You are invited to apply to attend a Travelling Pantry workshop to be held at The Watermill, Little Salkeld, near Penrith on Wednesday 2nd March, starting at 11am and finishing by 3pm (with light lunch), to explore how we can make the best of our community assets here in the Eden area and help stimulate local project development. 

The workshop will be led by Tessy Britton, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, which is supporting this initiative – see bellow for moree about the Travelling Pantry.

The impetus for inviting Tessy to run this workshop came from the Eden Valley Outdoor Oven project which is being supported by RSA Fellowship's Catalyst Fund, and developed by the PACT (Penrith Transition Town) Food Group. However, although food will certainly be central to the workshop, the intention is to open up other themes and issues, reflecting the complexity and interdependence of modern life. So it will also look at themes including transport, health, culture, new technologies, housing, employment and training for young people, and volunteering for older people.

But, to get back to food…the global food economy is noww showingg signs of strain as climate change, international commodity trading, supermarket power and unsustainable farming combined together to threaten food quality, supply and cost. These factors impact on one of the fundamental planks of rural communities - agriculture and the way food is produced. How can local communities address these threats and what are the opportunities ?

This is an action workshop, not a talking shop, so be prepared to go away with lots of good advice and ideas for projects that can help change community life for the better !

Numbers are limited to 12 and will be allocated first come first serve so please get back to me asap if you'd like to join us… I hope you can and look forward to hearing from you.

Nick Jones FRSA, The Watermill