Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by our progress towards the goals of the wider Transition Town movement:
Increase local resilience. Helping communities withstand future energy shocks and other disruptions by becoming more self-sufficient.
Reduce fossil fuel dependence. Encouraging communities to shift away from fossil fuels and mitigate climate change through local projects.
Re-localise the economy. Supporting local food production, local energy generation, and local businesses to keep wealth within the community.
Foster a sense of community. Building stronger, more connected communities where people can work together towards common goals.
Promote positive change. Creating a positive vision for the future by taking action to make it a reality, rather than solely focusing on what is wrong.
Addressing social justice. Increasing awareness of social justice issues and finding climate solutions locally that address the unfair impacts of the climate crisis.
Our story
Transition Town Worthing (TTW) is part of the Transition Movement of communities, coming together to reimagine and rebuild our world. It's all about communities stepping up to address the big challenges they face by starting local. By coming together, we can crowd-source solutions. We raise awareness of how to move towards a low-carbon lifestyle, taking into consideration social and economic justice. We have built a strong local network of like-minded groups and individuals, all working together to support the local economy, reduce our environmental impact and build community resilience. TTW is a Community Interest Company supported by local volunteers and 2 paid part-time staff.
TTW started as 'Worthing Green Drinks' (WGD); a monthly meeting in the early 2000s where a mixture of people from green groups, NGOs, political parties, and local businesses got together to discuss environmental issues. It was an organic, self-organising network and a great to catch up with people and make new contacts. At each meeting, different speakers and events were held with an environmental theme.
By 2009, WGD had grown into TTW following a talk about 'Transition Towns' - a movement founded by Rob Hopkins. Inspired by the concept of Transition Towns, a group of six started meeting regularly to discuss how to create a TTW utilising Hopkins' book "The Transition Handbook", and set up a committee, a steering group, wrote a constitution and appointed officers.
In the early stages, there were many events with films, speakers and social events, including knitting blankets for the homeless. In a short space of time, over 500 people were involved with TTW, perhaps in part due to the level of accessibility we offered, such as the creation of a daytime group for those unable to make evenings; attended by older people, young parents and their children.
Since, TTW has held many different projects & events, e.g. the 'Heart and Soul/ Wellbeing Group' exploring how climate change affects each of us personally. Nowadays, TTW projects are divided into different focus areas: energy, transport, green spaces, special recycling and plastic-free, Sustainable Worthing Map. TTW is home to a popular monthly Repair Café too, partnering with local Sussex mobility charity 'Freedom Powerchairs', who provide a place for people to have their mobility equipment checked for free and donate redundant surplus equipment (powerchairs and mobility aids).
TTW events include weekly & monthly meetings, bi-annual 'Eco Open Houses' events and annual 'Seed Swap, Sow and Grow', 'Beach Clean & Litter Survey' and 'Green Dreams' events. The Green Dreams event showcases local green groups, performers, artists, makers and producers, and has seen over 3,500 people attend, whatever the weather! Many of us believe that action on the part of government and business is also vital, so we also formed another organisation- Worthing Climate Action Network; creating a platform for the people of Worthing to campaign!
Our advice
In terms of engagement, we engaged local communities mainly by putting on events and workshops and setting up new practical projects that people could get involved with, on an occasional or regular basis. We have worked with our local Council on many projects, mainly because they liked what we were doing and wanted to support it in some way. What we do ticks a lot of boxes for them!
Funding is a perennial issue but thankfully we have usually done quite well with funding bids, probably because everything we do is inclusive and accessible to all and ticks all the environmental boxes for funders. Challenges have been with funds and volunteers, but then that's the same for most organisations. We just keep going until we get there!
We should have incorporated much earlier on, maybe gone for charity status within the first 2-3 years. By the time we did try, it was a lot harder, so we had to go for CIC status in the end. There's good and bad to this but if you can find helpful, committed trustees who support your vision, it's probably best to try to become a charity, as there are so many more funders who support charities, and you can find and support premises more easily.
