Location

The Mayor’s Parlour, Wycombe District Council offices

Those Present

• Mike King Jhon Munoz
• Sheena King Bob Smith
• Matt Knight Tony Thornby
• Angus Massie
• Sarah Moroz

Notes

MK – re: stall at Pann Mill on 15th September. MK/SK are away. Not possible for AM and maybe TT.

SM – may be able to be there. Likewise BS.

MK – need to pay £10 to have a stall. They provide a gazebo, table and chair. There is very little stock remaining from the Bewley’s donations.

SK – it may be a useful event to make contacts at. It is currently booked – we would need to let them know asap if we’re not attending.

MK – it is 11am – 5pm. Bewleys said we could have more stock if we needed it. It is World Heritage Day.

M Kn joined the meeting.

M Kn – the mayor, Cllr Mazamal Hussain, will be joining the meeting a bit later

MK – re: the International Fairtrade Towns conference in Cardiff 18th – 20th October. MK/SK/JM are going and will be facilitating a workshop there re: international links

M Kn – Wycombe district Council do use FT tea and coffee for their meetings but the Mayor’s Parlour do their own thing. M Kn brought in 3 samples from the council’s supplies, including a FT biscuit from a Belgian company.

JM set up a video link with the Mayor of Grecia, the Corporate Responsibility manager from Co-op Vittoria (Maria) and the manager of Co-op Vittoria. JM acted as translator for the conversation.

M Kn – asked if they had received his letter

They replied that they had.

M Kn – talked of his background in FT and how he would never have thought he would become Deputy Mayor and would be able to link up with a FT town/producer internationally. Explained that, due to local government changes taking place in Wycombe at the moment, it is difficult to establish a formal link immediately but that does not stop us creating a friendship link.

M Kn – asked what they hoped would be gained from it?

They replied: they are glad of the opportunity to have shared time to discuss these issues. Firstly, they feel that it will be a learning process (Wycombe have been a FT Town for 5 years whereas they have only been a FT Town for 1 year). Secondly, they would like to develop a friendship between us – to share information, discuss experiences, perhaps to meet at the Cardiff conference and to establish a link with local government and local businesses (such as Bewley’s).

JM – said that he had given M Kn a sample of coffee from Co-op Vittoria. JM explained to them that M Kn has also created a local community coffee shop.

JM – Maria has been a strong supporter of their local government, promoting FT to them and also to the local community. She also said that one of the targets of this relationship with us is to close the gap between producers and consumers.

The manager of Co-op Vittoria also emphasised the closing of this gap. He proposed to deliver coffee more directly to High Wycombe. This would be more efficient for the whole chain. He also said that Co-op Vittoria is not a very big company – they have about 3000 producers around Grecia and they concentrate on looking after them.

The Mayor of Grecia said that he would like to meet M Kn at the Cardiff conference. They have already received a letter from FT Wales to invite them to the conference but said it would help them to obtain funding if they received a letter from us.

M Kn – will arrange this

JM – they are also working with CLAC to try to get funding to attend.

M Kn – if they are able to attend the Cardiff conference, would they also be able to visit High Wycombe?

JM – they would like to – they would need to arrange whether it would be before or after the conference.

SK – suggested that it would be good if they could also visit Bewley’s.

M Kn – said that he hoped they would be able to travel and that we would be able to meet in October

End of link call

Mayor Mazamal joined the meeting.

MK – explained about the FT system. Talked about Bewley’s and Co-op Vittoria – who currently sell in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands but not in the UK. Figures up to 2030 predict that coffee production will have to double to meet demand.

Mazamal – suggested that M Kn should go to Cardiff as the Deputy Mayor of High Wycombe and that we should get the link started. We can start doing the paperwork now and we should be able to get it through the council.

JM – it would be good to make an announcement of our link at the end of the Cardiff conference.

Notes Produced by

Sarah Moroz