Transport in Transition Quiz

Yes, the Transport Group is finally doing something!

The next Green Drinks, on Thursday 6th June at 8Pm at The Oakwood, High Streetwest, Glossop will be our in inaugural event, a quiz.

Please come along to a light hearted evening that will gently introduce some of the themes of why we need to change from carbon-fuel dependent means of transportation that destroy communities to something cleaner, greener and ultimately more effective.

There will be prizes, but not necessarily good ones.  We may have an old Jeremy Clarkson book to give away to whoever comes first, in which case the person who

comes second will get two Jeremy Clarkson books...

So come along and help launch and direct the Transport Group. We are interested in 20mph speed limits, alternatives to the Longendale Bypass, idea on getting more people to walk, cycle and use buses and trains more and aeroplanes less.

Your support and inspiration is all we need.

May 2013 Newsletter and Events

Well, things continue to happen, but as ever we can do more.

GITAC went for a dawn walk on 20th April. Luckily the unseasonal snow (possibly caused by the premature melting of the arctic ice) had more or less melted for them.

The Time Co-op ran a quiz on 24th April at The Oakwood. Despite some disputed marking (c is the speed of light in a vacuum - those three words are very important......) a good time was had by all and the other people who didn't win weren't bitter.

The Transport Group meanwhile remains stuck in the station, in need of a jump start, but will hopefully take off soon before I run out of metaphors.

If you want to help be involved in any of these groups, please get in touch.

May looks like being a bit busy though.

Firstly we've Green Drinks as usual, on Thursday 2nd May, 8PM in The Oakwood. If you come

along we're the ones who aren't knitting.

Then on the Wednesday 8th May, also at The Oakwood, we're showing another film! This will be Transition 2.0, a film about what other Transition Towns have been up to. We've been granted permission to show the film for donations only, so please come along and prepare to be inspired for a few pounds or whatever you can afford.

On 15th May we've been invited to an informal meeting with the Transition Sheffield. The plan is to car share there and come back the same evening, but the Sheffield people - who may be a little younger than our committee - have offered us a floor to sleep on if anyone wants to make an all-nighter of it.

We may also be having an Extraordinary General Meeting later next month as well, but we'll contact you separately about that.

Finally, something that made me think this week. Transition Town was founded partly on the fear that the end of cheap oil will be a major shock to our already fragile economy. However as Jeremy Leggett pointed out in The Guardian, Peal Oil isn't the only way carbon fuels can crash the banks. If fear of Climate Change means we never burn the assets the coal and oil companies hold, that will lead to a six trillion dollar black hole in the world's financial system.

That's another reason why we're trying to build a resilient community in Glossopdale.

Transition Transport

The Transport in Transition sub-group aims to campaign to get the people of Glossop less dependent on carbon fuelled transportation and getting about in a greener and more sustainable way.

In due course we will be looking at car sharing, helping people to make better use of bus and trains and considering reducing the use of aeroplanes.

20 Is Plenty

However the greenest method of travel is your own feet, whether in direct contact with the ground or pedalling a bike.

Three things make walking and cycling a pain in Glossopdale. The first is the hills, the second the weather and the third is the traffic. There's not much we can do about the first two except learn a bit of resilience, but we can do something about the traffic.

To start things off we want motorists to slow down, at least in residential areas.

The Gory Facts

• Britain has the highest percentage of pedestrians killed in road accidents in Europe
• 2011 saw a 3% increase in road deaths and a 12% increase in pedestrian casulaties

Now The Good News

• 34 local authorities, with a population of 8.4 million people, have adopted default 20mph speed limits on urban streets.
• Portsmouth saw accidents fall 22% when they introduced the scheme

It's Not About Speed Bumps  

One thing we can probably all agree on is that 'traffic calming' is not great. It delays ambulances, increases traffic fumes and fuel use as cars accelerate between bumps and it really annoys drivers.

For the same money you can make 50 miles of street a 20mph zone, with a much greater overall reduction in speed. Once motorists get used to a 20mph default speed limit they don't need the bumps.

The Transition Perspective

Fewer people killed or injured on the road is a good thing in itself, but Transition Towns would want this to be a first step towards people reclaiming the streets.

We would want to see not only more walking and cycling, but street parties, play streets and more imaginative use of urban space.

If you want to get involved, contact Martin at glossopdaletransitioninitiative@inbox.com

Inner Transitions

GITAC is a group which explores the personal and cultural dimensions to transforming our contemporary alienating mass-society: 

 

to break out of our individual and collective psychic prisons 

to empower collective activism 

to re-envision our social and cultural lives; and,  

to find new ways of living.

 

 Understanding and accepting of the decline of the capitalist/materialist age we are looking to a new age of resilience that is infused with fresh thinking, stories, songs and diverse creative initiatives.

 

Within a wholesome and compassionate community, experiences of fear, anger, grief and shame can be soulfully expressed and transformed.

 

Creatively engaging with the challenge of living in this complex time liberates our capacity for fun, joy and happiness.

   

So far, we have enjoyed nature meditation walks, chanting and watching inspirational films (to November 2012) and we are currently making plans for an Interfaith Service, a Summer Dance and a Veteran Tree Walk as well as developing a Glossop-based co-operative board game.

 

To get involved email  transitionglossopdale@sky.com

Glossopdale in Transition AGM and 1st Birthday Drinks.

A reminder that it will be held on Thursday 18th October at Rose Green Working Men's Club (upstairs), 4 Rose Green, Sheffield Road, Glossop. SK13 8QH. Please arrive by 7.25pm for meeting 7.30pm-9.00pm, followed by post-AGM social in the same pub.

Agenda:

1. Welcome & Introductions

2. Adoption of Constitution

3. Chair's Report

4. Treasurer's Report

5. Communications Policy

6. Election of Committee

7. Where do we go from here?

8. A.O.B.

Please consider standing for a position on the committee. All roles to be elected: Chair, Secretary, Treasurer, Communications Sec., Fundraising Officer, Social Sec., as well as a couple of additional committee members with no specific position.

Hope to see you there,

GiT Steering Group

Transition 2.0 Film, New Mills

Transition New Mills will be screening the film 'In Transition 2.0' in New Mills on Saturday 13th October, which anyone is welcome to attend.

If you have not seen the film and want to learn more about 'transition', what it's all about, what transition towns across the UK have done and find about transition initiatives from across the world, its worth watching. It's being screen at 4pm on Saturda

y 13th October at St George's Parish Hall, Church Lane, New Mills and entry is FREE!

According to the Positive News newspaper, the film "...takes the viewer through an emotional journey that effectively charts the evolution of the movement from its humble origins in Kinsale, Ireland, to an international movement that now attracts the attention of politicians and world leaders."

A trailer of the film can be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKN3RLkEGfM&feature=player_embedded

Annual General Meeting 18 October, Rose Green Working Men's Club

After a long (and wet) summer holiday we are back.

Our next step is an Annual General Meeting which, I have to formally tell you, is to be held at 7:30PM on Thursday 18th October at the Rose Green Working Men's Club, 4 Rose Green, Sheffield Road, Glossop, SK13 8QH.

Hopefully after the essential business we'll have a chance for a chat and time to discuss the different groups that will make up Glossopdale in Transition. At present this looks like being Inner Transitions, Transition in Your Street based in Old Glossop (which may or may not end up becoming Old GiTs), the Time Bank and the Transport Group.

However as Transition is all about mobilising local people for projects, what actually happens depends of course on you.