Fw: SA E-newsletter

[Ann Clelland]

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Lisa Nunn <LN...@soilassociation.org>
Sent: Fri, 5 February, 2010 14:17:09
Subject: SA E-newsletter

Dear Supporter Happy New Year and welcome to January’s newsletter. To begin 2010, we’re focusing on the imminent launch of powerful film documentary Food, Inc., the latest on the Food for Life Partnership and courses offered by our Organic Farm School, plus a host of competitions and offers.

Food, Inc. As mentioned previously in November’s newsletter, we’ve been eagerly anticipating the launch of compelling new Oscar-tipped documentary Food, Inc. Frequently, it seems, profit has been given priority over human health. Food, Inc. lifts the veil on the food industry, exposing a highly mechanised underbelly all too often hidden from the consumer. For more details, visit here. Food, Inc. is being premiered on the 8 February in London and released on Friday 12 February, with a special day of one-off nationwide cinema screenings on Monday 15 February.

We are proud to be the official charity partner of the film and hence we really urge you to see it. You can book tickets for you and your friends by finding your local cinema here - if there is no cinema listed close to you, we urge you to contact your local cinema and lobby them to show the film. Much of the success of the film and our related campaigning work at the Soil Association relies on there being public demand - your help will really make a difference, so please join us in ensuring that the film is seen by as many people as possible. FREE cinema tickets for you and a friend - We've got an incredible opportunity to attract new members to the Soil Association by distributing special Food, Inc. membership leaflets after each screening. We urgently seek volunteers to help us at the screenings from the 12 February onwards. There are also other ways that you can help too via social networks and blogs, or by suggesting suitable places that might like to display promotional postcards in areas where the film is being screened. Please email Lisa at lmet...@soilassociation.org for more details. Thank you for your support, we will keep you updated on the film's impact.

Food for Life Partnership Cooks’ Network – Jeanette’s Army Jeanette Orrey, the Food for Life Partnership School Meals Policy Advisor, has launched The Cooks’ Network by gathering fourteen of the best school cooks in England. She is making sure the cooks get the support they need to improve the school meals in their schools and training them to cook with organic, seasonal and local ingredients as part of their Food for Life Partnership work. What’s more, the fourteen cooks, or ‘Jeanette’s Army’, will be trained to work with other cooks in their regions and create a forum of cooks to share knowledge, skills and experience and support other cooks in Food for Life Partnership schools, who want to reach the goal of serving school dinners that 75% freshly prepared, 50% local and seasonal and 30% organic. The Food for Life Partnership campaign has grown massively with an average of ten new schools signing up every week, so all hands are needed to give schools and communities all possible support to transform their food culture. The initiative is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and led by the Soil Association, bringing together the practical expertise of the Focus on Food Campaign, Garden Organic and the Health Education Trust.

New year, new skills? Why not make a New Year's resolution to learn a new practical skill in 2010 with the Soil Association's Organic Farm School? This project, supported by the Daylesford Foundation, offers a fantastic range of hands-on courses offered by those with practical and personal experience. Soil Association members get up to 25% off the course fees – so join us now if you aren’t already a member. Monty Don, Soil Association president, said: ‘The Soil Association’s Organic Farm School is a fantastic opportunity for anyone to come and learn skills from the experts. Each course is an enjoyable day out on an organic farm and a chance to experience the rich satisfaction of country life.’ Whether you want to skill up and make that step towards making your life more sustainable, learn how to live closer to the land, or get inspired and try something out as a possible career option, the Organic Farm School has the right course for you. For details visit our webpage.

Fabulous January competitions Fancy growing your own apple, pear, plum or cherry tree? Walcot Organic Nursery is giving two people the chance to win three fruit trees of your choice this month. And, for the less hands-on, Vintage Roots is giving away two bottles of gorgeous Fleur d’Europe champagne to one lucky person. If you haven’t yet found time to get your free copy of the Soil Association’s supporter magazine, Living Earth, this is your last chance. Get it now!

Special offer for Soil Association members We’ve got ten pairs of tickets for the fabulous The Good Life: 100 Years of Growing Your Own exhibition at The Garden Museum, London to give away. Discover the story of how, why and what Britain has grown over the past 100 years. Click here to find out more. If you’d like to win a pair of tickets, plus a copy of the Good Life issue of the Garden Museum journal, send an email to Lisa Metcalfe at lmet...@soilassociation.org with the email title ‘The Good Life’ stating your name and membership number before 1 February 2010. Image credit - ‘John & Psyche’, Grange Lane Allotments, Dulwich © Steven Joyce 2008.

Two for one tickets at London exhibition The Ministry of Food is an exciting new exhibition which looks at how wartime Britain adapted to a world of food shortages. The exhibition is opening on 12 February at the Imperial War Museum London and Soil Association newsletter subscribers can buy two adult tickets for the price of one. Themes exemplified by wartime slogans such as 'Lending a Hand on the Land', 'Digging for Victory', and the 'War on Waste' all have huge significance in the way we consider our food in today’s climate, so do go along if you are able. Simply print out this email and take it along to purchase your tickets. Click here for more details.

Speak to you again in February.

Stephen Last Director of Membership and Supporter Services The Soil Association is a membership charity. If you would like to make a donation, click here. Thank you for your continued support. If you would like some information to do with an area of our work that we haven’t addressed in this update, why not ask your question online? Registered Charity Number: 206862

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Lisa Nunn
Project Officer
Soil Association
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Tel: 0117 914 2453
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South Plaza, Marlborough Street, Bristol BS1 3NX
Printable map, parking and public transport information can be found at the Soil Association home page: http://www.soilassociation.org, and click on 'contact us'

Soil Association Annual Conference, 3 & 4 February 2010, The Custard Factory, Birmingham, B9 4AA
The challenges of climate change, resource depletion, population growth, diet-related ill-health and meeting UK-Government agreed greenhouse gas reduction targets of 80% by 2050 means that business as usual in our food and farming systems is no longer an option.

This two day conference presents a series of challenging debates about the role of science, politics, farming and food sectors and their respective roles in the action, innovation and transition to sustainable models that is needed if we are to feed ourselves now and in the future.

For more information and to book a place go to: http://www.soilassociation.org/Whatwedo/Conferences/Annualconference/tabid/218/Default.aspx