Rupert Griffin, who walked on the Buzz Tour from Bradford to York last month, was hit by a car a couple of days ago whilst on his bike in Oxford and very seriously injured. His condition is now stable but please send your prayers and good wishes to him to speed up his recovery. Rupert is an expert in all sorts of areas, engineering, clocks, dancing, singing, apple juice, farmers markets, honey, as well as enduring some of the worst weather during the Buzz Tour. He used to sing in the choir at Durham Cathedral and they have added him to their prayers. Rupert our thoughts are with you.

York has a beautiful feel that’s great to meander around. The intact city wall, old stone bridges across the river, narrow streets and ‘shambles’ (narrow alleys) make it great to see on foot. If you want to get from one side to the other though it’s great to go by bike and there are a two great organisations to encourage that.   The fantastic Bike Rescue Project rescues and repairs bikes and gives disadvantaged people training and experience.

Cycle Heaven has two stores offering repairs, sales and hire.

Think globally, cycle locally.

What an AMAZING week at Reclaim the Power action camp.

An action camp is where people come together for several days to learn from each other and to take action on an issue. Reclaim the Power is about taking action against climate change and extreme energy (such as fracking). The group organises horizontally meaning that they are anti-hierarchy and work to increase equality, using techniques such as consensus decision making. Hundreds of people not only attend but work to create the camp, it’s workshops and it’s actions with people encouraged to learn and take on responsibility.

During the camp I was co-ordinating the toilets. Many of the people organising parts of the camp were completely new to the group at last years camp. By having several people shadowing a role and continually bringing new people in to roles you can very quickly grow the capacity of the movement.

As well as a march in Blackpool there were 13 different ‘affinity groups’ who undertook direct actions and protest against fracking. An affinity group is a group of people with similar aims who come together to take action on something. Direct action is where rather than ask for someone else (e.g. a politician) to do something for you, you do it yourself. So if you think something is harmful and should shut down, you don’t just ask, but you go and try to shut them down. Protesting is very similar and can even involve the same activities but is designed to get a third party to take action. One group blockaded DEFRA because of a redacted government report to demand the full version be released. Others put themselves in the way of fracking companies.

Jonny is the creator and editor of Stir magazine which focuses on community alternatives for a positive future. I asked him about how he had managed to get the magazine started.

This year was my first time at The Green Gathering festival. Although it had many of the normal components of a music festival it felt very different. People come together at the Green Gathering not just to party but to network, learn and protect the environment. There was a permaculture area, a craft skills area, music, campaigns, speakers, kids area, healing area and earth energies spiritual area. The days menu of options started early with free yoga and Tai Chi and ended late with music and talks. The food included gorgeous vegetarian and vegan food (I met Veggies again, doing a great trade), and many activities such as massage were by donation. A place were I spent a lot of beautiful time was the mobile Sento Spa. Fueled by a woodstove and funded by donations, the people working there made you feel so cared for it was a world away from a commercial space.

Although the festival has music it doesn’t have any of the big mainstream names which means that people going there are going for other reasons too. I bumped into several lovely people that I’d met along the walk as well as meeting new people doing amazing things like Tom the morris dancing pilgrim.

The Trust for Conservation Volunteers (TCV) in Leeds works to enhance habitats but like a number of TCV groups they also enhance the well being of people. A number of the staff have a background in the health profession and people are referred to them for therapeutic reasons. I’d come accross the Green Gym idea years ago at TCV where participants keep fit by doing practical work, however in Leeds it goes much further. Due to the interests and care of the staff, they are supporting people with serious health problems who are referred by health and social workers. The success stories are many but include literally saving people from ending their lives. The huge society benefit and social care that this group is providing is hidden underneath the label of ‘environmental conservation’. The health of our environment and ourselves are intricately linked. To have a habitable planet we must also pursue social justice. To have social justice we must protect the life around us. The lines blur everywhere I look as it does not make sense to divide and separate our aims. We want a healthy future, for all of us. My gratitude and respect go out to all the wonderful people working so hard to bring it about.

The diploma is an incredible way to help people turn their lives around and is free to people who are unemployed and over 19. It’s one more way that people have found to retrain, to change their lives  and to follow their heart.

Walking in to Bradford was a shock to the system after the beautiful countryside. Many areas suffer deprivation and there were empty shops all over the place except for in the city center. The Transition group in Bradford no longer operates, as they found the city too big for the Transition model. But what happened instead was that the group seeded other wonderful initiatives. I’ve come across this in a few different cities now that groups come together for a purpose and even if the original group closes down it starts off other groups with related aims. The important thing seems to be coming together and trying to make a change. No effort is wasted. Like a wave that washes up and then recedes, the energy of it’s passing changes the land beneath it.

Horton Community Farm is one fantastic example of this. Through the work of local residents over five years, a derelict allotment site that was attracting crime has become a community farm.

Leaving Manchester someone said to me:

So you’ve done the flat bit then, it’s all hilly here on up!

Having already crossed the Pennies once I can attest that the Yorkshire Moors really are very hilly and the best way to see them is on foot (you can’t take a motor vehicle on to them and, judging from the facial expressions I saw, biking looks like torture).

Stunningly beautiful but watch out for the wiry slippery grass, it’ll move your legs from under you without warning! 🙂