What we’ve done so far

Covid 

Covid 19 curtailed our activities in 2020 and continued to do so in 2021. Lausanne maintained Constable Community Allotment with a few selected volunteers, and Jenny continued to maintain the website and mailing list.

During this period, Transition & Permaculture Hull didn’t organise face-to-face meetings, events or activities. Our first event since lockdown was a Transition & Permaculture Hull stall at the Green Fair on Sat 29 May 2021 in Cottingham at the Civic Hall.

Constable Community Allotment was closed to visitors and Lausanne had been maintaining the site with selected volunteers. The allotment reopened Sat 22 May 2021, and the AGM was held Sat 12 June at the allotment, Constable Street, Hull HU3 3DF.

Transition & Permaculture Hull resumed its program of activities in June 2021, initially meeting on Constable Community Allotment, observing social distancing in the fresh air. We had a get-together on the allotment on Tues 8 June, and  in the autumn we hope to offer talks, film showings and discussions on aspects of sustainability, including permaculture.

Yearly Reviews 2010 to 2019

Since we became an official Transition Initiative we have written a review of what we organised and who we worked with or supported during the year. The reviews include information about who funded us at each stage. You can find all the reviews (2019 back to 2010) below.

What did we do in 2019?

Our activities for the year included :

  • Jan – New Year Social with Bring-and-Share Buffet
  • Feb – Film showing of Power Trip: Fracking in the UK and update from local anti-fracking campaign
  • Mar – Hull Seed Swap, organised in conjunction with Hull Food Partnership and Veg City Hull
  • Apr – AGM and a Talk by the local Extinction Rebellion group
  • May – Visit to urban agriculture project Rooted in Hull
  • Jun – Permablitz at Constable Community Allotment
  • Jul – Visit to Green Gardens in Beverley
  • Sep – Invited to a Mammal Survey at the Down to Earth Plot
  • Oct – Talk ‘The Story of the Woodland Orchard’ and discussion
  • Nov – Celebration meal at local venue to mark 10 years of Transition & Permaculture Hull

Our activities were funded by a grant from Lush,  which finished in August 2019. After this we drew on funds remaining in our account and asked people attending meetings to contribute to the cost  of room hire.

In addition to our monthly activities, we attended Emma Hardy’s Big Conversation on Climate Change, Hull Friends of the Earth’s Green Fair and The Waterline Summit organised by Marketing Humber Bondholders.

Constable Community Allotment won a gold and two silver awards in the Hull in Bloom competition in 2019! Congratulations to Lausanne and John and all their volunteers and helpers. The allotment offered a range of activities in 2019, which T&PH advertised and supported, including

  • Workshops on Grafting Fruit Trees and Green Woodworking
  • On-going sessions for completing the Roundhouse
  • a Big Lunch event in June, CCA Open Day in July and Family Fun Day in August
  • Pizza Days for local residents & invited groups
  • Children’s seasonal activity sessions – Easter Egg Hunt, Making Halloween Masks, Making Christmas Cards, Decorations and Presents.

Regular volunteering sessions on the allotment were supported by some of our members.

In 2019 our co-ordinator, Lausanne Tranter, delivered a number of courses for the Workers Educational Association (WEA): Three 10 week gardening courses Creating Healthy Gardens, Summer  in the City Garden and Autumn Abundance and a two-day Introduction to Permaculture Course.

We returned to the second Monday of the month for our meetings as this seemed to suit most people. The Transition & Permaculture Hull mailing list now stands at over 300 members, and the website is updated regularly.  Both focus on the environment and sustainability, particularly what’s going on locally.

We continue to be a group member of the Permaculture Association, and Lausanne continues as Permaculture Ambassador for the area. We are a member of the Transition Network. We are also a member of the Hull Food Partnership and Veg City Hull.

JP, Feb 2020

What did we do in 2018?

In 2018 Transition & Permaculture Hull organised

  • a Spring Seed Swap
  • two showings of the film Demain (Tomorrow) about sustainable solutions in agriculture, energy, economy, education and governance
  • a talk based on 10 ways to reduce your plastic use
  • a talk about Permaculture in your lifestyle
  • a visit to Constable Community Allotment in Hull
  • a visit to Green Gardens in Beverley

We also held our usual New Year Social and our AGM, both with a bring and share supper.

In association with Constable Community Allotment we organised a Transition & Permaculture Day in August, held at the allotment. This one day celebration of sustainability included talks/workshops on topics such as Soil & compost, Permaculture, Fermented food, Rocket stoves, Repairing broken tools, Green Woodworking, Making bath bombs & learning about ocean plastics, and Kid’s Art Work using allotment resources. There were Down2Earth, Green Growers, Transition & Permaculture Hull and Red Cross stalls, Allotment & Roundhouse tours, Music with Tenfoot Ukes, Tea and cake and Cob-oven pizzas. The sun shone and a good time was had by all. Lausanne Tranter, as Chair of CCA and Co-ordinator of T&PH, took on the bulk of the organisation, obtaining funding from the Permaculture Association and inviting the various participants.

We had a stall and gave a presentation at the Lush Hull Ethics Think Tank in June and had a stall at the Green Fair in October, both events adding new people to our mailing list. Lausanne Tranter, as Hull Permaculture Ambassador, attended part of a Permaculture Weekend in Beverley, targeted at young people (18 to 30) and made some new contacts.

We advertised and supported the events organised by Constable Community Allotment which in 2018 included

  • a talk about Pickering Rd Community Orchard
  • an introduction to Fermented Food
  • green woodworking sessions
  • a willow weaving weekend
  • two herbal workshops (Dandelion and herbal bitters tincture; Fire tonic)
  • two sessions for children (Halloween masks & lanterns; Snowmen & reindeers)

Ongoing through the year was the construction of an iron-age style roundhouse on the allotment offering the opportunity to learn the skills involved. Regular volunteering sessions on the allotment were supported by some of our members

In 2018 our co-ordinator, Lausanne Tranter, delivered a number of courses for the Workers Educational Association (WEA): 10 week gardening courses Summertime Greens and Making the most of Autumn, 7 week courses on Spring Gardens and Easy Cook Tasty Meals, a Forest Gardening weekend, a Composting Weekend and taster sessions on Making Jam and on Upcycling/Recycling.

Transition & Permaculture Hull applied for funding from Lush in 2018 and we were successful in receiving a grant to cover a year’s activities from Sept 2018.

We changed our regular meeting date to the third Monday of the month to avoid a clash with another local organisation. We transferred the mailing list to Google Groups making it easier to manage. Our website, which has been hosted by Lorna Walker since its inception, was moved in April and is now hosted by active member John Pickles. Thanks are due to Lorna for all the years of support.

We attended the launch of the Hull Food Charter, and supported the Hull Food Partnership in various ways. John Pickles is involved in the partnership, and played an important part in setting up and regularly watering the Wilson Edible Bed, in helping with the Freedom Feastival, and in the Hull Veg City launch. Transition & Permaculture Hull is now a member of the Partnership and we advertise their events, workshops and funding opportunities.

The Transition & Permaculture Hull mailing list now stands at 278 members. Like the website, It continues its focus on the environment and sustainability, and prioritises what’s going on locally. In 2018, besides advertising Hull Food Partnership, there were posts relating to Anlaby Community Garden, Bameen’s Aquaponics course, Beach cleans by the Deep, Biofuelwatch demos at Drax, Bite the Biscuit Neighbourhood Market, Info about Co-housing , Community Orchards in Hull and Beverley, FOE’s film showing of ‘Burned: are trees the new coal?’, visit to Densholme Farm & Green Fair, local Fracking developments, Hull General Cemetery Activity Days, films & talks at Ground, Hitchcock’s fundraisers, Hull KR project Food for Thought, Online courses about sustainability, Open Days at the Rainbow Garden & Inglehome Eco home, Renewable Energy Suppliers, Sculcoates Cemetery volunteering , TEDXHULL 18, Ten Foot Gardening project, Hull Vegan Festival, a local survey for the Living with Water project, and Zero Carbon Yorkshire.

We continue to be a group member of the Permaculture Association, and are part of the Transition Network.

JP  Feb 2019

What did we do in 2017?

 2017 was the first full year of Transition & Permaculture Hull, after its creation from Transition Hull and the Hull Permaculture Network in 2016.

We organised 3 film showings:

  • The Economics of Happiness (re-shown by popular request)
  • A Simpler Way: Crisis as Opportunity – a documentary about a community in Australia living more simply in response to global crises
  • Permaculture in Practice – looking at 4 different well-established UK permaculture sites

We held a New Year Social in January with a Bring and Share Supper.  Our AGM was held in April, and was combined with a Seed Swap and another Bring and Share Supper.  A visit to Bakersville Allotment was organised in May, a follow-up visit to this peaceful, supportive and  productive environment on the Newland Allotments site.

We ran  Transition & Permaculture Stalls at the Hull City of Permaculture Day in September and at the Green Fair in November.

We supported three one-day events which were organised and funded by Friends of Constable Street Field (FCSF). The permaculture focus of these events made them a great opportunity for our members and they were advertised to T&P Hull in lieu of a meeting in each month concerned. 

  • Introduction to Biochar Workshop – Matt Ralston gave a practical demonstration on producing Biochar using an open kiln design and explained its importance in soil improvement and carbon capture.
  • Forest Gardening Course – Tomas Remiarz, author of Forest Gardening in Practice, ran a introduction level course on combining trees with shrubs, vegetables and herbs to create a productive environment.
  • Hull City of Permaculture Day – this event was a contribution to Hull City of Culture 2017 and was supported by the Permaculture Association. Held in September on Constable Community Allotment, there were a range of stalls and speakers on aspects of permaculture, and the cob oven was used to provide home-made pizzas for lunch. The event was well attended, with people coming from across the city and surrounding area to hear out-of-area permaculture experts.

We continued to support the Constable Community Allotment, which our Co-ordinator, who chairs FCSF, is developing along Permaculture lines. T&PH members attended volunteer sessions at the allotment and helped with the organisation of the annual Family Fun Day at the field.

We advertised and attended other events organised by FCSF during the year – Tree Planting of 100 fruit and nut trees in March, Cob Oven Building sessions in June and Herbal Medicine Workshops which included Spring Tonics in March and  Winter Balm & Muscle Rub in December, both delivered by qualified herbalist Bryony Macfadyen.

Our Co-ordinator Lausanne Tranter continues as a WEA Tutor for the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA)  and in 2017 delivered a two-day Introduction to Permaculture in April and three gardening courses Spring Gardens, Summertime Greens, and Making the Most of Autumn.

Via the mailing list and the website we have advertised a range of local projects and activities, which this year has included Hull and Beverley Green Drinks, the Wilson Edible Bed, the Growers Network, Hull Harvest Feastival, Pickering Community Orchard, Beverley Millennium Orchard, Community projects in Hull supported by Environmental Management Solutions (EMS),  Down-to Earth Foraging Walks, Newland Avenue Yarn Bomb Recycling promotion, the mutual aid network event Abundance Hull 2017 and the launch of the Hull Sustainable Food City Partnership.

We have managed to do quite a lot this year despite not having applied for further grant funding. A funding bid will be submitted in 2018.  We continue to be a part of the Transition Network and a group member of the Permaculture Association.

JP  Jan 2018

 

What did we do in 2016?

We started the year as Transition Hull, with an informal agreement with the Hull Permaculture Network that we should merge. A funding bid to the Two Ridings Community Foundation for a Richard Weare Endowment grant was successful, and covered a year’s activity and any changes the merger would require. The merger was formalised at the AGM in April 2016 and the name ‘Transition & Permaculture Hull’ was adopted.  A new logo was designed by John Pickles and the necessary changes to printed publicity material, website and facebook were completed by the end of the year.

There was a focus on visiting local sites being developed by people interested in permaculture, to spread good practice and disseminate ideas. Five sites were visited during the spring and summer:

  •  Constable Community Allotment in Hull, a new venture at Constable Street Field. The allotment has received significant funding and 2016 was its first growing season. Run by the community organisation Friends of Constable Street Field, the project manager Lausanne Tranter is developing the allotment along permaculture lines.
  • Frith Farm in Beverley, a new co-operative farming venture that aims to provide sustainable, local, seasonal, quality organic produce for members of the farm. It is situated on land at Molescroft Grange Farm, and is in its first year of operation. It is run by Ben Allwood and Matt Turnbull who showed us round.
  • Green Garden in Beverley, a fifth of an acre at the back of some terraced houses in Beverley which is being developed as a community resource and includes a building called the Far Pavilion. Sally and Luke showed us round and Lausanne Tranter talked about permaculture aspects of the garden’s design and use.
  • Green Growers in Nafferton, a smallholding run by Dr Gwen Egginton who holds a PhD in soil science. Green Growers is a commercial supplier of organic salad, fruit, veg and herbs. Gwen makes a range of composts for various purposes, and is helped by volunteers through the WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) network
  • Bakersville Allotment in Hull, designed for people who suffer with mental health conditions and who receive a service from the local mental health trust.  The allotment uses gardening and related activities as treatment and therapy to aid recovery. Facilitated by occupational therapy and health care staff, founder member Jeanette Wood showed us round.

We held a number of meetings during the year including

  • Feb: A showing of some short films about permaculture followed by a structured discussion
  • March: Greener Lifestyle Panel where questions about living sustainably were discussed
  • April: A Seedswap followed by the Annual General Meeting
  • October: Those who attended the Permaculture Convergence gave feedback on the event
  • Nov: A showing of the Film More than Honey about bees and the stresses on them.

We also held a couple of social events – the Christmas/New Year party in January and a Bring-and-Share supper after the AGM in April.

We had stalls at the Vista Festival in July and at the Green Fair in November.

As in previous years we have worked with other organisations, participating in events and/or advertising them via the mailing list and website.

Friends of Constable Street Field

We worked with FCSF to organise the annual Family Fun Day at the field and were delighted with the attendance and the enthusiasm of the children taking part in the activities. Volunteer Sessions on Constable Community Allotment have taken place regularly on Saturdays at 12 noon throughout the year and we have advertised them and some of our members attended as volunteers.  We advertised and attended events organised by FCSF such as the Scarecrow Competition in April, the Open Day in August and the Herbal Medicine Workshop in November.

WEA Courses

Our Co-ordinator Lausanne Tranter is a WEA Tutor and in 2016 has delivered a two-day Introduction to Permaculture (October) and gardening courses Know your Spring Onions (Feb-March), Salad Days (April-June) and Making the Most of Autumn (Sept- Nov).

Boulevard Village Hall

T&P Hull use the Hall regularly. In March Hessle Rd Network withdrew from running the hall, and an alternative arrangement had to be found at short notice in order to keep the Hall open.

Wilson Edible Bed

We participated in the growing of vegetables on this city centre site, handing out produce to, passers-by and engaging them about ‘growing your own’.

The Growers Network & Hull Harvest Feastival

The Growers Network was launched in April to bring local growers together, run skill-share events and organise the second Hull Harvest Feastival, which took place in October, providing a free meal cooked from local produce.

The Crunch – Food, Health and Planet

This national initiative ran a number of events round the country in 2016 and the Hull event took place in June, attended by several of our members.

The City Herb Garden

This new project launched by Down-to-Earth held a Welcome Day in August and a number of volunteer sessions.

Mutual Aid Network/TimeBank event

Held in September this was a week of sessions about timebanking and mutual aid networks and included a session on the plans for Hull Coin.

Beverley Millennium Orchard

This orchard has been falling into neglect and with the help of the T&PHull mailing list, Food4Hull, the Growers Network and Pickering Orchard, a group of people has come together to support and maintain the orchard.

The T&P Hull mailing list now has 250 members and we continue to use it to advertise any organisation, initiative or activity which promotes sustainable living, with a particular focus on what is going on locally.

JP  Jan 2017

 

What did we do in 2015?

Transition Hull events

Three of the talks we organised jointly with Hull Friends of the Earth were given by Professors this year and attracted quite a sizeable audience:

  • Thorium – an alternative approach to sustainable energy production given by Prof Bob Cywinski of the University of Huddersfield in May
  • Whatever happened to Tidal Power? given by Prof Jack Hardisty of the University of Hull in October
  • The Value of Urban Trees given by Prof Roland Ennos of the University of Hull in November

 There was a spring workshop we organised in April:

  • Drum Making Workshop given by Open Umbrella Theatre, in which participants made a variety of small percussion instruments from everyday materials, and played them.

As part of the ‘Low carbon possibilities for the future’ series, which included the Thorium and Tidal Power talks, there was a talk in May:

  • Find out about Electric Cars given by Iain Hyndman of Nissan in Hull, with a chance to see and test drive the electric car he brought along.

In August we organised the annual fun day and a summer visit to a local grower:

  • Family Fun Day at Constable Street Field, organised with help from Friends of Constable St, was a great success and the weather was kind. The etching activities proved as popular as ever, as did the races, fancy dress, raffle and refreshments. The estimated attendance was 35 children and 25 adults.
  • Visit to Green Growers in Nafferton, an organic smallholding run by Gwen Egginton. We were given a guided tour, had lunch in the sun, then helped with watering and potting up. Some of us then went on the Green Garden Festival in Beverley.

The film showing in September was

  • Voices in Transition – an ‘action movie’ for Community-led Food Production, which tied in well with a lot of other food-related activities (see Working with others below).

Other events included the Christmas Social in January , the AGM & Bring and Share Supper in March and a December meeting with the Hull Permaculture Network to explore possible integration.

Constable Street Field

2015 has seen important developments on the field. The council has provided a tarmac path for public access across the space, and has introduced play equipment. Friends of Constable St Field now have keys to the vacated ‘builders compound’ which they plan to develop as a secure community allotment, with poly tunnels and some raised beds if any of their funding bids are successful. Lausanne Tranter represented FCSF at Breadcake’s Hull Soup #1 in December and was joint winner, awarded  half the takings of the evening for the project.

Hull Permaculture Network

Members of Hull Permaculture Network continued to meet regularly during its second year of operation, and some site visits were arranged. The network is co-ordinated by the Permaculture Ambassador for the Hull area, Lausanne Tranter, who also acts as Transition Hull coordinator. Lausanne worked for WEA to deliver gardening courses in 2015 and it is hoped she will deliver an Introduction to Permaculture course in the near future.

Working with others

Besides working with Hull Friends of the Earth to put on joint talks, Transition Hull has taken part in a lot of local initiatives, especially in the area of food.

We were part of a meeting organised by the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens in March, bringing together local community growers. It was here that the idea of a Hull Harvest Feastival took root, and we were delighted to support and advertise the event, which took place in October, and to provide a gardening stall on the day. We also contributed to the Wilson Edible Bed project in the centre of Hull, the produce from which was donated to the Hull Harvest Feastival, and we continued to support Food4Hull, the local sustainable food network

We advertised and attended the Hull Seed Swap organised by Green Prosperity in March and ran a stall there on Transition and Permaculture. The presentations at the seed swap were excellent, and included community supported agriculture, healthy soil, growing fruit, pollination and building roundhouses.

We continued to be a member of Hull’s Greenshare Network, promoted and attended the conference in March and ran a stall there. The presentation with the most impact was the Real Junk Food Project from Leeds; we also learned more about local projects such as the City Farm, Rooted in Hull and William Jacksons’ Tree Planting Initiative.

We were part of the Green Fair in November, organised by Hull Friends of the Earth at the Freedom Centre. Always a good networking opportunity, and source of new members, we ran a joint Permaculture  and Transition stall, attracted a lot of interest and made some good contacts.

2015 saw the creation of the Natural Foods Co-operative by some of our members and we were pleased to support and advertise it.  Some of us attended a meeting in Hull in May at which David Midgley from Schumacher North in Leeds spoke about the legacy of E F Schumacher and raised the prospect of a Schumacher sub-group in Hull. We promoted lots of other local events in 2015, including  Hull Green Drinks, Down2Earth’s Foraging sessions, the Open Green Homes visits, Fracking Information Evenings and a showing of the film ‘The Black Sun of Hiroshima’.

Ongoing activity

The mailing list has 234 members. The list and website provide information on local green events, initiatives and developments. There is an extensive library of green books/DVDs to borrow.

At the last meeting of 2015 we discussed the possible integration of Transition Hull and the Hull Permaculture Network and outlined the content of a funding bid to be submitted to the Grassroots Richard Weare Endowment Fund in 2016.

JP  Feb 2016

 

What did we do in 2014?

Permaculture

Transition Hull worked with the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA) to organise and promote a 2-day course An Introduction to Permaculture, delivered by Jo Atkinson in Hull in March. Feedback on the course was good, and the 20 attendees supported the idea of setting up a local Permaculture Network. This is co-ordinated by Lausanne Tranter, who was appointed Permaculture Ambassador for the Hull area for 2014 by the Permaculture Association.  The Network meets monthly for get-togethers and site visits.

In July/August Lausanne delivered several free talks at Western Library, entitled A Taste of Permaculture.  She and a colleague from the Network attended the UK Permaculture Convergence in September.

In November a two-day course on Cob Oven Building took place at the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust Wildlife Garden at Pearson Park, organised by Lausanne with the YWT and delivered by Simon Blackwell.

Transition Streets

During 2014 Fynn Hopper investigated the Transition Streets idea, where neighbours come together to help each other become more environmentally aware. We spent the June meeting talking about how this can work, aided by examples from successful projects. Fynn and Holly are currently trying to put this into practice from their new home in Worthing St, Hull.

Events

We arranged a number of talks, mostly in conjunction with Hull Friends of the Earth in order to maximise audience numbers.

  • Inglehome  by Richard Howarth on how he had converted his Hull terraced house to a low energy eco-home
  • BAMEEN by Dawda Jatta on the work of Hull’s Black and Minority Ethnic Environmental Network
  • My Low Carbon Life by John Cossham from York on how to live well without trashing the planet
  • Living Better for Less in Hull by Andy Paxton on the food growing and cooking strand  of this SEARCH project
  • Exposing False Green Solutions by Duncan Law of Biowatch UK on why bioenergy is not a sustainable answer to our energy needs

All these talks gave rise to substantial discussion and we would like to thank all the speakers for their time and expertise.

We showed only one film this year, Fracking in the UK, as a follow up to our previous showing of Gasland. Both films set out the environmental risks from fracking. Transition Hull supports the local campaign HEY Frack Off, and is a member of the coalition Frack Free East Yorkshire.

In August we ran the annual Fun Day at Constable Street Field, with help from Friends of Constable Street Field. The event adopted the tried and tested format of children’s activities, refreshment and raffle, and included races, fancy dress, glass etching and this year live children’s theatre from  Hull-based Open Umbrella Theatre. The attendance was good despite the weather.

We ran Transition Hull/Permaculture Stalls at the Green Prosperity Seed Swap in February, the Greenshare Conference in March, Full Flava Festival in Pearson Park in June, YWT Pearson Park Wildlife Garden at Avenues Open Gardens in July, Cornucopia Festival at Burton Constable in September and the Hull Green Fair in November. This enabled us to meet new people and sign some of them up to the Transition Hull mailing list, which now stands at 220 people, and to the newly formed Hull Permaculture Network mailing list.

Tipping Point Declaration

Transition Hull signed up to the ‘Tipping Point Declaration’ organised by the Kirklees Campaign Against Climate Change, in response to the 2014 report by the  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Funding

Transition Hull applied at the end of 2013 to the Cooperative Membership Community Fund and was awarded £500 in February 2014. This was specifically for activities on the Constable Street Field and included work on the permaculture design of a permanent vegetable garden, running the Fun Day in 2015 and promoting permaculture as an educational tool.

Networking

We continue to be involved in local projects promoting sustainability, and to support new and ongoing initiatives. By means of the mailing list we are able, not only to advertise our own events,  but to advertise and promote other local events, activities and organisations.

In 2014 these included BAMEEN Energy and Urban Agriculture projects; City Farm developments; Food4Hull Open Meetings; Green Drinks in Beverley; Green Prosperity;  Greenshare Network; ‘Giants’ performances about climate change;  Groundwork activities; Hull and East Riding TimeBank; Hull Edible Garden project; Pickering Orchard’s Wassail, May Day and apple picking dates; Sky Ride dates; Thornton Urban Gardeners; Thoresby Street Forest Garden; YWT Pearson Park Wildlife Garden events; sessions on Beekeeping, Chicken-Keeping, Guerilla Gardening,  Unusual Edibles, Wild Food Foraging.

Whilst trying to avoid political controversy, some mention of threats to the environment posed by Fracking, Biofuels and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations have also featured on the list this year.

JP, Feb 2015  v2

 

 What did we do in 2013?

Events

We organised 5 talks and 3 film showings open to the general public, with the aim of raising awareness of various environmental challenges,  the need to live more sustainably and the ways in which communities can take control of their environment.

Kate MacDonald of Hull and East Riding TimeBank gave a talk to us in February about the ideas behind timebanking and how the ‘give and hour, get an hour’ scheme works to utilise skills for the benefit of the community.

In March we had a meeting on Bees, swapping info on bees and beekeeping, and the following week showed the film ‘The Vanishing of the Bees’, a detailed look at the factors affecting the decline of bee populations.

We showed the film ‘Seeds of Freedom’ , charting the pressures on seed and food sovereignty from agribusiness,  and followed this up with a Seed Swap at the AGM later in April.  We also organised a kids arts and crafts ‘Scrappy Do’ workshop in the Easter holiday.

The film ‘Land Rush’, about buying up arable land in poor countries, was shown in May. Later in the month we had a meeting at which LUSH gave a presentation on their fresh handmade cosmetics.   We also held the first of two Barn Dances in May, the second one following in November.

Jan Boyd of Green Prosperity came along in June to tell us about this East Hull based project working with residents to save money on energy bills, insulate homes, reduce waste, grow vegetables and develop a community allotment, using substantial lottery funding.

To increase attendance at talks we teamed up with Hull Friends of the Earth for our autumn talks to deliver topics of interest to both groups.  Short reports of all 3 talks are on the Transition website.

Susie Greaves gave a talk entitled ‘From Chernobyl to Fukushima’ in September about the impact of nuclear accidents. She continues to research in this area and to disseminate the information to a mailing list.

In October Alan Hunton and his colleague Tony Burgoyne, volunteers with the Woodland Trust, gave a talk on the work of the Woodland Trust to promote preservation and enjoyment of woodland.  This was well received and attracted new members to the Trust. Talking of trees, we were delighted to note the William Jackson initiative to start planting a large number of trees locally, and we continue to support and promote Pickering Road Community Orchard and its activities.

Our coordinator Lausanne Tranter , having obtained a Certificate in Permaculture Design, gave a talk in November about Permaculture as a way of achieving sustainability following nature’s patterns. Earlier in the year we had worked with the Workers’ Educational Association to offer a 2 day permaculture course in Hull in March, but this unfortunately had to be cancelled. The course will take place in March 2014. Meanwhile, Lausanne has been appointed Permaculture Ambassador for the Hull area from 2014.

To promote Transition Hull and sign up new members we had a presence at Ella Street Festival,  YWT Pearson Park Wildlife Garden during Avenues Open Gardens, in the ‘Seeds for the Desert’  Secret Shed at the Freedom Festival, at Arthur’s Organics Open Day at Walton Street , at the North Bank Forum AGM and at the Hull Green Fair.

Constable Street Field Developments

Over the two previous years Transition Hull created a small vegetable patch and a wildflower area on parts of Constable Street Field. Hull City Council signalled willingness to allow the whole field to be taken over by the community and during 2013 a number of meetings were held with a view to setting up a community organisation, Friends of Constable Street Field. After litter pick, a clean-up day and a Residents’ Barbeque on the field, Friends of Constable Street Field adopted a constitution in July 2013.

Transition Hull continues its involvement by working with FCSF and in August 2013 we ran a joint Family Fun Day on the field, with refreshments,  raffle and activities for children including races, games, and glass etching. FCSF continued with planning meetings during the autumn, and there will be a planting of trees in Feb 2014 and a permaculture design for the growing area.

New local initiatives

2013 saw the development of several new local initiatives.

  • Greenshare Network: involves 60 members (organisations, individuals and businesses) in Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire with an interest in environmental issues including food, re-use and recycling, wildlife, climate change, carbon reduction, green spaces, community growing projects, sustainable transport and environmental education. Transition Hull representative – Lausanne Tranter
  • Food4Hull:  a network to promote existing food projects in the area, bring people together and explore food-related issues such as food security, food poverty, diet and health, food miles and food waste.   Transition Hull representative – Jenny Parsons
  • Hull and East Yorkshire Frack Off: a recently set-up campaign to highlight the environmental dangers of fracking, and which involves a number of individuals and organisations. Transition Hull involvement – Jenny Parsons
  • Hull City Farm The UK Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens is working with Hull City Council to explore the potential for a city centre farm as part of Hull’s City Plan. Following a consultation meeting, a feasibility study has been published. Transition Hull involvement – Lausanne Tranter

Funding

Transition Hull received a grant of £250 from the Hessle Rd Pram Race and Carnival Trust in February 2013. We submitted a bid to the Cooperative Community Fund in December 2013 and we are awaiting the outcome.

JP, Feb 2014

 

What did we do in 2012?

We maintained the full range of activities which we have developed over previous years and were successful in obtaining three grants this year to support this activity.  These were £250 from the Hessle Rd Pram Race Trust, £350 from Playscape in the Community , and £500 from the Community Futures Programme.  Our most expensive item of expenditure was Public Liability Insurance, which covers us to run stalls at events and deliver sessions at the Constable School Field Community Garden.

We organised and ran around 30 sessions at Constable School Field during the year,  continuing to work with children to develop the vegetable garden for the second year, and starting a new area for wild flowers.  We harvested some potatoes, tomatoes and sundry other veg, but our output was limited by the weather, and by the theft of some plants, particularly strawberry plants.  Despite the weather and a mowing disaster, we saw the first wild flowers make an appearance.  We also ran a very successful Fun Day for families in August, with lots of activities for children and refreshments for all. In October we took a small group  of children from the field to see the Rainbow Garden, which is probably Hull’s most well-established and inspirational community garden.

We showed a lot of films this year, and attracted a decent-sized audience to most of them. We started using the Lonsdale Community Centre for film showings, and this seemed to work well, and we had some good discussions. The following films were shown in 2012, most of which can be borrowed on DVD from the Transition Library, which also contains a growing collection of books on environmental themes.

Full length feature films:

  • The Economics of Happiness
  • Gasland
  • H2Oil
  • In Transition 2.0
  • A Farm for the Future
  • The Power of Community

Short films:

  • I wish I went to Ecuador
  • Growing Green
  • The Man who Planted Trees

Our regular meetings became monthly and moved to the Boulevard Village Hall after the closure of the Eagle. One meeting focused on mapping Local Food Webs, another on Green Energy suppliers and the Energy Saving Trust. Our AGM was held in March. We hosted a meeting at which students at the College for International Co-operation and Development, based at Winestead,  gave presentations on their projects abroad. These were located  in Zambia and Mozambique and included initiatives on solar power, biogas, farming, water pumps and education. Other Transition events included a Scrappy Do workshop for children during February half term and a Barn Dance with supper, held in November.

Transition Hull ran a number of stalls – at the Prospect Centre in January, the Vista Festival in June, the Hessle Rd Carnival and the Neighbourhood Network AGM, both  in September, and the Green Fair in November. These provided good opportunities to talk to people about the environment and transition, and sign up folk to the mailing list.

Various members attended conferences and training courses during the year.  The Trafford Hall community courses continued to be useful, and members attended ‘Fundraising for Environmental Projects’ , ‘Community Garden Network’ and ‘Food Co-operatives’. We also sponsored a member to attend a local bee keeping course. Our co-ordinator attended the ‘Local Towns, Local Food’ conference in Leeds, organised by CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) and Sustrans, and then used the ideas and material from that for our meeting on mapping local Food Webs.

We attended a number of local meetings and workshops for environmental and VCS (voluntary and community sector) groups.  The most significant were those we attended in connection with Green City Hull, where we participated in the VCS workshop in February  and in the subsequent Green Vision Summit in March. We were involved in the FCFCG (Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens) networking event in April, held at Densholme Farm, bringing together various groups from Hull and East Riding. We attended an Open Space meeting for West Hull Community Allotments and Gardens in September, held at Lonsdale Community Centre. In November we were participants at a networking event for the VCS where members of  North Bank Forum and HCC Partnerships Team outlined how support for the sector would continue into the future, and we made some useful contacts. As a result we will be working with the WEA (Workers’ Educational Association) to deliver an Introduction to Permaculture Course in 2013.

Transition Hull continued to maintain links and cross-membership with other organisations and projects working in the areas of environment and sustainability. We have worked with Hull Friends of the Earth, who have supported our events and run joint stalls with us on occasion. We support the activities at Pickering Road Community Orchard, including Wassail and May Day celebrations, as well as apple picking! There is a regular Transition Hull volunteer at the Thornton St food co-op ‘Fruit, Veg and more’ , who was sponsored by the co-op to attend the Food Co-op course at Trafford Hall. Links with Beverley Transition are mainly through the ‘Beverley Green Drinks’ get-together on the 13th of each month, at the Green Dragon. Links with Home Grown Hornsea continue through Paul Hanson, who is now working with Arthurs Organics on their veg box delivery service, which we promote at events we attend.  We support the Hull and EY Timebank schemes being set up, which are very much in keeping with the transition approach.

New this year is our Facebook site – thanks to Dave Coates for dragging us into the 21st century! We have seen an upturn in active membership during the year and we are going into the new year with a very positive feeling. We have plans to facilitate the setting up of a ‘Friends of Constable School Field’ to take forward the development of the field so that decisions about its use will be made by the local community and not the Hull-wide Transition group.

In terms of links with the wider Transition Community, it was unfortunate that no-one from the group was able to attend the Transition Network Conference in September 2012. We did however show the latest Transition Network film, In Transition 2.0, which gave a broad and up-to-date overview of the movement world-wide. The monthly Transition Network Newsletter has been circulated regularly to our local mailing list, and a link provided via our website http://www.transitionhull.co.uk/

JP, Jan 2013

 

What did we do in 2011?

It was a busy year for us, running our own activities like film shows, scrappy do workshops, barn dances and developing the Constable St Garden, whilst also working with other green groups in Hull, the East Riding and nationally.

We managed to gain two further grants to support what we do – £300 from the Tudor Trust specifically to kick-start the Constable St Garden, and £500 from Hull City Council Community Initiatives Budget (St Andrews Ward) for ongoing support of our activities, including the Garden.

The Constable St Garden is our newest project , and 2011 was our first growing season. We ran regular sessions on Saturdays and during the school holidays so that local children could become involved in all the range of activities involved in growing. Digging proved particularly popular! We established some beds and had modest yields of a variety of vegetables, began to establish a herb garden, and planted spring bulbs, onions and garlic, and raspberries and strawberries  for 2012 –  much of which was kindly donated to us. In March one of us attended a Community Allotment course at Trafford Hall to assist us in developing this plot.

Another local venture which got off the ground this year was Thornton Fresh Food Cooperative, the planning for which involved Transition Hull members. We also supported the planning application for an allotment in this area.

In February we organised the venue and arrangements for a two-day Introduction to Permaculture Course in Hull, which 12 people attended and which gave an insight into sustainable growing methods, and designs based on observation. Topics touched on included Forest gardens, polyculture, companion planting and the advantages of NOT digging!

Our spring programme of Film showings attracted a decent audience to the following:

  • The Age of Stupid (Feb)
  • No Impact Man (March)
  • The Vanishing of the Bees (April)

Our regular Scrappy Do Workshops, where kids can make things out of scrap materials, took place during the half term and summer holidays, plus a December one for making Christmas cards and decorations. We held Barn Dances in January, May and November with an experienced leader and home-made supper.

In March we worked with Friends of the Earth and the Green Party to set up a local Networking Event for Environmental and Social Justice,  to bring together the various groups active in this area. The key note speaker was Prof Gary Craig, and the event provided the opportunity for groups participating to present themselves to others.

After the local elections we wrote to all the Hull Councillors to introduce ourselves and our activities and events. We  gave a number of talks during the year, to Hull Interfaith Group, to residents in Nafferton  and to students at the College for International Co-operation and Development at Winestead.

We’ve kept ourselves up to date with current proposals in Hull, such as Energy Works, the Spencer proposal for energy production from waste, and Green Port Hull, the Siemens/ABP proposal for an off-shore wind farm facility. We support the Hull and East Yorkshire Credit Union as an alternative to international banking.

During the better weather we ran a number of stalls at outside events, including Hull Carnival in May, Ella St Festival and Hessle Rd Pram Race & Carnival in July, and Swanland Open Day in September.  We took part in the Pickering Road Community Orchard May Day celebration and members supported open days at East Hull Community Farm and at Densholme Organic Farm near Hornsea.

A Transition Hull visit to the Rainbow Community Garden in May was an inspiration to us, and we returned in August with a party of children from the Constable St area to show them what a mature community garden could look like, and to take part in organised activities like making wood-burned signs and glass etching.

Several Transition members attended a Get Your Hands Dirty day in June organised by the Federation of City Farms and Gardens and supported by the Coop. This was held at Bransholme Enterprises and offered lots of practical sessions, such as bee keeping and compost-bin making, and was a great opportunity to meet others and find out about Green Bransholme.

In July several members attended the national Transition Network Conference, held in Liverpool, and met active members of other transition towns.

The autumn proved a particularly busy time for green groups in Hull and we were pleased to see so much going on and be part of it. Raw Hull organised Wild Exchange foraging in September and Green Exchange film & networking in October. The Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens ran an October event which brought together different community growing initiatives across the Hull and East Riding area. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers held a Big Green Weekend event in October at Western Cemetery  on Spring Bank, and the annual Hull Green Fair, organised by Friends of the Earth, took place in November.

During the course of the year we developed some resources including the website http://www.transitionhull.co.uk/ and its events calendar, which allows us to advertise events put on by other green groups, and organisations whose local activities support the transition approach, such as the Skyride cycling events, Hull Warm Zone and Yorkshire Wildlife Trust. We have accumulated a small library of books on transition/environment and a collection of DVDs on environmental themes. These are listed on our website and are available for members to borrow.

2011 saw the establishment of two other  transition groups in the region, Transition Beverley and Home Grown Hornsea , by people who have been involved with Transition Hull, and we look forward to continuing to work with them.

We are going into 2012 with plans to  attend a course on Fundraising for Environmental Groups at Trafford Hall in January, and we are awaiting the outcome of a bid to the Hessle Road Carnival & Pram Race Trust for further funding (they sponsored us in 2010). We hope to celebrate 2012 as the Year of the Co-operative  in appropriate ways.

JP, Jan 2012

 

What did we do in 2010?

We were successful in obtaining further grant funding from Hull City Council St Andrews Ward, and a grant from the Hessle Road Pram Race Committee. This has been useful to fund public liability insurance to cover all our activities, to support any of our activities which are not self-funding, and to purchase resources for workshops and film showings.

Two of us attended a weekend Permaculture Course in Ruswarp, near Whitby, in February. This was delivered by Suzi High from the Permaculture Association and allowed us to gain an overview of the ethics and principles of permaculture, and gain some practical experience of designing and planning a small site for community usage.

Four of us attended a weekend event in Carlisle in September organised by the Co-op entitled Ethics in Enterprise. We learned about  Co-op support for renewable energy initiatives, including finance for community-owned wind farms in Scotland, and many other smaller scale community- based initiatives with an environmental focus which the Co-op supports through its Community Fund.

Two of us attended an event entitled Power, Process and Policies: Building a regional renewables future. Held at Bishop Burton College in September, it was organised by Humber Chemicals Focus and the National Non Food Crops Council (NNFCC). It was mainly attended by businesses, growers and researchers in the Humber region and gave an insight into research into bio-renewables  and development of products from waste materials by local firms.

Two of us attended the Renewable Energy Showcase organised by the Energy Saving Trust at the Ramada Jarvis in Willerby in October. This gave us an opportunity to chat to local suppliers of Solar and other renewable energy options and explore a range of insulation products. We also picked up the Energy Saving Trust’s excellent range of information leaflets about saving energy and installing renewables.

We organised seven  Scrappy Doo Workshops during school holidays, for children accompanied by their parents, where they were lots of scrap materials available to play with, dress up in and make into things.  Some of these workshops were focused on making a paper Dragon for Hull Carnival.

We took part in the Hull Carnival in May, parading the Climate Change Dragon made by children at the Scrappy Doo Workshops, and running a Transition Hull stall. We also ran stalls at the Princes Ave Vista Festival in June, the Hessle Road Pram Race in September, and the Green Fair in November, meeting lots of interesting people and making new contacts.

We wrote to all Hull City Councillors in February, introducing ourselves and offering to come and talk to ward meetings. This resulted in us giving a talk to Ings Ward in April.

We were involved, with Hull Friends of the Earth and the United Nations Association (Hull), in organising a Hustings prior to the General Election, at which North Hull Parliamentary Candidates could be quizzed about their policies, including their attitude to various environmental issues.

During the year members gave talks at Beverley, Cottingham, Hornsea, and Leven about the Transition movement and Hull’s local group. A planned talk to Hull Interfaith group in December had to be cancelled but will be rearranged.

In September we hosted a Permaculture Day organised by the Permaculture Association in conjunction with the Co-op. It was targeted at the East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire area and was held in the Quaker Meeting Place on Bean Street, attracting over 50 participants. Sessions included an opportunity to hear from local bee keepers, and how to set up a food co-op.

The opportunity for us to cultivate a small section of the field left after the closure of Constable Street School in the Boulevard area was arranged in conjunction with the Playscape scheme. We will be growing crops and some flowers in spring 2011 and will welcome volunteers.

A few of us have got involved in the Hull Guerilla Gardening sessions in the autumn, planting bulbs in public spaces.

We’ve talked about a scheme for putting people who want to grow food but haven’t the land in touch with people  who have gardens or other spare land they can no longer manage. We got as far as advertising it in Hull Eco but it hasn’t taken off and will need more work to get it going.

Two of us are on the steering group for the Goodwin Trust proposal to set up a community-owned shop in the Great Thornton Street area, currently waiting for funding to come through.

We’ve had regular meetings throughout the year, and these have included talks on Organic Gardening in March, Transition Llambed in April, Permaculture in May, Air Ships in June, and Transition Norwich in November. Our AGM was held in March.

As part of our awareness raining we’ve organised public showings of the following films

  • The Pig Business (Jan)
  • In Transition 1.0 (March)
  • The Turning Point (Oct)
  • Food Inc  (Nov)

Socially we’ve got together at the Barn Dance in September (with practice sessions in the weeks beforehand) and we held a Christmas Party in December.

There were about a dozen of us involved in the various activities above, plus we have a more passive membership of 50 on our mailing list. We would very much like to grow in size and accomplish some of the things we’ve been talking about. Meanwhile we’ll go on informing ourselves and trying to raise awareness amongst others of the challenges of reducing oil supplies and climate change, and community responses to them.

JP, Jan 2011

——————————————————————————————————-

page updated March 2021