And as I reflect on these last few years, well there are many so exciting moments in our journey: the launch in 2009 (Oh my god it really is happening!), the 1st year anniversary (Oh my god we are still going!), the 2nd year relaunch, the new notes and our new Pay by Text service (Oh my god, it works!).

And many things I have loved, and still love, about being involved with the B£, including:  being part of such bold and visionary bunch of people who decided that it was high time we reclaimed some control over our money; the empowering feeling you get when you are able to decide where your money goes and who it benefits;  getting to know for the first time the community in which I have lived for many years, and the realisation of the amazing wealth of talent which is right on my doorstep! Discovering quirky new places and interesting businesses; seeing the evolution of some incredibly worthwhile social enterprises and community initiatives (e.g. Brixton Energy, Transition Town Brixton, Cycooldelic Revoutions, the Remakery, Velocal, IRMO, Makerhood, the Market Traders Federation, Brixton People’s Kitchen, the Vida Walsh Centre, to name only but a few) and ultimately feeling part of something important, bold and bigger than myself.

And I never cease to be amazed by the commitment and drive of the many people I have come into contact with through the Brixton Pound, and who often voluntarily embark on initiatives that seek to better the community in which they live, to create connections, to engage, to support local enterprise and skills, to help promote a more inclusive and sustainable way of life. Truly inspiring stuff, and necessary, and it is all happening right here! Times are achangin, and it’s not all doom and gloom.

So there is much to celebrate you see. I hope you’ll be able to join us on Thursday 3rd May for some drinks and also introductions of new B£ team members and to find out the latest exciting developments and partnerships ahead.

The venue: Kaff Bar, 64 Atlantic Road. The time: from 6pm till late. It is election day of course, so get your votes in and come join!

And if you can’t make it, I have thoroughly enjoyed working with you all and I wish you the best of luck in all your pursuits.

With love, respect and admiration.

Annalisa

This Ain't Rock'n'Roll creations and nominees of the D&AD Awards 2012

This Ain’t Rock’n'Roll, aka the designers behind the Brixton Pound’s new look, were last night recognised at  the D&AD’s Awards for their creative talents in the design of the the Brixton Pound second edition’s notes.

In case you are wondering, the D&AD are the creative industry Oscars, and a Nomination is the equivalent of a Silver.

Indeed the awards attract entrants from all over the world, including household names  agencies/clients with mega-budgets, so  MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to This Ain’t Rock’n'Roll! This is no mean feast and we are absolutely thrilled for them!

And should you need yet another reason to love our notes, well there you have it: they are Oscars’ material, and they deserved to be seen.  Do circulate them, healthy glow guaranteed.

As part of ‘Move Your Money’ month, a campaign to encourage citizens to move their deposits and savings out of the big 5 high street banks and in to more ethical financial providers, the Brixton Pound (B£) local currency is joining forces with London Mutual Credit Union (LMCU) to make local money go further.

The Brixton Pound Community Interest Company will be moving its ‘reserve’ sterling account away from a high street bank to LMCU, South London’s largest credit union.

This means any Brixton residents buying Brixton pounds – which exchange at a 1:1 rate – will know their sterling will be supporting local residents whilst their B£s supports the local economy.

LMCU makes low-cost ethical loans to South Lambeth residents and has a focus upon supporting financially excluded residents who cannot get finance from the big banks or face paying extortionate rates of interest from Pay-Day-Loan providers.

The B£ is able to move its money because new legislation that has just passed in parliament allows credit unions to have organizational as well as individual members.

LMCU is having a special Saturday opening on 24^th March from 11am-4pm to encourage people to create an account.  Customers need to bring two forms of ID to the office on 10 Acre Lane.  They can take advantage of a competitive 3% ISA product recently launched by the Credit Union as well as affordable loans.  A long queue is expected outside the door to join up!

Residents wishing to use Brixton £s also have the chance to register for a B£ Pay-by-Text electronic bank account, enabling them to make purchases with their mobile phones.  Customers using the system will receive a 10% bonus – so that for every £10 sterling they credit their account with, they will get B£11.00 to spend with participating businesses.

“London Mutual Credit Union is the ideal partner for the Brixton £”, said Simon Woolf, the Brixton Pound’s Managing Director. “By moving our money in this way, anyone spending Brixton pounds knows they are not just supporting their favourite local businesses but also people on low incomes in their neighbourhood who benefit from the Credit Union’s ethical loans.  It’s a win-win for everyone.”

Lucky Chandrasekah, LMCU’s Chief Executive, said:

“We are delighted to have the Brixton Pound CIC as one of our first organizational members.  Their investment means we can grow stronger and compete more effectively with the Pay-Day-Loan companies that often land residents in damaging cycles of debt.  We also hope that Brixton Pound users and businesses will consider moving their savings accounts to the credit union, helping us further.”

Josh Ryan-Collins, B£ co-founder and Senior Researcher at local think tank nef (the new economics foundation), said:

“It has been well over three years now since the financial crisis and people still don’t see any meaningful reforms to our dinosaur banks.  But here in Brixton we’re ensuring our money goes not into damaging financial speculation and banker’s bonuses but to those parts of our economy that need it most: small businesses that create jobs and low income residents facing increased hardships with government cuts.  This is another step along the road to a more sustainable local financial system that puts people first.”

Brixton Energy Team

Last week saw the launch of  inner London’s first co-operatively owned solar power station, and it is right here in the heart of Brixton!

“Brixton Energy Solar 1 is a new Co-operative set up to enable local people to invest in renewable energy generation in Brixton and raise funds for energy efficiency initiatives. By investing in Brixton Energy Solar 1, your money will be put to work straight away to finance the installation of a major solar power station on the Loughborough Estate in Brixton and a Community Energy Efficiency Fund .”

The project will reduce the area dependence on far away energy sources and their volatile prices, helping reduce energy costs and fuel poverty, and helping cut carbon emissions. Genius.

Are you interested in investing? What would your investment mean in a nutshell?

• Be at the start and a part of community owned renewable energy in London;
• Help set up a Community Energy Efficiency Fund that will run for 25 years;
• A return for your money.

So have a look at the website, read the prospectus and support Brixton Energy. To take action and invest, visit their share offer page.

Last but not least:  tell the world!

These are very much the concerns of Move Your Money, a new campaign launched last week , at the onset of the banking bonus season.

Move Your Money UK seeks to use consumer power to both raise awareness around and support mutually owned, ethical and socially useful banking providers, such as credit unions, building societies, community development finance institutions. It wants to see a financial system that works for people and society, it seeks to engage the public with the financial system and to promote an open and constructive dialogue between the two.

The B£ is delighted to support the Move Your Money campaign, as it is very much in line with our own aims of empowering people to reclaim control over their money through their spending decisions (a local currency enables just that!), and through supporting ethical banking providers (such as the London Mutual Credit Union on Acre Lane) who will reinvest into local communities, small businesses, and those who are financially excluded.

You can check out the Move Your Money campaign here, and also see a very funny video about some high street performers…Lastly, you can read more about our Brixton based ethical bank, the London Mutual Credit Union, right here.  (Place your cursor over any of the bold text and a link will appear).

Will you move your money?

And this year, and against a backdrop of failing economic recovery in the UK and pretty much in most Western societies, the Brixton Pound managed its own cameo appearance at Davos! See here (scroll forward some 4 minutes and 30 seconds) the interview with Stewart Wallis, Executive Director of the New Economics Foundation (the Lambeth based think thank that has nurtured the B£). Pretty amazing stuff!

And while it may not rock mainstream global economic thinking just yet (soon, soon…), well we are chuffed! Alternative solutions that empower communities to regain some control over local trade, production, supply-chains, and which promote consumer behaviour for the benefit of the most, initiatives such as complementary currencies, transition towns, time banking, community energy projects, credit unions, all deserve a proper shot on the menu of economic development tools. And current times, for all their gloom and doom, may just mean the beginning of something new. We live in hope.

Kaff's cool counter's mural

So with Christmas now really and truly out of the way…well we decided to postpone our Christmas party until mid-January when we thought we would be in serious need of cheering up.  But let’s just remove the ‘Christmas’ and focus on the ‘party’!

We hope you and your friends and loved ones can join us on the night, Thu 19th January from 6:30pm at Kaff Bar.

Kaff Bar are both on our paper and electronic currency schemes, so plenty chance to play with your phones on the night.

There will be DJs and some finger food, and more importantly a great crowd of Brixton residents and businesses to socialise and network with.   We shall also be  at hand to sign up any newbies onto our amazing Pay by Text service, for which you get a 10% automatically added to your account every time you top it up.

Other than that, it’ll be an informal evening of drinks, nibbles, chats and DJ’s spinning their tunes.

We look forward to seeing you then!

Photo by Allerleirau - Flickr photostream

Starting to panic about Christmas, finding the right present, being on a budget? You are not alone. However, no need to worry. The Brixton Pound is here to help remove all this stress from your festive season. ‘But how!?‘ I hear you say…

Brixton Pounds make perfect gifts for all the family, friends and colleagues. They are in fact vouchers which you can spend in some 200 independent businesses, amongst them: great eateries, pubs and cafes, numerous gift shops, complementary therapy centres,  second hand shops, books stores, a well established shoe shop, and of course Morley’s department store!

B£s make not only extremely practical gifts, but also very beautiful ones – after all who wouldn’t want to flash a Bowie or a Szabo every now and then? Or maybe a Len or a Deng? To get hold of these beauties, simply visit one of the B£ issuing points. Or for those with a particular predilection for all things collectable, these lovelies are also available as collector packs, which can be ordered online, and which also make for interesting gifts.

By giving Brixton Pounds as a gift this Christmas, you can also avoid embarrassing moments and ensure your loved ones get something they truly like, indeed with such a variety of participating businesses, they will be spoilt for choice. Of course if you actually enjoy going on the hunt for something unique, then why not check out all those independent businesses yourself, B£s at the ready of course!

And beyond simplicity, practicality and flexibility, in case you needed one more reason for giving B£s as gifts this Christmas… just think of our great independent businesses, and the support you will show them. Think of our local area and how much it needs those independent businesses, in order to remain a buzzing and thriving place for us all to enjoy.  And by the way, have you seen how beautiful our second edition notes are? Ah yes, I may have said that…

Photo by TahoeSunsets - Flickr photostream

New Friday Market

The B£ new Pay by Text service has been running for two months now. Lots of you have joined the scheme and started using it within participating businesses. We currently have about 50 of them on board.

And those of you adventurous enough to give it a try have been rewarded not just by ease of payment, but with a lovely 10% bonus, automatically added to any amount you credit your account with, every single time you top up!

Yes, our Pay by Text 10% bonus is not just for Christmas…

Indeed what we have here is a system for money creation, but the money actually lands in YOUR pockets, i.e. very much in the opposite direction our money has generally been moving to recently. And with Christmas approaching and our pursues increasingly light, this is a good time to join!

So register with Pay by Text, credit your account and get some extra cash thrown in. Then enjoy spending it within our great independent businesses.  These are the ones who will re-spend a lot more of their takings with local suppliers, helping local trade, production and jobs!

You can join online, or you can visit our drop-in sessions at the following events:

• The Brixton Experience – Sat 26^th November, Brixton Station Road – B£ team on site between 10-3pm
• Brixton Makers Market – Saturday 10^th December, Brixton Station Road – B£ team onsite between 10-3pm

Come and say hello, we will be happy to answer any queries and we will also be able to register you to Pay by Text there and then. It only takes 5 minutes. And while you are there, peruse the wonderful stalls selling all sort of home made items and locally grown produce, and enjoy some live entertainment too!

Foxes and Cherries, Lucy Casson 2010

You must have marvelled by now at the extremely different look our second edition notes are donning… And indeed each note is a unique combination of local iconic images and design elements, and of course new faces. But who is the inspiration behind such cool new looks?

In this blog we shall focus on the B£20 note, or ‘the Szabo’.

Featuring WWII secret agent Violette Szabo on the front, the back of this note is just as eye catching, with two sleek foxes meandering in their foxy pursuits. The inspiration came from the very quirky sculpture that dominates the skyline along Electric Avenue.

Indeed as you cast your eyes upon the roof of the building on the corner between Electric Avenue and Electric Lane, you’ll be forgiven for emitting a very pleasantly surprised ‘ooh!’

‘Foxes and Cherries’ was created by Lucy Casson in 2010, for Electric Avenue in Brixton. Constructed from reclaimed metals, they sit high on a building looking down on to Brixton’s fruit and vegetable market. ‘I see foxes as another layer of life in London, scavenging in the night’, Casson tells.

Lucy Casson is a prolific artist whose work spans a range of scale and materials. Some recent public art work includes: Bronze/granite seating Leeds City centre, Climbing Animals at Moorfields children’s Eye Hospital London, sculptures for Sustrans cycle way Thames Oxon.

She has exhibited at numerous galleries, including:

-      Rebecca Hossack gallery London, 2010

-      Velvet Da Vinci group show San Francisco USA, 2005

-      ‘Smile’ at Ruthin touring site in North Wales

You can find out more about Lucy’s work here, and also read a review here.

The Brixton Pound are proud to feature Lucy Cassons’ Foxes on our new B£20 – such eye catching local feature is hard to go unnoticed! So next time you’re out shopping, do take a look at those Foxes and Cherries, they are for us all to enjoy.