Hebden Bridge is the 223rd Transition Town in Britain!
The weekend of 29th and 30th May was a Great Celebration of things that already happen in our town and surrounding area. It was also a Great Beginning of using the Transition model to take things further.
The Transition Zone was run off the grid, without mains electricity. There were bands and djs on the Solar Stage in the street and bands and performers on the Hole Note Stage in the playground powered by people pedalling bicycles next to the stage.
In the playground you could paint a plant pot, plant up a hanging basket, have a go at pole lathing, help make a bread/pizza oven, bash a big apple pinata, sample some cider from local apples, take home native tree saplings or buy some locally harvested veg seeds.
You could see activities or displays of the work of CLOG (Calderdale Local Orchards Group), Treesponsibility, Calder Food Hub, Calderdale Organic Gardeners, Blackbark Woodlands and Steepfields Allotments as well as drink tea and eat cake in Cath’s delicious café. There were some permanent planters made in the school yard and these were planted up with vegetable seedlings and herbs.
There was plenty of interest for all ages. As well as face painting, clay modelling, junk modelling and other crafty activities, there was entertainment to be found in The Great Man Davey “juggling clubs underwater with a shark”. There was a ‘secret garden’ dome in the playground to visit and help create, and magic and fire juggling from Mike Hancock in the playground.
Also inside was a knitting workshop, with real and knitted cakes! And talks on food security and climate change. And out on the street Outta Place made cool decorated clocks from vinyl. There was a free shop called Real Life Freecycle where there was a steady stream of happy people taking things for free and others bringing stuff they didn’t want. Next to the free shop there was a living room set up with the film “The Story of Stuff” playing on a tv that had been transformed into a sculpture to highlight our consumer desires. In the Health zone there were demonstrations of different therapeutic techniques.
It was amazing to see all the different groups and activities out together in a town festival environment. Saturday’s rain was disappointing but it was encouraging that people still came and stayed around. And the newly planted plants were very happy about it.
On Sunday was we heard a speaker from Lancaster Transition Town, Jamie Saunders from Bradford Council, our mayor Robin Dixon and Christina from our Transition Town group…. and in the sun, on straw bales, with a hundred or more people, we were launched…
We adopted the model of setting up Working Groups. Groups in Food, Energy, Transport, Education, Health, Waste and the Local Economy all had their first meetings on Sunday 30th May. They all brainstormed sustainable solutions for Hebden Bridge in their specific area, talked about what made people want to be in each group and decided on something to do in the next month.