A Letter to Transition Groups from the Network Weavers

For the past six months, we—your Network Weavers—have had the privilege of working alongside you. We’ve travelled across Wales and England, met with so many of you in person and online, listened to your challenges, celebrated your successes, and done our best to strengthen the web of relationships that holds this movement together.

This role has been an experiment—one that we believe has proven something we already knew: connection matters. But six months is a short time. We are deeply aware that we are leaving with more questions than answers, and that feels uncomfortable. However, we’ve tried to turn that discomfort into something constructive—using everything we’ve learned to outline ways forward in our report. Read it online here, or view and download the PDF here.

But before we go any further, we want to say something plainly: we are absolutely certain that if Transition Groups were properly resourced, the world would be transitioning much faster.

Transition is an exceptional tapestry of change—a vast, creative, committed network of people who are already making their places more resilient, more connected, and better able to navigate the crises ahead. And yet, again and again, we heard how isolating and exhausting this work can be. If each of you had the financial support, the infrastructure, and access to the skills you needed—this movement would scale at a speed that would be revolutionary.

What We’ve Heard & What We’ve Learned

We’ve spent these months weaving threads between groups, deepening our understanding of how Transition works at a local level and how we might strengthen it as a network. Along the way, some strong themes have emerged—things we want to reflect back to you as shared challenges, insights, and opportunities for what comes next. We hope our reflections will be useful for our wider network, but also for each of the towns, villages and regions we all work hard to support.

​​Jo (Wales & Borders)

“The best thing we did was get groups talking to each other. Even online, it changed everything. People need spaces to learn from each other—that alone is transformational.”

• Biggest Takeaway Changing the world is exhausting, and groups are extremely time-poor. Even when they want to connect, they often struggle with capacity.
• Challenges of Weaving Coming into a voluntary space as a paid person creates a power dynamic that is hard to navigate.
• Patterns Groups that thrive tend to be connected to local institutions like schools or councils, which gives them relational and financial stability.
• What Would Most Support our Movement? Shared insurance, clear blueprints for setting up common projects (e.g., repair cafés, community fridges), and making existing knowledge easily accessible.

Hilary (London & South East)

 “Any time we get different parts of the network together, whether online or in-person, there’s a real burst of energy. That’s what we need more of.”

• Biggest Takeaway Transition’s strength is also its biggest challenge—it energises highly local action, but that makes connecting as a regional or national network difficult.
• Challenges of Weaving Local groups are so focused on their own work that they don’t naturally connect, for instance the South East has the particular challenge of connecting around greater London.
• What Would Most Support the Movement? More opportunities to be in a room together, at least once a year. This is what truly creates energy and momentum.

Jess (Central England)

 “If there’s a Wales and England circle forming, give them power. Give them a role and make sure they can affect things. And tell the story of how they were empowered to step in.”

• Biggest Takeaway Scale matters. Weaving across too broad a region meant some places got meaningful support while others didn’t at all. If we get scale wrong, it becomes top-down rather than a conversation.
• Challenges of Weaving: Organising meetings and consultations without capacity for following up. People want to see tangible outcomes from what they share and put energy into.
• Patterns The strongest local networks exist in places with dedicated regional support—for example, in Devon and Oxfordshire. 

Rakesh (London & South East)

 “As it stands many Transition groups don’t see the purpose of the Transition Network. They don’t feel connected to it or supported by it.”

Biggest Takeaway Many local groups don’t see the value of the Transition Network to them—they continue their work without knowing the benefits it could bring them.

Challenge of Weaving There’s often no real connection between local groups and the international movement—most Transition groups in the UK don’t know what’s happening globally.

What Would Most Support the Movement? Engaging marginalised people and communities—Transition still struggles to break out of its middle-class bubble.

Laura (South West)

“Groups are doing the most incredible work imaginable—hyper-local, deeply embedded—but they often feel alone in it. If we could amplify that work better, support the people behind it, and make it visible, that’s the change we need.”

• Biggest Takeaway Relationship-building is totally essential for transition—and yet it’s the least funded part of this work.
• Challenges of Weaving There’s a real gap between the needs of the deep, grounded work happening in local places and the capacity of larger, centralised organisations to meet those needs. 
• Patterns Where support structures already exist—like in Devon or Cornwall—groups are more connected, younger people are more involved, and collaboration is more effective. Regional infrastructure really matters.
• What Would Most Support our Movement? Strip things back: fund local relationships, create shared tools, and be led by the ground. Less centralisation, more connection.

Phil (North-ish)

“Our enemies are organised. We are not. If we don’t get our shit together, we won’t stand a chance.”

• Biggest Takeaway Groups desperately need validation—they need to feel part of something bigger.
• Challenge of Weaving The movement is disconnected at every level—from local to national to international.
• What Would Most Support the Movement? A transparent, equitable structure that shares power properly.

Moving Forward Together

As we step back, a new Wales and England Working Group is stepping up – formed by group representatives coming together to help plan next steps for Transition. Additionally, new regional circles identified themselves at the Assembly, showing a growing commitment to working at a more connected and organised scale. 

Many of you stepped into the forming Wales and England Working Group at the end of the Assembly session – thank you so much! But we want to emphasise that this opportunity is open and ongoing. If you would like to step forward and join in now – or step in and out as needed – you are still very welcome to do this. Just get in touch

Network weaving will also be carried forward by Daniel Balla during the upcoming Bridging Period for Transition Together. This next phase will continue the work of strengthening connections and shaping the regional structures that best support groups like yours. “The strength of this movement is in its relationships. The connections we build now will define what’s possible in the years ahead. Let’s make sure we lay the groundwork for something that lasts,” reflected Danny.

This next chapter is yours to shape. Let’s step forward together.

Thank you for your work. Thank you for your time. Thank you for continuing to show up.

In solidarity,

The Network Weavers