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10:10
Earth Matters has signed up to 10:10, the national campaign to get individuals and businesses to commit to reducing their emissions by 10% in 2010. It is easy to sign up to (just go to the website: www.1010uk.org) and they can give you helpful hints as to how to do this. Don’t just sign as an individual, though. Get your work to sign up as a business, speak to your friends to do it, let’s get the whole country signing up!
October 2009 – Transition Town News
After three meetings, the North Berwick transition town group is going from strength to strength. In October, there was an article in the East Lothian Courier about them, and the word is gradually getting out there. If you don’t know what it’s all about, go onto their website (www.transition-north-berwick.org.uk), where you can join the google group, hear about meetings and discover what area suits you. The idea is to find ways of becoming more sustainable, and this is looked at in smaller groups (Food, Energy, Transport etc.) so whatever you’re interested in, there should be a group to accommodate you.
August 2009 – Fairtrade Town Status
In early August, North Berwick gained Fairtrade Town status. The steering group staged a small celebration in Earth Matters, with MSP Iain Gray coming along to present the certificate. There was excellent press coverage, with photos, in both the East Lothian Courier and the East Lothian News, and we even got a mention in the Edinburgh Evening News! With Fairtrade status under our belt, the work doesn’t come to an end, however. Next year, the group has to reapply, showing what work they have done to increase awareness of Fairtrade and sales of Fairtrade products in the town.
July 2009 - Eat Someone Out of Poverty!
In July, we launched a rice challenge for our customers. This is a challenge recently set up by Just Trading Scotland, who as well as importing jams and chutneys from Swaziland have started bringing fair trade Kilombero Long Grain Aromatic Rice from Malawi. The challenge is to sell 90kg of this rice, which gives enough income to send a child to high school. Only 1 in 3 children attends High School in Malawi, and education is the most effective ways to escape poverty. We filled our window with rice and counted down the number of bags being sold on a blackboard. Within a couple of weeks, almost all the rice had gone! We will continue to sell the rice in the shop, with another window display of the challenge planned for 2010.
February 2009 - Fairtrade Fortnight
It’s that time of year again, with Fairtrade Fortnight from 23rd Feb. to 8th March and this year we are teaming up with the Fairtrade Town group to promote it. We’ll be running a treasure hunt for the two weeks, which takes you round other businesses in North Berwick who support or sell Fairtrade. Pick up an entry form from Earth Matters from 23rd Feb. and you could win a goody bag (plus there are five runner-up prizes of bars of chocolate) – it’s free to enter and fun for kids and adults, so why not give it a go?
The Fairtrade Foundation are running a nationwide promotion, trying to get as many people as possible to eat Fairtrade bananas between noon on Friday 6th March and noon on Saturday 7th March. North Berwick high school (through the school Fairtrade group) are hoping to run an event based round this on the 6th, which will hopefully attract a bit of local media interest.
December 2008 - Christmas Season
The shop is packed with stock, the decorations are up (and for sale!), the Christmas music is playing (and also for sale!), it must be that time of year again. Despite the economic climate, we’ve had a pretty good year and are looking forward to a busy festive season and a promising 2009.
If you’re heading to North Berwick for Christmas shopping, why not visit on Sunday 14th December for our Christmas promotion, when there’s a glass of Fairtrade wine for every customer and a 10% discount on all clothes and gifts. We will be open for our usual Sunday hours: 2-4pm. Hope to see you there!
March 2008 - Move to New Premises
Over the last ten days of February, we moved into our new premises. The turnout of people coming to help was fantastic and we succeeded in only having to shut for four days trading. It was a mammoth effort by all concerned, including an after-dark manoeuvre of the largest and heaviest shelving down the middle of North Berwick High Street, visiting relatives being roped in to help, a day spent in the musty basement doing a stock take, and some impressive DIY work completed in record time by volunteer Richard.
We opened on Monday, 3rd March and our ‘Grand Opening’ (on the first Saturday we were open) was a busy day, apart from the two hours when it rained solidly. Volunteers Richard and Sheena both provided some lovely treats made from Fairtrade ingredients which went down a storm, there were Fairtrade balloons and a prize draw to win a basket of goodies. It was a very sociable day with most of the volunteers and several of the members popping in to enjoy the new shop and the food.
February 2008 - Fairtrade Town Progress
The showing of ‘Black Gold’ went well, with more than seventy people attending and a good list of signatures at the end of the evening. These supporters included an MSP, a town councillor and several other influential people. A further meeting of these interested supporters took place on 2nd April, and a steering group has been formed to take forward the Fairtrade Town campaign. Most criteria for the title have already been met, with several shops (as well as Earth Matters!) selling Fairtrade products, and the Seabird Centre serving Fairtrade tea and coffee in their café. We are delighted to report that the Westgate Gallery has also switched over to Fairtrade, and hopefully the publicity generated by the campaign will persuade others to follow suit.
The Fairtrade Town campaign group held their first event at the Slow Food Fair on Sunday 27th April, selling teas and coffees and promoting the idea of Fairtrade, and this went very well.
February 2008 - Plastic Bag Campaign Update
To give you a brief update on the plastic bag campaign, the North Berwick shopping bag will be available on the high street soon, for a very reasonable £1.99. Good news is that Tesco has agreed to put their plastic bags under the counter and only give them to customers if they specifically request them. This is the first Tesco in the country to do this, so it’s quite a coup for the North Berwick business association, who negotiated this. However, plastic bags are not going to disappear from the town altogether. Several shops on the High Street will still distribute them, although the use of a reusable bag will be encouraged.
January 2008 - New Premises News
We are all set to move premises at the end of February. The new shop is currently ‘Presence’, at 94 High Street. The rent, rates and bills will all be higher, of course, but hopefully the increased space will mean we can display more stock to better advantage. The larger shop also means that it should be more welcoming to customers. There is also a large basement where a lot of extra stock can be stored (no more running out of refills!) and a more comfortable working environment for the staff.
January 2008 - Fairtrade Town Status?
To launch our campaign to make North Berwick a Fairtrade Town, and to coincide with Fairtrade Fortnight, we are joining forces with the Cinema Club and North Berwick High School to host the film, ‘Black Gold’. Highlighting the unfair trade rules that govern the coffee trade, ‘Black Gold’ is a provocative documentary that has had excellent reviews.
It will be shown on Wed. 27th February at 7.30pm in the High School. Tickets are free and you can get them from the shop. We will also be sending tickets to all organizations and clubs in North Berwick, inviting them to come along and join in the push for Fairtrade Town status.
October 2007 - Possible New Premises
We may possibly be moving to a bigger shop at the end of February. While certain things look good – the size and position of the shop, the current rent, the timing – the sticking point is that there is a rent review due in March 2008. However, we are looking to negotiate with the landlord on this issue, and hopefully come to an agreement.
August 2007 - Bargain Stall
On the 4th August, to coincide with this year’s Highland Games, we will again be holding a stall in the entrance to St. Andrew Blackadder. This year, as well as a range of fair-trade food, there will be lots of bargains on clothes and gifts. So come along and see what you can snap up! From 1pm to 6pm.
June 2007 - Greek night
At the end of the summer term in 2007, Earth Matters’ volunteers and members met for a fun evening with lots of great Greek food. On a Friday night, the unassuming Butternut Café in North Berwick is transformed into Andreas’s Taverna, with Greek music, food, jollity and not to mention the Greek maitre d’, Andreas himself. By all accounts, everyone enjoyed the evening immensely, even if some were so full they could barely make it home!
May 2007 - Fourth Director
At the Advisory Group Meeting in May 2007, Sheena was elected as a fourth Director of Earth Matters Ltd, to join Paul, Sheila and Ali, and help with the all important job of finding new premises. In the next six months, we will face some very tough decisions. It is all too clear to anyone who knows the shop, that we are rapidly outgrowing our current premises, and as our lease comes to an end in February 2007, we need to decide whether to stay or move. Both directions come with their own problems. Staying would probably mean taking on a higher rent and a longer lease, and would confine us to a small, uncomfortable shop for the foreseeable future. Moving, however, is obviously a risk, with much higher rents (which may or may not be covered by higher income) and, more worryingly, the possibility of being liable for any repairs to a new property. Most leases for shops that come available on the high street seem to put this liability squarely on the shoulders of the tenants, and there have been more than a few pricey roof problems in North Berwick. Without any real capital to fall back on if this should happen, we wouldn’t even be able to consider taking on such a lease. However, it is possible that even the lease for our current premises might change to put such liability on us (and the roof where we are is in need of expensive repair). Furthermore, there is not a lot coming available in the High Street at the moment – we will have to wait and see what happens over the next few months.
Now in Store
With the larger premises, we now have lots of new things in store, with more to come over the next couple of weeks. Along with all our usual stock, we now have duvet covers and throws, a wider range of fairtrade food, more varieties of Faith in Nature products, a new range of Silverchilli jewellery, a wider range of the wonderfully characterful Kenana Knitters toys, and Pants to Poverty pants. We have room for more clothes now, and so have a wider range both for adults and children, with plenty of Little Green Radicals’ t-shirts in as well as new Nomads summer stock. After several attempts, we have finally managed to get in a range of Ethletic trainers (now in two new colours as well as the traditional black and white). The rubber in the soles is FSC certified, as well as them being fairly-traded. Soon, though, they will also be made of organic cotton – this will, of course, put the price up a bit, so if you want the cheaper ones, get them while you can!
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