By way of introduction, we are Rob Elliott and Sally Dean, and we run a real food B&B, which means that the food we use is fresh, seasonal, grown to organic 
principles and unprocessed - by definition it is therefore all locally produced. On average we do not shop outside a 10-mile radius, and most of our fresh 
produce comes either from our own garden of from within 2 miles. 100% of what we use (and that includes household goods) is bought direct from farmers, 
growers and independent local shops.
We are what you might call 'Transition freelances'. In other words, we are not involved in any core groups as such, but we offer our services to all. We had 
intended to come to your meeting on 21st July, but circumstances prevented that happening. However, for what it is worth, what we would have added to the 
meeting is set out below.
 
We have moved from being unrepentant supermarket shoppers to 100% local, and part of that transition has involved weaning ourselves off all industrialised 
foods and seeking out real food instead. Along the way, we have learned a huge amount about food and nutrition. We now use our experiences in an educational 
capacity, starting with our B&B guests! We have set up our own publishing company (as an anti-corporate stance in itself!) to disseminate the knowledge we 
have accumulated, and we have two titles on offer so far. Have a look at www.reallifepublishing.co.uk for more details.
 
Our first book, The Food Maze, has been described by some as 'bedrock transition thinking', and we certainly like to think that we have something to add to 
the debate. Our belief is that peak oil and climate change are just two of the three major challenges we face - the third being our global industrial food 
system, which quite clearly is a major contributor to the other two, but the one that is most accessible in terms of solution. We believe that, if we can 
fix our food, the rest will follow. That excites us, because every single member of every transition group, in addition to any other projects they might be 
involved in, can each make an immediate contribution to the solution, without much effort, by shifting allegiance and support from industrial food to real food.
 
We have tremendous respect of what you have achieved so far in the Forest, particularly in terms of CSA projects, allotments, other grow-your-own schemes and 
general awareness, and we think you, as a Transition group, are ripe for progressing to the next stage, which starts when you say, "If there were no supermarkets, 
what would I eat and where would I get it?" Many people find it difficult to take this next step, but we can help with that, because we have done it ourselves, 
so we know what's involved.
 
You are already so switched on in the Forest that you probably don't need input from us, but we have done a few successful talks on this subject and we have a 
new workshop idea on the go at the moment. If you feel that any of this might be useful to Transition Forest of Dean, we'd be happy to discuss it with you to 
see how we might best help.