While researching wassailing, I pulled a book off the shelves called ‘Cattern Cakes and Lace’ by Julia Jones and Barbara Deer, which is a calendar of traditional feasts. Written because ‘In modern towns, the seasons now melt into one another, but I believe that men and women still need to be in touch with the rhythm of life and experience the changes in the cycle of the year.’ The book looks at the traditional festivals and the foods that would have been cooked for them – so lots of inspiration for future transition events!

While looking at January, I came across Plow Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night, when the holiday season would end and farm labourers would start their year’s work again – but starting with a festival with leaping dances, as the height people leapt indicated the height of the next corn harvest. Decorated ploughs would be dragged round the streets and anyone not donating would have their gardens ploughed up. A Fool would dance behind the plough.

Although being in touch with the seasons and holding community events with food is very transitional, one conversation that kept occurring was over the pagan elements of such festivals, and how does that fit into today’s society, and will it offend Christian members of out community? On a very local level – we want the orchard to be there for the community and to be enjoyed by anyone and everyone. Judging by the number of people who came yesterday (one of our most succesful events to date) I would suggest that there is a need to get out in the weak wintry sunshine and take part in traditions that have taken place for hundreds of years – and that if people want to hold other events, eg blessing the trees, that would be great too.

Decorating the trees with toast, nourishing them for the year ahead, reminded me of a key philosophy seen around the world in many different cultures - that families, friends and communities are bound to each other often by gifts, sometimes symbolic. Very often in modern society we forget these bonds, forget to give thanks, and forget to give in turn.

The native American tribes on the Pacific coast would always give back to the river the bones of the first salmon caught, to ensure the gift cycle continued. It occurred to me yesterday that we were also enacting a gift cycle: in Spring we have the gift of blossom, in Summer the leaves as shelter, in Autumn apples for cider, and in Winter we give back to the trees through the symbolic gift of cider and toast dipped in cider. I think the robin who was eyeing all the toast was more than happy with the gift too…

Anyway, following the success of yesterday I’m hugely encouraged for the coming year- and inspired with lots of ideas for next year’s Wassailing. Knowing how many people might come allows us to plan bigger and better…

PS Cattern cakes made with cinnamon, currants and almonds are made on St Catherine’s Day, the patron saint of spinners and lacemakers, so we’ll have to wait till November before trying them…

As mentioned before Christmas, we are having a Wassailing event at the Community Orchard at 3pm on Saturday 14th January.

We have had Apple Blossom Viewing in the spring, Apple Picking in the autumn, and various working days throughout the year. Now the dark days of winter are here so it’s time for the Old English cheer of Wassiling.

Wassailing is the custom of waking the apple trees from their winter sleep. Saucepans are banged, which was believed to ward off evil spirits, toast soaked in cider is put in the branches of the guardian tree and cider poured around its roots. There will be music, the singing of the Wassailing song and refreshments. So get out your wellies, saucepans and something to bang them with and go and join in the fun.

As an extra winter warmer we have 50 sample packs of Dorset Cereals gingerbread porridge to give away.

The orchard is off Brookfield Walk which is off Northern Way. As you enter Brookfield Walk you will see a field ahead of you. Walk diagonally, to the right, across this and the adjoining field and you will come to the orchard at the end behind the hedge.  The orchard will be sign posted from the field entrance on Brookfield Walk.

Afterwards we will be retiring to the Old Inn for the regular Green Drinks get-together.  For January this is in place of the usual 3rd Tuesday of the month Green Drinks, so please don’t turn up for Green Drinks on the Tuesday as we won’t be there!

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday at the Community Orchard.

‘Is it all over for solar photovoltaics and feed-in tariffs?
The feed-in tariff scheme was introduced around 18 months ago to support the development of small scale renewable electricity generation. It had a spectacularly successful first 18 months with thousands of people, including many CAT members, opting to invest in renewable energy – solar photovoltaics in particular. This gave a big boost to the renewable energy industry in the UK, with the cost of installing PV panels falling substantially and tens of thousands of jobs being created.

Many of you will know that the generation tariff – the rate that householders get paid for each unit of electricity they generate – will be roughly halved for anyone who installs after 12th December. For the small systems (less than 4kW) it goes from 43.3p/kWh to 21p/kWh.

On top of this, there will be a requirement from 1st April 2012 that the houses must achieve an energy efficiency rating of at least C in their Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) or have undertaken all the measures that are identified in the EPC as potentially eligible for green deal finance. While it is a good thing for the energy efficiency of homes to be improved, we would rather that people just installed solar panels than that they do nothing and we are concerned that some people will be put off by the extra complication and end up installing neither solar panels nor insulation. Linking FiTs to energy efficiency is a good idea but the government must also back that up by making energy efficiency measures financially viable for the majority of UK households. At the moment we are not very confident that the measures in the green deal will be sufficient to achieve this, and we’re also worried that the new tariff rate will not be high enough to persuade people to go through the hassle.

Finally, and perhaps of most concern, where councils (for example) decide to install PV arrays on lots of their housing stock, they will receive a lower rate than individuals installing just one array. The reason for this is that the economies of scale mean it is cheaper for councils to install lots at once. Nevertheless, we think these schemes should be encouraged, not penalised, because they allow people who could not otherwise afford to make the upfront investment to benefit from renewable energy.

Friends of the Earth and, separately, a group of PV installation companies are planning to challenge the proposals in court. There is also a public consultation on the changes; the chances of it making any difference seem slim given that the changes are due to come in before the end of the consultation period. However, making your views known certainly can’t do any harm.

It is also worth pointing out while the cuts to the feed-in tariff are substantial, they do not make it completely financially unattractive to install PV panels in good locations. For example, a 3.8kW system you might now expect to cost around £12,000. If this was installed in a very good location, such as a south-facing roof on the south coast, you might expect it to produce around 3,640kWh per year. So, assuming that you use half of the electricity yourself and sell about half of it to the electricity company, you still have savings on your electricity bill of £236, and you still get £55 from the export tariff. Under the new tariff rate of 21p/kWh you now would get around £764 from the generation tariff, which means overall your income and savings would be £1055 for the year, which means it would still take less than 12 years to pay back your initial investment.’

Although the government’s actions are really disappointing CAT’s final comment is certainly a very valid one.

Now it is under way, it is important that cyclists demonstrate strong support for the project – so the council are deterred from dropping it if there’s a difficulty, and so we can press for a tarmac surface when the link opens. Please register your support on the website   http://CandW.moonfruit.com , which also has information about the route.

Supporters will be invited to a meeting in January hosted by Clevedon Transition.

It is claimed that a 20mph speed limit enables people to interact considerately and safely in the streets, whether driving, walking or cycling and that reducing the speed limit to 20mph would give many benefits:

• a better  local environment
• a better quality of life
• giving children a free range of a few miles rather than a few yards
• enabling the community to thrive
• reducing road dangers
• reducing CO2 emissions
• helping people to walk and cycle, and hence to shop and work locally

Practically “Total 20″ would be for the whole of Clevedon.  On entering the town from any of the six linking roads people would know to keep within 20mph within the whole area.

What about the “ring road?”

Clevedon’s ring road of Southern, Central and Northern Way separates people from shops and schools.  Many people live “outside” the ring road.  Many people, particularly parents and children, cross the ring road on foot.  Severe injuries and casualties have occurred on it.

Driving the entire road at 20mph would take just 1.8 minutes longer, at most, than at 30mph.

With a 20mph limit, at peak times the traffic would flow more smoothly. 20mph on the ring road would make it easy and cheap to maintain 20mph in the whole of Clevedon.

Is 20mph on the ring road the key to a safer, better, and quieter Clevedon?

Read more at www.clevedon.20splentyforus.org.uk

Clevedon – Weston Link

John Grimshaw, formally of Sustrans, was appointed on 12 Oct to act as a negotiator with land owners and the council regarding access across the Tutshill sluices. John has tremendous experience on negotiations which is good news. It is intended that the link will be a permissive path for cyclists and walkers. John is pressing ahead and has already informally met with some of the land owners. A meeting regarding the Weston-Clevedon link is being arranged for 26 January at St. Andrew’s Church Centre and it is intended that John will attend to update every one of the situation. A high attendance would also indicate support for the scheme and help in the push for completion.
Transition Clevedon is also producing a website for the link.
More information regarding the meeting in January will appear on this website in the near future.

Paths – Clevedon

This was another item discussed with members of North Somerset Council with a view to highlighting to the residents of Clevedon the extent of the path network in Clevedon, particularly among the estates either side of the ring road. There needs to be work done to the paths to improve signage and also provision of some dropped kerbs etc. It is hoped that money will also be available for producing a map for the residents. Transition is presenting to the Transport and Highways Committee of Clevedon Town Council on 16 November at 7.30 to bring the matter to their attention and to ask for support and possible finance. The pathways are an underused facility and for minimal cost there would be major benefits such as reduced traffic flow, safety, fitness, freedom for children, convenience, smaller carbon footprint, less pollution etc.

There are still some apples left on the trees, so we are planning to have a second harvest on Sunday 13th November from 10am – 2pm.

As part of the longer term Orchard project, we are looking for contributors to be part of an Orchard sub-group.  We need people to help organise and manage the orchard.  We need people with organisational skills, creative skills, and people with experience of pruning and looking after apple trees.

Over the next five years (and beyond) we want to hold events and workshops at the orchard, such as cider making, composting, photography competitions, permaculture trials, Inner Transition (Heart and Soul) meetings, and much much more.  We want to make it a place that the community can use.  To do this, we need to manage the orchard and keep on top of the maintenance as much as we can over the winter and into the spring.  We also need your creative ideas for events we can hold next year.

If you want to be part of this sub-group and shape the future of the Orchard, please email us at transitionclevedon@gmail.com

Jill Elliot did a great job of getting even the most reluctant onto the dance floor and the challenge of learning the dances led to hilarity all round.  It was great to have live music which was supplied by Mark Wallis on the accordion.

This was the main fund raiser for us this year and we made a profit of over £400. This was not only due to the evening being a sell-out but also to the generosity of some local businesses. Chris Wheeler and Spinning Weal contributed towards the raffle prizes and The Veg Box, Pullin’s and Cross Tree Stores provided discounted goods for the refreshments. This helped to make it a truly community event.

This profit will go towards our work next year both in the orchard and in providing
reskilling workshops and awareness raising events.

Please bring any clean buckets or containers, and if you have one, a wheel barrow. If you haven’t been to the orchard before, the orchard is off Brookfield Walk which is off Northern Way. As you enter Brookfield Walk you will see a field ahead of you. Walk diagonally, to the right, across this and the adjoining field and you will come to the orchard at the end behind the hedge. Trousers and boots or trainers are advisable! This year we have decided to sell the apples to a cider producer in Tickenham, to raise funds to reinvest into the orchard. In future years we hope to produce our own cider.