Freegle Reps Report 2010-08-16

Reps Report posted on Central 16th August 2010.

About 600 posts covering the following themes:

1)Big Society. We have had a bit of general discussion and awareness about this amongst the Reps. Maybe other Freeglers are interested too. 'Big Society' is touted by our new national government as something to be developed eagerly in time to come. It's about increasing community involvement and voluntary contribution to society as a whole. There are various angles on this but to get an understanding of it, this link is invaluable http://www.urbanforum.org.uk/briefings/big-society-bite-sized

2) iLoveFreegle.org Blog- followed up changeover of coordinator

3) Contacting local groups can be difficult sometimes. Talked about issue. Freegle mailbox dealing with enquiries.

4)Communication Guidelines- Q: are emails sent to group-owner addresses from Freegle spam? A:NO letter Edward received from the Information Commissioner. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreegleUK-Central/files/

5)Complaints-further discussions

6)Complaints panel-poll for Edward to be silent rep observer

7)Ending Terms of Office Procedures-Poll on early/2010 elections

8)Freegle Funding (local/Sheffield/Adam/New group)-discussion and Poll run

9)Freegle Governing Doc-further discussions and amendments

10)Freestock-Sian, Paul, Kath and Ed attended.

11)GAT new team member required, suggested, polled and actioned. Adam from Sheffield has joined the Group Assessment Team.

12)GAT guidelines and remit-further discussions

13)Give and take Liability legal wording clarified-which will be announced on Central shortly

14)History-Policy document, WIKI access, Alison's remit-discussion and poll run

15)LCRN London Community Resource Network, see: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FreegleUK-Central/message/14827 The London Community Resource Network (http://www.lcrn.org.uk/) has people in it who are sympathetic to Freegle, and we've had a relationship with them since back when we were in Freecycle. It's a. good avenue for publicity and potential local funding. Caroline has kindly been acting as the contact point for this but no longer wishes to do so. It makes sense for this to be someone in London, so we could do with someone in the London area to take this over. Any volunteers?

16)Mapping-discuss best way forward

17)Member Support-co ordinator role discussion

18) Mod Handbook - do we need a formal process for approving changes? Agreed not

19)Ombudsman: Role, Election, Q and A, procedures, email processes-discussions

20) Discussed having particular roles to guide working groups.

21)Prime Minister's Question time-Cat met Dave, hoping to ensure Freegle recognised by Big Society govt. remit

22)Reps Working practices doc-further discussions and amendments

23)Skills Questionnaire-updated

24)Task List review

25)Time spent-working out a way of measuring volunteer time spent on Freegle matters-Sian creating a method and questionnaire

26)Wiki-discussion about ensuring it is updated regularly and how to best achieve this

27)Who's who spreadsheet updated

28)Work started withEnvironmental Consultants provided by WRAP http://www.wrap.org.uk/ to establish a method to measure the monetary & social value and the weight or volume of goods passing through Freegle. Samples of posts provided from a selection of UK groups. Ongoing project which should ensure that Freegle's contribution to waste reduction will be measurable in the future and therefore recognised by govt agencies and others.

29)devised suitable question for Prime Minister's Question time in Brighton- Cat met David Cameron, hoping to ensure Freegle is recognised and supported by Big Society remit (see (1) above for Big Society link). She didn't get to ask her question on air but is pursuing the issue and got good contacts to do so.

30)Discussed content for one hour presentation at the National Recycling and Waste Management Conference in Birmingham next month.

"How re-use can reduce landfill in the UK and save local authorities money" . To be presented in Waste Minimisation Zone at 10:45 Thursday 16th September.

http://www.rwmexhibition.com/

Prepared by Cat Agreed by all Reps Posted by Sian

on behalf of Reps Cat, Edward, Jane, Kath, Ollie, Paul and Sian

Back to Freegle Representative Group or forward to the next Freegle Reps Report 2010-09-19