Eastleigh Transition Network: 2011 Review

We believe it is important to reflect on the year as it helps remind everyone what has happened in the year, and looking back on our achievements and progress we have made. The below list is a summary of what has happened throughout 2011:

• 2011 marks the third year since ETNet started
• We have held four successful film screenings at The Point in Eastleigh: A Farm for The Future, Vanishing of the Bees, The End of the Line, and The Economics of Happiness. We hope to continue this in 2012
• We have held three fantastic workshops: Fungal Foraging, How to Make a Nest for Solitary Bees, and Natural Christmas Wreath Making. These have been fantastic successes with great turnouts. We will be running 6 workshops throughout 2012.
• We’ve held stalls at events such as Valley Park Woodfair, Pumpkin Festival, Bishopstoke Carnival, Swan Centre Eco Event.
• Highbridge Community Farm Project has hugely improved, with further developments made, and lots more people getting involved.
• A new field has been made available next to the farm for a Community Orchard, which will be an exciting new project for 2012.
• We’ve had a brand new website designed for us by James Crawford and Steve Marks. We hope you all like the new website, and we will continue to look for ways in which we can improve this. We’ve also just added a forum to encourage discussion and ideas that we can use to create and build future projects.
• We’ve kept you up to date with news, stories and links through our social media channels – Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
• We’re now using a new newsletter tool to bring you the latest monthly news and event updates. Sign up to our mailing list if you haven’t already.
• We’ve received funding from O2 Think Big and The Co-Operative, and we’ve received money from Eastleigh Borough Council and the Awards for All grant.
• We’ve been featured in the Daily Echo.
• We’ve started work on our new Gardenshare project, which will aim to connect people with land they cannot manage with people who wish to use land. This will launch in 2012.
• We had a fantastic talk at our AGM by Sara Osman (Food Co-ops Regional Advisor, South East) on Food Co-Operatives.
• We’ve made connections with the Urbane Forager, who has shared with us a local map of free wild food growing around the area. He has also started the Flash Foraging sessions which will pick back up again in 2012.
• We’ve made connections with Start UK, Slow Food Solent, A World of Furniture, Friends of Hocombe Mead, Southampton Scrapstore, Eco-Centricity, and Business in the Community.
• We’ve also made connections with the World Development Movement, where David Lane, our co-chair, took part in a talk about bringing climate justice to Africa. We’ve also helped with their stunt in lobbying Chris Huhne.
• We’ve strengthened links with Friends of the Parks and Bay Leaves Larder.
• We’ve also strengthened links with Eastleigh Borough Council, Chandlers Ford Parish Council, and One Community.
• A new book shop has opened in Eastleigh – Books for Free. This gives people to take books for free, stopping books from going to landfill.
• The Fair Trade shop that used in be in Southampton has now moved to Eastleigh, and is now called Shop Equality.