IF campaign launched in Oxford!

The 'Enough Food For Everyone...IF' campaign, a new multi-agency campaign against hunger, launched in Oxford with an open-air breakfast in freezing weather outside St Michael's of Northgate, Cornmarket Street, today (24 January) at 10am.

The IF campaign is for an end to the unnecessary hunger and malnutrition which blights the lives of millions, in a world in which there is enough food to go round. We are calling for:

• an end to the land grabs by big companies that leave families landless, hungry, and destitute
• an end to tax avoidance by companies, so that governments have enough income to support their farming sectors
• an increase to international aid in line with the decades-old promise to increase it to 0.7% of our national income
• transparency among companies and governments so we can see what they are actually doing to help or hinder people's access to food.

Guests at the campaign launch, including MP Andrew Smith, and local representatives of the groups involved in the campaign (including me) were lucky enough to have real bread and jam, tea and coffee - I had assumed it would be faked for the photoshoot!

Hardy volunteers including Caroline Brown and Jan and Tim Treacher explained the campaign to curious passers by, as the rest of us did the hard work of sitting and quaffing while being photographed for the Oxford Mail (your turn next time guys!).

Left to right: Paula Clifford, Abigail McMillan (CAFOD), Andrew Smith MP, Jessica Hall (Christian Aid), Rev. Bob Wilkes (St Michael's of Northgate), Maranda St John Nicolle (Christian Concern for One World), Naveed Chaudhri (Oxfam), Pip Micklem (Save the Children).

Many thanks to Christian Aid for leading this event.

A successful 23rd One World Fair!

Very many thanks to everyone who helped out in any way at last weekend's One World Fair. From the people doing sterling work in the cafe and kitchen, to those on our campaigning and book selling stall, and everyone who placarded, cooked, advertised, or helped in any other way, you were all part of its success. Particular thanks must go to Tim and Jan, Ally and Martin, and all their friends and relations (and others) who worked so hard behind the scenes and in the run-up to the event.

Oxford Student Oxfam Group member Chris Garrard took some great photos of the event and made a short video - if you can get on Facebook, have a look at them here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/groups/2238260390/

Our stall was graced by this rather colourful 7-foot high cardboard cut-out "Food Superhero". We spoke to quite a lot of people about Oxfam's GROW campaign, and asked childern to colour in their own superhero pictures - lots of fun. Thanks to Joella, Caroline and Charlotte for making our Superhero, named Felicity by a young visitor to our stall!

Total takings from the Fair were a very creditable £918.05. This included the sale of food, books from our stall, money from the door, and taking account of the cost of hiring the hall and profits from stalls.

OOG's 25th anniversary isn't far off!

One of OOG's founder members and former Chair, David Green, wrote to the Commitee this week to tell us that it's almost 25 years since we were founded. David writes:

"Can this possibly be true? Google tells me that a banana split 455 miles long broke the world record on 30 April 1988. Well, I'm not surprised. Also on that day Stephen Fry delivered his famous funny monologue version of the BBC's weather forecast. "


"Google doesn't add that on that same day the Oxford Oxfam Group was born, born in the sense that it held its first event on that memorable Saturday. It was an event, neither fundraising, nor campaigning, that simply invited Oxford's public to St Michael's Church in Cornmarket, to talk about world poverty and Oxfam's responses; here, in the downstairs room, six people set to to let guests know that a new Oxfam Group was on the block. And that it meant business. The event was called, modestly, 'Time for a Chat'. New members were quickly forthcoming."

"Because you are all brilliant at maths, you will quickly have worked out the relationship between 30 April 1988 and 30 April 2013, and that 30 April 2013 marks OOG's 25th birthday!"

"Now, the Group didn't celebrate its 20th birthday in any special way, but I guess you will agree with me that a quarter century should not go unrecorded. I have asked Naveed to make sure that Oxfam's staff and Director know that the volunteer Group on their doorstep has reached a milestone that everyone can be proud of. But, as your sole founder member, I asked if I might make an approach to you all and to urge you to consider how you could help to mark the occasion. For myself, if there were enough people interested I would be glad to lead a walk along the route of the original OOGWalk. This was the one that in the 1990s took you from Hinksey up to Youlbury and Boars Hill, then back through Happy Valley to Lake Street, a distance of some 12 miles. Will you suggest and help organize another appropriate marker?"

"Since those six people (Bridget Browne, Tessa Brodetsky, David Brookes, Mark Haeffner, Graham Hooper and I) pushed the boat out in 1988, many hundreds of people have pulled at the OOG oars. Many thousands of pounds have been raised for Oxfam's work – well into six figures. Dozens of campaigns have been supported, and many schools introduced to development education. Though Oxfam's work will never be done, though we may all be ashamed that still, in 2012, countless millions of people still live in terrible poverty, yet we can take some comfort from the fact that we have allied ourselves with a great, honest and just cause. And we have done it through the Oxford Oxfam Group. Let's mark this birthday!"

David

I hope that we'll be able to discuss this proposal at our AGM, coming up on 6 December - please do come along (you'll also get the chance to hear about Oxfam's work in Bangladesh).

Latest campaigning action from OOG

You'll see from the last post that Oxfam is campaigning on 'food justice' for all, and OOG's modest contribution so far has been to take the campaign to the Elder Stubbs Festival in August, a fantastic local festival just full of people engaged in making positive food choices.

Also in August, OOG campaigners promoted the Robin Hood Tax, an increasingly popular way of raising money for development, climate change mitigation and other good causes. The Oxford Mail covered our mini drama outside the Oxfam shop in Broad Street, after which we made this film parodying the 'official' Robin Hood Tax film on the campaign's website. All good fun, and in all seriousness, in 30 years, the idea of such a tax on financial transactions has moved from the fringes to the mainstream, with France having actually enacted one.

The campaign group meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6.30pm in the Mitre - why not join us?

One World Fair 2012

Well, that's a bit embarrassing! No posts for a whole year. Never mind, the One World Fair is the biggest event of the OOG year, and it looks like this is our 22nd! This year, we're hoping it will be better than ever, and as well as promoting local campaigning on  development, the environment and fair trade, we're promoting Oxfam's GROW campaign for sustainable and fair food production for all. Lots of local groups are doing something about a better food future, whether it's fair trade, food waste reduction, or growing better. Oxfam is celebrating these 'food heroes' and if you are taking action, why not get in touch for some joint celebration!

If you're a Facebooker, check out the latest at http://www.facebook.com/events/476700349031511/ and help us promote the event if you can.

One World Fair - thanks to all who helped!

The 21st One World Fair was another success, thanks to everyone who helepd out on the day and in the run-up. As always, it was a long and tiring day for a number of hard-working volunteers (you know who you are!), with a very busy cafe operation selling out of food quite early on. The Nick Gill trio added to the ambience in the cafe, and while stallholders reported slower than usual sales in the main hall, and the number of visitors was a bit down on previous years, there was nevertheless a good buzz of activity throughout the day, and in total, we made almost £1,800 of from running the fair (taking account of the cafe, room hire and income from stalls, but excluding the Oxfam shop presence).

The workgroup met to debrief on Tuesday, and we plan to survey all our stallholders to ask how it went for them, including any ideas they can give us for improving the event. All ideas are welcome - as well as offers to get involved in running the next one! Work on the 22nd One World Fair will start in May 2012.



Jan Tansley from Broad Street shop on the Oxfam stall

OOG's busy autumn!

It's normal for autumn to be OOG's busiest time of year, and our biggest event of the year, the One World Fair, is now less than a week away! It's this Saturday, 19th November, at Oxford Town Hall, and should be, as always, a colourful event, with a host of fairtrade retailers booked in, alongside local campaigning organisations on development and the environment - and of course, our vegetarian cafe. Offers of help (and particularly donations of food for the cafe) are very welcome - please reply to this post. Doors open at 10am, it ends at 4.30pm. 50p admission - bargain!



The One World Fair follows hard on the heels of the autumn Book Fair on 22 October. Our former book fair supremo Helen O'Neill having gone to Madagascar for a year, our new co-ordinator Jon Mazliah and the stalwart team of pricers and helpers on the day did a sterling job, confounding last-minute worries that we might not have enough stock or volunteers. But we pulled it off, raising a very creditable £2, 370. Very many thanks to everyone who did their bit. Dates of the spring book fair are still to be confirmed.


Forthcoming events are the AGM, on 7 December in the Short Room, Friends' Meeting House, from 7.30pm, where we'll be electing the new Committee, and the now-traditional OOG curry night at the Bombay restaurant in Jericho on 14 December.