The story so far…

Here’s what we’ve been doing over the last few months/years… It’s a surprisingly big bunch of practical actions to date.

SUMMER 2010

The Lewes Local Food Market

The Lewes Local Food Market was officially opened by Norman Baker MP on Friday the 9th of July 2010 and has been buzzing with activity every Friday since.

It’s bursting with fresh, local produce and has rapidly become the place to meet with friends and neighbours for a weekly shop and chat.

There’s a whole range of seasonal fresh fruit and vegetables, a huge variety of breads; cheeses, pies, cakes, flowers, meat and more. The quality of food on offer is excellent and many prices undercut the supermarkets. It’s a great opportunity to change the way you shop and support local food suppliers.

Lewes Food Market is run by a not for profit, Community Interest Company: Lewes Local, which was set up by Transition Town Lewes Food Group.

The 2010 Lewes Energy Fair 

The 2010 Lewes Energy Fair was successfully held for the third year. Stall were set up and included a wide rang of local installers promoting solar thermal, PV, heat pumps, wood fuel, good insulation for homes and also building or renting an Earthship. OVECSo gave out information on the Lewes District Council’s grants and loans. OVESCo also promoted a home energy advice service, which for a fee includes a home survey for a home report on how make you home more energy efficient.

The Council of All Beings Workshop

The Heart and Soul Group put on a workshop to celebrate the Summer Solstice, facilitated by Pat Fleming, a close colleague of Joanna Macey. Here’s what Alistair had to say about it: “We gathered to explore our connection to all living beings and, through a process of internal reflection and external mask making, a forum was created through which these beings spoke about their concerns for their habitat and reflected back to us humans our responsibility to the whole planet. Using imagination to view our current predicament from a different perspective helped trigger some surprising insights. We look forward to further opportunities for exploring this work.”

Open Energy House Weekend

The aim of the Open Energy House weekend was to help people to save money, protect the environment, reduce their carbon footprints and safeguard against future fuel shortages? People were encouraged to visit houses in and around Lewes to find out what others are doing, and what they could do themselves to make their houses more energy efficient and cheaper to run – as well as reducing their impact on the environment. 

SPRING 2010

Fish for the Future – We organised a delicious fish supper at Pelham House followed by a screening of ‘End of the Line’. It was a real wake-up call for the 90 people who came along and they left vowing to cut their fish consumption and always question the provenance of the fish they do consume. Eat local and seasonal food is the overriding message – as always.

Draughtbusting Sunday – We held a practical, hands-on, drop-in day focusing on preventing draughts in a typical Victorian terrace house in Lewes.

The Swopshop event at the end of February was a great success. There are now over 100 members swapping goods and services within the Lewes area. Take a look at the website (www.theswopshop.org) to get an idea of what’s being swapped, or come along to one of the Swopshop events. You’ll be surprised by what’s on offer.

Local Food for Lewes – With rising food prices & predicted food shortages we all need to plan for the future. Patrick Holden of the Soil Association came to Lewes to talk about building resilience into our lives. Almost 100 people (including a number of local farmers) attended the event and lively discussions continued late into the evening.

Village Connections – regularly walking the downs and talking the Transition talk.

Click here to read what happend with TTL in 2009

Click here to read what happend with TTL in pre 2009