Brockley in transition: the year in review

So as the year draws to an end and the seemingly endless cycle of freezing temperatures and snow carries on it seems like a good time to reflect on some of the things that the group have been up to throughout the year. Note, there's a deliberate slant towards the things we've been up to rather than talking about Brockley generally but if you do want to read about that then take a look at a good round up on Brockley Central.

Hilly Fields Orchard

We were hoping to have planted the orchard by now but we had to postpone the planting due to the recent weather however, Saturday 15th January is the new date for your diary so please come along between 11am – 1pm.

Members of the group have also undertaken orchard management training organised by the London Orchard Project and will be looking to train others up to help with maintenance after the planting.

Fruit Harvesting

Inspired by projects such as Sheffield’s Abundance project where unwanted fruit is collected and distributed we decided to map and collect Brockley’s unwanted fruit and redistribute to local people and refuge centres. A number of harvesting events took place and the whole project was very successful. Time Out online even featured us as one of London's best harvesting projects! Plans are afoot for next years harvesting where hopefully Brockley's fruit may manifest itself in a more preserved form...watch this space!

Brockley Common Planting

We held working days to transform a barren piece of wasteland into something more productive which could be used by the local community. This culminated in being part of the Brockley Cross Action Group's tenth anniversary celebrating the hard work done by the local community in transforming the area around the station.

Hilly Fields Fayre

This year we decided to take a slightly more proactive role in the Fayre by helping to organise a number of stalls alongside our own with organisations that have environmental interests at heart such as Global Action Plan, Frendsbury Gardens and Lewisham Waste Initiatives.

Other things we've been up to...

Alongside Transition Westcombe we took part in discussions with local supermarkets to discuss how they could cut their carbon footprints. We also got Brockley's local Costcutter shop to take part in Plastic Bag Free Day.

Continued to support such initiatives as 9 Carrots culminating Mr Lawrence Wine Bar becoming the first 9 Carrots project to reach its target; Frendsbury Gardens who continued to blossom with their useful workshops; St. Saviours Community Garden which keeps on growing and helped to stem the plight of Brockley's bee population following the workshop we had with Capital Bee last year.

Finally, we hope you've enjoyed taking part in any of the activities we've been involved in this year and hope that you will continue to support us as we will continue to support the local community by being as proactive and educational as we can!

Have a happy new year!