Keen community gardener and TTT “newbie”, Sel, provides her take on the AGM and 5th birthday party, a couple of weeks ago.  

Transition Town Tooting turned five on Monday April 29th and was celebrated in the Graveney and Meadow pub by various activists, organisers and volunteers. The seeds of this flourishing movement were planted in 2008 at Lucy’s dinner table and today it has not only branched out into several projects, but has a respectable rapport with the Council, local businesses, schools and of course the people who live in the community who have benefited from what we have hosted.

I am one of the newer volunteers and this was my first AGM and I have to say was a friendly affair and for anybody who is interested in getting involved in Transition Town Tooting, it was accessible and welcoming. I volunteer with the community garden and like some of the other volunteers, wanted to do so to meet other people, learn about how to grow food and to reclaim a connection with nature, which I felt I had lost since coming from the countryside to London. I have really enjoyed getting “green fingered” and would recommend coming along to anybody,whatever your age and experience. Or if gardening isn’t for you, there were other projects showcased on the night covering a wide array of green ideas.

The evening kicked off with a quiz, which tested our knowledge of both the local area and environmental issues (who’d have known orange juice had a higher eco footprint than a latte?) and the winning team’s trophies came in the guise of seedlings. The quiz was lighthearted, but also gave us an opportunity to learn more about where we live. It then progressed on to fifteen one-minute presentations of the various projects people from the movement are working on. These projects centre around sustainable living and well-being, and include an initiative to encourage green jobs, one to get school children involved in our flourishing community garden, one which focuses on reducing energy bills and projects on the arts and storytelling. As anybody from Tooting will tell you, we’re blessed to live in such a diverse and vibrant community and these projects reflected just that!

David Thorne and Belinda Sosinowicz were voted in to the TTT Co-Chair positions,and then we had cake! Baked and delivered from Transition Town Tooting’s own and shared among others as the evening progressed and we were all given the opportunity to meet new people, or catch up with old friends. 

It was an interesting, fun and informative evening and was great to see just how many different projects are currently running under the Transition Town Tooting banner and how people are putting their inspiration in to practice. Heck, whether you’re a “newbie” like me, or “old school” within the movement, the night was enjoyable and there was great incentive to come to future Transition Town Tooting events. A great man once said “be the change you wish to see in the world” and this may be a good place to start.