Everything seemed to go OK

In my previous post I anticipated several events, well I'm pleased to say that they all went well, at least I thought so.

My presentation on the role of volunteers in maintaining the Cleveland Way to members of the North York Moors Authority, www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/‎, was very well received. Thanks to Andrew, who put together a wonderful collection of photos, and my colleagues in the photos who certainly showed off their skills. My suggestion that perhaps we might be provided with waterproofs has apparently not been entirely dismissed. We shall see...................

A colleague and I from the Malton and Norton Fairtrade group spoke to members of Sight Support Ryedale, sightsupportryedale.org/, about Fairtrade and where to purchase Fairtrade goods locally. We had a very good discussion and even touched on how politics can affect how Fairtrade can operate in many countries. www.fairtrade.org.uk/‎.

So now to new events.

I have been to Coasties twice since I last posted. Once actually on the coast the other time well inland. The first time we were making sure that a section of the Cleveland Way on National Trust land in Ravenscar was looking its best. People from all the National Parks in England were due the following day and we needed a good clear path for them to walk along. It was damp and warm and the midges were biting, but we kept on with the cutting back; the bracken seemed to be their favourite habitat!



a public highway!

the start of the new path



The following week we were making a parallel path to the path on the left. It may not look like it, but this path can be used by any vehicle and so is frequently used by motor bikes, leaving it in the rutted state you can see here. Unfortunately it is also part of the Moors to Sea cycleway and the Tabular Hills footpath. So we set to and cut a path through the bracken, in a couple of weeks part of it will have a hard surface for the bikes and level grass for the walkers. The bikers can carry on making their rutted way through the mud.

Short Stop has been quite quiet recently, which is just as well as many of our lovely hosts now have Long Stop guests. Asylum seekers who may have to wait for many months for their cases to be heard can sometimes be found somewhere to stay for more than just a night; giving them and the hosts some certainty and the opportunity to plan their lives just a little. So I manage to find somewhere for everyone both weeks, even though one week it takes half a dozen calls before I even get to speak to someone. One of my fellow LASSN volunters is upgrading the Short Stop paperwork to keep it all up to date, let's hope this dinosaur will cope, lassn.org.uk/.

Meanwhile I have been contacting local schools about Fairtrade stalls in the run up to Christmas, several have said yes please, so I need to get all those sorted out and then contact my friends at Fairer World in York to arrange picking up the goods for the stalls.www.fairerworldyork.co.uk. However the biggest thing for our local Fairtrade group is our annual two day shop, Friday November 1st and Saturday November 2nd, all day on both days at the Friends' Meeting House in Malton. Planning for that is now well under way, advertising, staffing and refreshments all, I think, under control.

My last activity was attending a local conference of Amnesty International in York last Saturday, www.amnesty.org.uk/,. We discussed extraordinary rendition, conscription and human rights in the chocolate industry amongst other things. Luckily the stall I was running had plenty of Fairtrade chocolate and I was placed right next to a Fairtrade vending machine. So let's end with two pictures.


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the vending machine at
the Priory Street centre,York

a bar for every taste