Green drinks
We will talk about where we get our information and inspiration from - the books, films, podcasts,
organisations, websites, etc, we find interesting and helpful. Come and share your thoughts. Thursday 1 May from 7.30pm in the Snug at The Mill, Shottermill Road.

Plants wanted
Do you have any spare plants we could use in our planter bike racks? We have three racks - one outside the convenience store on Wey Hill and two outside Dylan's. We need three plants for each rack, of suitable small robust and attractive species - perennial or annual. Email info@transitionhaslemere.org if you can help.

Allotment upgrade
Our allotment group, led by Rebecca Jones, has been busy through the winter and Spring creating new beds and planting a range of vegetables. We now have a greenhouse on the plot but have lost the lovely apple tree to disease, which has been replaced with three new fruit trees. A barbecue lunch was the reward for a productive morning's work recently. The group is always open to new participants - beginners or experienced veg growers. Email info@transitionhaslemere.org for more information.

Community orchard events
COPSE has several orchard events coming up, says Claire Matthes:
“Thursday 1 May, 4-5.30pm – Blossom Watch at Swan Barn Orchard. We've got an app to help. Please join us. It will be fun and proper citizen science.
Wednesday 14 May, time to be confirmed. Community tree care at Parson's Green. Help us care for this small but perfectly formed space.
Sunday 8 June, 10.30am-12noon. Lion Green Orchard. Weed, water and mulch, as well as flower identification. This is a special area of local greenspace. Join us for a little light work followed by a cuppa in the Lion's Den or Dylan's as part of The Great Big Green Week, which runs 7-15 June." For more information, email clairematthes.copse@gmail.com

Transition Live
If you are a Facebook user, you might want to check out our page Transition Live here. We list many of our events and share comments and discussion there.

Dawn chorus
Jane Devlin writes: "Sunday 4 May is International Dawn Chorus Day. Everyone is welcome to enjoy this wonder of the natural world, but you have to get up early! We have a perfect quiet place near Grayswood, where we can meet in the dark, and listen out for the last owls before the robins and blackbirds, then thrushes and wrens wake up as dawn breaks...and afterwards, share breakfast around the outdoor kitchen fire. Arrive by 04.45, breakfast at 05.45; stay as long as you wish." Send a message on WhatsApp to Jane at 07554371954 for more details, directions, and how to prepare.

Haslemere's journey to 2030
John Paul de Quay of the Ecological Conversion Group will lead an exploration of the connection between society and environment, past, present and future, and the importance of an imaginative guiding vision in the face of our ecological crisis. There will be a discussion of the role of faith and what vision Haslemere might have for the future of the town. Tuesday 20 May, 7pm refreshments, talk begins at 7.30, Catholic Parish Hall, 21 Derby Road, GU27 1BS.

Persuade the persuadables
Surrey Climate Commission is running a workshop on how to engage with the people about climate change and to encourage them to make different choices for nature and the environment. It will show how to influence the 'persuadables': the people who will take action if we communicate in the right way. Persuadables make up the majority of Surrey's population. Saturday 7 June, 12.30-4pm. Haslemere venue to be confirmed. For more information email info@transitionhaslemere.org.

Farmers market and repair cafe
We will have our stall at the market on Saturday 3 May from 10am to 2pm. The Repair Cafe will be at the Swan Inn on the same day from 10am to 1pm.

Green coffee
An informal chat at the Courtyard Cafe off the High Street from 10am to 12 noon on the third Wednesday of the month. By arrangement only via our WhatsApp group. If you are not yet signed up, email us at info@transitionhaslemere.org.

Book of the month: Raising Hare, by Chloe Dalton
When government policy adviser Chloe Dalton stumbled on a leveret (young hare) on a track near her home during lockdown and, concerned about its vulnerability, took it home, little did she realise the impact it would have on her life and worldview. She quickly discovered that there is more myth than knowledge around hares and how they live. A beautifully written and moving account of how Dalton's awareness of the natural world developed as she observed the growing hare.

Tree of the month: Honey locust

In Netherside near Chiddingfold, an area of ancient woodland with trees you would expect to find there, such as wild service, field maple and wild cherry, is a young honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos). Named after the sweet pulp that surrounds its seeds, the tree is native to central North America where it tends to grow in river valleys. It is of the same family (Fabaceae) as similarly pinnate-leaved false acacia (Robinia pseudoacacia) but less commonly grown, probably because of the fierce long thorns that protrude from its branches and trunk. How it has come to appear alongside the path in Netherside is a mystery. The seeds require scarification (breaking of the seed coating) to germinate, which in the wild is usually done in the gut of birds and mammals, such as crows and deer, but where the parent tree might be is unknown. Honey locust is an invasive species in many countries.

Read the newsletter in full.

Editor: Clive Davidson
Transition Haslemere
info@transitionhaslemere.org