’ Meeting
Teign Estuary Transition ‘Food Group’ Meeting: 7.30pm Monday 24th May,
at the South Pacific, Regent Street, Teignmouth.
If you are interested in local food we hope you will join us on the 24th May
to discuss how we can support and increase local food production and
distribution among the communities of the Teign Estuary.
The Teign Estuary Transition Group are actively looking for land for
community use and are initiating a garden share scheme. Ideas around both
these initiatives will be shared on the 24th May and your input would be
very welcome. If you already produce local food for private use or for
distribution, we would love to hear what you are doing. If you are
interested in supporting new initiatives in this area or want help to
develop some ideas of your own, we would also love to meet you. If you just
enjoy eating local food – come and tell us about it. Whatever your interest
in food – we look forward to meeting you.
Successful screening of ‘Grow Your Own’
There was a good attendance at our screening of the film ‘Grow Your Own’ at the Carlton Theatre, and the audience enjoyed this gentle British comedy that showed some additional positive benefits of growing your own food. (It was based on a real project in Bootle that gives traumatized asylum seekers plots in a local allotment to help them develop a sense of purpose and self-sufficiency).
A number of people subsequently expressed interest in joining a new Gardening/Food subgroup of Teign Estuary Transtion and a meeting is to be held on 24th May to take this further. More about this shortly but make a note in your diaries!
Below is a picture the ‘4-Tier Growhouse’ kindly donated by Jack’s Patch that was raffled after the film.
Grow Your Own
Due to popular demand our next event will be a screening of the British film Grow Your Own (PG), organised in collaboration with Teignmouth Film Society. Following some refugees given an allotment on which to grow vegetables, this manages to be a genuinely funny and moving film made from the unlikely subjects of gardening, immigration and telephone masts.
After the film we will encourage informal discussion exploring local opportunities for gardening and growing some of our own food supplies. Anyone interested in knowing more about sustainability and the Transition movement is welcome to attend.
The film will be screened in the Carlton Theatre, Teignmouth on Tuesday 27th April; doors open from 7 for 7.30 pm. Entry is free; donations welcome. Bar and refreshments available. Local allotment groups will arrange displays in the foyer. There will also be a raffle for a ‘4-Tier Growhouse’ kindly donated by Jack’s Patch.
If you’d like to print out a copy of the film poster to display, a copy is available here.
For details of Teignmouth Film Society see www.teignmouthfilm.org
Review of gardening/local food meeting
Nearly twenty people came to the Rugby Club on 10th February for a varied evening programme around gardening.
Mary introduced the Transition concept, then Gemma from Newton Abbot Transition told us about how they got started with their community garden and the progress made so far. We watched an inspiring 10-minute film about their garden and were invited to visit (people work at the garden on Saturday mornings and Wednesday evenings).
Next, Peter and Marion from the Broadmeadow Allotments shared their enthusiasm, highlighting aspects ranging from social BBQs to shed-building and what a good antidote to stress working on an allotment can be. We were told that there are currently long waiting lists to get an allotment.
We then moved into a circle to discuss possible activities, such as garden-sharing for which there seemed to be great interest and models of successful partnerships, continuing to work with Eastcliff, and making use of currently un-cultivated land. Note: Helen subsequently contacted councillors David Cox and Alex Cross to enquire about likely availability of land for allotments/community gardening.
Local food event: 10th Feb
Are you interested in finding out more about locally produced food and drink? Do you purposely buy local food, grow your own food, or have or would like an allotment? Teign Estuary Transition is organising an event to build on the energy and buzz at the successful recent showing at the Carlton Theatre of the film The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil. We want to find out what local people feel about local food, how we could grow and produce more, and how we can get many more people interested in buying locally.
The evening will include:
- A short film produced by Transition Newton Abbot about the community garden they have created from scratch – and what benefits that has bought from the community
- A brief introduction to local allotments
- A chance to discuss with others your own ideas for encouraging more production and use of Teign Estuary food and drink
We will finish the event by inviting those who are interested to join a ‘sub-group’ to help take forward a local food initiative.
When: Wednesday, February 10th at 7:30 pm
Venue: Teignmouth Rugby Football Club, Bitton Park Road, Teignmouth
Cost: Free but donations welcome
Review of Cuba film screening
About 60 people attended our free screening of The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil in the Carlton Theatre, Teignmouth on Monday 18th January.
By interviewing different local people doing a range of different jobs, the film documented Cuba’s transition from a highly mechanized, industrial agricultural system to one of organic farms and urban gardens after Cuba’s economy collapsed along with the Soviet Union in 1990. Despite hardships and struggles, what shone through was the spirit of community and creativity as they learned to increase self-sufficiency and reduce oil use. As pesticide- and fertiliser-use fell, people shifted from sedentary office jobs to using bicycles and working in small organic fields and roof-top gardens. They became slimmer and healthier, seeing an associated drop in diabetes-cases. Lifestyles changed – as they pointed out, you can drive an air-conditioned tractor (with CD-player) for 12 hours but oxen work at their own pace then stop when they’ve had enough! Proud of their achievements, they explained that they hadn’t reverted to a primitive peasant society: they have several universities and now train more doctors per capita than the United States.
After the film Antony led an informal discussion, which explored our own opportunities to increase use of local food supplies and the possibility of garden-sharing, along with reminiscences from older people in the audience who reflected back to war-time emphasis on self-sufficiency. The evening also provided an opportunity for informal discussion over drinks in the bar. Donations and a raffle raised funds which paid for use of the Theatre.
Teign Estuary Transition 