TRANSITION Town Forres began in January 2008, with the inspiration of the wider Transition Town movement.

Forres is fortunate to have a number of very active and concerned people living there, who want to engage the community in rising to the challenges faced by climate change and peak resources.

TTF work with a range of local organisations, e.g. Forres Community Woodlands Trust, Moray Waste Busters and Forres in Bloom, in order to engage and share ideas as widely as possible.

The group is looking at practical solutions, and along with other Transition towns, are ensuring that their action is as positive and welcoming as possible.

‘Our focus has been on food with the establishment of the Community Garden at

Transition Scotland Support Case Study Series: Number 07March 2011

Transition Town Forreshttp://www.ttforres.org

Bogton Road and our Farmers Markets (once a month on Anderson’s playground), but there is also an energy project, a very active group sharing skills (called the Skill-Share Group), a food directory has been produced, we also show films about various topics and we have recently put more than 50 books in the library for general use.’ (http://www.ttforres.org, 22/03/2011)

Transition Town Forres would like to reduce the carbon footprint of the local area, to ensure it is a place to live that has low impact on the environment.

They want to raise awareness about the need to move away from traditional fossil fuel use, to more sustainable ways of living.

The many different activities that TTF undertake give them

a broad range of avenues for people to become involved.

Keen growers might decide to grow in the community garden, or get involved in caring for the garden’s selection of chickens and bees - not to mention the worms!People who are grocery shopping might use a market to stock up on fresh fruit and vegetables. Avid readers can find books related to Transition in the library, and people who are keen to learn or teach can become involved in the Skill Share group.

Having a range of projects in different areas allows people to get involved where their own passions lie. This means people are more likely to stay involved, and that the projects are more likely to develop as people become enthused.

FORRES IN FOCUS

KIND OF PLACE: Town and Royal burgh

WHERE IS IT? North of Scotland, on Moray coast

POPULATION: 9,000

INVOLVEMENT WITH TRANSITION Official Initiative (registered with Transition Network)

AWARENESS RAISING

Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org

CARBON//Film/Talks

TTF see awareness raising in their community and the wider area as a key component of engaging with the issues of climate change and peak oil.

The group has approached this in several different ways. They show regular films, and indeed the showing and discussing of films is one of the ways that the Transition Network recommend to get people talking about the issues.

There has been a home insulation scheme running, in association with the Energy Savings Trust, to help residents make their homes warmer and in turn, less energy hungry.

TTF also give talks about the issues and what they have done. These have been inspiring to several different groups in Scotland, as the lived experience of transition is useful to hear.

What are your reflections on giving talks?

‘All groups have been very appreciative. I understand from feed-back that many people find it to be both difficult to speak in public as well as being difficult getting a climate message across - much more support could be given on both accounts.’

Carin Schwartz, Transition Town Forres

TTF have been working with a local primary school to support them through an 8 week challenge on carbon footprints. Through the challenge, the children learned about what a carbon footprint was and how they could help their parents to save money by shrinking the size of their family’s footprint.

Initiatives like these are often good ways of engaging children in the solutions, as well as engaging a wider audience through the parents.

NEWSLETTER

TTF produce a newsletter bimonthly to let people know what is happening with the various projects. It also contains advice and information on a diverse range of local topics. The most recent covered Moray Waste Busters project who have a reuse project, provide supported training and environmental education locally.

KINLOSS SCOUTS

KINLOSS Kinloss Scouts were able to access part of TTF’s community garden, and used it to grow some food from seed. This helped them to gain team-working skills, growing skills and be part of a community setting. The troupe used the experience to work towards a Community Challenge Award.

VERMICULTURE

Vermiculture is the process of using worms to decompose organic food waste, turning the waste into a nutrient-rich material.The community garden has eight ‘worm hotels’ on site and a group of interested people who are looking after them.

LIBRARY BOOKS

TTF have provided the local library with books about different topics relating to Transition.

This provides a resource hub for interested people to access information which is easily accessible. The books may also reach a wider audience being part of a public library.

Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org

ECOLOGICAL EDUCATION CENTRE

TTF are working towards turning the Pavillion at Bogton Road into an Ecological Education Centre.

So far they have received LEADER funding, and Chairperson Marie Jaques, is doing a sponsored walk of the Moray Way, a local long distance path.

LOCAL PRODUCE AND FOOD

Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org

FARMERS MARKET Transition Town Forres hold at least one market a month. There is a farmers market on the second Saturday of the month.

If a second market is held, it has a community focus, with information and community stalls there too.

TTF were able to make use of some of the money that they received from the Climate Challenge Fund to purchase stalls and a trailer to transport them in.

They ask stall holders for a fee which can then go towards licences, insurance and other costs associated with running the market.

Having local food markets makes it easier for people to buy local food, but also encourages people to see and think about what locally produced goods they could

buy instead of getting their goods from a supermarket.

Often, people have a desire to support the local economy and to make their contribution to carbon emissions smaller, but don’t have the information or knowledge about how to do so.

A benefit of holding local markets is that they can become hubs where people meet. Information can be provided at a market so that people are aware of the other activities happening in the local area.

A market is still something that people connect to and so feels like a safe thing to engage with.

Buzzing stalls full of local produce and producers adds to the feeling of an active and resilient locality, which can also positively affect how people feel about living there.

SKILL SHARE

SHARING skills is a keystone in building resilient communities. It has several consequences, on top of actually passing on the skill itself. When people come together to learn skills from one another, they are also building community. People who learn about how to do something with one another create connections and support networks.Sometimes these enable the skill to take root, and sometimes they become more about the human connection than the skill itself.

TTF has a core group of people who are dedicated to sharing skills. They want to ensure that skills we used to know are not lost, and that the skills the community will need to sustain itself are fostered in the local community.

Current skills being offered are permaculture and growing, as well as traditional Romany basket weaving and blown egg decorating for Easter.

COMMUNITY GARDEN

Find a range of useful resources at www.transitionscotland.org

TTF have a community garden that is currently shared by 70 members of the community. The garden is split up into shared growing areas, called ‘pods’ which are generally enough room for four people to grow in.

The garden uses permaculture principles, a type of agriculture that uses design to make places that are more productive, which don’t pollute, and that work by having each of the elements supporting one another.

This is the basis of Transition in communities too, as permaculture can be applied to all kinds of systems.

The garden also has chickens, worms and bees to support the growing. The chickens help to till the ground. The worms will eventually have a home on each pod so that the worm cast can be used for fertilizer. The bees are there as vital pollinators and honey providers.

The idea of a community garden is that it increases knowledge across a wide spread of population. People who are new to growing learn from more established gardeners as everyone works together as a community. Hopefully this knowledge can then be taken out to more gardens and community spaces to make Forres a more productive place.

Were there any difficulties in setting the garden up?

The group’s experience was that finding land was difficult and expensive. To many groups the idea of a community garden is an inspiring one, but can become a chore as the reality of getting ground unfolds.

Try to have a few sites in mind, and find out who you will need to go to for planning permission. Good relationships with planning departments help, as does having someone on your group who can navigate their way through the regulations.

Don’t forget - there are other groups out there who have done this already and can help!

IN FOCUS

FOOD GUIDE

TF have recently launched a local food guide ‘Love Local Food’ to ensure that people have easy access to the information they need to source local food. It is seen as a good way to encourage people to make sustainable choices which are good for their health and for the world.

Their guide has also helped to inspire Transition Black Isle to do a similar thing in their area. TTF are keen that the guide be updated so that it always reflects the current overview of local producers and suppliers.