Cafe in May: Local transition stories

a bunch of plastic frogs looking quizzical

Wednesday 15 May, Fusion Cafe, 7.30-10pm

For our next Cafe event, we’re hosting an opportunity for local groups to get together, to share the highs and lows of community participation and change, and maybe attract new participants or start new groups.

In Sheffield and the surrounding districts there are several different transition initiatives, as well as a bunch of other groups with a focus on local food, energy production, reducing waste, grassroots health initiatives, sustainable economic systems and more besides.

The evening will include some stories about the successes and challenges of local groups, followed by open space activities to allow a range of questions to be discussed. This is a chance to hear about inspiring sustainability-related initiatives in Sheffield and the local area, and meet other people involved in positive local activities, and we hope you can join us.

Fusion Cafe is in central Sheffield on Arundel St, S1 2NS – see directions. The event is free, but tea, coffee and light snacks can be bought from the cafe, and donations to cover other venue costs are much appreciated.

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Welcome!

Please note!  Transition Sheffield has closed down and this website is an archive. We thank all those involved who contributed to community events and projects under its auspices, and wish everyone well in their continuing activities to create long term sustainability in Sheffield.

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Transition Cafe – Positive Money for Community Resilience

‘Boom and Bust’ photo posted by ˇBerd on Flickr”

Thurs 14 February, Fusion Cafe, 7.30-10pm

A key cause of many of our social, economic and environmental problems is the way that money is currently created.

This Cafe event will be kicked off by Peter Verity from Positive Money who will explain hidden aspects of the cashless society and digital banking, and how they make bank bail-outs inevitable. We’ll go on to discuss approaches that can provide a more resilient economic foundation for our communities.

Fusion Cafe is in a central location on Arundel St, S1 2NS – see directions. The event is free, but donations to cover the cost of the venue will be appreciated, and tea, coffee and light snacks will be available for purchase.

Transition Cafe events are a great opportunity for linking up with like-minded individuals who care about sustainability and communities. We hope you can join us. 

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Winners of Sheffield’s 2012 Transition Awards

This event on 29 Nov 2012 exceeded all expectations – an oversubscribed, enjoyable, and inspiring evening.
Thanks to all who came, and particular thanks to Colette Cameron, Susannah Diamond, Cassie Limb, Yvonne O’Donovan, Chrystine Moon, Paul Newman, Yvonne Jenni Brooks, Rick Watson, and the venue at Burton Street.

And here are the winners* of Sheffield’s 2012 Transition Awards: (NB. You can also check out the full list of nominations.)

Energy and Environment: Sheffield Climate Alliance
Transport: COMAC Bike Project
Reuse and recycling: Sheffield Freegle
Food growing: Grow St Marys
Food outlets: Burngreave Food Bank
Wealth and Livelihoods: Portland Works
Education: Meersbrook Walled Garden Outdoor Playgroup
Wellbeing: Sheffield Healthy Walks
Cultural: Creative Action Network

* Selected through a non-competitive and inclusive process

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‘Streets Ahead’ Project – Sheffield’s Highways Maintenance PFI

Street tree in Sheffield

One of the things that Transition Sheffield does is to engage with Sheffield City Council about sustainability issues.  Here’s one example.

At the Transition Cafe in July 2012, Jack Scott, SCC Cabinet Member for Environment, Recycling and Streetscene, presented info about  the ‘Streets Ahead‘,project, which aims to ‘improve the city’s roads, pavements and streetscene’. This is essentially Sheffield’s highways maintenance contract, and had just been awarded to Amey.  People at the event raised a number of questions, and although Jack responded to questions, participants still had concerns about the impact of the highways maintenance contract.  For example, it seemed likely that a large number of Sheffield’s fantastic mature street trees might be felled in the immediate months, and the majority of those present hadn’t even heard of the project.

Following on from the Cafe event, a list of questions and observations were sent to Jack Scott.  Here’s a summary:

Why was the contract had been awarded to a multinational company, when this could be an opportunity to rebuild the local economy?  Is anyone checking to ensure that the environmental footprint of the scheme is as low as possible e.g. aiming to reduce energy use and reuse paving materials and timber?

What about local impacts of the scheme – how will the scheme affect flooding in the future, by changing water uptake at times of peak rainfall / snow melt? Will there be public consultation about positioning of lights, as these impact on both people and wildlife? And what about the Impact of tree replacement on nesting birds?

Finally there was a set of questions about biodiversity – How will tree replacement decisions will be made? Which tree species will be used and why?, Are contractors such as Amey aware of the campaign to ban neonicotinoid pesticides to protect bee populations?  And has the Council’s Ecology Unit involved been involved the project?

The outcome was a meeting between Steve Robinson, the officer managing the contract for the council, Graeme Symonds, Network Director for Amey, and Rick Watson, Saleema Imam and Christine Steers from Transition Sheffield and Friends of Burngreave Cemetery.

See the attached doc for notes from the meeting and answers to the questions raised.  We think that the Council and Amey have taken these issues more seriously as a result of the meeting, but we still want to flag up the project to everyone else in Sheffield.  You can check the project timetable/map to see when the Streets Ahead project is due to be implemented in your area.

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Sept 13 2012: Growing Sheffield’s Local Food Economy

Sheffield Food Festival logoSheffield Hallam University, 12:30-4:30pm

You are invited to celebrate Sheffield’s thriving food economy at this FREE networking event!

The event aims to create a vision to build on and strengthen Sheffield’s food economy. The event will allow participants to explore key issues in local food production and local procurement, connecting local interests across the food supply chain, and exploring sustainability, health and wellbeing, and the environmental impacts of food. Presentations will help to identify the potential benefits and challenges of working together across the private, public and voluntary sectors to grow Sheffield’s Food Economy.

For further information and to register please see attached flyer and booking form

We look forward to seeing you there!

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Sheffield’s 2012 Transition Awards


Celebrating Transition in Action Thursday 29th November, 7pm – 11pm

Postscript: This event exceeded all expectations – an oversubscribed, enjoyable, and inspiring evening. Many thanks to all who helped and came. Check out the winners in each category

Join us for a sparkling evening to celebrate groups working to create more sustainable communities in Sheffield: with inspiring local artists, the irrepressible compère Chrystine Moon, and special celebrity guest.

Our venue is the Burton St Function Suite, Hillsborough, Sheffield S6 2HH (a fantastic and fully accessible venue). See directions. Doors 7:00 for 7:30 start.

Tickets are £12 / £8 / £5 according to income. This includes a vegetarian buffet (hot and cold drinks may be bought at the bar). (£5 is our concessions rate, £8 will cover the cost of the venue and food, whilst £12 provides some payment to our performers as well. )

NB. Nominations have now closed for this year’s awards, but if you’d still like to see or add to our big picture of inspiring groups, see the nominations page.

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Skills Workshops

skills workshops

Fancy learning something new this autumn? Come to one of our transition workshops!

Setting up a repair cafe Repair Cafes are free meeting places and they’re all about

repairing things (together). You can find out more about them herehttp://repaircafe.org/ Join Gordon to learn more and talk about setting one up in Sheffield. Where? Quaker Meeting House When? 7pm Thursday 8th November Contact gordon.ferguson@phonecoop.coop

Chutney making Make some apple chutney with Ruth, using apples collected by Abundance. You’ll need to bring an apron. Where? Crookes When? 2pm Saturday 10th November Contact rudek@tiscali.co.uk

Composting Ever fancied making your own compost but don’t know where to start? Join Susannah to find out. Where? Burngreave When? 2pm Sunday 11th November Contact susannah@transitionsheffield.org.uk

All workshops cost £3/£2. Please book with the person running the workshop.

PS. Do YOU have a skill to share? Transition Sheffield would love to hear from you!

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