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ESSENTIAL TRADING TAKES PART IN PALESTINIAN FARMERS FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT* TOUR
Palestine may not be commonly associated with its wealth of olive groves and almond trees. Yet despite its troubles, this beautiful, fertile country continues to produce some of the best quality olives, olive oils and almond crops in the world. Zaytoun is a leading fairtrade producer whose commitment has helped secure the livelihoods of many farmers and their families.
Established in 2004, it helps Palestinian farming communities to thrive despite the difficulties imposed by the Israeli occupation. Its mission is not only to help the farmers produce, pack and export their products but also to expose the severe social and economic disadvantages they continue to face.To highlight its work and to encourage people to taste its products, Riziq abu Nasser, an olive farmer from the Deir Istya cooperative is visiting the UK for a Fairtrade Fortnight tour. He and his colleague, Zaytoun Palestinian director Taysir Arbasi, will be talking about the importance of fair trade practices among the Palestinian farming communities across the West Bank.
Essential Trading - one of the UK’s leading wholefood suppliers – has great respect for the Zaytoun produce and is a key partner in the distribution of olives, olive oils and almonds to independent health food stores.Essential’s own health food store Harvest (on Gloucester Road, Bristol) – is delighted to be hosting a visit from Riziq abu Nasser and Taysir Arbasi on Wednesday March 7th from 12.30pm to 2.00pm. Customers are welcome to drop in between these times to meet Riziq and Taysir, find out more about the production of their food and sample the products.
“Palestine is the home of the olive tree with some groves as old as 2,000 years,” says Eli Sarre, marketing manager for Essential Trading. “The climate produces succulent olives, rich oils and large almonds. The farmers work tirelessly to bring their products to market and we are only too pleased to provide a channel to the UK and European markets for them,” she explains. “We work with many fairtrade cooperatives across the world but it’s a rare treat to have them here in the UK to speak about their work and to share their products,” continues Sarre. “We will give them a very warm welcome here at Harvest Bristol and hope many of our customers will find a few minutes around lunchtime on March 7th to drop into the store to support the Zaytoun Fairtrade Fortnight Tour. Photographers and reporters are very welcome to attend the event: please let katherine@prworkshop.co.uk know when you plan to come so we can ensure all your needs are met when you arrive.
*Fairtrade Fortnight runs from February 27-March 11, 2012For more information or images contact:Katherine Selby, PR Workshop, 020 8657 4422, katherine@prworkshop.co.uk
CO-CARS LAUNCHES SHARE ISSUE
In November Co-cars, the co-operative car club operator, will launch their share issue to raise money for growth. Operating since 2006, Co-cars has got to the size where investment is needed to update operational systems and secure more staff resources.
“This is a very exciting stage in our life,” says Alastair Mumford, Operations Director. “We’ll be moving from largely a voluntary operation to become more of a social enterprise, a commercial business achieving great social aims.”
Co-cars runs car clubs in Exeter and Taunton and secured £60,000 of funding to develop 4 new clubs in East Devon. There has also been interest from other communities in the South West. “With the funding market being quite difficult at present we see shares as another way for communities to come together and invest in their own resilience,” says Alastair.
The organisation is looking to raise £50,000 to bring about a period of sustained growth in terms of car club membership, car clubs and new services. Co-cars gives its members the freedom to lead a more sustainable life, to be able to move around for less cost and carbon. Car clubs also help communities be more sustainable and have been growing every year nationally.
FIRST CAR CLUB IN SWINDON OPENS FOR BUSINESS
The first car club in Swindon, is now open to the public for bookings. The GOCO CAR club is based in Rodbourne on Northern Road next to ‘The Triangle’, a new high-quality sustainable 42-home development, one mile north of Swindon rail station and developed by Hab Oakus.
GOCO CAR club has been developed in collaboration with Hab Oakus and a partnership with the social enterprise Commonwheels. The new car club is operating initially with two cars and is now available to all Swindon residents and local businesses. It offers users the opportunity of booking a car for 30 minutes or more to provide a cost-effective, convenient and sustainable travel option.
Wayne Phillips, an early user of the GOCO CAR club in Swindon and resident of The Triangle development, commented: “In addition to the environmental benefits of booking a car by the hour, when we sat down to calculate the potential costs of using the new service, we stood to make significant savings. Consequently, we’ve since sold our family car and already using the GOCO CAR cars on a regular basis. This is saving me around £200 per month.”
GOCO CAR has been developed with Hab Oakus. This is a partnership between Kevin McCloud’s company Hab and housing group, GreenSquare. GOCO CAR is a licensee of Commonwheels who provide online bookings and offer the benefit of its nationwide network of car clubs. Swindon Borough Council, SEAT and Arval are also supporting the development of the car club.
GOCO's ambitions go beyond just being an operator of timetabled train services on the National Rail Network. The co-operative is also developing car clubs, bus links and travel hubs to enable communities to access sustainable transport options. For more information, please visit www.goco.coop
ESSENTIAL TRADING CELEBRATES RUBY ANNIVERSARY
16 September 2011 - 16 September 2012
Bristol-based wholefood producer and wholesaler Essential Trading is celebrating its Ruby Anniversary year from September 16, 2011 to September 2012.
A variety of themed activities and promotions will run throughout the year, culminating in a celebration in September 2012.
“The last 40 years have seen the wholefood market grow exponentially,” says Eli Sarre, marketing manager for Essential. “Back in the 1970s health food stores were novel and the foods they stocked relatively limited,” she explains. “But now, through education, a distinct rise in vegetarian and vegan diets, growth in free-from diets and the shift towards organic and ethical foods, we have a strong and thriving industry. It has been most gratifying for Essential to see the changes and improvements down the decades, and we are looking forward to seeing what the next 40 years will bring.”
“Essential supplied organic and fairtrade food long before it was trendy to do so, for ethical reasons,” says Eli. “The last few decades have seen significant turning points and boosters for our market. Of particular note were the F-Plan Diet in the 1980s that encouraged people to eat more fibre and less processed food and Gillian McKeith created a massive demand for pulses,” she recalls.
Despite the supermarkets moving into the ethical, organic and wholefood markets in the 1990s, Essential has stayed true to its values and supplies only the independent health food trade. This helps retailers retain many unique lines that they know customers cannot find elsewhere.
Essential adheres to a strong code of ethics that runs through its business, employees and suppliers. It actively supports organic and fairly traded goods and continues to call for the banning GM crops. It currently carries over 6,000 products as a wholesaler including over 100 of its own Essential branded goods.
For more information, contact: Katherine Selby, Katherine@prworkshop.co.uk; 020 8657 4422
NEEDED: HOST HOMES AND VOLUNTEER WORK PLACEMENTS
If you haven't already heard, Zebra Collective is now the official Plymouth partner of Global Xchange, and we are now embarking on our first international cultural exchange project.
Global Xchange is a partnership between VSO, The British Council and other partner organisations around the world. Working directly with the UK Department for International Development (DFID), Global Xchange is part of the pilot year of International Citizen Service (ICS).
In the Autumn we will begin our 6-month programme between Plymouth and a cluster of villages near Surkhet, Nepal. Ten volunteers from the UK and ten from Nepal, all aged between 18 and 22, will spend the 3 months in Surkhet then 3 months in Plymouth, living, working and learning in these communities.
The volunteers will live with host families in Plymouth from January to April 2012 (13 weeks), and the Zebra Collective is now looking for expressions of interest from people willing to be hosts. We are also looking for Volunteer Work Placements throughout the city. In both cases a UK volunteer and a Nepalese volunteer will be placed together, to live and work as partners.
There will be two Programme Supervisors living and working in your community who are responsible for members of the team throughout the exchange and are available to provide support to host homes and Volunteer Work Placements. They will visit host homes and volunteer placements regularly. The UK Programme Supervisor is Marc Gardiner of the Zebra Collective.
COMMUNITY POWER CORNWALL - Wind turbine project
Working with Transition St Goran, Community Power Cornwall is erecting two 50 KW Endurance E3120 wind turbines on land at Tregerrick Farm, North of Gorran Highlanes in Cornwall for community owned renewable energy generation through public share issue. The co-operative have secured a loan which matches the £65,000 raised through its share issue to date. Groundworks started at Tregerrick Farm on 4th July, with expected completion in 4-6 weeks – see the following photos which document work on the foundations and trenching:
