8th May
Dorset Towns come together in Transition

Representatives of Transition Groups throughout Dorset came together over the Bank Holiday weekend to receive specialist training on how to start a group, and learn more about the grassroots environmental movement which is spreading across the County.

Trainers from Transition Town Totnes, one of the first initiatives in the county, Sophy Banks and Naresh Giangrande guided participants from 10 groups in the County including Bridport, Weymouth, Sherborne, Purbeck, and Poole & Bournemouth through an intensive 2 day course focusing on understanding and applying the fundamentals of Transition Towns back into their communities.

Participants learnt skills including how to set up, run, and maintain a successful transition initiative, and the training was packed with imaginative and inspiring ways to delve into both the theory and practice of Transition.

Wren Franklin of Sturminster Newton Transition Town said;
“An intense weekend focused on deepening our knowledge of transition which will help no end as we continue to work on our transition initiative in Sturminster Newton"

Sophie Lake from Transition Purbeck added “a life-changing weekend – I came away revitalised and full of optimism. The sobering sessions on peak oil and climate change were balanced by an incredible richness of ideas for positive action towards building resilient communities”

Christine Bell of Bridport Transiton Town said;
"The training and the trainers were inspiring in many ways. It was particularly motivating to explore the psychology of change and the importance of having a clear shared 'vision' of what transition means to each of us, in order to be able to raise awareness and interest in others."

Steve Atkins from Transition Town Dorchester said; “The Transition training was inspirational, and an important networking opportunity. This goes way beyond the concept of ‘Business as Usual’. Throughout Dorset people are empowering themselves in making their own choices and I feel very proud to be a small part in this ticking clock”.

The training was organised by Dorset Agenda 21 with the support of Dorchester Transition Town, and was free to participants, after Poole based ethical cosmetics company Lush agreed to fund the training together with a grant from the Energy Saving Trust café program.

Paul McIntosh, Manager of da21 said:
“Transition Towns in Dorset are already setting up Community Orchards and Farms, organising Renewable Energy Workshops, and raising awareness in their communities by showing films explaining the issues, we hope that the training will have given groups the skills and inspiration to do still more”

To find out more about Transition Towns visit the national site http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionInitiative a list of Transition Groups in Dorset is available on the da21 website www.da21.org.uk/sustainable .