back to menuYou will have noticed from the report of the AGM that Margaret has been dragged kicking and screaming (like the new Speaker at the House of Commons) onto the Executive Committee of NfCG. She has finally given up her post as NfCG Development Officer in which she probably helped all the Groups at one time or another and many Individual Members, and made firm friends with most of them.
Retirement comes to us all sometime, and Margaret has retired and we shall miss her help and enthusiasm immensely. But that is why she has been persuaded to join the Executive Committee! We, well the Executive anyway, can still tap into that help and enthusiasm, and the deep knowledge of the membership that she holds.
A most useful spin-off from the formation of the Consumer Policy Institute (CPI) is that it has enabled us, once again, to have a National Office which is not in someone's home. Stella Walsh coped admirably with being invaded by NfCG but it was not an ideal solution. Now we have an office at Brunel University and a new Honorary Secretary, Stella Nicholas. She has a part-time assistant, Kathy Liggins, who will also act for the CPI, and who will normally be in the office from loam to 1 pm, Monday to Friday.
The address is: NfCG c/o The Centre for Consumer and Commercial Law Research, Brunel University, Uxbridge: UB8 3PH. The phone and fax numbers are 01895 203 069 and 01895 203 085. The new e-mail address is office@ncf.info
In the last issue of Consumer News we wrote about TRUST UK, an accreditation scheme for those who engage in retail trading over the Internet. Sue Payne reports that it launched itself on unsuspecting consumers during the third week of July. Unsuspecting because there does not seem to have been any publicity.
The Website: www.trustuk.org.uk looks good, she says, so, if you have the necessary equipment, have a look yourself. The e-mail address, in case you have questions and scorn such old fashioned methods as the telephone, is secretariat@trustuk.org.uk
You will have noticed that Stella Walsh our immediate past Honorary Secretary has burst into print with two telling articles in this issue. I guess she has a bit more time now and can unleash her critical talent. I look forward to more of the same.
Welcome Stella Nicholas, her successor. I found the period when we were without a formal Honorary Secretary difficult, as did, I suspect, several others when we found ourselves fulfilling a secretarial function for which we could not really spare the time. Not only do we have a new Secretary but an Assistant Secretary as well, Kathy Liggins, and a new office at Brunet University. We are awash with organisational opportunity!
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food welcomes the development of Farmers Markets and the benefits that they can bring to consumers and farmers alike. The first such market was opened in Bath in 1997 with help from the Bath Consumers' Group. Now, MAFF says, there are over 200 operating throughout the country.
The latest development is the formation of the National Association of Farmers' Markets (NAFM) which has its headquarters, fittingly, in Bath. It will work to ensure that shoppers' expectations of Farmers' Markets are not compromised. It will have a training role and will develop a brand image. The Association address and contact details are:
A Farmers' Market has opened in Blackheath, one of the more upmarket areas of South East London. It takes place on Sunday mornings in the area in front of the Blackheath Concert Halls, not a very big area in which to hold a market. I am told that the produce available is very good.
On the occasion of its first opening someone, one assumes a stall holder, reversed a vehicle into the elaborate Victorian cast iron porch which marks the entrance to the Concert Halls, damaging it severely. For a while it was an 'unsafe structure' and visitors to the Halls had to gain entry via a side door. Now it has disappeared entirely.
The European Commission has produced a booklet entitled Consumer Disputes - Labyrinthine Thread which contains varied information about the problems of getting complaints sorted out. The arguments against legal proceedings are listed as the costs of consultation, court fees and expert opinions, the possible length of the proceedings and uncertainty as to the outcome. The EC has produced a standard form, with instructions, that the complainant can fill in and send to the firm or professional against whom he has a grievance. The form also acts as a reminder of the information that may be required. Near the beginning it states: "Under no circumstances should this form be sent to the European Commission, which has no power to intervene in disputes of this type". Who said the EC was useless?
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