We are out there!

There is so much going on that it is hard to keep up! First of all Dee and I made the front page of a short film about the Westminster Hub Changemakers Fayre. Have a look at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=87tF4YOlG4Q
We are about 3.11 mins. We were really pleased to be able to pitch off the cuff so easily.
We are really getting to understand this complex and multi faceted project.

After meeting Daniel at the Hub event, we pitched this month to about 40 of his MA digital marketing students at Hult International Business School (www.hult.edu) who are going to create a digital marking plan for LCNC. They fired questions at us, after our pitch, for about half an hour and we addressed them all.

We are also involved in Finsbury Square Eco-Village, putting them in contact with people who can help them build self build and recycled structures to make it a showcase of what can be done. Have a look

(http://occupii.org/group/london-finsbury-eco-village-project?xg_source=activity)

Oli, the architect involved, has an article here about it:

Architype joins protestors on Finsbury Square eco-village bid by Merlin Fulcher

"Architype has teamed up with members of the Occupy protest movement to create an eco-village at Finsbury Square in London"

And the veg I and Kathy planted on Christmas Eve there are starting to sprout!

Ye of little faith who said it was too early! An advantage of climate change?? Agghh!

Christmas is a waste of time!

Sorry everyone to be a Scrooge but that is how it felt this year. There are so many exciting things happening with the co-op that I just want to get on with it! Now I am late with my blog and had too much to eat! Still it’s keeping me warm for the winter!

We are pitching soon to Hult Business School who are going to work with us on a digital marketing plan for the coming year! Wow!

We are inching much too slowly for me toward our re-launch. Waiting for the FSA (how long can a government organisation take????) to approve the new multi-stake holder rules before we can incorporate. We need to incorporate to get a back account. We need a bank account before we can start promoting LCNC (remember we are changing our name??) and getting ourselves out there!

I am sure in the end the 'wait' is good for us as it enables us to work on all the not so glamorous things like the business and marketing plans, our development plan and continue honing our workshops community-led development. I am impatient!

Despite grumpiness I hope you had a restful holiday and wish you a productive New Year!

Moving on...

We have made some big decisions last month. We are now working with CAVE (http://www.cave.coop/), a sustainable architectural co-operative, who are also very excited about our project. They are helping us with promotional material and we had a very exciting day with them explaining our visions for the buildings and projects. We also now have more accurate costings ...
We hope to have our new website, promotional material and have London Community Neighbourhood Co-operative (LCNC) incorporated early in the new year. Somerset Co-ops, who created the multistake holder form of co-op, have just rewritten the primary rules and we all await their acceptance from the FSA.
We have been visiting other co-ops. I went to The Drive in Walthamstow who moved into a wonderful large house a few months ago. Four of us went to visit The Vine Co-op in Vauxhall and were impressed with their community activities. Thank you Marie for a wonderful informative afternoon and the hot chocolate!

Lots happening...

We have had a busy month of trainings and spreading the word. LCNC gave a workshop about community-led sustainable development at HUB Westminster. It was really well attended and we met some wonderful people doing all sorts of inspiring projects.

During the two days of the Hub festival workshops on all sorts of topics were held. I went to several on marketing and a particularly good one on the importance of using internet video by Go Wild Films (www.gowildfilms.com) In fact Eduardo from Go Wild Films and I recognised each other and could not remember where from. We stood there throwing out one word descriptions of places and projects we had been involved in until we knew everything about each other and still could not remember where we knew each other from. As I went home it was driving me mad. I had tiny openings of clarity for several seconds and then they were gone. Do you remember a film called ‘Mirage’ from the 60s? One part of the film has always stayed with me; a technique to help remember things. In the film someone has amnesia. They can only remember one visual scene that tells them very little about anything. The doctor says ‘look around the scene. Walk down the street. Read the signs. etc’ I used this on the small memories that would flash back to me and remembered! We met on the 365 blockade of Faslane Nuclear Power station about 5 years ago. It poured the whole time and even the police took pity on us and gave us some of their sandwiches to eat. We had a great time! So that is the long story of how great to meet up with Eduardo and his brother Daniel again in a new context – still changing the world!

Busy week...

We have had a busy but very productive time. Last Saturday 2 trainers from Seeds for Change (www.seedsforchange.org.uk) came for a day of consensus decision making training. Games were mentioned early on to which several of us internally went ‘oh no!’ but even the games were great. The day, while long, was a day of activity and training in a very safe environment. We also had a great laugh as ever! Its really important to do this sort of thing to remind yourself of first principles which can get lost when you are in the thick of a huge project.

Thank you also to the Royal Festival Hall. We have met there since the beginning and what a fantastic resource for London. The only rule was don’t stick anything on the wall. So we used tables and chairs and it was fine.

Then Wednesday, Dee, Alison and I went on a day visiting neighbourhood communities with Glasshouse (www.theglasshouse.org.uk). So inspiring to see what people have done. We first went to Vine Street Co-operative , another successful community project to have come out of squatting. They have been going since the 80s and have transformed the area. The second set of projects were in Dalston and were much newer but no less exciting. We talked about many issues of running projects, volunteers vs paid staff, public /private projects, reaching ‘the community’ and what does that mean and most importantly, what lift not to buy!

August for LCHC

It’s been a quiet month in some ways but also it also feels like the calm before the storm. We were supposed to be on a straw bale build mid month but that has been postponed until the end of September. That actually was good timing as I got terrible toothache that week and had to spend days at the dentist!

Three of us did spend a day in south London visiting Walter’s Way (www.segalselfbuild.co.uk/projects/waltersway,lewis.html) , a road of 13 Walter Segal single dwelling houses and Sanford Housing Co-op (www.sanford.coop).

Mark, who works for the co-op, arranged for us to meet some members. They were all 3 incredibly giving and open with their time and experience. Our project already owes so much to all the groups, architects and co-ops that we have met , who have gone before us, whether they be Radical Routes, Robin Hillier or Sanford. Everyone has been so generous and shared their hard won experience with us in this growing but still novice area of eco community development. Sanford were no exception. We thank them very much.

Sanford have a big annual event called Folkus Picnic, part of the Folkus Festival, 3 September, 12-6pm. LCHC will be there (see under 'news' on our website for more details). Come and say hello! It should be a great day.

We also have a meeting with Chris on the morning of the 3 Sept to firm up our new legal structure and our business plan. Then we start looking for investment … and the project will move to another level.