Location
Micklefield Library, Micklefield Road
Those Present
- Mike King
- Ivan Cicin-Sain – Wycombe Friends of the Earth
- Sheena King
- Angus Massie
- Daniel & Claudia Mangoldt
- Sarah Moroz
- Eryn Anderson – Bucks New Uni
- Jhon Munoz
- Bob Smith
Notes
CM – has just arrived recently in UK from Spain
DM – always interested in FT, not had opportunity to pursue it before.
JM invited C /D
EA – current ambassador for FT from BNU – took over from Emily Dixie
Apologies from TT – he will be putting more on website for us.
MK – attended Population Matters event on 12th October
MK – Cardiff International FT conference was the best conference they’d ever attended
I C-S – 12th October event was at Trinity URC. There was a good stand-up comedian and a variety of stalls – Extinction Rebellion group from Marlow, WFF, and various environmental groups – made £100 profit and 80 people attended.
Future events – Population Matters AGM on 18th Nov at Ivan’s house. Wyc FOE Christmas meeting on 4th Dec at Friends Meeting House
A new warning from scientists has come out this month – 11,000 scientists have signed it – it calls on governments to take urgent action to tackle the climate crisis including ending and reversing population growth.
AM – is starting to make progress in accumulating contact details for churches in Wycombe re: assessing FT situation.
SK – has asked Christ the Servant King church if they can apply to be a FT church. Their administrator is very supportive. SK will be their contact.
MK – has been invited to the BNU Environment, Sustainability & FT Committee.
EA – at the moment they are organising a FT breakfast meeting – inviting local FT businesses eg. Ruby Moon and focussing also on green issues. Hopefully they will have speakers at it as well. It will be just before FT Fortnight in volunteers week
JM – it would be good to have some students come to our meetings.
EA – if there is sufficient warning / advertising then support could be good.
MK – re: the Cardiff conference / visit of Maria. Maria was invited by ourselves plus mayor/deputy mayor. She was also representing the mayor of Grecia.
There was a meeting in the mayor’s parlour. Next stage is to have a formal agreement for the linkage.
One problem is the dissolving of the Wycombe District Council. There was an online questionnaire re: this. If there was a town council just for Wycombe, it would be easier for us to deal with. Matt is going to check the wording of the twinning agreement with Klekheim. The powers of the mayor in Grecia are greater. MK, JM and Maria also had a meeting with Bewleys on 17th October. Maria gave background of what they are trying to do. They also visited Matt’s cafe and Maria was very impressed. At a school in Costa Rica, children bring in used vegetable oil which is then purified and mixed with diesel to power tractors and local lorries. The whole of Costa Rica is due to be using renewables by 2025. They have a lot of migrant workers they pay fairly. Bewleys are roasting some of the beans from Co-op Vittoria with a view to producing a speciality coffee with Wycombe/Grecia names on. The town of Haworth in Yorkshire has done something similar (worthvalleymag.co.uk has a report in its October 2019 edition). They also went to Ruby Moon, Air Raid cafe and various other shops in Wycombe.
AM – Has heard that Air Raid cafe will be going soon – it is a pop-up – will be replaced.
MK – Bart from the Oxford group complimented us at the Cardiff conference for our achievements. Possible that we may do a joint event with them.
MK – showed the papercopy of the powerpoint presentation that he gave at the Population Matters event on 12th October.
MK – would be good to have a social to celebrate our 5 year anniversary and our renewal. We have achieved a lot in the last 18 months. Also MK/SK hope to visit Costa Rica.
JM – re: workshop at the Cardiff conference . Talked about how we built the link with Costa Rica. He showed a printout of the slides they used. They also showed a video from the mayor of Grecia – it is now on Facebook. Matt also spoke. Matt and Maria announced the friendship link at the end of the conference. Matt was the only mayor there (apart from the mayor of Cardiff). There was also a stall promoting the Co-op Vittoria products etc
SK – showed the programme for the conference
MK – Cardiff was the first FT capital and Wales the first FT nation. There was also a FT church service.
SK – there were a lot of stalls – one of them was Bala balls. Perhaps we could get Wycombe Wanderers to use FT balls, even if only for their practice sessions.
MK – for the Cardiff government everything has to be FT, local or healthy.
MK – also visited a FT primary school and attended their assembly. Children were enthusiastic.
SK – attended a workshop re: the UN working with refugees to make handicrafts to sell as FT – she took a leaflet about it to Ruby Moon.
SK – they were also selling FT T-shirts
EA – at the moment the university are trying to find a supplier for FT T-shirts.
SK – gave EA a leaflet re: possible suppliers
MK – SK/MK ran a stall at CSK last Sunday. They took about £600. They also sold some of the produce given by Bewleys. Nero Bianco chocolate bars sold well. This added £20 to our bank acct – now stands at £155.
JM – it would be good to discuss possible fundraising ideas.
MK – would like to speak to Louise Whitaker about this as well
MK – asked re: Mayor’s carol service
BS – thinks it is the 15th December.
SM – will ask Matt.
SM – is planning to send schools questionnaire out – to primary only? But the possible language student etc links with Grecia schools would be more suited to secondary schools.
FT Fortnight next year seems to be concentrating on chocolate.
MK – re: presentation of our renewal certificate – would be good if we could get the Costa Rican ambassador to present it to the Chairman of WDC? Tony Green is also the chair of the Twinning Ctte.
JM – we can ask Matt’s opinion.
SM – maybe present it to the mayor instead?
MK – also doesn’t want to use the term ‘twinning’ – more a ‘Partnership’.
EA – their event would be on a weekday (Wednesday?) morning. Would be inviting lecturers as well as students.
MK – Heather is the new lay minister at CSK. She has suggested that it would be a good idea to have a workshop looking at FT churches. CSK would host the event – during FT Fortnight on a Saturday morning – inviting all the churches in Wycombe – have speakers eg. Margaret Dykes. MK could do the climate change talk. Could discuss how to involve young people at the churches. Could finish with a short service. Also to include other faiths and denominations.
We need to compile the info on Wycombe churches for our next FT Town renewal application.
JM – for FT Fortnight we could do another interview on Wycombe Sound, promote things on our Facebook page. Following the Cardiff conference our Facebook followers increased significantly. Also perhaps organise a talk to let people in Wycombe know about the linkage with Costa Rica.
EA – could use the ‘Front Room’ as a venue. This could be a ‘drop-in’ event, open throughout the day with speakers at different times during the day.
MK – also need to arrange a meeting with the Costa Rican embassy
I C-S – Wyc FOE and Pop’n Matters are taking part in an event (Politicon) at John Hampden school on Thursday 13th February to introduce 6th formers to various groups.
MK – will make contact to see if we can also have a stall.
Next meeting: 7th January at Micklefield Library (if Avenue not
available)