Archive for News
September 21, 2009
· Filed under News · Tagged Dorset Agenda 21 (da21), voluntary jobs dorset
Dorset Agenda 21 (da21) have contacted our LETS to let us know they are looking for new trustees.
da21 is a voluntary organisation championing all aspects of sustainability across Dorset. They are particularly interested in people with Personnel, Legal, Marketing or Fundraising skills and experience.
Their AGM is coming up on 3 October 2009 at 2:00pm in the Colliton Club, Dorchester and features a talk by Pete West, Renewable Energy Officer for Dorset County Council. Everyone is welcome to attend!
If there are any LETS members or their friends who would be interested in getting involved please contact Perwina Whitmore (or the office) at office@da21.org.uk.
For general information please see their website www.da21.org.uk.
July 22, 2009
· Filed under News, Photo Gallery · Tagged LETS book
The LETS SEE: portrait of a community exhibition by nationally acclaimed Portrait Photographer Pete Millson finished this July 18th 2009 BUT the great news is that there is a beautiful book now available to buy (softback £14.95) which gathers together ALL the photographs and accompanying text from the show.
The book cover features our very own Members Support / Trading Activator Sabine Bale too!
Pete Millson says “It’s a great book for any fan of classic small-camera portraits, the documenting of communities and for anyone who would like to know a little more about the fantastic trading system that is LETS.”
To preview and buy the book go to http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/773448/?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=140×240.
May 11, 2009
· Filed under Announcements for Members, News
Yes, real ££££££s!!! Dorchester & South Dorset LETS are very pleased to have been awarded a small grant from Dorchester Car Boot Charity. The money must be spent on publicity (leaflets, banners and event venue hiring) and should be spent in full within 12 months. So ‘thank you’ to the car booters of Dorchester and also to LETS member Sally Cooke who is such an expert at tracking down grant-giving bodies and persuading them that we are worthy of their largesse. It should enable us, through publicity, to enlarge our membership even further. We have over 70 members now and are still growing…
May 11, 2009
· Filed under Announcements for Members, News
We now have some brand new exhibition boards which explain how our LETS scheme works and are available to be borrowed for any events where LETS can be publicised. If you would like to borrow them please contact Anna Celeste Watson on info@annacelestewatson.com.
April 24, 2009
· Filed under Events, News · Tagged Dorchester Events, Dorset Green Events, LETS, Local Exchange Trading Day 2009
We are very happy to report that our recent Local Exchange Trading Day in Dorchester on April 4th 2009 was a lively day and we had 5 new members sign up on the day there and then (some of who have family membership) which now gives us a total of 71 members, and with all the flyers and posters we have around Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland we hope to attract many more new members this year too.
The stalls and displays reflected the many skills and talents our LETS members have to offer. There was delicious vegan home made food by Sandra Hood, art and jewellery, a clothes ‘swap shop’, information on garden design, yoga and spinning demonstrations and creative art for children. Jenny Parsons was selling distinctive gifts made from salt dough and Eleanor Gallia, a medical herbalist, had a beautifully laid out stall offering a variety of herbs, teas and creams. Thank you to Katy too, for organising such a great day!
At the AGM our Constitution was formally adopted and this will now enable us to apply for
even more grant money. It was agreed that just two public Trading Days should be held in a
year. Thank you to the additional members who participated and shared their views on how our LETS is run, and look out for news on the next Trading Day which will be at our Harvest Supper in October.
March 20, 2009
· Filed under Events, News · Tagged LETS AGM, Local Exchange Trading Open Day
The Dorchester & South Dorset LETS Core Group have been extremely busy over the last couple of months planning our AGM & Trading Day for April 2009 and publicising it!!!
It looks like it will be a great day – so if you are not a member already or you are a member and want to meet and trade with other members, then come along to our Local Exchange Trading Open Day at The United Church Hall on South Street in Dorchester on Saturday 4th April 2009 between 10am – 4pm, and see what’s on offer.
There will be trading stalls, demonstrations, a Quality Clothes ‘Swap-Shop’, you can Measure Your Carbon Footprint and they’ll be an Art Exhibition, a Children’s Art Project, plus home made lunches, cakes and snacks for sale… as well as some music entertainment!
Everyone is welcome.
ENTRANCE IS NOW FREE FOR EVERYONE!!!
All our LETS members are also invited to our Annual General Meeting at 4pm. It will be your chance to help decide how our LETS is run and to agree on our new Constitution, which you will be sent very soon to look at in advance of the AGM.
MEMBERS: Please see your recent Mini-Newsletter for full details of stalls, the programme etc.
February 19, 2009
· Filed under News, Trading Stories · Tagged bartered trade, bartering, exchanged trade, LETS trading
The last three months have seen a flurry of activity amongst some of our LETS members!
Trading has taken place as follows:-
Ironing
Vegan Cooking
Dog Sitting and Walking
Furniture Repairs
Gardening
Moving a Garden Shed
Small DIY projects
Putting up a Washing Line
Tiling
Logs and Kindling
Plants
Floristry
Wreath Making Workshop
Driving
Carpentry
Laminating
Photocopying
Computer Upgrade
Computer Help
Computer Repairs
Computer Telephone Support
Newspaper Deliveries
Osteopathy
Yoga
Massage
Reiki
Purchases of books, dishes and beeswax!
Plus Core Group Work
Producing Newsletter
Web Design Work
Membership and Directory Work
Planning events/publicity
Maintaining Marts Database
And the prize for the most original trade this quarter goes to… ‘Rescuing a Damsel in Distress’!!!
By Susie Hosford
February 17, 2009
· Filed under News · Tagged LETS newsletter
The first electronic version of your LETS Newsletter was sent today by email (or will shortly be posted to a few members who prefer not to use email or the web for LETS which we obviously have to respect).
We would really love to have member’s feedback on what you think of the newsletter – for example; is it too long or too short, is the new simple format okay, what other content would you like to see more of such as articles, photos, members trading stories etc. We have tried to keep more emphasis on news and events as we have so much going on and also as we now have our website which is regularly updated, but would you like to see more about the actual people on LETS or more about actual trading? Would you like to submit your own articles? Do you think the newsletters are regular enough or do you think they should only be quarterly?
All feedback and suggestions are welcomed, including if you are happy to continue receiving the newsletter by email rather than printed and posted.
We hope you enjoy your newsletter and if you are not a LETS member yet – you will have to join to view our newsletters!
PLEASE NOTE: CONTACTS FOR NEW MEMBERS WERE NOT SENT ALONG WITH THE NEWSLETTER FOR PRIVACY REASONS (SENDING STUFF ONLINE!). ALL MEMBERS WILL CONTINUE TO RECEIVE AN UPDATED CONTACTS LIST BY POST.
January 15, 2009
· Filed under Announcements for Members, News
Dorchester & South Dorset LETS are very excited to have been invited to be involved in a project by the amazing photographer Pete Millson, who is a member of the South West Dorset LETS (and as we are also part of the Dorset LETS Network). Pete is planning an exhibition of selected photos from his LETS Project at Bridport Arts Centre in June 2009, and hopefully a book in future too.
We have therefore given Pete a list of our members contacts so expect a call or email from him! He would like to ask your personal permission to come and photograph you. On the Core Group we feel very honoured to be invited and hope many of you will too (although obviously it is your choice!).
Pete says;
“I’m currently involved in photographing members of our local LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) group. Rachel and I joined this year and this is a project which should turn out to be an excellent exhibition and possibly even a book… It’s painless and not at all stressful I promise! And, yes, I know you hate being photographed but this should be a great project to show the many and varied people around here who make up this LETS group.”
Have a look at Pete’s blog to see how the project is going and his latest photos for it on http://petemillson.wordpress.com/lets-project. Check out his main website portfolio too on www.petemillson.com - you may spot some other familiar faces there!
Our Web Manager Anna Celeste Watson was the first of the Dorchester & South Dorset LETS members to have her photo taken in January (check out her comments below) – perhaps you’ll be next?!…
December 4, 2008
· Filed under Announcements for Members, News · Tagged dorset, LETS, LETSlink UK
In Winter 2008, we are pleased to announce that our Dorchester & South Dorset LETS have joined LETSlink UK – the UK’s Local Exchange Trading and Complementary Currencies Development Agency.
The benefits of membership to LETSlink UK include:
- access to their members area
- access to their national discussion forum
- access to their national resource exchange
- an account for intertrading with other UK LETS groups
- reduced attendance fees at regional and national LETS events
- the opportunity to volunteer or vote for regional LETS representatives
- access to general advice documents such as Legal Issues (e.g., Liability and Tax Issues)
- help developing our own Rules and Constitution
- LETSlink also provides web-based systems and development services to member-groups including management advice and technical support and training
We are looking forward to working with LETSlink UK who will implemeting their web system for us so in 2009 we can launch our own full Online Directory with a Members Area so all members can access and update their own Marts account, which is very exciting and will take our LETS into the 21st century!!!
For more information on LETSlink UK visit www.letslinkuk.net.
Some of our LETS Core Group Meeting with LETSlink UK to discuss web development in November 2008
November 14, 2008
· Filed under Announcements for Members, News · Tagged core group, Dorchester, dorset, job vacancies, LETS
LETS Core Group Member Vacancies for 2009
In Winter 2008, our Core Group had gone from a very healthy 9 members to 6 (due to members relocating or having to set-up their own new businesses) and as the success of any LETS is largely dependent on the hard work of the Core Group, we seeked more members to join us.
In January 2009 we are very happy to welcome Sabine Bale to our Core Group as our new Members Support / Trading Activator.
If like us, you feel that our LETS is too good a thing to let go to waste, then we would love you to spare us some time by filling one of the remaining roles below, and joining us in our monthly meetings. As a bonus, Core Group members get paid 10 marts per meeting plus extra marts for any additional time we spend working for the LETSystem (and the Hosts get an extra 10 marts per meeting too!).
We have the following vacancies in the Core Group as of February 2009:
- Events Co-ordinator (Currently being filled by our Group Co-ordinator Katy Murrell)
- Publicity / Promotion
- Minute Taker (for meetings)
Many thanks to Anne Donelan, Patsy Freeman and Simon Jackson for their support during their time on the Core Group and we wish them all well in their new ventures in 2009.
If you would like to find out more or offer your help, please contact Katy Murrell on (01305) 262253 or email katy@dorchester-lets.co.uk .
October 13, 2008
· Filed under Green Issues, News
Dorchester & South Dorset LETS are very pleased to be having more opportunities to team up with both Transition Town Dorchester and Dorset Agenda 21, in organising local social and inter-trading events with a focus on encouraging sustainable and eco-friendly living in Dorset.
A Transition Initiative such as Transition Town Dorchester is a community working together to look Peak Oil and Climate Change squarely in the eye and address this BIG question:
“for all those aspects of life that this community needs in order to sustain itself and thrive, how do we significantly increase resilience (to mitigate the effects of Peak Oil) and drastically reduce carbon emissions (to mitigate the effects of Climate Change)?”.
For more information visit www.transitiontowndorchester.org.
Dorset Agenda 21 (DA21) is an independent charity working cooperatively with local people, communities, businesses, educational bodies, local government and other organisations to encourage sustainable living in Dorset. DA21 is active on behalf of all of us in Dorset who acknowledge the impact of climate change and want to do something about it NOW.
For more information visit www.dorsetagenda21.org.uk.
September 25, 2008
· Filed under News
The Dorchester LETS Core Group have had several discussions at our meetings over 2008 and decided that due to the seeming misconception that Dorchester LETS is mainly for Martinstown because our currency is in ‘marts’ (because our LETS was originally set-up in Martinstown 12 years ago), we should change our name to make it crystal clear that our LETS covers Dorchester, Weymouth, Portland and the surrounding villages, so…
…as of September 2008 our new name is: Dorchester & South Dorset LETS.
We hope this will encourage more members from outside of Dorchester to join, so please help spread the word!!!
July 21, 2008
· Filed under News
We are delighted to have had some new membership to our LETS come about following promotion of LETS on the BBC’s The One Show this July. The One Show investigated the old system of bartering by visiting the Yeovil LETS in Somerset. “Dominic Littlewood goes one step further in order to save you money – by showing you how you can get all manner of services, without actually spending any money at all…”. Of course, they should have visited our Dorchester LETS as well!!!
For more information on the TV show visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/theoneshow/article/2007/09/dld_barter.shtml. You can also take up their challenge of bartering for your wedding! “If you want Dom to help get the venue, flowers, cake etc, without spending a penny, then get in touch!”.
July 14, 2008
· Filed under News
At the beginning of November 2007 Dorchester LETS had 39 members and now in June 2008 after only 7 months we have 57 members in total (some of which are family members and 7 of which joined over only 2 months), and we are looking to expand much further! We believe that there is a preconception that Dorchester LETS is mainly for Martinstown because our currency is in ‘marts’. Our LETS was originally set-up in Martinstown 12 years ago but actually covers not only the whole of Dorchester, but also Weymouth, Portland and our surrounding villages – SO SPREAD THE WORD!!!
July 14, 2008
· Filed under News
Our LETS Core Group is changing and growing in a healthy way so more members can take on various roles to support and run our LETS. We welcomed 3 new Core Group members this month including; Anna Celeste Watson – who will be taking over the Website and Email Promotion; Patsy Freeman – whose main role as Core Group Co-ordinator will be to nurture and support the Group; and Susie Hosford – who is taking over the LETS Accounts. Andy Mott is now taking over as our Sterling Treasurer, and we also have a new Newsletter Editor for June – Chris Slade, who is taking over from Don Watts.
July 14, 2008
· Filed under News
We recently launched a new Blog for our LETS members to use. We hope it will enable lots of people to communicate between the infrequent meetings and help them get to know each other a little, which in turn will allow them to venture to trade more confidently. When it takes off it should help our social networking and encourage new people to join us. LETS isn’t just about saving money: it’s about PEOPLE. We therefore encourage you to start using the blog – TODAY!!!
