A little bit About Us…
We started in 2009 as Transition Chipping Norton – a community initiative to help local people transition away from fossil fuels and towards a more sustainable way of living. Some of our early projects involved setting up the Chipping Norton Community Orchard, campaigning for better cycling provision and a community allotment.
Fast forward to 2023, we constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation to better meet the needs of our community. We are still part of the worldwide Transition Network, but in 2025 we rebranded as Sustainable Chipping Norton, in line with many other Transition Groups.
We are also part of Community Action Groups Oxfordshire, a network of over 50 Oxfordshire groups at the forefront of community led climate change action, organising events and projects to take action on issues including waste, transport, food, energy and biodiversity. The network runs over 1,000 events per year, attended by over 60,000 local residents.
Our Most recent impacts
Take a look through our recent Impact Reports which capture how these projects have strengthened resilience, enhanced the environment and connected people.
2025 Age-Friendly Award winner
Youth work and connected communities continues to be at the heart of our ethos, and we were delighted to win an award from Incommon for our Intergenerational Youth Social Action in April 2025.
Our group walk this weekend headed over to Little Rollright, enjoying an abundance of wildflowers and birdsong. We shared ideas of ways to eat different edible plants, apps to learn more abut different birdsongs, how to collect wildflower seeds in the future.
We noticed there is a marked increase in the amount of red campion in varying shades of pink, maybe partly due to reduced roadside mowing…
Several stayed on for the Cotswold Order of Druids celebrating Beltane including traditional Maypole Dancing.
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Reminder that it is the Rusty Riders Bike Clinic this coming Saturday – dust off your saddle and bring your bike and a helmet along to the Leisure Centre for a warm welcome, basic bike repairs and opportunities to ride with others…
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Our last Repair Cafe was the place to be on Friday night – with over 50 people through the doors, 18 children, it could have felt a bit hectic! The beautiful grounds, evening sunshine and ambience from the gramophone records donated this month created a calm, fun place to be for people of all ages.
Yoghurt pots were decorated and sunflower seeds planted, seeds and pot plants swapped, and around 250kg of clothing swapped, with a similar amount being donated to charity at the end.
Items repaired by our volunteer repairers included a jumper, dress, robotic spider, hair-drier, toy train, secateurs, a vacuum cleaner and a lawnmower.
Everyone was kept well fed by our youth team, and there was a sneaky peak at their new logo.
Thanks to Nicola Schafer who came and captured some filming footage on the night, and huge appreciation to our brilliant volunteers. With 12 of us helping it really did make the evening fun and enjoyable.
If you'd be interested at helping at the next one, please get in touch: 07517 144828
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Choosing to hold Blossom Day 2 weeks earlier than usual definitely paid off – we were treated to perfect weather, a profusion of pink blossoms and all the home baked goodies, music and delicious atmosphere you could hope for. "Quintessentially English" was a phrase that seemed to fit in the most positive sense.
There were plants to swap, hand made walking sticks to buy, a chance to help make a shrink pot from a piece of birch, tie a ribbon on a tree to make a wish, make a nest out of cleavers and flowers or decorate a pot to plant a sunflower in…
Lovely to see so many newcomers as well as the usual characters who help to make this event so special.
Huge appreciation to the Community Orchard team and Chippy Green Gym who put in all the hard work.
If this sort of thing is up your street, put Sunday 27th September in your diary, Apple Day will be at the Orchard 12 – 3.
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Our next General Swap Shop, Crafts and Social evening will be the last Friday in June – the 26th.
Please put the date in your diaries, share with friends and come along if you can.
No need to bring things in order to take things, but if you have items you no longer need feel free to bring them – anything left at the end will need to go to charity as we cannot store items. Let us know if you are planning an event and would like to take some items at the end.
The more volunteers we have the more enjoyable the event is – please do get in touch if you can help 😊
07517 144828
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Loved getting a sneak-preview of the new mosaic to go on the wall of the new Community Hospital…
Thanks to Chipping Norton League of Friends and Oxford Health Arts Partnership for bringing together this collaborative project to spruce up the garden area, with the help of local volunteers, WODC and others to make this a treat for people and wildlife alike…
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