Making your community more resilient in uncertain times  Why should life in High Wycombe fall apart after a drop of snow or a fuel blockade? How is it that an international economic crisis or somebody else's war ends up damaging our community? There really is a better way. The days of cheap oil have now gone and with them goes the days of cheap food & economic security. But there is hope for the future. A Transition initiative brings a rational response: economic relocalisation.
"[this] is not like an ordinary recession where you lose output and get it back quickly. You may not get it back for many years, if ever, and that is a big long-run loss of living standards for all people in this country." Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, June 2011 |
TRANSITION is a powerful & positive vision of a prosperous, happy, flourishing, adaptable, decentralised & sustainable High Wycombe abundant in local jobs, warmth, food and power, where children eat healthily, people have local jobs and our pensioners are warm through the winter & keep cool in summer. Imagine a High Street full of local shops run by local people. Inspiring solutions. A future to look forward to..... but it needs us all. It needs change. A transition. A Transition Town. "What we have done in Transition is to create a powerful story, around resilience and localisation, around unleashing the creative genius of communities to respond brilliantly to times of great challenge." Rob Hopkins, Dec 2010 |
 Transition Town High Wycombe is a grassroots Community action group gently pulling the Town towards its inevitable localised, resilient & low-carbon future. It is a place for people to come together, volunteer, roll up their sleeves and make it happen. It is open to all and run by the Community - for the Community. Are you concerned about your future? Wondering what you should do to secure your family? Or just want advice about choosing solar panels? Then talk to us.
...and Transition makes you happy. Click here to Transition-me-happy. "...no one knows how to do this and that the only way we will be able to figure it out is by having a go. It invites creativity, inventiveness and entrepreneurship. Every initiative will look very different." Rob Hopkins, Oct 2011 |
What's on locally: Putting the Local back into Localism - Wycombe Partnership Conference and "market stall" event at Arts4Every1, Desborough Road, 13th March 2012, 9.30am to 1pm. The Environment Sub-group has been invited to have a stall/display covering carbon reduction.
Back to top
Find us online: on Google Groups...
...on Twitter...
...and on Facebook
Thermal Imaging Surveys  In December 2011, January 2012 & February 2012 volunteers from Transition Town High Wycombe will be conducting FREE Thermal Imaging Surveys of homes and offices in High Wycombe. Apply for YOURS now!
If you want to learn more & book go here: www.transition-wycombe.org.uk/warm   
Back to top
Home Insulation from £49 Cocoon is a free, non-profit, impartial referral service for loft and cavity wall insulation. Cocoon lets you compare price, time to installation and satisfaction ratings that customers have provided for each insulation installer. More information is available by clicking on the icon here: 
Make sure you take advantage of the Wycombe District Council offer of home insulation for £49! Learn more here. 
Back to top
Are you a Local Hero, a Local Champion? Then we are recuiting for BOTH Local Food and Local Energy Champions: WANTED: Community Food Champions from Wycombe - Laura Silverstone from Bucks County Council (Recycling Project) is coordinating an initiative to find & train volunteer food champions in the area. Jointly working with Recycle for Buckinghamshire, Love Food Hate Waste and Garden Organic, these volunteers will help to spread the word about local food, food waste, and grow your own at events, schools, festivals, etc. The commitment is 20 hrs for the whole year and you will get two full days of training in March. Also, you will be eligible for a small amount of funding for projects such as a community garden or local food festival, etc. Learn more here: http://www.bucksinfo.net/recycleforbuckinghamshire/community-food-champions/
WANTED: Rural Community Energy Champions for Bucks - This project aims to recruit and train a group of local energy champion volunteers to promote simple energy efficiency messages to fuel poor and other vulnerable households in rural communities across England. Messages will include basic tips on how to manage energy and improve comfort levels at home at minimal or no-cost to the householder. Champions will learn to signpost householders to other sources of specialist energy or money advice, grant aid for energy efficiency or other household improvements etc. Learn more here: www.transition-wycombe.org.uk/energy-champions
Local FOOD 
Interested in Local Food? The Local FOOD Guide has now launched. Want to get your FREE copy or want to be involved in creating the next one? Then please contact Celia Carter (contact E:Mail below). You can go to the FOOD Project web site at www.food-on-our-doorstep.org.uk where the Guide can be read and downloaded. You can now find us on Facebook at: Want to grow your own but don't have the room? You can now also get involved with our Garden Swap scheme called "Baregardens" which is under new mangement from 2011. 
Back to top
Local Energy
 Want to save money on domestic renewable energy? YOU CAN MAKE MONEY FROM THE SUN! We work with suppliers to bring you the best deals for High Wycombe residents. Get a great service, a good choice and save money with us. Click here for more information or download our brochure here. Download our "How to buy Solar" Factsheet here. The "Feed in Tariffs" ("FIT") for renewable energy earn YOU 41.3p/KWh for Photovoltaics - solar panels that generate electricity. This is in addition to the electricity you save and the money you earn from exporting your electricity. Its linked to inflation & is Tax-free. You will earn £hundreds every year for 25 years with payback in 15 years. All the money you earn after that is pure profit. Learn more here. To sign up for your discounts click here. You can E:Mail us to ask questions &/or sign-up by clicking
Back to top
Local Post-Carbon Homes: Superhome 59  Interested in retrofitting you home to future standards of warmth and comfort? A post-carbon home generates its own power, its own hot water, its own food, all in a cosy home you can live in - not a science project. Our demo home in Totteridge (pictured below) is Britain's 59th Sustainable Energy Academy "Superhome" and has just 10% of the carbon footprint after retrofit. YOU can now visit "Superhome 59" by appointment with TTHW or by going to www.superhome59.info. We welcome you to our home. We will be happy to answer any questions and give you a tour. Please also visit the www.post-carbon-living.com/Homes for online advice and guidance. It is all there from a ten-step plan for resilience to a review of every book you would ever need to read on the topic.
Download the SuperHome storybook presentation here. If you want us to come to your organisation to talk through the presentation to your group please just contact us.      Back to top
Local Energy Saving Kits for Loan In 2010 we launched Energy Saving Kits for Loan at the Wycombe central library. We worked with our partners in the Wycombe Strategic Partnership, The Energy Saving Trust, local solar panel installers SolaSave and the Wycombe Library to bring this free service to the town. Go to www.transition-wycombe.org.uk/Library to learn more. 
Transition Town High Wycombe "...plugging into local abundance..." |
This transition is a civic union between local Civil Society and Local Government. The plan is to promote a community transition to a life without cheap energy and food. Instead of global scarcity we'll be plugging into local abundance. It addresses topics of food, waste, energy, education, youth, money, economics, transport, water, etc. It is a Plan that the Community will build and implement. And if you don't like it - then join in and change it. You can E:Mail us directly by clicking
Phone us on 01494 858390 or write to us at: TTHW c/o, Krofire House, 5 Richard Gardens, High Wycombe, Bucks HP13 7LT
Alternatively please E:Mail one of the Management Committee Officers listed below: 
Back to top Want to help? We always need more self-motivated volunteers. Passionate & driven people who can run projects and apply for grants. Experience with charities or in the commercial sector would be really helpful. You need enthusiasm and a bit of spare time. We would like more bloggers too! Or feel free to donate some money to the cause - whatever you can afford. Why not donate? If you are too busy to help then maybe you could help pay for our work? Your money helps our work continue. It can make the post-carbon future happen. We have almost no overheads so the money goes towards projects such as those listed above. Projects are part-funded by grants but we could always do with a little extra help for printing brochures and educational material. We welcome sponsorship and have a number of opportunities connected with Local Food and Local (Renewable) Energy that you or your Company/Employer can get itself associated with. Back to top | What's On: Want to learn more? Click here. |
Fancy a FREE Thermal Image of your Home? 
 In December 2011, January 2012 & February 2012 volunteers from Transition Town High Wycombe will be conducting FREE Thermal Imaging Surveys of homes and offices in High Wycombe. To learn more go here. To apply for Thermal Images of YOUR home please contact us here supplying your name, address, E:Mail address and contact home phone number.. ...then insulate your home for £49: 
Learn more here & click here to apply: 
Transition Tweets
Find yourself a Renewable Energy Installer
Powered by YouGen
Our News from the last year:
Wednesday 4th January 2012Warm Home Heroes make the Papers
The local Bucks Free Press has given us a much deserved helping hand in appealing for volunteers this winter. We need more team to form and help with the FREE Thermal Imaging Surveys. So in the January 4th edition of the South Bucks Star ran our Press Release. You can read the online article here or see our scanned hardcopy here. From 6th Jan you should also be able to see our posters in the Hen & Chickens shopfront window in Frogmoore (temporarily used by the Wycombe Environment Centre) as well as on the plasma screens in the central Library.
Monday 5th December 2011Training with USEA
We would like to thank Dale Hoyland of the United Sustainable Energy Agency for training the Energy Group. The session was setup by Lesley Stoner of Wycombe District Council and was for the Thermal Imaging Teams. It covered camera usage and fuel poverty. It was a good session and we all learnt a tremendous amount. Thanks Dale, Lesley, WDC & USEA!
Saturday 12th November 2011Thermal Imaging Camera Training in Hazelmere
In November nine of us attended a Thermal Imaging camera training session. This was designed to roll out what had been learnt from two team members to the rest. The Testo camera proved quite easy to master to take a photo. However we are sure the interpretation of the images and use of the software to generate the resulting report will prove more challenging! Learn more here
Monday 10th October 2011Local FOOD Guide in Chalk & Trees
The Spring/Summer 2011 edition of "Chalk & Trees" has an article on our Local FOOD Guide on page 16. Chalk & Trees is the magazine put out by the Chilterns Conservation Board who part-funded the Guide. You can see the full copy here.
Wednesday 5th October 2011Local Community Partnership - Totteridge Community Hall
As the weather turned Autumnal (eventually) we met up with the Local Community Partnership for some priority setting. There was plenty of input from local Transitioners but sadly nothing relevant got prioritised... More here.
Sat/Sun 1st/2nd October 2011Apple Day Weekend - Hughenden Manor
On the first few days of October we enjoyed an indian summer as the sun shone down upon the National Trust's "Apple Days" at Hughenden Manor. The Food Group was there to give away free copies of the Local FOOD Guide. More here.
Thursday 29th September 2011Co-op Members' Forum
Mike, Celia and Mike were guests at the Midcounties Co-operative Member's Forum held at the Hazlemere Golf Club in September. We put up a stall focussed on the Food Guide, Baregardens & the Energy Saving Kits. We took part in the forum itself and learnt a lot about how the Co-op works. There are opportunities for mutual support. More here.
Tuesday 27th September 2011Constitutional Change & News Snippets
At the last AGM TTHW has agreed to create a more devolved structure less focussed on the steering committee. The new Constitution is designed such that the organisation has a looser structure of core volunteers working as officers to facilitate the devolved groups. These Groups (for now) are the Energy Group and Food Group. We now forsake the roles of Chairman, Secretary and Vice-Chair although we retain the Treasurer role for funding management. In other news we welcome a new solar installer to the town Solinium who have setup business at The Valley Centre on Gordon Road.
Saturday 24th September 2011The Mid-Counties Co-operative Transition Network Meeting
In late September Mark voyaged off to the Warwick Technology Park for a Transition Network Meeting with the Midcounties Co-operative. Members drawn from fourteen different Transition Initiatives worked alongside three Co-operative representatives who themselves are part of local Transition Initiatives. The half day workshops concluded that the Co-operative was a Business In Transition and we'll work more closely together in future. More here.
Sunday 11th September 2011End-of-year Pann Mill
The final Pann Mill open day of 2011 was another great success. Despite a position in the shade our friends at SolaSave still managed to get the solar-powered model railway to work. Meanwhile Celia brought along great quantities of Focaccia Bread made from Pann Mill flour for visitors to sample. More here.
Saturday 10th September 2011Superhome Success!
Superhome 59 opened its doors to the public for the second time this year. We managed to attract nine happy individuals to join us on tours around this home that has only 10% of its carbon footprint left. Meanwhile over at Hughenden Manor our FOOD Group manned a stand for the Heritage Open Day event.
Friday 29th July 2011Bledlow Eco-evening
District Councillor Bill Bendyshe-Brown (pictured above with TTHW Chairman Mark Brown at an earlier event) held a public open-evening for Bledlow residents who wanted to learn more about energy saving in the home. Bill is already an active champion of energy efficiency, renewable energy (plus a bulk oil-buying consortium as Bledlow has no mains gas.) The evening consisted of short presentations from both Lesley Stoner and various energy saving-technology installers. Thanks to Mike & Frances for attending this evening for us. Well done Bill.
Sunday 17th July 2011TTHW & SolaSave Roadshow goes to Pann Mill
On the weekend of the Half Marathon TTHW and SolaSave were back in action down on the Rye. We took the Solar-powered Train roadshow to Pann Mill and enjoyed a lovely sunny day. This time we even had Celia's home made bread made of real Pann Mill flour! For more photos go here.
Thursday 14th July 2011TTHW/WFOE Local FOOD Guide Nominated for Award
Friends of the Earth have nominated the Local FOOD Guide for "outreach activity of the year". The Local FOOD Guide covers all suppliers within ten miles of High Wycombe and was compiled by volunteers from TTHW and Wycombe FOE in 2010. Local FOE Coordinator Mike Chadwick told us he was "chuffed" & went on to add that "I would be extremely surprised if we win... but the nomination itself leads to substantial publicity..." The Winner will be decided at the FOE Annual Conference this year. Good luck team!
Sunday 10th July 2011TTHW & SolaSave roadshow at the Cherry Fayre
TTHW & SolaSave reprised the solar train effort at the Flackwell Heath Cherry Fayre. The event was held at the Recreation Ground on what turned out to be a sunny, dry and very hot Sunday in July. Business was very brisk for SolaSave and the enthusiasm for solar, on such a sunny day, was at fever pitch. ..and the kids just loved that solar power model railway! More pictures here.
|
Community Impact Bucks "Make a Difference" project - the Oasis Centre in High Wycombe between 7pm and 9pm Thursday 2nd February. TTHW will have a stand there to answer questions. The show is themed on "Community Resilience"
