The Devon & Cornwall Food Association Ltd (DCFA)

NEWSLETTER
September October 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 COMPANY CHAIR

Mrs. Christine REID
Dear Friends and Supporters, Welcome to this edition of our Newsletter! I hope you all feel refreshed after your summer break! DCFA is still going strong and hopefully in the not-so-distant future well be able to announce some very exciting news concerning the expansion of our service. We feel that our project is very important to our communities while the country is still in a recession and with unemployment running high. You may have seen or heard recently that FoodBanks are having heavy demands placed upon their services. If DCFA can help organisations in our communities in any way then it will endeavour to do so, but we can only undertake this with your support. The help DCFA has been able to give in the 28 weeks it has been trading has saved participating charitable organisations about 5,500. DCFA has issued something in the region of 6,500 litres of milk and tub loads of cream! You can see that in just how beneficial this has been in our first six months of trading. Imagine the possibilities if we had permanent premises? DCFA is willing to talk to groups about our project. If you are interested then do please contact Geoff, our Company Secretary and Newsletter Editor. Looking ahead, we will be holding our first AGM at 6 p.m. on st Tuesday, 1 November 2011 at The Crown Centre, Plymouth. Further details appear elsewhere in the Newsletter. Thank you all for your continuing support.

EDITORIAL COMMENT

NTERNET Links. If youre 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 site for more information on that particular topic. If you read this on Microsoft Word, you can put your cursor over the link, hold down the Control (Ctrl) Key and click! Ed.

DCFA MEETINGS

EPTEMBER 2011 BOARD Meeting. There was no meeting in August 2011. The September meeting took th place on Monday, 5 at the Catherine Street Baptist Church.

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EXT MEETING. There will be no meeting in October st 2011. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 1 November 2011 which will be our first Annual General Meeting. This will be held at 6 p.m. at The Crown Centre, Plymouth. UTURE MEETINGS. All meetings are scheduled to start at 10.30 a.m. at the Catherine Street Baptist Church unless otherwise stated. This information is subject to change at short notice. Tuesday, 1 November 2011 Annual General Meeting at 6 p.m. at Crown Centre Tuesday, 6 December 2011 General Board Meeting followed by Christmas Drinks & Mince Pies (Plymouth - Shekinah Mission) Tuesday, 7 February 2012 General Board Meeting
th th st

Christine
Christine REID Chair DCFA Board of Trustees

NNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2011. The first DCFA AGM th will be held on Tuesday, 1 November 2011 and were already looking for one or two Guest Speakers. Can you help or do you know someone that might? Please contact Geoff (details at the top of Page 1).

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 : 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.
Our Funder:

And Voluntary Donations.

DCFA TREASURER

UNICE HALLIDDAY HAS tendered her resignation as Treasurer. Geoff READ, as Acting Chair at the time, reluctantly accepted her resignation. So DCFA is now looking for a new Treasurer as a matter of urgency! This is an unpaid volunteer position. If you think you can help us out with this do please contact the Geoff as soon as possible.

RUSTEES. DCFA is constantly seeking competent, qualified individuals who can perform the duties of a Trustee with diligence and loyalty. Previous experience, although helpful, is not necessary. Please contact Geoff (details at the top of Page 1).

AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE CROWN CENTRE, PLYMOUTH

DCFA PROJECT COORDINATOR

FTER MUCH CONSIDERATION, DCFA has decided to opt for the recruitment of a part-time Project Coordinator. This means that we will have to put the idea of obtaining permanent premises on hold because our current financial circumstances do not allow us to do both. So... once we have all our ducks in a line we will be looking to recruit.

HE CROWN CENTRE, a community cafe and resource centre, home to The Oasis Project and The Plymouth th Foodbank, celebrated its reopening on Monday, 12 September. Christine and Geoff joined them for a Cream Tea from and to find out details of their new programme. The Oasis Project runs community education courses and support groups as well as being a community cafe and the Foodbank gives tinned and dried food to people in shortterm financial crisis. Both projects said they were grateful to DCFA for the issues of free milk received each week! The Crown Centre Stonehouse Contact:
28 Manor Street Stonehouse, Plymouth PL1 1TW Email: oasiscafe@btinternet.com Tel: (01752) 254981

DEVON COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR COMPETITION

CFA ENTERED THIS competition, which was launched as th part of the 50 birthday celebrations of the Community Council of Devon. Apparently, the council received lots of entries, many of them being awarded the prizes of 500; or 250 for the Green & Healthy Community categories. They say the short-listing process was not easy but they have identified three communities which will be visited by the judging panel during September. Unfortunately, on this occasion the DCFA entry did not make the short list but they have invited us to enter again next year... only our second year of operation! As a reward for entering, DCFA has been granted free membership to the Community Council of Devon for the remainder of the year!

AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE DCFA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

HE DCFA AGM will be held at the Plymouth Crown Centre st at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 1 November 2011. A rough programme will be something like this: 6 p.m. 6.30 p.m. Registration & Networking Welcome by the Chair Chairs Report Treasurers Report Guest Speaker Election of Officers Any Other Business Questions & Answers Refreshments & Networking

VACANCIES AT DCFA

TAFF (PART TIME PAID). DCFA will shortly be looking to recruit: Project Coordinator, and Warehouse Manager. 7.30 p.m.

Do please make a date in your diaries now! Our AGM is open to all to attend. In particular we should like to see the following in attendance: DCFA Trustees, DCFA Volunteers, DCFA Friends Members of the DCFA Exeter Working Group Members of the DCFA Truro Working Group As space is limited we should be most grateful if you let us know that you will be attending. Please contact Geoff at: saudigeoff@yahoo.co.uk or telephone him on (01752) 563800. Deadlines: Nominations to become an officer of DCFA (Trustee or Member) must be submitted to the DCFA Secretary by not th later than 12 noon on Tuesday, 18 October 2011.

Further details will be announced soon.

OLUNTEERS. DCFA is always on the lookout for competent, qualified individuals to volunteer for us. We specifically need volunteers to fill the following vacant posts:
Accountant / Auditor Administrator First Aider Food Handler Fundraiser Poster & Logo Competition Coordinator

Interested? Then please contact Geoff (details at the top of Page 1).

Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.

An article by Mr. Patrick HUDSON DCFA Co-opted Member to the Board of Trustees

NISP

GREETINGS!

ISP (National Industrial Symbiosis Programme) has been running nationally since 2005 and aims to bring organisations together for mutual benefit (symbiosis). In most cases this involves looking at businesses waste and trying to find a home for it, rather than this material being thrown into landfill and all the embodied energy that went into making it being wasted. NISP works with all sectors of industry with manufacturing, food and drink, and waste management being particular examples, so the Practitioners (as we call ourselves) need to be dab hands and have a bit of knowledge on quite a few different materials! Since 2005 NISP has helped divert over 39 million tonnes from landfill in the UK. The area I cover is Devon and Cornwall and thus fits in quite nicely with trying to help the DCFA. I first started being involved with the DCFA back in mid-2010, via Gitty ANKERS of the Environmental Agency (who also advises the DCFA Board of Trustees). One of the first solutions I was able to achieve was to talk with Robert Wisemans Dairies and work out a way that their short-date milk (perfectly good milk that the supermarkets havent called upon to use) can be quickly re-distributed to the 15 or so organisations that the DCFA now helps support. The other alternative for this milk would have been a low-grade recycling which would have needed further transportation or even landfill. We think in the first year of this link this will amount to around 15 tonnes of milk. With the DCFA looking to move into its own premises this will give me a lot more scope to identify further mis-labelled, short date or other food products that were destined for the bin and see if I can pass them onto the DCFA. If anyone should like further information then do please email me at: patrick.hudson@nisp.org.uk or telephone: 078 24 635 243.

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APPY BIRTHDAY TO Jenny POPE for Friday, 23 September 2010. Jenny is a Friend of DCFA who has recently helped us produce a substantial workbook of local Food Producers. Thanks Jenny and have a lovely day! EST WISHES FOR a very Happy Birthday to Esme GOSS th for Thursday, 29 September 2011. Esme is a Friend and Volunteer of DCFA and is also the Coordinator of our Volunteer Milk Team. Thanks for all your hard work Esme and have a great day!

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FRIENDS OF DCFA

BRAND NEW Friends of DCFA Brochure has been developed and emailed out to all our Friends and Supporters. A copy is also available for viewing and / or downloading at our website. Should you wish to make a donation to DCFA, there is a Gift Aid Form on on the brochure which will allow us to claim the tax back.

OTHER NEWS

ORNWALL Food & Drink Festival. Now firmly established as one of the nations favourite food festivals, the Cornwall Food & Drink Festival epitomises everything that people love about Cornwall and its people, and everything on sale inside the food and drink pavilion will have been either produced or processed within the county, reflecting the fabulous range of quality products Cornwall boasts. Theres something for everyone at this Festival, with lots to see and do and some great places to rd stay all around Cornwall. Dont miss it: Friday, 23 Sunday, th 25 September. Contact (01872) 274555 for details, or visit www.cornwallfoodanddrink.co.uk.

LYMOUTH FLAVOUR FEST: Taste of the West Pulls iIn the Crowds. This article was published in the Plymouth nd Herald on Monday, 22 August 2011: THOUSANDS of people enjoyed a real taste of the west over the weekend as the Plymouth Flavour Fest offered up its mouth-watering treats. The three-day event attracted thousands of people into the city centre. And while the wet weather on Saturday morning looked to initially dampen the spirits, people still flocked to the city centre over the weekend. During the weekend visitors were treated to a variety of cooking and cocktail classes including presentations by Plymouth Gin and TV chef CHING HE HUANG.

UCP MARJON VOLUNTEERING & COMMUNITY NETWORK

EOFF READ ATTENDED a free training opportunity at th Marjon on Thursday, 18 August 2011. Geoff learned more about Funding Applications, Personal Effectiveness and Social Enterprise. Marjon have created a programme that they think will assist voluntary sector organisations in the near future... especially in view of the threat of limited funding and fewer training opportunities.

Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.

The numerous presentations were staged as thousands of food-lovers mingled with local traders. Chris and James TANNER ended the festival on the Sunday afternoon with a cookery display. Up to 150,000 people from all over the country were expected to attend the free event, which boasted a variety of attractions this year. More than 120 local food producers and traders also set up shop for the festival. Editorial Comment: Geoff READ distributed our Friends of DCFA leaflets to exhibiting stall holders and we are hoping for a good response!

RITAIN FACES THE Longest Economic Slump on Record, Experts Warn. This article was published by a By Daily Mail Reporter on Tuesday, 6th September 2011: Britain is heading for the longest economic slump on record as recovery from the recession grinds to a halt, experts warned. The economy will take at least a year longer to return to precrisis levels than it did in the Great Depression, according to the National Institute of Economic & Social Research. And the current depression could be prolonged further if the global outlook worsens and the country plunges into a doubledip recession, where a second recession occurs after a brief recovery. Rolling on:
Britain's output must grow nearly 4% by March next year to prevent this depression becoming our worst on record.

EDEEMING OUR COMMUNITIES.

Please CLICK to see the flyer with an invitation to the launch in Devon and Cornwall of an exciting new initiative, which it is hoped, will bring people closer together with public and other agencies for the benefit of our communities. Download the Flyer
(3.33MB, from mediafire.com).

In the Great De-pression of the 1930s, it took four years for gross domestic product to return to pre-recession levels. The current depression, which the institute defines as the recession and period of recovery when economic output is still nd below its previous peak, is now into its 42 month, having started in April 2008. NIESR economist Simon KIRBY said output must grow nearly 4% by March to prevent this depression becoming Britains longest. But the economy has only grown by 0.2% over the last nine months and fears are rising that it is about to go into reverse. 'The economy needs to grow by 3.8% over the next six months, which it is clearly not going to do given what is happening,' he warned. Mr. KIRBY predicted output would not return to pre-recession levels until spring 2013... a depression of at least five years. The Institute for Public Policy Research claimed the depression could even last until late 2013 if growth continues to be disappointing. Will STRAW, director of the think tank, said: Whichever forecast you use, Britains anaemic recovery is set to be the slowest since records began. In his memoirs, former chancellor Alistair DARLING reveals that at the start of the recession, then prime minister Gordon BROWN thought it would all be over in just six months. Read more:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2034221/Britainfaces-longest-economic-slump-record--NIESR.html#ixzz1XRDJqz2W

Spare Food is Share Food. Stop good food from ending up at landfill sites!

Come join DCFA!

Fo llow us on F ac eb ook

OLUNTEERING ENGLAND. DCFA is a member of this organisation. Please click on this link to see a copy of their latest newsletter.

Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.