Freegle Reps Report 2013-12-31

This Report covers the period from 23 November 2013 to 6 January 2014

Sian

We were very sad to learn that Sian passed away on 29th December.

Those of us who moved to Freegle in 2009 will remember Sian’s spreadsheets and the excitement of seeing Freegle grow day by day. Sian went on to help with the initial assessment of new groups and with the creation of policies for affiliation. As a founder Rep she was responsible for coordinating our registration with the HMRC as well as very efficiently carrying out many of the day to day Rep tasks. Despite being very ill she carried on working for Freegle nationally up until a few weeks ago when she handed over the work she had been doing as Returning Officer, coordinating the dispatch of business cards and insurance tasks.

The Reps wrote to Sian, on behalf of Freegle, a few weeks ago to let her know how very grateful we all were for her huge contribution to Freegle.

Sian was feisty, analytical, generous and compassionate, and Freegle has benefited from her intelligent and concise input into so many areas both nationally and locally. She was passionate about Freegle and Sian’s family have very kindly donated her ipad to Freegle. It will be kept as the property of Freegle and on loan to wherever it can be of most use. Edward will use it initially for Snaply testing.

Sian’s funeral was held on 7 January.. Edward attended on behalf of the Reps.

She will be very much missed by all her Freegle friends. RIP Sian

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)

Groups should NOT allow freegling of any medicinal products. We have been advised that: The sale or supply of a prescription only medicine (POM) other than by a registered pharmacist on receipt of a prescription issued by a qualified health practitioner, is a criminal offence. The sale or supply of a pharmacy only medicine (P) other than by a registered pharmacist, is a criminal offence. The sale or supply of general sales ledger (GSL) ledger medicine (the sort you would normally find on sale in a non-pharmacy retail outlet) other than from a lockable premises, is in the MHRA’s view, a criminal offence. More information can be found at:

http://www.mhra.gov.uk/Patientsandpublic/Buyingcounterfeitmedicinesandmedicinesonline/index.htm

We feel that this is very clear advice which all groups must follow, even if they have done differently up to this point. We will be mailing all groups to let them know. The wiki page

http://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/Drugs_Medicines_and_Supplements

has been updated with this information.

Structure

A full volunteer poll has voted to re-structure Freegle as an Industrial and Provident Society for Community Benefit (IPS). We are confident that this will create a solid structure to carry on Freegle’s commitment to reuse while, very importantly, still maintaining our grassroots nature and democratic accountability. Plans are now being made for the election of nine Directors. At the request of the Trading Subsidiary Team we have reviewed and agreed the Director’s job description.

Returning Officers

Paul, Ascot has been elected as a Returning Officer and will work with Carole Marland.

We agreed to a request by the Returning Officers to pay for an upgrade to the Fluid Surveys polling software.

Waste Prevention Policy

The Government have produced a policy paper on a Waste Prevention Programme for England.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/waste-prevention-programme-for-england

CAFS

We received a report from Chris for the Sustain Eden Grow-your-own project Year 1 Quarter 3. We are happy to note the good progress made and that there should be no problems with a transfer to Freegle Ltd.

Give As You Live

Since we started the push to get more members using GAYL, we have increased our supporters from 86 to 1062. The financial benefit of this will take a little while to ripple through.

We have done two member mailshots. We will discuss with GAYL what we do next.

Bury Freegle

We were sorry that it has been necessary to disaffiliate Bury Freegle. The core area has been made available for a new group to be set up.

Group Affiliation Team

The Group Affiliation Team asked us to review an application for Otley Freegle. We agreed with their recommendation to approve a new group.