The History Of Oil

Our latest meeting at St james Church Hall on Thursday was to show the Rob Newman film 'The History Of Oil'. This is a thought provoking film presented in an entertaining half stand-up, half history lecture style. Rob challenges our understanding of recent history, especially with regards to the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations. The film succeeds in both it's aims of providing entertainment and information. Afterwards a discussion brought up a variety of issues concerning moving Transition Alnwick forwards and keeping Alnwick on the path of energy descent. Key issues brought up by the audience were planning constraints in conservation areas with regard to the installation of renewables, the use of the media to keep the Alnwick community informed about Transition Alnwick and the importance of remaining positive.

Next event: the relaunched Energy Group meeting on Thursday 16th July at 7.30 in St James Church Hall.

Food Group Meeting

The next meeting of the Food Group will take place on Tuesday 29th June at 50 Swansfield Park Road, Alnwick - 7.30pm. Bring along food and drink to share, perhaps thinking about local and seasonal produce. We'll have a picnic on the field behind the house if the weather is good enough - so bring a rug or a chair to sit on. If the weather isn't so good we'll have our picnic in the house.

Everyone with an interest in Food issues welcome. Let us know if you plan to attend, just so that we have an idea of numbers.

We'll be planning future activities including Pete's offer of a tour of the Roots and Shoots project at Alnwick Garden.

Happy eating - I'm currently eating rhubarb, spinach, radish and lettuce leaves from the garden and am eagerly awaiting the peas, broad beans and strawberries!

Border Green Festival

On the 4th July Berwick hosts the Border Green Festival which opens at 11o'clock at the Five Arches Playing Field, Tweedmouth. Transition Alnwick would like to make this an opportunity for us all to meet up and have a social gathering. We'll meet at the Transition table in the environment marquee at 12o'clock, or come and see Paul at the Equinox Energy stand or Ellie at the Time and Tide stand. Hope to see you there! For more information see www.bordergreenfestival.net

Date Change for Rob Newman film

The showing of Rob Newman's 'The History Of Oil', which is being shown with Rob's personal blessing and good wishes, will now be on the Thursday the 8th July. The venue will still be St James' Church, Pottergate, Alnwick - doors open at 7.30 with refreshments available. The film will be free, but we'd appreciate donations. After the film there will be discussion followed by an invitation to join us at the Market Tavern for a refreshing drink or two.

It's Official!

We've finally managed to get ourselves onto the official website of Transition thanks to some changes to the site to make it easier to update. We now have official 'Muller' status (as in we're mulling it over), but actually we're a lot further on than that and we're close to becoming an official Transition Town. If you'd like to help us get there, or just become involved in Transition Alnwick then send us a message via here or on Facebook or call Rachael. We've also got our next Film Screening of Rob Newman's 'The History Of Oil' on the 9th July, 7.30pm at St James' Church Hall, Pottergate, Alnwick.

Wild food walk and boiler

We all had a fab time this evening on a guided wild food hunt at Lee Moor Farm (thanks to Ian for the loan of the farm and Anna for the guiding.) Anna gave us a short introduction and a cautionary tale about foraging for wild food - there are plants that look very similar to ones that are beneficial that can harm people, so there is a real need to be careful. If you are as knowledgeable as Anna, though, this is no problem and she shared her vast knowledge with us and even cooked some of it afterwards! We were all able to try some nettle soup made from ingredients entirely sourced in Northumberland - the nettles were picked during the walk.

While Anna cooked, the rest of us took a look at Ian's biomass boiler which heats both domestic and commercial property at Lee Moor. The wood for the fuel is also grown at the farm. Ian gave us a fascinating insight into the pros and cons of what is actually a very simple technology in it's basic form, vastly improved with the boiler at Lee Moor. Ian is in the process of tooling up for a factory to manufacture biomass boilers in the North East, so if you're in the market for one you know where to go!

10:10:10 DIY Day of Action

The 10:10:10 campaign are having a DIY day - the idea is that we have been let down by the politicians at Copenhagan and we show that we are going to take action with or without them.

To that end, Transition Alnwick are planning to join in and do some climate change reduction work of our own. We are completely open to ideas - we could plant some trees, install some solar panels, insulate some lofts - we could do all these things! We'd love to hear ideas, especially if someone has some expertise in an area which could be used.

We're hoping to do something great, so watch this space!