DCFA June - July 2011 Newsletter

1. The Devon & Cornwall Food Association Ltd (DCFA)
NEWSLETTER
June - July 2011
Patron: Judi Spiers, BBC Radio Devon Spare Food is Share Food!
7 Whimple Street, Plymouth, Devon PL1 2DH Mobile: 07745819828 (text only) Email: saudigeoff@yahoo.co.uk Website: http://dcfa.webs.com
FOREWORD BY THE CHAIR EDITORIAL COMMENT
Dear Friends and Supporters,
Exciting News! Ms. Judi SPIERS, who is very well known in the
I NTERNET Links. If you’re reading this on-line and come
across words with blue lettering that are underlined, then
you can click on these links and be taken directly to another
region, has become the patron of DCFA! Judi, with her site for more information on that particular topic. Put your
programme on BBC Radio Devon, has given her name to our cursor over the link, hold down the Control (Ctrl) Key and click!
organisation and its good works. The Board of Trustees feel Ed.
very honoured to have Judi with us to support us in our
venture.
Our Trustees are investigating the possibilities of renting a light
industrial unit to enable us to expand our project. They are
also considering whether it would be viable to appoint a part
time Project Coordinator to take on some of the duties that
our Trustees currently undertake. But first we need reliable
funding... and believe me, we are actively looking!
A new volunteer, Penny, has undertaken the task of building a
workbook of Food Producers in our region and when this task LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
is completed DCFA will be getting in touch with them.
From: Andy Street <astreet@slrconsulting.com>
Our weekly issues of Milk and Cream each Wednesday is To: Geoffrey READ <saudigeoff@yahoo.co.uk>
being handled extremely well with Esme and her volunteer
Sent: Sat, 28 May, 2011 13:11:54
Milk Team. It still amazes me how quickly it’s all unloaded,
Subject: RE: DCFA NEWSLETTER
counted, checked, sorted and then despatched... such
excellent teamwork! Many thanks Geoff – excellent production!
VOLUNTEERS. DCFA still needs your help... All the best
Andy
DCFA is desperately looking for volunteers who might assist us
with Fundraising. This is vital! Andy Street
Director
DCFA will soon be needing Food Handlers, Sorters,
astreet@slrconsulting.com
Administrators and perhaps some Drivers. If you feel you can SLR Consulting Ltd
offer a little of your time, do please contact Geoff (details at Langford Lodge
the top of this page). 109 Pembroke Road
Clifton
Once again, I should like to record my personal thanks to all Bristol
our Volunteers and Trustees. BS8 3EU
UK
Christine Tel: +44 (0) 1179 064280
Fax: +44 (0) 1173 179535
Mob: +44 (0) 7771 905801
Christine REID SLR helping landowners develop locally owned wind farms
Chair SLR helps Crest Nicholson to gain permission for 2500 home
DCFA Board of Trustees neighbourhood in West Sussex
The Devon & Cornwall Food Association Ltd. (DCFA) is a Private Company Limited by Guarantee.
Registered Company No. 07419679.
Registered Charity No. - DCFA is recognised by HMRC as a Charity for tax purposes under Reference XT27083.
Members of : Our Funder:
NCVO (The National Council for Voluntary Organisations) – Membership No. MEMBERVC/13004,
PTSC (The Plymouth Third Sector Consortium),
The Small Charities Coalition,
And Volunteering England – Membership No.1278747. … And Voluntary Donations.

2. FOOD IN FUTURE
An article by Mr. Martyn GOSS
DCFA Co-opted Member of the
DCFA Board of Trustees
M ANY Happy Returns to Neil PARSONS for his
st
birthday on Tuesday, 21 June 2011. Neil is a
Friend of DCFA. Happy Birthday Neil!
B EST Wishes to Reverend Alison SHAW, for her
th
birthday on Sunday, 26 June 2011. Alison is a
Trustee on the DCFA Board and also our Public Relations
We all take food so much for granted that most of us hardly
ever question the sustainability of supplies. However, as the
Officer. Thanks for all your hard work Alison! Mayor of New Orleans reminded us a few years ago, we are all
just three meals away from social breakdown. Furthermore,
DCFA MEETINGS supermarket supply chains hold only about two weeks of stock
and indeed came close to breaking during the fuel disputes of
J ULY 2011. The next DCFA Board Meeting will take place
th
at 10.30 a.m. on Tuesday, 4 July 2011 at the Catherine
Street Baptist Church in Plymouth. If you have anything
2000.
In reality, our food security is not as robust as we might think.
In particular, it depends primarily on imported produce, which
you wish the Board to discuss then do please contact Geoff
itself depends on the availability of cheap oil. If oil becomes
(details at the top of the Front Page).
scarcer and more expensive in future (as it will), our food
supplies will be at risk.
F UTURE MEETINGS. All meetings are scheduled to start at
10.30 a.m. but are subject to change at short notice. Already speculators have been pushing up basic commodity
costs on the global markets. This in itself introduces other
nd
Tuesday, 2 August 2011 uncertain factors which we would do well to notice. Are we
- General Board Meeting really like the person who falls off a ten-storey building and, as
(Plymouth Catherine Street Baptist Church) they pass the third floor on the way down, shouts “so far, so
th good!”?
Tuesday, 6 September 2011
- General Board Meeting So there are very probably hard times ahead and we shall
(Plymouth Catherine Street Baptist Church) need to reconsider our attitudes to easy food.
th
Tuesday, 4 October 2011 This will push us to change two of our practices:
- General Board Meeting firstly, to produce much more food locally in Britain,
(Plymouth Catherine Street Baptist Church)
and secondly, to waste far less than the third of our food that
th we throw away each day.
Tuesday, 8 November 2011
- Annual General Meeting The first implies not so much a revolution in farming, but a
(Plymouth Catherine Street Baptist Church) change towards agriculture which relates more strongly to
th local people. For instance, there is an increasing number of
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
community food projects in Devon, all of which express
- General Board Meeting
greater social involvement in growing our own food and
(Shekinah Mission, Bath Street)
sharing it with others around us. Community farms, garden
rd share schemes, co-operatives, allotments, community food
Tuesday, 3 January 2011
shops, school growing clubs, and so on, are all living examples
- General Board Meeting
in our neighbourhoods.
(Plymouth Catherine Street Baptist Church)
Secondly, as DCFA encouragingly demonstrates, there are
A NNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2011. The DCFA AGM will
th
be held on Tuesday, 8 November 2011 and we’re
already looking for one or two Guest Speakers. Can you
practical ways to prevent produce from going to landfill or
incineration, and can instead be redistributed at a community
level for the benefit of all. We surely cannot keep throwing the
help or do you know someone that might? Please contact future away with our rubbish?
Geoff (details at the top of Page 1).
Let’s not take the current system for granted but create
alternatives that will provide for the future and not for the
next fast food meal!
Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.
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3. DCFA NEEDS ITS OWN PREMISES! Q UALIFICATIONS. As DCFA progresses it will need
competent volunteers with good qualifications in order
H ELP Please! DCFA could do oh... so much more if only
it had its own premises in a central area of Plymouth!
Do you know of somewhere... an
to comply with Health & Safety at Work Act and other
regulations. It is pleasing therefore that our Chair,
Christine REID attended a First Aiders Course on Saturday,
empty warehouse or shop that we th
18 June 2011. Thanks Christine!
could utilise? DCFA could then start
accepting the food produce that local
producers have promised to supply us! OTHER NEWS
THIS IS A WAY THAT P LYMOUTH’S Pioneering Local Food Project. The
following article was posted on The Soil Association’s
th
website on Thursday, 16 June 2011:
YOU A city-wide food project in Plymouth is set to be a shining
CAN HELP DCFA! example for the rest of the UK on sustainable food sourcing in
urban areas. The Plymouth Food Project aims to help make
T HIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM DCFA ASKING
FOR YOUR HELP!
Plymouth Britain’s first ‘Sustainable Food City’.
As part of this initiative The Plymouth Food Project is
Dear Friends & Supporters, supporting local producers to supply fresh fruit and vegetables
At a recent DCFA Board Meeting, the matter of renting into Plymouth’s schools and hospitals. The project is led by the
premises was discussed. DCFA needs somewhere in central Soil Association and The Barefoot Partnership Ltd and involves
Plymouth. a city-wide partnership of public sector organisations including
Plymouth City Council, University of Plymouth and NHS
It was recognised that this was a “chicken-and-egg” synopsis Plymouth.
insofar as DCFA could only issue food if we could actually get it
and, if we had our own permanent premises in which to Plymouth’s Food Charter, launched in February this year, aims
receive and issue it! to promote a thriving economy, health and well being, resilient
and close knit communities, life-long learning and skills, and a
However, would it be worth renting premises if it transpired reduced eco footprint. Over 30 Plymouth-based organisations
that the donated food produce was not forthcoming? are now signed up to help deliver
At that Board Meeting I therefore undertook to start these aims, these include:
contacting food producers, wholesalers and supermarkets to Transition Plymouth,
ask them what could they do for us. Riverford Organic Vegetables,
Once we had some answers we might then be in a better National Marine Aquarium,
position to decide on whether we could justify paying out Gribble’s Butchers,
good, hard-to-come-by cash for rented premises or not. Tamar View Fruiterers and
Stiltskin Theatre Company.
However, before I actually write to Supermarkets and Food
Producers I thought it might be beneficial to spend a little time The food and drink sector employs nearly 250,000 people in
building up a database of those outlets we should approach. the South West and makes up 8% of total economic output.
Food and drink is the largest manufacturing sector, largest
And this is where you can help! Could you please send me the retailing sector and is a key tourist attraction, accounting for
details of any Wholesalers and Food Producers who you think one third of visitor spending.
may help DCFA? I would need the following information:
Traci LEWIS of the Soil Association, coordinator of Plymouth
 Name of company:
 Producer supplied:
Food Project, said: “This is a truly pioneering project which
 Contact person: could provide the blue print for sustainable cities across the
 Postal Address: UK. It’s a winner for everyone involved. Not only do the
 Landline telephone: residents of Plymouth get more fresh, tasty, good quality local
 Mobile telephone:
food on the menu, the increase in the amount of locally
 Email address:
 Any additional information:
produced food and drink sold into Plymouth’s public sector is
great news for a thriving local economy and the local farmers,
I look forward to hearing from you soon. In the meantime... growers and food businesses who supply the produce.”
please take a look at our website now and again!
Editorial Comment: DCFA signed up to the Plymouth Food
Geoffrey N. READ Charter in February 2011.
Company Secretary & Newsletter Editor
DCFA
Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.
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4. THIS SPACE
COULD HAVE BEEN USED
TO PLACE
S MALL Charity Week.
th
It’s official, the week starting
Monday, 20 June will be Small Charity Week 2011. The
Small Charities Coalition is supporting the Foundation for
YOUR NOTICE!
Social Improvement who has set out themes for each day
kicking off on the Monday with “I love Small Charities” day.
Why not contact the Editor?
The Small Charities Coalition is putting the final touches to
their programme for the week to support these themes so do
please check their dedicated webpage for more information. STOP PRESS!
C REAM of the Crop Help With Milk Drop!
DO YOU WISH TO This article was published in the Plymouth Herald
on Wednesday, 22nd June 2011:
BE A FRIEND OF DCFA?
City College Plymouth students have been
DO YOU WISH TO volunteering for the Devon & Cornwall Food
VOLUNTEER WITH DCFA? Association (DCFA) to help distribute surplus milk
and cream to charitable organisations, writes
Go on-line, download the Application Form, Philippa DOBSON.
complete the details and submit it to Geoff. Since February this year the DCFA has distributed
over 4,000 litres of milk and cream to charitable
WOULD YOUR ORGANISATION BENEFIT FROM organisations across Plymouth thanks to the
A TALK & POWERPOINT PRESENTATION? support of Robert Wiseman Dairies based in
Cornwall. This good quality milk and cream would
Are you a school, a charity, a faith group or otherwise have gone to landfill and volunteers
some other organisation have been able to save charitable organisations
needing to know more about DCFA? almost £2,500 in the first few months of this year.
We will come to you and give a brief talk Organisations say they are very grateful for this
with PowerPoint Presentation type of donation especially as most are under
to tell you about our work. great financial pressure during this current
economic downturn.
Just contact Geoff...
DCFA is seeking more committed volunteers to
contact details at the top of Page 1.
join their team very soon as several food
Book now! producers are wishing to become involved and
this will increase the workload considerably.
If you’re interested please contact Geoff (details
at the top of Page 1).
Editor’s Note: I’ve corrected a couple of factual
errors in this report! The newspaper carried an
Come join DCFA! accompanying photograph but unfortunately it’s
not available for downloading from the Herald
Stop good food from ending up at landfill sites!
website. Ed.
Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.
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