Traidcraft - March 2018

FairTrade There are lots of hidden entrepreneurs in the world….and not all of them drive sports cars!! Many are people who have the talent and determination to succeed, but lack the opportunity. They don’t run international businesses but have the raw ingredients to create something special.

Although talent , ingenuity and skill are distributed evenly across the world not everyone is able to access education or an economy that supports their ambition . Not everyone even has three meals every day.

Traidcraft Exchange seeks to help these hidden entrepreneurs. They offer advice on soil erosion, seed choices and fertilisers. They also offer training courses on business, finance and marketing matters.

Minchinhampton W.I. - March 2018

The Minchinhampton W.I met in the Library on the 7th February. The President welcomed all members and a special welcome was extended to a new member. A thank you was received from a member who had celebrated her 90th Boxing Day birthday at the last meeting.

Members were invited to participate in walks around Lydney or Staunton or take part in a glass engraving workshop.

It is intended to join Rover European on a day out to Richmond on Thames and the Poppy Factory in November.

Arrangements were made for the Craft Group, the Scrabble Group and the Skittle lunch. We no longer play skittles but enjoy the lunch!

Traidcraft - February 2018

We now have the figures in for the sales in 2017. The sales of Traidcraft products in 2017 was over £6,000 pounds!! We also managed to give an extra £500 pounds as a donation to Traidcraft ‘s work.

Well done everyone!! This is a magnificent amount and it’s all down to YOU!! This means that Holy Trinity is now known as a ‘Traidcraft Super Trader’!!

Minchinhampton W.I. - February 2018

The President welcomed all members, two visitors and the speaker to the first meeting of the year, which was held a week later than normal because of the New Year holiday. We began with the business section of the meeting and it was reported that a generous amount of £50.50 had been donated at our Christmas lunch and this had been passed on to the Air Ambulance.

Traidcraft - January 2018

Traidcraft Christmas Fair

I know it’s a long time ago, but the Traidcraft Christmas fair in November was a huge success ! We took almost £1, 500 (including orders). Thank you so much to everyone who came along to support us and to all the wonderful volunteers who helped on the day.

Our Traidcraft stall is held on the 4th Sunday of each month in the porch room after the 10am service. All welcome.

Box W.I. - December 2017

Wreath At our meeting in October we learnt how to make an Autumn Wreath. Unfortunately our speaker, Alison Goulding, from “Wild about Flowers”, was unable to come so Shani Wills very ably took over! A big THANK YOU to Shani! Alison had made us the basic rings and supplied some greenery. The results were amazing! (see picture) There is a lot of hidden talent amongst our WI members!

Minchinhampton Nkokoto Link - March 2018

Since the beginning of January, we have agreed to increase the capital available for loans in the micro-finance scheme. The village elders had asked for this and it means that money will be available for more villagers to develop and/or set up their small businesses. Also, 516 villagers will be given family sized mosquito nets and solar powered lights. Remember that, although electricity has now reached Nkokoto, the vast majority of villagers can’t afford to have it fitted in to their houses or pay for the power.

Box W.I. - March 2018

We had a good start to the New Year on 9th January, with a talk by Nick Humphris on the archeology of the Chedworth Roman Villa Site. There are lots to see there plus a visitor centre and would be well worth a visit.

Our re-scheduled Christmas lunch on the 16th January at the Bear Hotel was a very enjoyable event. The food was excellent and we were very well looked after by the staff. In fact, we were so impressed that we will be booking for next year! Our members have decided that January is preferable to December when everyone is not so busy!

We have knitted an amazing number of premature babies’ hats – all different sizes and colours. One member has knitted over 100! The final total may well reach 150 …or more!

Box W.I. - February 2018

Unfortunately, our Christmas Lunch at the Bear Hotel in December had to be cancelled due to the snow! However, The Bear was quite happy to re-schedule it for another date in January. At the time of going to press, we are looking forward to the revised date of 16th January. Some members who were unable to make the original meeting are now able to join us!

Minchinhampton Nkokoto Link - February 2018

The Link keeps in regular, usually weekly, contact with Stima, our local rep-resentative in Urambo and, just before Christmas, he sent an appeal to the Link: the primary school’s toilets, which are simply pit latrines, had collapsed and could we finance the rebuilding of a new set of toilets? Without toilets the school would not be able to open on January 8th. The estimated cost for the Link to provide was 2,080,000 Tanzanian shillings (£693). We readily agreed to fund this and also to fund the completion of the new toilets that I saw being built when I was in Nkokoto recently. The picture below shows you the new toilet block completed.

Traidcraft - December 2017

Traidcraft has a long history of working in the Indian cotton sector. Back in the early 2000s, Traidcraft worked to pioneer the first Fairtrade cotton from smallholder farmers in Gujarat. They also worked with cotton farm labourers in Karnataka helping them to organize and develop a collective voice to improve their working conditions.

Minchinhampton W.I. - December 2017

Members were warmly welcomed by the President. As this was the annual general meeting there was no guest speaker. The minutes of the last meeting were read out and approved. This was followed by a statement from the President concerning business matters of the WI. The Secretary gave a detailed report on events that had taken place over the past twelve months and it made members realise what a busy year this had been filled with a diverse range of activities. Finally a detailed account was given for the finances for this year. The meeting concluded with a quiz and bingo followed by tea and biscuits. Christmas lunch will take place at the Wyevale garden centre on December 14th commencing at 12 noon.
There will be the usual craft and scrabble meetings over the next two weeks together with a skittles lunch at the Egypt Mill. The next meeting will be on Wednesday 6th December at Minchinhampton library at 2pm.