Location:
Micklefield Library, Micklefield Road
Those present
Mike King
Jhon Munoz
Sarah Moroz
Tony Thornby
Sheena King
Ivan Cicin-Sain – Wycombe Friends of the Earth
Steve Morton – Wycombe Friends of the Earth “
Angus Massie
Bob Smith
Air raid cafe seems to be still open.
MK – also went to the Coffee Lounge. Although they don’t have the Fairtrade logo, their coffee is ethically sourced. MK spoke to the manager.
The FT renewal certificate was shown round. MK will put it in a photo frame ready for the presentation event.
TT – Wycombe District Council will be dissolving in April.
MK – Matt Knight thinks that there will be a Town Council for Wycombe. MK met Trevor Snaith in the Coffee Lounge and he thought the same.
I C-S – Wyc FOE are trying to launch a climate action group.
St M – Nationally FOE has a climate action group which feeds into government and includes individuals who are not FOE members.
I C-S – Wyc FOE are trying to form an alliance of individuals/groups to campaign for action on climate change.
St M – there is a Facebook group also working on this. Next Tuesday there is a group launching in Aylesbury to lobby the new county authority re: the climate emergency.
MK – suggests that Wycombe for Fairtrade could be involved in this joint effort. Everyone voted for this.
JM – Costa Rica are taking practical action to tackle climate change
MK – the all-party committee for Central America haven’t met for many months. During the meeting with the Costa Rican ambassador the possibility of forming a committee for Costa Rica on its own was discussed.
MK/JM would both like to go to the Wyc FOE meeting next Thursday evening to discuss the joint group on climate change.
St M – the more people involved, the more leverage there would be with local government.
TT – a company is producing bricks from recycled material – prevents a lot going to landfill. There is also a company who are working on an electric aeroplane fleet.
MK – Bucks New Uni have plans for their volunteers week. Handing out FT bananas and ‘Smile Week’. They are also arranging to have a speaker from Bewleys. They have about 125 students they can call on in the Sustainability etc group
JM – it was a very useful meeting with Costa Rican ambassador. He wanted to talk about a wide range of topics involving environmental action in Costa Rica in general. He was also talking about engaging with local politicians and about setting up an all-party parliamentary group for Costa Rica.
MK – It would be really good if the ambassador could meet with the new Wycombe Town Council. The ambassador was very interested in what we have done with the linking model. He said that there is lots of potential for increasing trade with Costa Rica. He suggested targeting new Tory MPs in northern seats. The meeting lasted about 3 hours.
JM – the ambassador came from the Grecia area and knew the mayor and Co-op Victoria.
MK – re: FT Fortnight. JM and TT are willing to go on Wyc Sound radio with MK.
The presentation event is on Jan 21st. MK will do a shortened version of his climate presentation. It would be a good opportunity to get signatures on a document to support the idea of a partnership between the Grecia and Wycombe. There will be refreshments after the presentation and before the rest of the council meeting.
The churches/faith groups think-tank on FT is booked for 7th March. MK showed a poster. 3 speakers are arranged – Margaret Dykes, Angorad Hopkinson (the head person for faith and churches at the FT Foundation) and Mike (the effect of climate change on FT). Heather will lead a FT service at the end. Heather has lots of links with local churches. It may also be possible for Maranda St John Nicholle to be there (Christian Concern for One World).
TT – on the poster for this event, please can people be encouraged to join our Facebook group – also at the event itself.
MK – our website is looking really good, many thanks to TT
TT – need to get better at reporting on what we have done.
BS – the Avenue church is now up and running again, following the repairs.
SM – re: if other faith groups are also being invited, we may need to make the poster inclusive of them.
MK – re: the John Hampden Politicon event 6 – 8.30pm on 13th Feb. We will have a stall there.
MK – showed a proposed poster for use at events to promote ourselves – showing how we are campaigning on the 5 goals for a FT Town. Suggested it is printed on display board (foam inner) on A2 size. We would have to get a company to do this.
TT – has links with companies who could do this.
TT – the most recent work he has done is to bring our website up to date. We need to be more proactive in advertising events. If we set up a Facebook group then we can send invites to everyone in the group.
JM – we need to find ways of increasing our income. A lady from the Bristol FT group said they are a CIC (Community Interest Company) legal entity – can then get funding from businesses and government eg DFID. JM suggested we may be able to do something similar.
St M – Wycombe FOE get income from membership fees. It may be worth talking to James MacDonald (Friends of the Wye) to see where they get their funding from.
SK – there will be Traidcraft stall at the churches event on 7th March and at Christ the Servant King church the next day.
TT – has spoken to his church, Kings Church, about becoming a FT church – they use Kingdom Coffee but don’t seem to know that it is FT.
Next meeting: 11th February at Ivan’s at 8pm