Woohoo! Christmassy market and wreath workshops at Ilford pop up green market 9 December

We are delighted to be ending 2017 with a fabulous, cosy, friendly and slightly different Pop Up Green market in the Centre of Ilford, Salvation Army, 15 Clements Rd, IG1 1BH.

Opening at 10am, the Ilford Recycles bike team will be selling and mending bikes for a while before dressing up as Santas and going off for a Santa bike ride at 12.45.  🙂 See flyer below

Stalls: From 10-2pm there will be crafts/home-made stalls,  Mel Organics home made beauty products, recycled goods, bric a brac and more.

Food: Throughout, delicious, wintry, warm veggie food, cakes and drinks.

Ongoing workshops: The Commonwealth Gardeners will be running wreath making workshops and selling wreaths. We will also have ongoing repairs from our intrepid duo Hamant and Dilip who will try their best to mend your stuff, so you don’t need to buy another.

At 11am we have a Do December Differently workshop for an hour or so with ideas about how to make your Christmas (and festivals generally) less consumerist.  It will be hands on.

Warm welcome guaranteed and probably more workshops and activities too!

Please do help us promote this, and bring friends and family along.  For more info contact Ilford Transition Town: email hannunna@yahoo.com or text/ring 07957 534908 or 07985 540786.

A Work in Progress

This gallery contains 5 photos.

Originally posted on drowning in stuff:
I’m not a technologically savvy individual; I’ve never used WhatsApp, I’m generally un-selfied and I mostly use my mobile for making phone calls. However, five months ago I watched a Ted Talk that convinced…

November Ilford Green Pop Up market and cafe – workshops galore!

Ilford’s funky community environmental hub every 2nd Saturday

• Saturday 11th November 10-2pm
• Ilford Recycles, Salvation Army, 15 Clements Road, IG1 1BH

Come along to support some fabulous local green businesses, crafts people, community stalls, start up businesses….: Ilford Recycles,  Skillademy and the Ilford Transition community cafe.

Join and enjoy Redbridge skill sharing and workshops:

• Bring your broken bits & bobs and electricals and see if Hament  and Dilip can mend them  (free) or get your bike repaired/serviced by Ilford Recycles

Other workshops/activities on offer (times to be confirmed and updated here)

• 11am: making bird seed balls and how to look after winter birds with Commonwealth Gardeners
• 12pm: Making sturdy shopping bags with cardboard! Led by Catherine Daniel, a campaigner against plastic bags
• 1pm: Up cycling crafts with Habiba of Give and Take stall
• Youtube clip of the month with Sobia.

And of course enjoy the market and cafe  …..

• Browse the stalls:  natural cosmetics, jewelry,  upcycled crafts, cards, plants, bric a brac, bikes…
• And buy homemade cakes, healthy veggie meals and fresh Ilford herb teas from the community cafe.

Celebrate and taste Social Enterprise Saturday at Ilford Green Pop Up market 14 Oct 10-2 pm

Ilford’s monthly community and environmental hub, market & cafe is leading on Redbridge celebrations of  Social Saturday 2017.

Come along to support some fabulous, local not for profit businesses: Ilford Recycles,  Organic Ilford, Skillademy and the Ilford Transition community cafe.

Join and enjoy Redbridge skill sharing and workshops:

• Bring your broken bits & bobs and electricals and see if Hament  and Dilip can mend them  (free) or get your bike repaired/serviced by Ilford Recycles
• Planting winter veg /making paper pots  with  Commonwealth Gardeners
• 11.30  am:  YouTube clips with Sobia Mahmud on solutions to the plastic problem including ‘the boy who saved  the  oceons’
• 12.30 pm: Fermenting vegetables (from Organic  Ilford) with Begonia of Ilford Transition Town
• 1 pm:  How to hair braid with Therese  of  Skillademy

And of course enjoy the market and cafe  …..

• Browse the stalls:  natural cosmetics, jewelry,  upcycled crafts, cards, plants, bric a brac, bikes…
• And buy homemade cakes, healthy veggie meals and fresh Ilford herb teas from the community cafe.

Come along on Saturday 14th October to the Ilford Green Pop Up Market, celebrate Social Saturday, join in, enjoy,  eat and bring  your friends 🙂 Ilford Recycles, Salvation Army, 15 Clements Road, IG1 1BH.

For more info contact Begonia of Ilford Transition Town  on hannunna@yahoo.com or  07985 540786.

Ilford Food Fest 16 Sept 2017… harvesting local food and food knowledgeable

The second Ilford Food Fest to celebrate Urban Food Fortnight will be happening  on Saturday 16th September. It’s an opportunity to harvest food and food knowledge on the Commonwealth Estate and nearby 🙂  It’s being organised by Ilford Transition Town in partnership with AMEY, Commonwealth Gardeners, Cranbrook Baptist Church and local residents.

• Saturday 16th September 12-3pm
• Fold cafe, Cranbrook Baptist Church, Wellesley  Road, IG1 4JT

So what’s planned?

• Pressing local fruit juices (apples, pears,  plums)
• Making a community vegetable soup from surplus veg (some donated by local Turkish shop)
• Cooking & demos: cheese, yogurt, fermenting, pickling, soda bread, veg curry, chapatis, Polish pear compot and more,
• Planting/harvesting winter veg – beetroot, chard, lettuce, radishes – pot and take away
• Fresh herb teas, Somalian coffee and tea, chai, English breakfast
• Allotment and growing info and displays, cut up a pumpkin and harvest the seeds…
• Give & Take stall 
• Bring and share home made cakes with fruit or veg ingredients

Final timed programme to be put here a couple of days before

The cafe is a lovely space and there’s plenty of room and opportunity for other recipes, skills, activities if anyone wants to join in.

How can I get involved?

This is about involving as many people, cultures and food knowledge as possible.   We want to celebrate the small pots of coriander growing on window sills, fruit trees, garden veg, allotments as well as all the knowledge about tasty recipes, preserving food and ways to reduce food wastage.   So, just make contact with us and we will incorporate your ideas and suggestions!

Ring/text Ros (07957 534908) or Olcay (07588 504822).  Email: shilpapatelinbox@gmail. com or ruthmusgrave52@gmail.com. Facebook message on https://www.facebook.com/TransitionIlford

Please Like our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and pass on the electronic flyer

Here’s some pics from last year 🙂

 With thanks to…

Cranbrook Baptist Church for the lovely venue and Habiba Ahmed of Amey  Ltd.

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Yay! Mini Redbridge Green Fair Saturday 24 June in Barkingside Town Square

Good news!  The Redbridge Green Fair Directors have decided to run a mini green fair as part of this year’s Midsummer Music Fest. The Midsummer Music Fest weekend has now been running for 10 years (Redbridge Music Lounge and Green Fair) and in recent years has been held on the award winning Barkingside Town Square on the Saturday.

• Saturday 24 June, 11-5
• Ken Aston Square,  Barkingside (by the Leisure Centre)
• Music, craft and green stalls, community art with Darcy Turner

Stalls are £15

The main Redbridge Green Fair runs in Valentines Park on alternate years and we’ve just decided to complement the Midsummer Music Fest with a mini green fair. It’s been a late decision.  Please contact us about stalls.  Olcay Aniker,  Director

For  info on stalls email redbridgegreenfair@gmail.com or  ring  07588 504822 or 07957 534908.  Flyer to be added  here later.

Help needed to promote this and get some good environmental and  craft stalls  in.  They are not taking religious or political stalls for this event although they will be invited to the main event in 2018. The mini green fair  is partly a way of helping Barkingside Town Square build up experience  of running stalls under the arches to become a key Redbridge destination for markets in the future.

Other related news:

• There are regular music events run by the Music Lounge and Green Fair
• The  Ilford Green Pop Up market runs monthly on 2nd Saturday
• There’s going to be an event ‘the businesss of greening Redbridge‘ on 28 June 6pm, Gants Hill
• There’s going to be a Barkingside High Street Festival on Tuesday 4th July to celebrate Independent Retailer Day

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Important Redbridge green event on Weds 28th June. Please help to promote

Redbridge and Ilford Transition Town/s are keen to support ‘The business of greening Redbridge’ event by passing on the word.

Wednesday 28th June, 6-9pm… tickets £10….  stalls  £15…. 

Sophia Hubs Redbridge has forged a partnership with local business woman Nnenna Anyanwu who is passionate about the circular economy and Redbridge Institute of Adult Education that has excellent environmental credentials.

Sophia Hubs is actively recruiting businesses that run in an environmentally conscious way and businesses that want to.   Redbridge Transition Town would like to make sure  that environmental  community groups and individuals go along too to ensure the  success of this cross sector networking event.

The flyer is below.   Please contact Ros, Begona or Jenny all of whom are part of Ilford Transition Town and Sophia Hubs if you can help with promotion: Ros.Southern@Sophiahubs.com, hannunna@yahoo.com (Begona), J.Coverdale@virgin.net.

If you can attend the event, book your ticket here.

If you want a stall you can pay for it here.  It’s £15.

For more information about the  event and Sophia Hubs

Eco audit day in Ilford Saturday 4 Feb- save loads of money and conserve energy

An inspirational and practical day in Ilford – open to all

Background

The Vine Church Centre is a vibrant community hub in central Ilford. As well as being a place of worship, it is home to a number of community projects ranging from play-groups to elders’ lunch clubs; yoga classes to model car racers.

Over the last year we have been looking at our responsibilities as stewards of God’s Earth and ways we can reduce the carbon footprint of the Church and community building through an eco audit

The project we are doing is linked to the City Bridge Trust’s Eco Audits programme to encourage the greening of community buildings in London. http://www.citybridgetrust.org.uk/what-we-do/grant-making/what-we-fund/eco-audits/ . While we are trying to make our own building more energy efficient, other community buildings in Ilford could think about this too.

Our eco tips to save money and love planet earth

What we are  learning here at Vine is just as useful for businesses as for our community buildings.Our tips are not relating just to saved money (although you can save loads) but to saved carbon and addressing the impact of your building on the environment. By taking part in your own eco audit you will:

• Take Mother Earth into account when working out your balance sheet – it’s a challenge to look closely at your environmental impact but  incredibly interesting and also ethically important.
• Save loads of money by doing an eco audit and heavily reducing your energy bills!
• Take the time to get the interest and involvement of  your colleagues and users and involve them, as it takes quite a mind-set shift and it is going to take time and team work
• Link up with others around you that are interested in the environment and get them involved
• Join our Eco Tips audit day on Saturday 4 Feb – hands on in the morning, lunch, and eco audit worshop in the afternoon (flyer here)  The event will be part  of the Climate Coalition’s Show The Love 2017 campaign in which we wish to show what would be lost by climate change.

A bit more about us and the event on Saturday 4th  Feb

We want to share with Redbridge community groups,  how we can care for the earth and save money by making our community buildings and homes more energy efficient.

The event will be held at Vine URC and will last the whole day. It is being organised by Vine URC, in cooperation with Ilford Transition Town, Vine User groups, the Volunteer Centre, and Redbridge Faith Forum.

You are welcome to come to the whole event or to drop in for a session

Morning Session: 9.30am to 1.00pm (flyer here)

• Energy efficiency DIY volunteer work morning
• We will do some simple practical projects for creating a more energy efficient building. All are welcome. No previous experience needed.

Lunch time session: 1.00pm to 2.00pm

• Come and share a simple lunch with invited guests,  including Mike Gatpes MP
• Sing environmental songs
• A tour of the building and the changes we are making

Afternoon session: 2.00- 4.00pm (flyer here)

• Eco tips workshop by Donnachadt McCarthy of  3  Acorns.  Lower your energy bills through energy saving tips.

Our final thoughts

If Donnachadh can do it, and Vine Church community building is doing it, then so can  you! Donnachadh’s annual energy bill for his Victorian  house in Peckham is £12!!!  This is  an opportunity  to care and love for Earth, learn new ways and stop wasting  senseless energy and money.

Donnachadh has worked for over 10 years as a professional eco-auditor advising charities and businesses on how to reduce their running costs by going green.He is the author of two books on the subject “Saving the Planet without Costing the Earth” and “Easy Eco-Auditing” and is a widely published eco-journalist.  He wrote the Home Ecologist column for the Independent and is a frequent eco-contributor on many national TV and Radio Programmes including Its BBC’s “Not Easy Being Green “and ITVs “How Green is Your Home”. www.3acorns.co.uk

If you would like to come to all or part of the day contact Peter Musgrave on 07943 986988 or email petermusgrave1950@gmail.com

This was first published on Sophia Hubs blog.

Pics from the successful Ilford Autumn food fest on the Commonwealth Estate 2016

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a successful community event organised on a budget of £50!   The first urban food fest event as far as we know in Redbridge, as part of Urban Food Fortnight.

• A partnership of three groups on the estate (local residents, Commowealth Gardeners, Cranbrook Baptist Church), Ilford Transition Town and Habiba Ahmed of Amey.
• Organised in 2 months with just 5 meetings and a couple of visits to the Church cafe to look at equipment etc
• 150 diverse community members attending
• 8 food demos (cheese, yogurt, bread, pickling, fermenting)
• Donations of vegetables from local shops for the soup
• Fruit Tree audit launched and 10 trees identified as a start
• Fresh apple and pear juice made throughout the event
• Give and Take stall and recycling stall with tips on preventing food waste.

There’s no question about this now being an annual event!

 

 

Ilford pilot of a community food fest in Urban Food fortnight -17th September 2016

Ilford Transition Town is excited to be working with residents on the Commonwealth Estate in Ilford to run an urban community Food Fest. This is thought to be the first one of its kind in Redbridge and its all about bringing in the harvest as there are fruit trees on the estate and plenty of herbs and veggie patches dotted around.  It’s also about stopping food waste.

• Saturday 17th September 12-3
• Fold cafe, Cranbrook Baptist Church, Wellesley Road, Ilford, IG1 4JT
  

This is a good excuse to have a community get together, celebrate the harvest, especially what’s grown here, and to share recipes and food preserving tips. Corine, Habiba, Hayley, Jon, Olcay, Ros, Ruth, Shilpa, Suhas  (organising committee)

Please pass on the word. It’s bring and share: your fresh herbs, your harvest, surplus veg, food tasters, recipes, conversation  🙂

The commonwealth gardeners will be creating a fruit tree map to make it easier next year to harvest all the fruit and stop any going to waste. Shilpa Patel