Better Haringey Awards

Monday 1st June is the closing date for the Better Haringey Awards nominations, to take place at the Green Fair on Saturday 13 June on Ducketts Common.

Started in 2003, the awards are an opportunity to reflect on the achievements of Better Haringey and reward and acknowledge those who have made it possible.
If you would like to nominate an individual or group for any of the awards below, email better.haringey@haringey.gov.uk with the following information:

• Your name and contact details
• The name and contact details of the nominee
• A supporting statement as to why they are suitable for the award

Categories

You can nominate for a Better Haringey award in the following categories:

• Sustainable School

This accolade is awarded to schools that promote the importance of tackling climate change by making changes to their curriculum and campus and building relations with the local community.

• Greenest Public Sector Office

Open to Haringey Council staff and partners in the public sector. Submissions from large office buildings should be submitted by floor or team, but smaller office accommodation such as area offices can submit a single application. We are looking for teams who create an innovative approach to making the workplace a green environment.

• Safe and Sustainable Communities

This category is open to all residents of the borough and entries may be submitted that recognise the contributions of groups, associations and individuals. The judges will be looking for inventive examples of projects that have been put together to make communities increasingly sustainable. Community gardens, sustainable food growing and improved safety in urban environments act as good examples for this award.

• Greening Your Home

This award is aimed at all occupants of residential properties in Haringey. To win this award you will have to demonstrate evidence of having practical ideas and approaches to improving the home in an environmentally sensitive way that reduces C02 emissions.

• Green Business Award

This award is open to all businesses and voluntary sector organisations in Haringey (excluding all public sector bodies as they have their own category). Nominations should illustrate how the business has considered and reduced their environmental impact through its operational policies.

• Special Award for Outstanding Contribution

This category awards an individual or group that have a made a special contribution that Haringey Council would like to showcase and congratulate.
Or for more information call the Better Haringey Team on 020 8489 2243.
Visit the council website for details of last year's winners: Better Haringey Awards 2008

Haringey Independence Day

This Saturday (30 May) is Haringey Independence Day!

If you’re fed up with the way things are run, or concerned about an issue in your neighbourhood and want to do something about it then this event is for you. Haringey Independence Day is the perfect opportunity to meet like-minded people and make links with your community. With lots on offer, there should be something for everyone.


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Running from from 12-6pm, activities include advice and discussions on setting up and managing your own community group, face painting, live music, banner making and a local history walk. See the full list of meetings and workshops here.

There are plenty of activities for kids, and a free creche throughout the day.

Outside

Get seedy

If your neighbourhood looks a bit grey, then try a spot of guerrilla gardening to brighten it up with some flowers. Seed bombs are easy to sow secretly or chuck over fences. Come along to make some wildflower seed bombs and an origami paper box to store them in. All ages welcome.

Dr Bike - bike maintenance for all

Bring your bike along on the day for a free check-up, learn how to make simple repairs, and get maps and information about cycling training. Mechanics can carry out basic adjustments to your bike or help you gain practical skills and learn how to maintain your bike yourself.

Cycle Training

Come along for a taster session lesson, find out how you can improve your cycling skills and confidence (whatever your existing level) and sign up for a full lesson (cost no more than £5).

Inside

Food and Drink

We have caterers at the venue throughout the day providing hot and cold drinks and lovely vegan snacks and refreshments, suitable for both children and adults. There will be a relaxation area where you can enjoy your food and drink, chat and generally take in what you have seen during the day.

If you want more substantial food, there are a number of cafes and pubs within easy walking distance of the venue.

Creche

There will be a free creche throughout the day, run by qualified staff. The room used is a fully equipped, purpose built creche. The creche welcomes children from 2 to 8 years of age. Children under 2 are very welcome as long as their parents or carer attends with them.

Other Activities

Give or Take

A great way to pass on things you don’t need and find things you do - all for free - while reducing rubbish, helping the environment and saving money. Bring unwanted items along at midday or earlier - you can bring books, toys, kitchenware, re-useable paint, bric-a-brac, plants, furniture and ornaments etc. No adult clothing, electrical or hazardous/toxic items please. Starts at midday.

A wide selection of films, including:

• At The River I Stand

David Appleby, Allison Graham, Steven Ross 1993, USA, 56 mins

Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous “I have been to the mountaintop” speech was delivered on 3 April 1968 in Memphis, the day before he was assassinated. “At The River I Stand” reminds us that King went there both for his Poor People’s Campaign, and because of a 1,300-strong sanitation workers’ strike in what the film argues was a culmination of the Southern States’ civil rights struggle.

• Postcode Wars 2009

UK, 25 mins

This new short film made by students from Park View Academy is about youth violence in our communities - why is it happening and how do we stop it?

• The Legacy of the Black Panthers

Reel News, 2008, UK, 24 mins

Forged in the heat of the US civil rights movement of the 60s, the Black Panther Party have long been controversial. Hear ex-members speak for themselves.

• Ethel McDonald - An Anarchist’s Story

Mark Littlewood, 2006, UK, 68 mins

In 1936, with civil war sweeping through Spain, Ethel Macdonald - a working-class girl from Motherwell - was to become one of the most famous voices of the time, sending dispatches and broadcasts back from the Spanish Anarchist camp in Barcelona. This film examines the unique impact that Macdonald had during this dark period of European history when the people of Spain stood alone against fascism.

• The Battle of Orgreave

Mike Figgis & Jeremy Deller, 2001, UK, 60 mins

Documentary about a key battle between miners and police in the 1984/85 miners’ strike. Director Mike Figgis and Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller collaborated to investigate this key moment in English social history and those lives that were changed forever by the industrial dispute.

Groups with Stalls

There are nearly 40 groups with stalls at the event, spread out over the ground and first floors. Come and have a look at what’s going on in and around Haringey, make links and be inspired!

Back to Earth Project
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers
BUBIC
B2E Green Skills Project
East London Community Foundation
Friends of Tottenham Marshes

Furtherfield
Haringey Against ID Cards
Haringey Allotments Forum
Haringey and Barnet Venezuela Information Centre
Haringey Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Haringey Cycling Campaign
Haringey Federation of Residents Associations
Haringey Friends of Parks Forum
Haringey Independent Cinema
Haringey Justice for Palestinians
Haringey Solidarity Group
Industrial Workers of the World
Kids Collective Community Film Group
Krankenhouse

Living Under One Sun
London No Borders

National Shop Stewards Network
Naturewise

North London LETS
Pedro Achata Trust

Radical History Network
Reel News
Spectrum London
Stop Haringey Health Cuts Coalition
Sustainable Haringey
The Farm Community Kitchen
Tottenham Civic Society
Tottenham Food Co-op
Tottenham & Wood Green Friends of the Earth
Vegan Campaigns
Wards Corner Community Coalition

Winstanley Gardens Guerilla Gardening

Sustainable Haringey food group

This rather boring title disguises lots of exciting ideas and activities happening right now in the London Borough of Haringey. We are an independent informal group, open to anyone who cares about sustainable food (defined below). Our interests range from practical food-growing, cooking and eating, to educating ourselves and others, campaigning, and influencing decisionmakers. We can offer them and each other a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience. The group is a member of London Food Link (LFL), and shares its aims: "increasing the availability of sustainable food in London; tackling the barriers preventing access to healthy and sustainable food for all Londoners; protecting and celebrating London's diverse food culture". LFL is part of Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, which "advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, promote equity and enrich society and culture." We work locally, while also networking and sharing ideas with other people worldwide.

This group gave birth to the Growing in Haringey network - see www.GrowingInHaringey.org.uk

Haringey's Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009

This year representatives from 170 nations will meet to decide the future of our planet. On 6-18 December the Copenhagen Climate Conference will produce decisions on how we are going to tackle climate change and manage our emissions once the Kyoto protocol runs out in 2012.

With a financial crisis and parliamentary scandal catching the headlines climate change seems to have been pushed aside in the media. Here in Haringey we have not forgotten about it!

We are planning two weeks of action in the Borough to coincide with the Conference. We want to raise awareness of climate change and make sure this important event is not forgotten, and we need to make sure as many people in Haringey know about this as possible.

The conference is the culmination of a year of negotiations where leaders try and reach a global strategy in meetings of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

The London Olympics. A significant birthday. A turning point for the future of our planet.

Whatever 2012 means to you and to us in Haringey, pivotal decisions made now will dictate the future of our planet. Please do contact us if you have any events/ideas/help you want to add... and we will try to keep you informed about our plans for these important dates as we decide on them.

Email info@sustainableharingey.org.uk if you would like to be involved.

Philosophies of life from our Spring Gathering

The Gathering on Sunday May 10 in Haringey Civic Centre. Among serious discussions Dave encouraged us to embark on several group exercises for fun, including some humming and mapping (promising sincerely that we are not a cult).

In the spirit of good fun we each put our philosophies of life on a piece of paper and anonymously read someone else's.

Here they are:

• A pessimist is an optimist with better information
• Fairness and understanding
• Don’t have one
• Leave everything at least slightly better than you found it
• Less is more
• Try to live creating maximum happiness with respect for other people and the environment
• Do unto others what you would like them to do to you
• Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we die
• Try to do some good
• Always act with love in your heart and be the change you want to see
• Leave the world a better place
• Campaign for environment and social justice while enjoying love, friendship, nature, culture and laughter
• People and planet, family and friends, fun and fulfillment
• Living lightly and working beneficially
• Be positive and optimistic
• Better regret something you did than something you did not do
• The world would be a better place if everything was like compost – slimy smelly rubbish magically transformed into lovely useful stuff (with a smaller volume!)

Growing group needs helpers

Next month Sustainable Haringey's growing group will hold a stall at the Haringey Green Fair, and people involved in community growing projects are invited to get in touch.

On Ducketts Common on 13th June, the fair will promote all things green in Haringey. We want to make the most of the borough's potential and are already collaborating with groups in Haringey and the surrounding boroughs.

The growing group was set up to link existing food groups together. So far, members are participating in the Tottenham Food Coop and are working closely with London Food Link. We are also participating in the Capital Growth project, aiming for 2012 new growing spaces in London by 2012.

Other exciting possibilities include the development of Lordship Rec/Broadwater Farm and the Wolves Lane plant nursery.

We want to grow food for a more sustainable Haringey. To be part of this growing movement, visit www.GrowingInHaringey.org.uk or send an email to growinginharingey@blueyonder.co.uk.

Or visit the council website for more information about the fair http://www.haringey.gov.uk/betterharingeygreenfair

Contact us with events

We’re extending our network and we want to hear from you! Sustainable Haringey now has a new crack team dedicated to making the website a more happening place. Here’s your chance to promote any event you feel is relevant to us. All you have to do is add it to our calendar. It’s easy to do and basically free publicity for you. Just go to the calendar at http://sustainable-haringey.wikispaces.com/ and click on CALENDAR on the left side of the page. Send us a message via the discussion tab, and hey presto! We’re hoping anyone searching for events in Haringey will come to us – which means they’ll find you.

Also, any local groups who want to get in touch with us we’d love to hear from you. As we’re a network promoting a more sustainable Haringey, if you have the same interests, chances are we’ll get on well. We may be able to advise, share skills or co-ordinate events together.

Two heads are better than one and three heads are better than two so let’s see what we can do when we get together!