Latest blog from Liz Longden:

Time honoured traditions, the chance for new beginnings, remaking yourself, it’s seductive stuff.
Having said that, I don’t think I have ever actually made a serious New Year resolution. Not sat down and thought it through; not done some proper reflection about what I want to do and be in the coming year, and the year after that and so on. Perhaps it’s time though to change that. As I get older I am becoming more active politically. I am thinking more actively about how I impact the world about me. At the same time I remain stymied by my limitations. You know: not very fit, tired too much of the time. Too much of my mental and physical energies spent worrying about things that almost certainly won’t happen, about making a mess of something, just being anxious. Sometimes this makes it nearly impossible to do the things I want to, namely, help drive forward an effective campaign against single use plastic in the High Peak – this beautiful place where we live and that I love a great deal. I get scared of negative reaction. I get discouraged by apathetic reaction. I get too anxious to move something forward in case I get it ‘wrong’. And the American oil industries have just announced a $180 billion investment in the plastics industries, so we need to keep trying, keep shouting, and I want my voice to be in there, and heard, so I need to have energy, and real commitment. Something must change.
I am not ashamed of having problems with my mental health. People are talking about their mental health with more freedom and openness than ever before, and this can only be a good thing. But I am ashamed that I have let it blight my life for so long. Don’t think I will find it easy, and it might take me some time, but NO MORE. I have to get on.
Fellow campaigners, you can help me if you will. I can be helped by ‘having’ to do things. If I have said I will do something, give me deadlines. Harass me. Bring me to the sticking point. Ask me directly to do something. I will nearly always say yes, then as above.
I guess the rest is up to me.

This the second of the Transition New Mills plastic campaign blog posts:
I was at the screening last Tuesday of the film ‘Demain’ (‘Tomorrow’) and came away full of energy and commitment, sure we could anything we could put our minds to, with enough thought and effort.
The next morning I was plunged back into despondency, picking up plastic bottles discarded in the street, along the canal, and on the playing fields round the corner from my home. The littering on the playing field has been worse recently. I have picked up twenty or so bottles from there over the past couple of weeks, plus the drinks cans, sweet wrappers and crisp packets. It also looks as if the litter bin has been deliberately emptied and scattered to the winds. Perhaps it is a fox or badger that has discovered human food, and I am blaming innocents, in which case, apologies. But the plastic remains!
So after all this litter picking and rumination I have to conclude that it is our young people that we need to get on board. Young people can be brilliant, committed, energetic, innovative and brave. And young people are currently coming to political and environmental issues in large numbers, as we saw in the recent election. So when I get up this week to talk about what might be priorities at our campaign Partners’ Launch, I think discussing ways to get our young people involved will be up at the top of the list.
Are any young people reading this? Or do you know any young people who may be interested in becoming involved in this campaign? Can we find out what they know about plastic pollution and what ideas they have about dealing with it? I am afraid I no longer have any contact with teenagers – my daughters are in their twenties. But I know people who have children and grandchildren. We would love to hear from you, and even more would love to hear that you’d like to be involved​ -​​ ​in any way at all. We are listening!
I am thinking a lot about this week’s launch [this was on Thursday 28th Sept – website problems prevented posting of the blog here – ed] which is for any people or groups who feel they have something to contribute to this campaign. I have a feeling that the overall success or failure of our efforts will be hugely influenced by the input we can get from ​the community. Please come along, or if you are unable to do this, perhaps you could send us your ideas about what our priorities and strategies might be. Thank you, and thank you for reading.

Liz Longden

Summer’s finally here, and with it comes a host of opportunities to get involved in some practical action, most of which is outside in the sunshine! Please contact us on transition.newmills@gmail.com if you have anything to share or want further details.

Happy bashers at the Picker

We are now well into our third year of trying to clear the New Mills area of the invasive alien weed Himalayan Balsam which is swamping our native flora. We are concentrating on 4 main areas : the Torrs, Goytside, the Picker and Mousley Bottom. We have already had 8 bashing sessions with over a dozen people involved.

We are really encouraged to find that there is a lot less balsam in the areas we have cleared over the last 2 years, and a variety of native plants are recolonizing the areas quickly – so we really are making a difference.

 Balsam bashes are easy and a great way to relieve stress! We would love to see you at one of the forthcoming events:

Sunday 3^rd July   10.30 – 12.30   The Picker     Meet at junction of High St, Dye House Lane and Hyde Bank Rd    Leader : Chris Moore

 Monday 4^th July  6.30 – 8.00pm  The Picker   Meet at junction of High St, Dye House Lane and Hyde Bank Rd  Leader : Chris Moore

 Sunday 10^th July  10.30-12.30  Mousely Bottom  Meet at the bottom of Station Road  Leader: Julian Ashworth

 Monday 11^th July  6.30-8.00pm  Goytside   Meet at Torrs Hydro  Leader: Julian Ashworth

Wear stout footwear. Long sleeves and gardening gloves are preferable (we can supply gloves if necessary)

If you can’t join us on any of these dates, please help by coming on a future organised bash, pledging to Pick a Patch of your choice or just pull as you walk. But please remember not to leave pulled and crushed plants on the path!

The polls are coming to a close on the EU referendum, but there’s another chance to cast a vote next Thursday at the Transition New Mills AGM.

We are looking to elect 2 new committee members, and are seeking nominations for these posts. We rely entirely on the goodwill, time and enthusiasm of volunteers for all our activities, and without them, nothing will happen. So if you’re interested in getting involved in the running of the group, let us know by 18:30 next Thursday if you want to stand.

The AGM will start at 19:30, Thursday 30th June, at the Volunteer Centre on Union Road. Business will be completed by 20:00, at which point we are pleased to be able to bring you a talk and discussion by Father John Baines on the recently launched and very popular Foodie Friends Café, which uses surplus or rejected food from supermarkets to rustle up a great value 3 course meal in convivial surroundings for anyone who wants it.

The weekend before this, there will be a balsam bash at  10:30-12:30 on Saturday 25th June, in Mousley Bottom, around the riverside path. Meet at the DCC Rangers Hut.

And a few days after the AGM, on Saturday 2nd July, we will be having a stall at the One World Festival in High Lea Park, between 12:00 -17:00. We also need volunteers for this, even if you can only spend an hour or so – please let us know if you can help us out on this occasion.

Hope to see you at one or more of the above events!

Our AGM this year features Father John Baines of St Georges Church who will talk about the recently launched Foodie Friends Café, a project which chimes strongly with Transition New Mills’ aims of bringing the community together to make our town fairer and more vibrant, whilst reducing waste.

The AGM will begin at 7.30pm, Thursday 30 June at the Volunteer Centre, Union Road. We’ll keep it short and from 8pm or before, we move on to the session with Father John. We’ll be out and finished by 9.30pm at the latest.

The AGM is the time to elect people to manage and facilitate activities for the group. We have an Administrative Group of 3 people, currently Julian Ashworth, Mike Daw and Angharad Hughes. However, both Mike and Angharad are stepping down this year so we have two vacancies. If you would like to nominate yourself for this group, please let us know. We can take nominations up to one hour before the meeting. If you’re thinking about seeking election to the Administrative group, do get in touch and one of us will be happy to talk with you about what’s involved (without any commitment!). Note that we’ll be asking each of the candidates to say a few words about themselves before holding the vote so, if you are nominating yourself, please come prepared.

Once again, the Steering Group aren’t proposing any changes to our constitution but if you wish to propose any, or any other motion, please let us know in advance so that we can make sure time is given to discuss and vote on them.

Everyone is welcome but you will only be able to vote at the AGM if you’re a member.

An agenda for the AGM plus this year’s reports are linked below. Please note that we have had to amend last year’s accounts because we uncovered a minor error relating to how much was allocated to grant expenditure so a new version is also below. The overall balances remain the same.

We hope to see you there!

AGM 2016 Agenda

Activity report 2015-16

Grants Summary 2016

Membership report 2015-16

Transition 2015 Accounts-Revised

Transition 2016 Accounts