Notes from first public meeting of Transition Shoreham by Sea – Mon 11 Feb

Notes of First Public Meeting of Transition Shoreham by Sea held Monday 11th Feb 2008

Our first public meeting was held at the home of Chris and Geoff Howitt . 15 people attended and all contributed to the occasion.

Awareness raising

Leaflets.
Alan Mair, our local printer has reproduced TT initiative leaflets at rock bottom prices and we now have plenty for street stalls and so forth. We are very grateful to Alan.

E-mail.
Moyra agreed to circulate useful links via the e mail list which now has 42 members

Films and Events .
We will be showing “The Man who planted trees” at the Ropetackle on Sunday 24th February at 7pm. We plan to attend with fliers ready.
Lucy and Geoff offered to liaise with the Ropetackle centre to see how and when we can show more punchy films such as “The End of Suburbia”. We have purchased our first films, which are available for private viewing. Moyra has the copies
We considered whether a film showing could be our ‘Great Unleashing’
The idea of a Recycle Exchange day was also proposed.

Press Release.
We have booked a stall at the farmers market on Saturday 8th March 2008 and Chris will write a press release for this event

Sustainable Shopping Bags.
Lucy offered to look into the possibility of producing a Transition Shoreham by Sea (TSbS?) shopping bag

Finance
We now have a treasurer, Steve Barnes who is organising an account with the Co-op Bank.
Ashley stressed the need for a fund raising event. Any ideas?
The idea of a local currency scheme (LETS) was raised as a possibility in the future.
Dave Stringer will investigate the chances of a donation from Rotary Club and asked for a speaker.

Food
The aim of increasing the availability of local, organic, fairly traded and animal-friendly food was discussed.
Jane suggested that we could use the stall at Farmers market to bring together: a) people who have no gardens and who would like to grow food; and b) people who are happy to have their gardens used by others to grow food – perhaps in exchange for keeping the rest of the garden tidy and/or sharing the produce.
It was noted that the local amenity tip now sells locally produced compost.
Jane has also offered to collate local green trader information.

Transport
Transport was only discussed briefly as time was running out - mainly car sharing schemes.

Energy
Hamish proposed that we look into the possibility of a water turbine in the Adur River to harness the power of the tides.
Nigel offered to discuss this with MP Des Turner who has an interest in the issue.
Moyra offered to liaise with Community Action for Energy (CAfE) as they can offer all kinds of help for such a scheme

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