TRANSITION CRICH STRATEGY 2025 - 2028
Change starts with a vision and a plan - and ours is already in motion! We've set out our vision, mission, values and principles to take action for a more sustainable Crich. Discover our priorities and the steps we're taking to make real progress.
Our Vision
Together for a greener community
Our Mission
To build a resilient & thriving low-carbon community, where people and nature can flourish together.
Our Values
Friendly & non-judgemental, welcoming & respectful
Our Principles
Accessible & inclusive, resourceful and resilient, creative and kind
About
Transition Crich is a community-led initiative working to create a more sustainable and resilient future for the Crich Area and the planet.
Founded in January 2022, we lead by example and share expertise, aiming to demonstrate the co-benefits of sustainable living to individuals and groups, with the objective of reaching a ‘social tipping point’ towards our vision and mission and that of the wider Transition Network.
The Transition Network is a global movement of grassroots groups taking local action to address the climate crisis, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and strengthen community connections. We are proud to be part of the Transition Network and see local groups such as Transition Belper, Grass Roots Wirksworth, Transition New Mills, Transition Chesterfield and Transition Buxton as our friends and allies.
We also have strong links will local climate campaigners Derbyshire Climate Coalition and aim to align our projects to the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the thinking of inspirational pioneers in our field such as Rob Hopkins (Transition Network Founder) wherever possible. We also actively encourage and share resources on how to get involved in campaigns which address climate change on a regional and national level.
Our group is made up of passionate residents from the Crich Area with significant skills and expertise in campaigning, energy and waste, sustainability, wildlife conservation, arts and culture and growing to name a but a few, who are united by eight shared goals.
We aim to
- Connect
- Regenerate
- Contribute
- Educate
- Inspire
- Collaborate
- Empower
- Preserve
We will do this by
- Bringing the community together to share ideas about how to improve our local area.
- Supporting the community to reduce our collective carbon footprint and minimise waste.
- Improving our green spaces and conserving our unique local biodiversity.
- Growing, cooking & eating healthy food with our community.
- Improving community resilience & wellbeing through skill-sharing, creativity and reflection.
- Advocate and campaign for wider issues linked to environmental and social justice.
Regular events
- Share and Repair Café (quarterly – dates for 2026: 4 March, 13 June, 19 September & 14 November).
- Community Meal (quarterly tbc – NEW – starts in 2026).
- Refills on the Road in Crich (at The Crich Glebe – currently on alternate Tuesdays from 2 – 4pm).
Regular Activities
- Make, Do and Mend Skills Share (every third Thursday in the month from 7 – 9pm)
- Litter picking and community gardening (Bimonthly on Saturday morning)
- Creativity & Wellbeing Walks (bimonthly on Sunday mornings)
- Crich Photography Club (at the Old Black Swan pub on the first Monday in the month 7.45 – 9pm)
Special Initiatives or Events
- Love it Again Sustainable Fashion Show (biennially)
- Crich Area Photography Competition (annually)
- Art Share (Seasonal)
- Library of Things (ongoing as part of the TC Whatsapp Community)
- Family Fun Day (NEW for 2026)
Special Projects
- Crich Parish Community Energy (Connect, Educate, Regenerate)
- Birds & Bees, Butterflies & Bugs (Connect, Inspire, Preserve)
- Love it Again (Connect, Regenerate, Collaborate)
- Hedgerows for the Future (Connect, Regenerate, Preserve)
- Growing to Gathering (Connect, Educate, Empower)
Resources
Each project will have its own specific resource needs. These will be identified by the relevant project teams and presented to the operations group for review. Funds will be identified and grants or sponsorship sought/bid for each project, by whoever is the most appropriate to take the application process or sponsorship discussion forward. In some instances where the request is small, the Operations Group will award projects monies from our own funds.
Bids for activities such as community engagement and marketing will fall under the remit of the Operations Group (for community engagement) who will make applications to funders and to the Comms Group (for marketing) who will identify a group member who is available and willing to support the activity. In some instances where the request is substantial, funding bids for projects can include costs to pay a fee to freelance marketeers and/or community engagement professionals to undertake the work required.
We currently have 32 people who regularly volunteer at our events. We will continue to seek new volunteers to support the work of Transition Crich and will take a two-pronged approach to recruitment by engaging people more generally to take an active role in our work, or recruiting volunteers around specific activities, events or projects (as people will have their own specific interests or specialist areas of expertise). The secretary is the point of contact for new volunteers.
Partnerships & Stakeholders
See full strategy document for lists of local, county, regional and national partnership current and future.
Internal Structures & Communication Methods
We are a constituted group with an elected Chair, Treasurer and Secretary. We have an annual AGM (in January) where opportunities for nominations/elections to these roles is reviewed. Our group is organised and communicates internally and externally through the following:
Regular Meetings
- Operations group (monthly – Chaired by Ade Smith)
- Saving Energy and Reducing Waste group (bimonthly – Chaired by Joe Walters)
- Preserving Green Spaces and Conserving Wildlife group (bimonthly – Chaired by Janete Morrow)
- Comms Group (no chair, currently meets as and when required)
Strategic Reviews
- Annual strategy review – internal (commences in August)
- Annual strategy review – external (September)
- Strategic Action Plan development (October)
- Action planning based on overall Strategic Action Plan happen in subgroups (commences in November)
- All Strategy & Action Plans finalised (December)
- Annual General Meeting (held in January)
Digital Communications
- WhatsApp community (includes announcements and chat groups for the different sub-groups, projects, initiatives, resources and campaigns.
- Monthly electronic newsletter – informs our members of the work of the group and promotes forthcoming events.
- Email – Transition Crich has its own email transitioncrich@gmail.com through which we can communicate internally and externally. This is monitored by members of the comms team and is used to circulate key documents in advance of operations meetings and AGM.
Non Digital Communications
- Quarterly update for the Crich Standard magazine
- A-Board promoting events (placed outside Crich Butchers prior to events)
- Posters and flyers (in indoor spaces/shop windows/covered noticeboards)
Public Engagement, Membership Cultivation & Fundraising Events
- Crich Fete (annually)
- Whatstandwell Festival (annually)
- PCN Health and Wellbeing Drop-ins (biannually)
- Summer Social (August)
- Family Fun Day & Picnic (school holidays – date tbc)
- Annual Celebration of Achievements & Festive Gathering (December)
- Share & Repair Café (Café & Chatting Tables/Arts and Crafts/Seed Bank/Gardening Advice/Information/Talks/Clothes & or Toy Swap etc)
- Café for the annual ArtStand Autumnal Exhibition (October)
- Crich Christmas Fair (annually in Nov/Dec)
Best Delivery Models
The group has been working for nearly 3 years on the principle of allowing things to grow organically, and whilst this approach has had significant success, we realise that a more strategic approach to growth is necessary to effectively deliver some of the above projects & initiatives and to upscale our impact so that it includes and benefits the wider community.
We are currently looking for the best delivery model for each project and for the group overall. One that allows us to apply for larger grants from trusts and foundations, which are currently out of reach for us a constituted community group.
Models such as a Community Benefit Society or a Community Interest Company have been discussed as part of the visioning process for this strategy. The Crich Community Energy Project, being a project of scale, will require a formalised structure of governance, so this could be a factor in either changing our overall group structure or creating a separate governance structure & company to enable this project to fulfil its potential (see paper by Ian Reid). Many local energy groups have adopted a CBS structure including those in Belper and Bonsall. Agreement over which is the best fit will be discussed further as this strategy rolls out.
September 2025