DCFA Sep-Oct 2011 Newsletter

1. 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 EDITORIAL COMMENT
BY THE COMPANY CHAIR
Mrs. Christine REID
Dear Friends and Supporters,
I NTERNET Links. If you’re 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
Welcome to this edition of our Newsletter! site for more information on that particular topic.
I hope you all feel refreshed after your summer break! 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 is still going strong and hopefully in the not-so-distant
future we’ll be able to announce some very exciting news
concerning the expansion of our service. DCFA MEETINGS
We feel that our project is very important to our communities
while the country is still in a recession and with unemployment
running high.
S EPTEMBER 2011 BOARD Meeting. There was no
meeting in August 2011. The September meeting took
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place on Monday, 5 at the Catherine Street Baptist
Church.
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
N EXT MEETING. There will be no meeting in October
2011. The next meeting will be on Tuesday, 1
November 2011 which will be our first Annual General
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support. Meeting. This will be held at 6 p.m. at The Crown Centre,
The help DCFA has been able to give in the 28 weeks it has Plymouth.
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! F 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
You can see that in just how beneficial this has been in our first short notice.
six months of trading. Imagine the possibilities if we had

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permanent premises? Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Annual General Meeting at 6 p.m. at Crown Centre
DCFA is willing to talk to groups about our project. If you are

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interested then do please contact Geoff, our Company Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Secretary and Newsletter Editor. General Board Meeting
Looking ahead, we will be holding our first AGM at 6 p.m. on followed by Christmas Drinks & Mince Pies
st
Tuesday, 1 November 2011 at The Crown Centre, Plymouth. (Plymouth - Shekinah Mission)
Further details appear elsewhere in the Newsletter. 
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Tuesday, 7 February 2012
Thank you all for your continuing support. General Board Meeting
Christine A NNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2011. The first DCFA AGM
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will be held on Tuesday, 1 November 2011 and we’re
Christine REID already looking for one or two Guest Speakers. Can you
Chair help or do you know someone that might? Please contact
DCFA Board of Trustees 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 : Our Funder:
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. … And Voluntary Donations.

2. DCFA TREASURER T RUSTEES. DCFA is constantly seeking competent,
qualified individuals who can perform the duties of a
E 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
Trustee with diligence and loyalty. Previous experience,
although helpful, is not necessary. Please contact Geoff
(details at the top of Page 1).
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 AN OPEN INVITATION TO
do please contact the Geoff as soon as possible. THE CROWN CENTRE, PLYMOUTH
DCFA PROJECT COORDINATOR T HE CROWN CENTRE, a community cafe and resource
centre, home to The Oasis Project and The Plymouth
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A 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
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
permanent premises on hold because our current financial Oasis Project runs community education courses and
circumstances do not allow us to do both. So... once we have support groups as well as being a community cafe and the
all our ducks in a line we will be looking to recruit. Foodbank gives tinned and dried food to people in short-
term financial crisis.
DEVON COMMUNITY OF THE YEAR Both projects said they were grateful to DCFA for the issues of
COMPETITION free milk received each week!
The Crown Centre Stonehouse
D CFA ENTERED THIS competition, which was launched as
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part of the 50 birthday celebrations of the Community
Council of Devon. Apparently, the
Contact:
28 Manor Street Stonehouse,
Plymouth PL1 1TW
council received lots of entries, many Email: oasiscafe@btinternet.com
of them being awarded the prizes of Tel: (01752) 254981
£500; or £250 for the Green &
Healthy Community categories. They AN OPEN INVITATION TO THE
say the short-listing process was not easy but they have DCFA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
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
T HE DCFA AGM will be held at the Plymouth Crown Centre
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at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, 1 November 2011. A rough
programme will be something like this:
have invited us to enter again next year... only our second year
of operation! As a reward for entering, DCFA has been granted 6 p.m. Registration & Networking
free membership to the Community Council of Devon for the 6.30 p.m. Welcome by the Chair
remainder of the year! Chair’s Report
Treasurer’s Report
Guest Speaker
VACANCIES AT DCFA Election of Officers
S TAFF (PART TIME PAID). DCFA will shortly be looking to
recruit:
7.30 p.m.
Any Other Business
Questions & Answers
Refreshments & Networking
 Project Coordinator, and
 Warehouse Manager. Do please make a date in your diaries now!
Further details will be announced soon. Our AGM is open to all to attend. In particular we should
like to see the following in attendance:
V 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:
DCFA Trustees, DCFA Volunteers, DCFA Friends
Members of the DCFA Exeter Working Group
Members of the DCFA Truro Working Group
 Accountant / Auditor
 Administrator
As space is limited we should be most grateful if you let us
 First Aider know that you will be attending. Please contact Geoff at:
 Food Handler saudigeoff@yahoo.co.uk or telephone him on (01752) 563800.
 Fundraiser Deadlines:
 Poster & Logo Competition Coordinator
Nominations to become an officer of DCFA (Trustee or
Interested? Then please contact Geoff (details at the top of Member) must be submitted to the DCFA Secretary by not
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Page 1). later than 12 noon on Tuesday, 18 October 2011.
Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.
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3. NISP GREETINGS!
An article by Mr. Patrick HUDSON
H
rd
DCFA Co-opted Member to the Board of Trustees APPY BIRTHDAY TO Jenny POPE for Friday, 23
September 2010. Jenny is a Friend of DCFA who has
N ISP (National Industrial Symbiosis Programme) has been
running nationally since 2005 and aims to bring
organisations together for mutual benefit (symbiosis). In most
recently helped us produce a substantial workbook of local
Food Producers. Thanks Jenny and have a lovely day!
cases this involves looking at businesses
waste and trying to find a home for it, rather
than this material being thrown into landfill
B EST WISHES FOR a very Happy Birthday to Esme GOSS
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for Thursday, 29 September 2011. Esme is a Friend
and Volunteer of DCFA and is also the Coordinator of our
and all the embodied energy that went into making it being Volunteer Milk Team. Thanks for all your hard work Esme
wasted. NISP works with all sectors of industry with and have a great day!
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 FRIENDS OF DCFA
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
A 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
to help the DCFA. I first started being involved with the DCFA
downloading at our website. Should you wish to make a
back in mid-2010, via Gitty ANKERS of the Environmental
donation to DCFA, there is a Gift Aid Form on on the
Agency (who also advises the DCFA Board of Trustees). One of
brochure which will allow us to claim the tax back.
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 haven’t OTHER NEWS
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
C ORNWALL Food & Drink Festival. Now firmly established
as one of the nation’s favourite food festivals, the Cornwall
Food & Drink Festival epitomises
would have been a low-grade recycling
everything that people love about
which would have needed further
Cornwall and its people, and
transportation or even landfill. We think in
everything on sale inside the food
the first year of this link this will amount to
and drink pavilion will have been either produced or processed
around 15 tonnes of milk. With the DCFA
within the county, reflecting the fabulous range of quality
looking to move into its own premises this
products Cornwall boasts. There’s something for everyone at
will give me a lot more scope to identify
this Festival, with lots to see and do and some great places to
further mis-labelled, short date or other food products that rd
stay all around Cornwall. Don’t miss it: Friday, 23 – Sunday,
were destined for the bin and see if I can pass them onto the th
25 September. Contact (01872) 274555 for details, or visit
DCFA.
www.cornwallfoodanddrink.co.uk.
If anyone should like further information then do please email
me at: patrick.hudson@nisp.org.uk
or telephone: 078 24 635 243. P 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:
UCP MARJON VOLUNTEERING & THOUSANDS of people enjoyed a real taste of the west over
COMMUNITY NETWORK the weekend as the Plymouth Flavour Fest offered up its
mouth-watering treats.
G EOFF READ ATTENDED a free training opportunity at
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Marjon on Thursday, 18 August 2011. Geoff learned
more about Funding Applications,
The three-day event attracted
thousands of people into the
city centre.
Personal Effectiveness and Social
And while the wet weather on
Enterprise. Marjon have created a
Saturday morning looked to
programme that they think will assist
initially dampen the spirits,
voluntary sector organisations in the near future... especially in
people still flocked to the city
view of the threat of limited funding and fewer training
centre over the weekend.
opportunities.
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.
Contact the DCFA Newsletter Editor at DCFA... details at the top of Page 1.
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4. The numerous presentations were staged as thousands of
food-lovers mingled with local traders.
Chris and James TANNER ended the
B 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:
festival on the Sunday afternoon with
Britain is heading for the longest economic slump on record as
a cookery display.
recovery from the recession grinds to a halt, experts warned.
Up to 150,000 people from all over the
The economy will take at least a year longer to return to pre-
country were expected to attend the
crisis levels than it did in the Great Depression, according to
free event, which boasted a variety of
the National Institute of Economic & Social Research.
attractions this year.
More than 120 local food producers And the current depression could be prolonged further if the
and traders also set up shop for the festival. global outlook worsens and the country plunges into a double-
dip recession, where a second recession occurs after a brief
Editorial Comment: Geoff READ distributed our Friends of
recovery.
DCFA leaflets to exhibiting stall holders and we are hoping
for a good response! Rolling on:
Britain's output must grow
R EDEEMING OUR COMMUNITIES. nearly 4% by March next year
to prevent this depression
becoming our worst on
record.
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
Please CLICK to see the flyer with an below its previous peak, is now into its 42 month, having
invitation to the launch in Devon and started in April 2008.
Cornwall of an exciting new initiative, NIESR economist Simon KIRBY said output must grow nearly
which it is hoped, will bring people 4% by March to prevent this depression becoming Britain’s
closer together with public and other longest.
agencies for the benefit of our But the economy has only grown by 0.2% over the last nine
communities. 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
Download the Flyer
(3.33MB, from mediafire.com).
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, Britain’s 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:
Spare Food is Share Food. http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-2034221/Britain-
Come join DCFA! faces-longest-economic-slump-record--NIESR.html#ixzz1XRDJqz2W
Stop good food from ending up at landfill sites!
Fo llow us on F ac eb ook
V 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.
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