On Saturday the 31^st of July 2010 from 10am-1pm, True Food of 61 Grove Road, Emmer Green, Reading, took up the call from the Real Bread Campaign to celebrate Local Loaves for Lammas.

In bringing the ancient harvest festival of Lammas right up to date, True Food joined Real Bread bakeries, traditional mills, farmers’ markets other local loaf lovers all around Britain. To mark the occasion, True Food got all floured up for the day, starting with a toast breakfast at 10:15am followed by a morning of bread demos a baking workshop (with bread to take home!) and finishing with a fun competition.

The event was hosted by Reading’s own Freestyle World Porridge Making Champion and local food advocate Anna Louise Batchelor. Anna Louise said “Bread is close to my heart. It’s a staple British food and something we in Reading eat everyday. Local Loaves for Lammas is a great opportunity to find out about real bread made by local bakeries, you know the real stuff with a crust! The event was great fun, a chance to try making your own bread and to find out more about Reading’s community owned co-op True Food”.

Let's hope the weather agrees! During July and August we are offering a jar of Real Organic Barbecue Sauce for half-price and a free pack of bamboo skewers when you buy any two packs of  our Laverstoke Park barbeque bonanza meat, vegetarian grilling sausage or tofu-weiners.  

You can also stock up on sustainable charcoal, fairtrade disposable barbeques, paper plates, organic ketchup, local salad ...

Read more for more information and a great barbecue recipe.

June 19th to 3rd July is Co-operatives Fortnight. In celebration of their members and volunteers during this period, True Food is displaying a specially commissioned poster at the shop and markets. The poster was funded by a generous grant from Co-operatives South East. After the AGM in May we took photographs of members in the RISC roof garden. We than asked them to complete the sentence "I am involved with True Food because ...". The final poster shows eighteen individual photos with their quote printed underneath. Reasons for being involved range from “… it offers excellent value for money, organic & fair-trade products and involvement with local business.” to “…if you want something doing properly, you can’t beat doing it yourself.”

On Saturday 12th June True Food had a stall at the busy Sonning Common Primary School fair. The theme of the event was the world cup and there were lots of flags but thankful no Vuvuzelas. We naturally interpreted the theme with a food slant and took things to sell that would help people keep "fit for football". We sold dried fruit, banana chips, fresh bananas, seeds and fruit juices. We also had sachets of instant porridge oats donatated by Mornflake to give away. While selling things is always good the main aim of going to these events is to spread the word about True Food. We spoke to many people during the day and hope to see some of them at the shop or markets. Thanks to the volunteers who came on the day to help set up, run the stall and pack away - these days wouldn't be possible without you.

True Food Co-op’s new community shop is now open at 61 Grove Road Emmer Green RG4 8LJ! The official launch will be Sat 15^th May, with everyone welcome to come along (more details to follow). We would like to achieve a community run shop so we are looking for volunteers to fit into a rota to carry out customer service. If you would like to help then either drop into the shop or contact volunteeradmin@truefood.coop

A big thank you to all who are volunteering at the shop already and to those who helped with the move and fitting out the premises.

Hope to see you at the new shop soon,

Alex Trott

Shop manager

From Monday 22nd February, the Caversham market, formerly held at Mapledurham Playing Fields Pavilion, has moved to the True Foods shop at Grove Road in Emmer Green.

Last year we moved to an annual membership system so now is the time to renew for another year. For the small sum of five pounds you can continue to benefit from special members-only discounts and make your contribution to the success of our favourite local food market. Look out for information at the markets.

Not a member? Then look at our page about joining the Co-op.

The True Food Co-op will be opening a shop in Grove Road, Emmer Green in 2010 to complement the existing markets and provide a fixed outlet for our goods. On Saturday 3rd October 2009 3 - 4pm Emmer Green youth & community centre Grove Road there will be a meeting with the local community where they can

• find out what it is all about
• talk to members and volunteers
  
• look at the shop plans
  
• share views
  
• find out about becoming a member

Light refreshments will be available and kids are welcome.

Note that this follows on from the True Food Co-op members meeting and we hope that members will stay behind and participate.

From Wednesday 30th September a new central Reading market at the Wesley Methodist Church Hall from 5pm to 8:15pm has been running. This has been the alternative venue for the fortnightly Saturday market when the RISC hall has been unavailable, so regular customers should be able to find it. There's parking beside the church off Queen's Rd, and the market entrance to the hall is on Watlington Street. The introduction of this venue fills the long standing gap in the weekday evening markets.

Turn out on the first evening was good with over 45 people coming through the doors. This included a few old friends but also many newcomers, who we hope will make True Foods a regular part of their shopping pattern

The committee is pleased to announce that the Co-op has secured a lease on shop premises in Emmer Green. This will serve a double duty, both as a replacement warehouse and base for the mobile markets, and as a new shop.

Situated in Grove Road, in a densely populated area near to two schools, a community centre and Drs surgery, the new home for the Co-op will provide much needed space to store goods and restock the mobile markets as well as allowing us to open a fixed location shop. However, a complete refit is required and much volunteer effort will be needed so current plans are to open in Spring 2010.

The Co-op is able to take this opportunity to expand thanks to the help of a the Lottery Grant awarded as part of the Local Food Initiative. This also sees the recruitment of two Local Food Co-ordinators on a job share basis, who will work on increasing the proportion of goods from local suppliers and a replacement warehouse manager who will also take on responsibility for running the shop.

Get the most out of energy efficiency measures for your home: Voluntary group Reading Energy Pioneers (REP) are holding two introductory events at True Food Co-op in February to inform and inspire homeowners.

Tues 10th February (18.30-20.00) Downshire SQ
Contact: Sunil coley@readingenergypioneers.info

Thurs 19th February (19.00 - 20.00) Newtown
Contact: Sabrina eldon@readingenergypioneers.info

Industry experts will be on hand to give a flavour of the options i.e. Insulation, Boilers, Solar heating, Wood burning stoves, behavioural changes etc.
And REP volunteers will be introducing our free program, designed to help you get information and advice on green energy measures, installers, grants and discounts.

* Invest in your home
* Save carbon emissions
* Cut fuel bills

The next General Meeting of members' will be held on Saturday 31st January at the RISC conference hall from 14:00. As well as reviewing the last few months, there will also be workshops on market-based groups and the buying policy of the Co-op.

The Downshire Square market already has an active support group which has put on several successful events and works to support the running of the market itself. The first workshop will consider how similar groups can be encouraged to form at the other venues.

The second workshop will look at our buying policy. Now that we also offer some local produce from growers without organic certification how can we clearly communicate what we do and do not sell. The True Food Co-op constitution states that we promote "affordable access to organic foods and ecologically sound products". How do we balance local and official certification?

Come along and have your say.

It used to be that shoppers had to find their way into the kitchen to get their hands on the market's selection of chilled goods, but thanks to a new fridge these are now available in the main hall along with everything else. The range includes cheese, a variety of tofu products, non-dairy spreads, butter and most recently yoghurt.

It doesn't look as though it would be easy to miss, but I managed to walk straight past it the first time it was in service at Downshire Square and another shopper asked why the fridge (in the kitchen) was empty!

Recent shoppers at our markets will have seen the new loose goods bins. The new design of bin means that they can't be stacked inside one another, which is important for food hygiene reasons, and it comes in different hues. Colour-coding makes set-up and re-stocking easier and so helps to make the markets more efficient.

The new bins were bought with the proceeds of the Salsa night, so once again thanks to Sharon, the team at Red Hat Salsa and all others who helped on the day.

Thanks to Jordan for taking the photo.

The True Food Co-op is holding a general members meeting this Saturday afternoon at RISC. All members are urged to attend or send their apologies as these are exciting times for the organisation as it grows and moves forward. The agenda includes a discussion and vote on proposed changes to co-op membership, including the introduction of an annual fee. There will also be consideration of the visual appearance of the markets, leaflets and other marketing materials and an update on the prototype 'tower' which now displays our coffee, tea, biscuits and small jarred goods. Come along and get involved in where the TFC is heading.