Update on Polmontsoup

 

Fun Soup Event 21st of March 2026

Polmont SOUP will be a way of promoting, raising funds, and celebrating great ideas to build a bigger, better, stronger, supportive community. We will come together and enjoy a hot bowl of soup, some entertainment and help a community idea blossom.





What is PolmontSOUP?

Polmont SOUP will be a way of promoting, raising funds, and celebrating the great ideas that are building our bigger, better, stronger, supportive community. We will come together enjoy a hot bowl of soup, some entertainment and help a community idea blossom. Our community music lead is going to get back to us about the entertainment, as he may make that one of the projects up for funding at the event


How it will work 


PolmontSOUP will bring people together to make good things happen in our community. PCHub volunteers will host this form of community crowdfunding event to support new ideas and exciting projects in our community. Everyone is invited, you’ll receive tasty soup, bread, entertainment, watch a minimum of four projects, give a presentation, then all vote (this is participatory democracy)

We like to keep our events at the hub free to proudly maintain our inclusiveness. We are not an establishment exclusively for the wealthy. At present, we plan to ask people to make a donation if they can. We will not be insisting on this or shoving the donation box in anyone's face, but we will remind everyone that all money raised from the event will be going to the winning project (this is participatory budgeting) 


Each presenter will have four minutes to share their project idea, followed by four questions from attendees. After the presentations, everyone casts their vote, and the project or idea with the most votes takes home the Big pot of money. We will announce how much when we know that amount! But already falkirk district council have said they will match fund up to £500 at our event, they are keen to make it a regular district event

 

Where did the Idea come from?

PolmontSOUP is based on the Mossley near manchester soup events, who got their idea from the Detroit SOUP model of community-based development through crowdfunding, creativity, collaboration, democracy, trust and fun.

SOUP offers a space where people can connect. The rest is up to attendees, but wonderful things can happen when people come together. From its origins in the USA, the simple concept of SOUP has taken root in towns and cities across the globe.

Here at the hub, we are going to host an inaugural event, that may go on to be regular events or not? we’ve stuck pretty close to the original SOUP model but added a few extra ingredients. 


Supporters and inspiration


Our chairman and sustainability champion, Kenny, has been attending regular webinars on green participatory budgeting through his affiliation with Jez Hall at Shared Futures. This upcoming event will focus on empowering communities to decide how their money should be spent. The initial idea for this inaugural event arose from a conversation between Kenny and Jez, as a way to utilize some of Jez's funds to promote green participatory budgeting events on a national level. 


Jez from Shared Futures is also willing to contribute a small fund, as well as his knowledge and time. Both Kenny and Jez have in-depth knowledge of green participatory budgeting and how this event will be guided by the green aspect of the participatory budget and participatory democracy. Community members will have the opportunity to vote on projects that align with the ethics of the hub and the international transition movement, of which our Hub has been a member since we began transitioning from council ownership and management to community ownership and management.


Community participatory budgeting focuses on enhancing the local economy and promoting circular economy models. At the Hub, we are moving away from being mere consumers. This event will be a fun way to demonstrate how we are actively making this transition as engaged citizens in our growing inclusive community.


Dan, from Montreal, Canada, saw Kenny's post about Soup Night on the Waves Community News page. The international transition movement hosts a monthly webinar series on their transition resource website to share knowledge with good communities globally. Dan felt that our Soup Night would make an excellent educational webinar for April. Consequently, Kenny, Jez, and Dan had a Zoom meeting to discuss Dan's questions. which were -    

- How can this practice help Transitioners?

- What is the practice exactly?

- How does the practice work? How do you know the practice works?

After Dans conversation with Jez and Kenny, they sent additional information to capture the spirit and value of the SOUP events, which combine Participatory Democracy and Participatory Budgeting. Jez attached a few more photos related to Participatory Budgeting, while Kenny included the hub's first funding application for the SOUP night for our PB Community Garden project. 


We recommended including these links on the Transition Network webpages.

 

 

 




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