Dear {usertag:name}

Welcome new member Dr Jayne Murdoch. Jayne has expressed interest in being active in the Enrivonment Energy Health and The Head Subgroups. Jayne is making a long-term and on-going contribution to health planning in this valley through her membership of the North West Community Health Community Consultative Committee. She is providing active leadership to our neighbouring Transition group Transition Enoggera and is the initiator of the regular Green Drinks for Transition Towns in North West Brisbane. Jayne is also one of the main people responsible for making the Hillbrook Sustainability Days happen at Hillbrook Anglican College.

You will have heard from John about the AGM on Sunday 25th of September at 7pm at Ferny Grove State High School in the Resource Centre. This is the first AGM. The current management committee members are John Tennock (President and Website Coordinator) Byron Adams (Secretary) John Jordaan (Treasurer) Anne Tennock (Subgroup Organiser) and Committee Members Sasha Adams and Shannon Lisle. A lot of work went into the constitution to make Transition The Grove Inc ‘bottom-heavy’ not ‘top-heavy’. It is designed to empower members who want to be part of getting local resilience happening to just do it. It doesn’t rely on the management committee to start things happening. However there is work that has to be done and formal requirements to be met so the management committee is necessary and does work quite hard. Organising AGMs has to be pretty low on the list of fun activities but it is required.  How about members of The Heart subgroup making it an opportunity for some ‘heart’ activities and fun and games?

I’ve just been down to Radio YYY to put the Transition The Grove Hour program ‘to bed’ for this week. The program this week includes a interview with Leah Hutchinson the Centre Manager of SIENA in Arana Hills about the adult learning opportunities they provide people with an intellectual disability through there. Leah is also a singer-songwriter and she has shared some of her songs for the program. And there is a more serious talk on global debt and its local implications.

The Ferny Grove Community Champions Awards this week were terrific. They were a first-time initiative of State Member for Ferny Grove and Minister for Health Geoff Wilson MP. They look to be repreated next year. Everyone nominated got an award and it was a tremendous opportunity to showcase the volunteering and the community groups. Each community group gets to nominate one person. We look forward to even more local groups nominating someone next year. Three Transition The Grove members were among those getting awards: John Jordaan (nominated by Transition The Grove) Mike Baguley (nominated by Radio YYY 87.6FM) and Fran Gilje (nominated by Men of the Trees). As we sat clapping and listening to the awards being handed out we kept thinking of other locals who are doing a great job so this is definitely an on-going thing.

It’s been a great week for those with environmental interests locally. BCC the Kedron Brook Catchment Group and Land for Wildlife organised local events that were a delight and valuable. First there was the Tree Planting morning in Selkirk Crescent along the Brook. Well done! Then the annual bus tour – this year to three properties in Lochinvar Crescent in Upper Kedron to look at their Land for Wildlife work ending with a happy team effort pulling up a big area of fish fern up a creek gully. There were four Transition The Grove members at each of these events.

Hiring a minibus is easy and they only require an ordinary licence. It would be a great thing to do to have a bus tour right around The Grove finishing with lunch somewhere like Bellbird Grove or Camp Mountain. Is this something you could help organise?

I don’t know how many of you know about John’s websites. After he learned a whole lot about doing websites when he did the design of Transition The Grove’s website he has become something of a website design volunteer for local groups. It is a way of achieving the goal of local in another way. As more of our local groups are networked together and have a good web presence this community gets more and more of a sense of vibrant life and activity. This is voluntary work on John’s part. In some cases it has been a fund-raiser for Transition The Grove. In others done at no charge because what the community group is doing very much fits with Transition The Grove’s aims. This week two more websites joined the queue to be done along with those he is already working on.

We’ve been asked by the Mitchelton Older Women’s Network to provide a speaker to tell them about the Transition Towns movement and the Transition Towns in North West Brisbane. We’ll provide a team from Transition The Grove Transition The Gap and Transition Enoggera. If you know of other local groups who would like a speaker on this topic let us know. If you would like to be part of a speaking team let us know.

This year has been very productive and seen a lot of growth locally. Looking back it is amazing how much has been achieved. Looking at the present it always seems like watching grass grow. Very easy to see what is not happening fast! Right now the thing that would be really good to have gaining momentum is getting more of the people who have signed up for the different interest subgroups getting together and starting to get to know each other and starting to talk about what they think and want to happen locally. The tools are there through the Groups tab for anyone to initiate it. It is definitely more than a one-person job. We are always watching for natural leaders to emerge for each of the subgroups. John has taken on the Energy Subgroup. Someone has been approached about the Food and Gardening Subgroup and is having a think about it which hopefully will have a ‘yes’ outcome. My own heart is in the Health one. To say this takes time is an understatement so it will be gradual and organic.

What can you do to make a difference right now? What this needs more than anything is for members to ‘catch the vision’ and start the learning curve start slowly and gradually picking up the reins of local involvement. We started over five years ago now and initially it was so slow but then it took off. We cannot encourage you strongly enough to make this journey.  Right now it would be great if you would:

• Invite someone local you know to join 
• If you belong to a local group or church encourage it to have representation on Transition The Grove and get a Forum link for the group. Encourage other members to join Transition The Grove
• Go onto the Transition The Grove website and add an event to the Community Calendar (watch out for things on local school noticeboards banners local papers groups you belong to things you’re organising…)
• Go onto the Transition The Grove website to the Groups tab to one of the interest subgroups you are a member of and create a Bulletin message to other members of the subgroup suggesting a get-together somewhere soon (in a cafe your home a park whereever) to start getting to know each other and talking about how to work together
• Post something on a Forum
• Offer to organise a bus tour of The Grove (you’ll get all the help you need)
• If you’re in The Heart group help organise some ‘Heart’ activities for the AGM – work with others in The Heart group to work out what you’d like to do.
• Suggest topics for Transition The Grove Hour on Radio YYY and download some of the programs to listen to off our website (Home page or www.yyyfm.org.au)

Have a great day. Be part of making a difference creating a resilient local future.

Anne
Subgroup organiser