Green Drinks

hosted by Transition Town Dorchester is now a regular monthly event in Dorchester – the first town in Dorset to host such an event.

This international green social networking phenomenon offers a chance for people who are interested in environmental issues to meet socially for a drink and a chat.
Started in London in 1989, Green Drinks events are held regularly in hundreds of towns and cities worldwide.

Green Drinks will be in Tom Browns pub (a nice friendly & relaxed atmosphere) on High East Street, Dorchester on the first Tuesday of every month (all listed on our events calendar).

Green Drinks is a great way to make new contacts, catch up with friends or just hang out with people who share your values.You don’t have to be an environmental activist to come along – everyone is welcome whatever their commitment to green issues.

Organisers and all attendees actively welcome newcomers – try to commit to meeting new people at every session and not just sticking with people you already know.

There is generally no agenda or theme, Green Drinkers mingle and share insights and provoke and exasparate and inspire each other. There are moments of serendipity and a lot of “oh, if you are interested in X then I must introduce you to that person over there who knows all about it”…

People who come to Green Drinks each invite others along by word of mouth, who in turn themselves invite others, etc.

It may be OK to have speakers for 20-30 mins or so or to have a theme for the evening to help stimulate discussion, but the bulk of the evening is freeform and random – (if you would like to speak or do a short presentation please email info(at)transitiontowndorchester(dot)org in advance)

There is a very informal vibe and overall light feel.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Transition Towns put a strong emphasis on supporting local businesses and local food producers and as part of that drive comes the idea of a food buying co-operative.

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Aims
The Casterbridge Food Co-operative (CFC) has been formed to allow its members to order both organic and local food as well as other items directly from a variety of suppliers at attractive prices by buying in bulk. The benefit to food producers is that they can supply CFC members with bulk orders at prices which are higher than their usual wholesale price.

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Your account number
After we have your details you will be given an account number for trading with CFC. This is to help us tie orders and payments to your name, so please make a note of it.

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The ordering process

• You will normally receive your order form by e-mail
• You have a set period to place your order along with your payment up to the ‘last orders’ date
• We then allow a period for everyone’s payment to clear and be credited to the CFC account
• When we can confirm that we have received all the money, the order is placed with our suppliers
• The order is delivered to a single drop off point and made ready for collection on the ‘collect orders’ date

Co-op members should note that you have the opportunity to place orders in January, March, May, July, September and November each year.

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What can I order?
You can order anything from the suppliers listed on your order form. Some of our suppliers have websites, where you can view their stock and price lists. Other food producers have provided a quote to which they agree to supply CFC members.

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Payment
If you complete your order using the spreadsheet version, it will automatically calculate the total for you and add the 5% that the CFC charges to cover administration costs. Our preferred method of payment is an online BACS transfer, but alternative methods can be arranged if you wish to speak with a member of the committee. If you are writing a cheque, please make sure that you write your account number and month on the back.

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I’m not on the internet!
If we don’t have an e-mail address for you, your form can be posted out to you.

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Collecting groups
We suggest talking with other members in your local area to arrange a group collection.

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To Join the Casterbridge Food Cooperative please email the following details

1. Name of the person on the account:
2. Email address:
3. Address:
4. Phone number:
   

Please be assured that your info is kept confidential & will not be passed on to 3rd parties

- CFC committee

John MacDonald, Ian Reeve & Judy Edwards

Wednesday 29th September

The Transition Town Dorchester Energy Group has a regular meeting to informally meet up, share some food and drinks, discuss Energy projects, etc (it’s all very relaxed and not like your average business meeting). There’s further info about this meeting on our events calendar

About the Community Farm

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We are very please to announce that the Duchy of Cornwall have granted us a lease on 2 acres of land at Parkway Farm to the South of Weymouth College Construction Centre at Poundbury to establish a community garden and farm for Dorchester residents.

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We are just finalising details from the Duchy about any site constraints and then there will be an on-site open day to launch the project, gather volunteers, support and ideas.

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As yet we do not have a formal management group for this project, so we are looking for people to take on this exciting opportunity as well as getting involved in practical things.

Get your thinking heads on and ready the working boots!

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To keep up to date with what’s planned or to volunteer please email Ian:

farm(at)transitiontowndorchester(dot)org

View Transition Town Dorchester in a larger map

It all started like this.
Whilst at a Transition Town Dorchester Food group meeting I had this harebrained idea that it would be nice if Dorchester had a community farm. Inspired by the book "Local Food - How to make it happen in your community" (want to borrow it? Ask!) I thought I'd stick my neck out.
First the Google Earth search to find odd bits of land within the town boundary that would be half suitable (I found 5) then off to see who owned them. It turned out all bar one were owned by the Duchy of Cornwall! Next a quick phonecall to Denis Holmes at the Town Council to find out who to contact, then a call to the good Simon Conibear. I was warned he might be quite cautious and, well, less than helpful (not by Denis though) so my call to him started a bit tentatively, but as conversation progressed it was obvious he was intrigued.
"Put together a proposal," he said,"send it to me and I'll see what we can do".
So, with the help of Andy and Linda from TTD I drew up the proposal. All very official and as professional as we could make it and, on the 1st November last year, sent it in.
Just before Christmas Simon asked to meet me to discuss said proposal, so, with Jenny for support, we went to see him. He couldn't have been more helpful and supportive and that made the whole process much easier.
After a few bits of toing and froing, we settled on what is now known as Under Lanche Community Farm.
The rest you probably know - a site open day and a public meeting later we have the makings of an exciting project.
And the Duchy are looking to deliver topsoil and hard paving quite soon which will enable us to get started with some ground breaking (back breaking?) work.

See you all soon.

Ian

Hi All,
Eventually got around to starting the blog.
If anyone wants to contribute then just forward copy to me at rentman(at)mac.com and I'll publish. Please feel free to comment by choosing the (would you believe) COMMENT tag at the bottom of the entry.

Ian