More information at http://www.ageofstupid.net/

Cymdeithas Y Dalar - the Allotment Group

From the 22nd to 29th of February Cymdeithas y Dalar organised an exhibition entitled Allotments: Past, Present and Future - Rhandiroedd: Gorffennol, Presennol a’r Dyfodol. The exhibition started in the Llandeilo Civic Hall. After guest speeches by representatives from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, City Farms and the National Trust, it was officially opened by Edward Thomas, the Mayor of Llandeilo by cutting a piece of red tape. After the initial opening the exhibition moved to the county council offices on Crescent Road where it was accessible to public for the rest of the week. The exhibition was well attended and we are very happy that among visitors were also all three primary schools from the local area.

Cutting the red tape

Exhibition on the move

The first furrow

The site of the future plots were ploughed on the 10th of March and rotovated on the 3rd of April.

Working sessions on the site

On Sunday the 22nd of March the allotmenteers met on site for the first time and started on a general tidy up of the site. Odd bits of plastic lying around need to be collected and taken away, the polytunnels cleared out, shed and container repaired and tidied up, the brambles along the fence removed, the fence along the A40 has to be repaired. Lots of work but so far the atmosphere has been great.

On the 5th of April volunteers tackled the polytunnels [Photo Holly Olivander]

12th of April and the black membrane which had been covering the ground in the polytunnels is given a proper clean.

19th of April the door goes back on the shed.

D-Day

Finally the day of the draw has come. On the 19th of April the plots were allocated and first allotmenteers moved in.

Dan pulls names from the pot while allotmenteers wait expectantly to find out which plots will be theirs.

Work on the plots starts.

For more information about the allotments scheme please contact Katka at . If you would like to become a member please contact Mags at

New Economics

As governments around the world struggle to deal with an unprecedented financial crisis and global recession, the danger is that action to reduce dependence on fossil fuel usage is driven down the priority list.

The New Economics Foundation’s Green New Deal proposals include financial regulation, windfall taxes on energy companies, and loans to companies investing in clean-energy infrastructure. Critics argue that this obscures the central role of the capitalist economy in precipitating an inter-related, multi-dimensional global upheaval, and diverts attention from transnational corporations’ power over governments gained during the last 40 years.

The New Economics group provides the opportunity to discuss, experiment with and exchange experiences of approaches to production, distribution and exchange that will better enable us to meet social needs.

Among the issues for consideration are co-operative ownership, community-based mutual funds, local currencies, credit unions, community land trusts, limited liability partnerships, social enterprise and intelligent markets.

Contact: Gerry Gold, 01558 668895,

Water, waste and resources - habitable

habitable, adj.
- providing conditions which are good enough to live in or on.

This group is starting as an online resource and forum. The main focus for discussion and debate relates to issues of: Water; Waste; and Resources.

To find out more, visit the group at http://groups.google.com/group/habitable

Heart and Soul Group

We are a group who meet to explore ideas of inner transition. We have each chosen to play a part in the Transition Town in order to find new ways of living and relating to each other, knowing we have only the one planet. We know that - in order to survive depleted oil supplies and to significantly reduce our carbon footprint - our habitual patterns of energy consumption, consumerism, travel etc must change; but the truly significant change is the one that will need to happen within us, as we learn to live in ways that respect the Earth.

We meet regularly, around the time of the full moon, on different nights of the week to allow different people to attend. We are an open group, asking only that those who come are committed in some way to helping Transition - both outer and inner.

We have many different kinds of meetings - we talk and discuss, tell stories, explore feelings and ideas, often devising new structures to help us do this; we have planned how to facilitate large group meetings, had a talk on addictive behaviour and how to support change, walked on the land, put on a Deep Ecology workshop, offered celebrations for the whole of the TT group. We are open to a whole range of ways of supporting each other in transition and confronting the obstacles that seem to be in the way.

Because we wish to welcome new members, we have written this description of what we are about in order to help people who might want to join. We aim to create a sense of safety for each person to have their say, to be sensitive to each other and allow space for listening and feelings. We aim to be gentle and thoughtful with what each brings, to foster a climate of respect and acceptance.

If you would like to come along, or have any questions, please contact Sue Weaver, who convenes the group, on 01550 777402 for details of the next meeting.

Diwylliant a Iaith

The first meeting of the group took place at The Angel on 5th June.

The meeting included songs and story-telling and reminiscences of the past. It was clear that those who have lived through the incredible changes of the past 60 or 70 years can regard the inevitable changes of the next decades with equanimity. They already know how adaptable people can prove to be under stress.

More information about the group from Rhiannon Rowley rhiannon54@hotmail.co.uk.

Afallon Teilo

Afallon Teilo is a Transition Town group that has come together to encourage local people to grow more apples, and to eat locally grown fruit.

We were inspired by research showing that the Towy valley area was once known for its spring blossom with over 100 orchards shown on the 1905 OS map between Llandovery and Llandeilo. There are three historical varieties of apple tree local to Dinefwr alone. And Saint Teilo, after whom the town is named, is called the patron saint of apples.

The group is in the process of setting up an orchard near Llandeilo, and this will be a community orchard where people can sponsor trees as well as get involved in the orchard activities and events. Courses on sustainable orchard planting and maintenance will be run from there to encourage local landowners and farmers to plant more trees and it will be used as an educational resource for local school children. The orchard will also be a commercial one, producing eating apples to sell locally, as well as juice and cider.

We are collecting information on what orchards exist in the area around Llandeilo and whether they have surplus fruit. Please share any info you have on this. We are also looking for people who want to get involved in the project, from the practical aspects of planting to organising events. We meet every month. Please contact us for more information.

Isabel Lovelock foxcoop@googlemail.com or 01558 668013.

Cymdeithas Y Dalar - the Allotment Group - how it started

It started just a little over a year ago. At the inaugural meeting of Transition Town Llandeilo on the 3rd of September 2007, Dan Morris presented his idea to start an allotment scheme in the town. There, on the spot, a group of people decided to try and make his vision a reality.

Soon we received two offers of land. One from a local farmer situated on the hill above Llandeilo and the second on the site of the former nursery at Home Farm from the National Trust. Because of its closer position and also considering possible future problems if the private land changed ownership we decided for the National Trust offer.

During the autumn and winter we met regularly and set everything up that was needed so we would be recognised as an organisation. We formulated our mission statement, chose our name, agreed and on the 6th of February 2008 signed the constitution. Now as an established organisation we set up bank account and have applied for membership of the National Society of Allotments and Leisure Gardeners.

The interest in allotments in Llandeilo area (and also in Ammanford) is great. By word of mouth only, without any advertising as we didn’t want to go public until we have a site, Cymdeithas Y Dalar gained over 40 members including four local schools who all showed great interest in the scheme.

The negotiations with the National Trust have not always been straight forward as the National Trust is a massive organisation and as with any great mass has a certain momentum. But where there is a will there is a way and in tight co-operation with the National Trust South Wales and property manager of Dinefwr Park, Paul Faulkner, we have agreed on the final wording of the tenancy agreement which is ready and waiting to be signed.

The only remaining hurdle is the negotiations between the National Trust and the planning department of Carmarthenshire County Council. After long and protracted consultations, on the 17th of June 2008 it was confirmed that allotments are a permitted development on agricultural land and the local authority recommended the National Trust to request a certificate of lawfulness which they did. However this was three months later rejected and so we appeared to have returned to the square one. We are now seeking a clarification of these two seemingly contradictory decisions by the planning authority.

When we started in September 2007 we were hoping to begin on the site within short time but every time we thought we had fulfilled all the requirements we ran into yet another bureaucratic obstacle.

It has been so frustrating that we decided that when we finally get to work on the site we celebrate it by the cutting some red tape.

We did not spend all our time just sitting at meetings - we also got out to do some work. Here members of the committee with their families help with weeding at Noddfa Teilo.

Thanks

We would like to thank to all those who supported us over the last year. There are many who followed the developments and showed their support like Llandeilo Town Council, Jean Arnold of the Allotment Regeneration Initiative, the Educational Section of the National Botanical Garden of Wales, City Farms organisation, Dyfed Archaeological Trust, ADAS Aberystwyth, Clwb Garddio Llandeilo and others. We would especially like to thank the National Trust for its support and allowing us to have regular meetings at Home Farm and Horticulture Network Wales for their advice, financial support which has allowed us to buy basic sets of tools and for getting the site soil tested. In addition we wish to thank CAVS for their practical advice with setting up our organisation and last but not least the Dinefwr Green Group for their financial support.

- 23/10/2008