Minutes of TWiG meeting 4/11/14 at the White Swan Greenside

Notes from Transition West Gateshead meeting. Thursday 6th November 2014. White Swan, Lead Road, Greenside. 

At the meeting. Garry, Nick, Rachel, Di (note taker), Mick, Lesley (facilitator), Trevor, Gwenole.

Apologies.  Julie Simpson, David and Sarah (Hop Garden). Laura Burleson, Alison Stancliffe

Notes from last meeting were agreed.

Matters arising

Suma group The group is quite big taking quite large sums of money each time and taking up a lot of storage space. The question arose as to whether this was too big and might be better split into two groups though Maria hasn’t said she has a problem with it so decision was to be aware and offer solution should the issue arise. 

Community Orchard: Highfield A piece of local land has been identified by Gateshead Council and is awaiting clearance for use as an orchard.

Surplus Swap Sarah investigating; ongoing. 

Sustainable Communities Act to return to this.

Sending info out It was agreed that the digest by email was currently the most suitable way to compile and receive information. Lesley is happy to continue this.

Group Identity The means by which the group should be identified was discussed briefly but no conclusion reached, to be agreed when  formalising group and promoting future events.

Feast for the Future Report

Numbers varied during the afternoon between 20 and 25 during the busiest period which was late afternoon at the height of the discussion and the serving of food, which was very well received.  The group were mixed ages though only one family with children attended. About a third of those attending were from outside the WG area and they were mainly other transition group members from Newcastle and Tynedale who had come to offer support which was helpful in discussions.  There were about 16 people remaining for the music and dancing which was just enough to make it viable and people seemed to enjoy this. The swap aspect was not easy as people were less keen to take items away.

The donations amounted to £49.39 so the cost of the hall has been covered and the money paid in to Audrey Pyle(Greenside Community Centre)

The discussions were introduced and led by Ruth Hayward and those attending divided into groups to discuss the topics that they were most interested in and to suggest projects and initiatives they would like to see in the area; these were shared at the end and Lesley compiled a resume of these suggestions under the following headings which were circulated by email and discussed at this follow-up meeting:

Energy, Intergenerational activities, e.g. skill sharing, Food, Waste, Information networking, Transport, Other, including Cohousing/Education about climate change and peak oil/money related ideas/links to food banks.

With the aim of providing a focus for the next actions of the TWG group  those attending the meeting were asked to select three from the list above that they would like to pursue and that they feel are viable in the shorter term before we have funding for longer term work: 

The results of this in order of support were:

Food and Waste both 5

Transport 4

Energy and intergenerational activities both3

Other; Education1

Information networking 0

It was decided that information networking is an essential process not really a project so will be needed in any event.

The group proposed and discussed another event that concentrated on the top 3 concerns of Food, Waste and Transport.

St Barnabas at Rowlands Gill was proposed as a good location for an event, with good transport links and close to local shopping area.

January 2015 was chosen to take advantage of the post festive season lull and the possible value of offering ideas for unwanted presents, and up cycling to save money. Mick will arrange for the Derwent Valley Car Club and electric bike initiative to be present for people to explore better transport options.

Formalising the Group. There was a brief discussion on this:

A decision was made to use the Post Office to allow local access for whoever is a signatory to the bank account and to support local Post Offices. The need for a small number of people who would have a financial responsibility on behalf of the group was acknowledged.

There was discussion on the need for a constitution to be agreed. The form this will take will be considered in detail at the next meeting, including looking at roles in the group (chair, minutes etc.) and also ground rules. Lesley to circulate suggested wording compiling a draft for comment either by mail or at the meeting. 

AOB It was noted that the landlord offered sandwiches to the members of the meeting.

Venue of next meeting: Trevor offered Pathhead Mill

Date: Wednesday 26th November

Time: 7pm.