It has been an incredible year for Crystal Palace Transition Town.

Come along to the CPTT’s annual meeting at the Salvation Army Hall on Westow Hill on June 11 (doors open 7.15pm; the venue is upstairs, but there is a lift) and help celebrate what we have done so far, and if you’re interested, there will be a number of ways to get involved in what happens next.

The organisers said: “We don’t do normal AGMs. There will be taster presentations from all the different projects, followed by a chance to network and a brainstorming activity to finish.

“Hear about the wide range of our ongoing projects working to make the area more sustainable, all devised, started and sustained by local people.”

The projects of the past year have included:

• Crystal Palace Food Market, which has just celebrated a truly remarkable year with its first birthday celebrations
• Market Connected Projects including Patchwork Farm (our network of gardens and growing spaces), Handmade Palace, Busker’s Paradise and 10 new start-up small businesses!
• Last June we launched Rob Hopkin’s book The Power of Just Doing Stuff to a packed Grape and Grain
• Our “Local and Fair Group” delivered Fairtrade Fortnight and The Local and Fair Directory for Shopping in Crystal Palace
• Palace Pick-Up organised community clean-ups throughout the area
• Palace Pint are into their second year of hop-growing for beer!
• The Edible Garden in Westow Park has relaunched with a new team and continues to host Bugs’ Club for children.
• We also have an exciting new growing space in the grounds of St John’s Church on Auckland Road
• Palace Power have plans to develop community owned solar panels
• Our new Transport Group has run bicycle workshops, a Big Bike Ride, purchased cargo bikes and has plans for playstreet events in the area
• We are upgrading our website and newsletter and have also developed some strong connections with the other great community groups in the area.

Crystal Palace Transition Town has created new gardens for growing vegetables and educating children

Anything take your fancy?

Perhaps you have an idea you would like to develop or try out? There might be other people thinking the same way.

Or maybe you’d just like to come along and check it out?

All our existing projects welcome more volunteers to keep them sustainable. Everyone welcome from the vaguely curious to the heavily committed.

There will also be a chance to put your ideas into what we will do in the next year and beyond – with lots of opportunities for brainstorming and networking. Two years ago at the AGM someone suggested the crazy idea of a food market and look where that ended up. Who knows what might come up this year?

If you have any amendments to our constitution you wish to propose, please contact hello@crystalpalacetransition.org.uk before the June 4 so we can include on the agenda for the evening. The present constitution on the website here: http://www.crystalpalacetransition.org.uk/our-constitution.html

Also during the annual meeting, there will be elections of officers for the coming year. If you would like to nominate anyone for the posts of  Co-Chair, Secretary or Treasurer, again please email us at hello@crystalpalacetransition.org.uk with an outline of why you are nominating them and with a seconder by June 4.

Coming to Croydon

• St Giles’ primary school open morning, May 21
• David Lean Cinema: The Rocket, May 22
• Songs From The Ledge, Spread Eagle Theatre, May 23
• Greek Myths: stories and mask-making, May 27
• Howard Marks: Scholar, Smuggler, Prisoner, Scribe, May 29
• David Lean Cinema: Dallas Buyers Club, May 29
• Tales from Ancient Greece, Upper Norwood Library, May 29
• Upper Norwood Library Book Club, May 31
• Stitch Pitch quilting workshop, Upper Norwood Library, June 2
• Croydon Tech City “summit”, June 6
• An Improvised Murder, Spread Eagle Theatre, June 7
• Lakes Playground Action Group fun day, June 14
• Elm Tree Cottage garden open day, June 15
• Norwood Society Talk: The Concrete Church, June 19
• Classic Car Show at Purley Rotary Fields, June 22
• Crystal Palace Overground Festival, June 26-29
• Warnings to the Curious, Spread Eagle Theatre, June 27
• South Norwood Allotments open day, June 28
• Fragile, Spread Eagle Theatre, July 24-26
• Elm Tree Cottage garden open day, Aug 10
• Norwood Society Talk: War Memorials, Sep 18
• Norwood Society Talk: From Fire Station to Theatre, Oct 16
• Norwood Society Talk: Lambeth’s Archives, Nov 20

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