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The Lewes Pound News
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Archived newsletters: April 2011 May 2011 June 2011
July/August 2011 September 2011 October 2011
The Lewes Pound Spring Cashback
A way to increase circulation of The Lewes Pound
Here in Lewes we all need to do our bit to help local businesses. From 20th April you can show your support - and be rewarded for your efforts - by taking part in The Lewes Pound Spring Cashback. At selected shops in Lewes you'll be give "free" Lewes Pounds when you spend over a minimum amount.
There's a fantastic range of products to choose from: from basic essentials to books, bags, CDs, and jewellery and accessories.
You can pay with card or cash - and you can spend your free Lewes Pounds at any of the independent traders who take them.
The shops taking part in the Cashback are Lansdown Health Foods on Cliffe High Street, Skylark in the Needlemakers, TwinkleTwinkle (and Twinkle Toes) on Market Street, Laporte’s in Lansdown Place and Shimalinon School Hill. If the trial is a success, there are plans to roll out the scheme to the whole of Lewes.
There has been a wave of publicity this year about local currencies being launched in Bristol and Brixton. Could the tide be turning as people see the need to protect their high streets from invasion by the chain stores?
So shop local, get your free Cashback – and help Lewes flourish!
Lewes Live Fund - A Fund Created by the Lewes Pound CIC
As you'll remember, the first issue of the Lewes Pound generated an enormous amount of interest - not all of it in Lewes. And a sizable number of Lewes Pounds ended up all over the place - and, whilst the point of a Lewes Pound is to spend it in a Lewes owned business and to keep the money in Lewes, the Lewes Pounds that ended up in collections were never exchanged back for Sterling. Which is how the Lewes Live Fund has been able to fund projects for:
- OVESCO
- Lewes Food Market
- Common Cause
OVESCO - The Ouse Valley Energy Services Company is one of Britain's first community owned renewable energy suppliers. The £2,000 grant from The Pound's Lewes Live Fund was a real boost to OVESCO and has really improved communication with those interested in OVESCO’s work.
The Lewes Food Market will be using £1,400 from The Lewes Live Fund to create a recipe book showing ways to use the local produce at The Friday Market.
Common Cause have produced a booklet giving advice on gardening in a changing climate. There are ideas on how to prepare a growing space for the predicted extremes of weather, including suggestions for dealing with longer dry spells particularly at times traditionally associated with Spring planting, and with increasingly heavy downpours of rain at other times. From mulching, water harvesting, making your own soil conditioner to the most suitable types of plants and edible lawns, the booklet will be full of solutions for planning successful future Sussex gardens.
Future Directions for The Lewes Pound: Keeping Money in Lewes
Public Meeting on Tuesday 8th May at The Linklater Pavillion
The Lewes Pound, as I’m sure you’re aware, has been much less active than it was in the months following its launch – for a number of reasons. The purpose of the currency is to support Lewes and it’s local economy in building resilience and the ability to respond to changing financial, environmental and social challenges. And there is a persuasive argument that an electronic currency might solve many of the problems around the dwindling circulation of the Lewes Pound. We’d like the opportunity to begin to air these ideas to the stakeholders in the Lewes Pound – and obviously we’d like as many different opinions and perspectives to be represented as possible.
Here’s our plan:
Tuesday May 7th: Future Directions for the Lewes Pound
6.30 pm AGM (short meeting open to all)
7.00 pm Arrivals and Drinks
7.30 pm Public Meeting
Attendees: Everyone is welcome!
Lewes owned businesses and service providers,
People who spend money in Lewes (especially in Lewes owned businesses),
Representatives from The Lewes Pound,
L&OVE (Lewes & Ouse Valley Economics Group),
the Better Banking Group,
Lewes District Council,
The East Sussex Credit Union.
We’re hoping that a representative from each of our stakeholders will speak for no more than five minutes – and that the remainder of the evening should be a facilitated discussion around the possibilities for an electronic Lewes Pound.
We want to ask questions like (but not limited to) :
- who would most benefit from an electronic local currency? and in what ways?
- which businesses might be most helped by an electronic currency?
Lewes & Ouse Valley eco-nomics group (L&OVe) Valuing local natural capital
Many people in Lewes recognise the importance of a healthy environment...but how many recognise the strong links between the Lewes economy (its traders, businesses and institutions) and the health of the surrounding ecosystems?
But when we think about where our water comes from; where most of our bees and other insects that pollinate our crops hang out; what the floodplain can do to reduce flood risk; where our local climate is moderated …… then perhaps these links become more obvious?
Which local business doesn’t use water? – yet Lewes’s water comes mainly from aquifers running under the surrounding chalk downs and so, is dependant on local ecosystems;
What was the effect of the 2000 flood on Lewes’s economy? - is the Lewes economy well prepared for similar unforeseen shocks and do we recognise the buffering effect that the local environment can provide against things like strong winds, heavy rain, storms?
Would there be new local jobs from investing in the health of our local environment?
The new L&OVe group of TTL is starting to explore the value of the local environment to the Lewes economy and to raise awareness of how important healthy local ecosystems are to the resilience of the local economy. They are also starting think about where the Lewes Pound could fit into this process.
Find out more and keep updated here...
The Lewes Pound AGM and Review
Thanks to everyone who came to the Lewes Pound AGM on 16th March. It provided a great opportunity for reflection on where the Lewes Pound is at now and how you would like to see it develop. Particularly, lots of interesting discussion came out of the World Café session.
“Some … imagine the aim of economic localisation is complete self-sufficiency at the village level. In fact, localisation does not mean everything being produced locally, nor does it mean an end to trade. It simply means creating a better balance between local, regional, national and international markets. It also means that large corporations should have less control, and communities more over what is produced; and that trading should be fair and to the benefit of both parties. … Localisation is not about isolating communities from other cultures, but about creating a new, sustainable and equitable basis on which they can interact.”
Ed Mayo in Douthwaite (1996:ix)
The Lewes Pound 'How To' Guide - Setting up a local currency
The Lewes Pound CIC and the Transition Network are delighted to announce the launch of 'The Lewes Pound "How to" Guide'. This guide was commissioned to help communities interested in setting up local currency schemes. The guide aims to give an indication of how to set up a local currency scheme, based on how we went about developing and running the Lewes Pound.
Download it here if you're interested in setting up a local currency or want to find out how we went about doing it.
What is it?
Essentially the Lewes Pound is a voucher or token, redeemable for goods or services with local traders and anyone that wants to use it. It is complementary to sterling, and by using it, we can all help support local producers and traders and raise awareness of the importance of shopping locally.
Lewes Pounds can be bought or redeemed for sterling at any of the issuing points. Click here for a full list of traders and issuing points.
What else?
Unlike sterling, the Lewes Pound can also be used as a tool to help reconnect and rebuild the once vibrant web of local businesses and traders in the community, by bringing people together.
Here are just a few examples of how it's being used creatively to encourage trade:
- Cliffe traders are currently running a prize draw whereby each Lewes Pound in circulation is effectively a lottery ticket. Three lucky serial numbers are selected at random once a month and the first person to hand in one of the winning numbers wins a great przie. See our website and Harveys window for details.
- Some local traders are offering discounts and deals for payment of goods in Lewes Pounds. A complete list of current offers can be found on the Offers page of our website.
- Other traders and suppliers have truly embraced the Lewes Pound and are using it to good effect, for example, by paying their own suppliers in Lewes Pounds, who in turn spend them with other Lewes businesses, thus creating a virtuous circle that benefits the town.