About us

Transition Ashtead

Transition Ashtead – part of the international Transition movement – is a local response to the challenges of peak oil, climate change and sustainability. Our aim is to foster projects that will enable Ashtead to lessen its dependency on fossil fuels and bring us together as a community. We are ordinary people taking small steps which add up to a measurable difference. We hope you will join us to make this happen.

Transition Ashtead – How It Started

The first step in the process that led to Transition Ashtead was the founding of Green Mole Forum (GMF) in January 2008.  The aim of GMF is to promote sustainable development in Mole Valley, mainly by maintaining a website that enables local groups in Mole Valley to promote their events and discuss topical issues.

The founding meeting of GMF discussed transition as something that GMF could possibly get involved in, but nothing was decided.

Transition got back on the GMF agenda some months later when Andy Tanner joined GMF.  Andy is the Chair of Dorking DNA (Dorking Needs Action) and had recently been to a presentation by Rob Hopkins, the founder of the Transition Movement.

Inspired by Rob’s talk, he appealed to the other GMF members to help start a transition initiative for Mole Valley.  It was decided that instead of having one Transition Initiative for the whole of Mole Valley, it would be better to have smaller initiatives for the various main communities in the area.  From this Transition Ashtead, Transition Bookham and Transition Dorking were born.

Transition Ashtead formally got going at a meeting on 21st April 2009 when we appointed officers, agreed a set of aims and principles and decided to apply to the Transition Network to be an official Transition Initiative.

View Ashtead, Surrey on a map

Transition Ashtead Initiating Group – Aims and Principles

Underlying Beliefs

The members of the Transition Ashtead Initiating Group (TAIG) share the following beliefs:

• Climate Change and Peak Oil require urgent action

• life with less energy is inevitable and it is better to plan for it than be taken by surprise

• society has lost the resilience to be able to cope with energy shocks

• we have to act together and we have to act now

• if we plan and act early enough, and use our creativity and co-operation to harness and develop the skills within our local communities, then we can build a sustainable future that can be fulfilling and enriching.

Aims

The ultimate aim of the TAIG is to establish a Transition Initiative in Ashtead in accordance with the 12 Step Process described in the Transition Handbook.  The TAIG will carry out the following first five steps of this process.

1. Set up the initiating group and design its demise from the outset.

We intend that once a minimum of four working groups (see aim 5) have been formed, the Initiating Group will disband and be replaced by a new Transition Ashtead Core Group.  This will include representatives of each of the working groups.

2. Awareness raising

We will raise awareness in Ashtead of the issues of peak oil and climate change by such means as: public meetings, articles in local papers, presentations to community groups and schools, establishing a Transition Ashtead website.

3. Working with existing groups

We will network with existing groups and activists, and seek to work with all individuals and groups whose activities are compatible with our aims.  (Note: This step is called ‘Lay the foundations’ in the Transition Handbook.)

4. Organise a Great Unleashing

When the TAIG judges that there is sufficient support and interest, it will organise a ‘Great Unleashing’ event.  This will create a memorable milestone to mark the Transition Ashtead’s “coming of age”, moves it right into the community at large, builds a momentum to propel Transition Ashtead forward for its next period of its work, and celebrates Ashtead’s desire to take action.

5. Form working groups

TAIG will encourage the formation of working groups to focus on specific aspects of the process and initiate appropriate actions.  Possible subjects for working groups are local food production, home energy saving, local energy generation, handicraft skills, waste reduction and re-use.

Principles

The members of TAIG will comply with the following principles when working for TAIG:

• We will not use TAIG to pursue party political or purely commercial objectives.
• We will be transparent in all our actions and in the circulation of information.
• All work will be on a voluntary non-for-profit basis
• We will be practical and set credible achievable goals.
• We will act ethically and responsibly in our individual lives to preserve the trust that may be put into the transition initiative.

Agreed at meeting 21 April 2009