The St Andrews Transition Roadshow: full report Instead of running an annual conference in 2014, Transition Network is running four Roadshows around the UK. The pilot took place in Lancaster in July, and St. Andrews in Scotland hosted the first Roadshow proper. The St Andrews event was hosted by Transition University of St. Andrews, who have been doing amazing work both within and beyond the University. It was a great occasion, and in this post well try and document and celebrate the event, and capture what you missed if you werent there. Day One (by Rob) The St. Andrews event started on the Friday morning with the Transition Scotland gathering, held at the Botanic Gardens in the ‘Glass Class’, a long greenhouse now used as a classroom. The morning brought Transitioners from across Scotland together to reflect, share and plan. As the Roadshow booklet put it: “Whether your group is going strong, is just getting started, or is somewhat burnt out, we’d love to hear your story as we pool visions of how we see Scotland transitioning to a resilient future, and plan how we’re going to achieve it!” That set the tone for the day. We heard stories from across the country, from groups thriving and acting as amazing incubators for all sorts of new enterprises and initiatives to those hanging on by their fingernails. One of the interesting challenges in Scotland is the Climate Challenge Fund. Several years ago, when it began, I remember Scottish Transition groups coming to the national conference and talking with delight to jealous Transitioners from elsewhere about this new government grant that was going to fund them to do Transition. A few years later it’s fascinating to get a sense of how this has worked. While for some groups, such as Transition Linlithgow and Sustaining Dunbar, it has enabled the patient and skilful building of a range of enterprises and REconomy work, it also had a downside. Groups that had barely got started, had little in the way of successful projects under their belts, were suddenly well-resourced, and time and energy went into projects rather than building the kind of resilient groups and social networks that Transition depends on. Then, after a couple of years, when the funding dried up, there was little to fall back on, and the groups floundered. Some of those groups are now finding their feet again, some have disappeared. Similarly dormant now is Transition Scotland, the national network. The morning discussed ways forward, the role Transition Scotland could play, and possible future directions for Transition. The afternoon was held at St Andrews Town Hall, and was a REconomy workshop, entitled “Re-imagine your local economy”. It wasn’t just about the new ideas the REconomy are promoting, but also about linking those in with movements and initiatives already underway in Scotland. The session opened with 3 keynote speakers. Transition Network’s Delivery Director Sarah McAdam spoke about where the idea of REconomy came from, how Transition Network is supporting it, and how far it has already spread. Mark Simmonds, REconomy’s Enterprise Advisor, looked at the scope and potential of Transition enterprises in a post-referendum Scotland. Philip Revell of Sustaining Dunbar, talked about their Local Resilience Action Plan, and what it has led to. This was followed by workshop sessions: on farming; making the most of opportunities for emerging enterprises, the role of resilience action plans, and the one I went to, led by Angus Hardie, on the Community Empowerment Bill, a piece of legislation so fascinating that it will be the subject of a future post here. After a break, I spoke briefly, and then it was into a choice of Round Table discussions. I went to one about Sustaining Dunbar’s proposed community owned business park, a fascinating, and slightly daunting step up for the group. After closing comments and a wrapping up, the event closed. The evening’s event took place at the Byre Theatre, the town’s theatre that had closed last year only to be recently taken over and reopened by the University. This was a talk by me, in an odd space, with a gallery looking down on me as well as the audience in front of me. I talked for about 45 minutes, and it felt like it went well. A film of it will hopefully follow soon. I really enjoyed it, and had a couple of very nice St Andrews-brewed pints afterwards. The second day was the Roadshow proper. As I then headed home on the 10 hour train ride home, I will hand over to Mike Thomas, Transition Network’s Support Co-ordinator, to tell you more, and leave you with a photo of the windfarm in the Highlands that I passed on the way home. Day 2 (by Mike) The St. Andrews Road Show is a bit unique as it was hosted by a Transition Initiative based in a University. Transition University of St Andrews have slowly been embedding Transition into their student community since they began. The Initi... buff.ly/1zlti…
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 17:51:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015