LOVE ECO works
hard to show that ethical and eco-friendly shopping can be stylish and
affordable. So we’re delighted to offer you a look at some of our fun
new designs that compliment this season’s trend for eighties inspired style.

 LOVE ECO is embracing the new season with the addition of a host of new
and exciting ethical and eco products that celebrate the resurgence of
all things Eighties. You can embrace it too by adding some eco brights
to your wardrobe to get you through the darker months.

Article 13, the consultancy and think
tank focused on achieving real behaviour change in the CSR and
sustainability agendas, has released a new batch of case studies
profiling three organisations’ efforts to embed and integrate
responsible organisational practices in their mainstream
organisational strategies. The organisations showcased in this
edition are very diverse: 3M, The Medical Fair & Ethical Trade
Group and Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS
Foundation Trust.

3M, previously profiled for its
approach to product lifecycle assessments
http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1312,
also takes a leadership stance on education. The company will
shortly launch its second web-based learning tool, FutureWise,
designed to engage children in sustainability and environment issues.
As well as highlighting the complexity of sustainability issues, 3M
hopes to encourage the uptake of science, technology, engineering and
maths, thus securing its own business sustainability. (Read more
http://www.article13.comhttp://www.article13.com/CBI/CSR_Case_Study_3M_Aug%2009.pdf/CBI/CSR_Case_Study_3M_Aug%2009.pdf)

The second case study focuses on the
work of the Medical Fair & Ethical Trade Group (MFETG). The
MFETG was established by a single individual, bringing along other
like-minded individuals within the Department of Health and NHS to
promote and facilitate fair and ethical trade in the production and
supply of commodities to the healthcare industry. This group
provides a forum for consideration and building evidence bases for
action on complex issues including child labour, health & safety
and workers rights. (Read more
http://www.article13.com/CBI/CSR_Case_Study_MFETG_Aug%2009.pdf)

The third case study in this set
focuses on an innovative communications and social marketing campaign
called ‘Stamping Out Mental Health Stigma’. The Oxfordshire &
Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust’s communications
team produced this award-winning campaign to target the elimination
of discriminating behaviours towards mental health patients, their
treatment in the workforce and their access to opportunities. (Read
more http://www.article13.com/CBI/CSR_Case_Study_OBMH_Aug%2009.pdf)

The latest Article 13 CSR case studies
can be accessed from the Article 13 home page
(http://www.article13.com).
The CSR and sustainability case study archive is also a useful tool
for sustainability and CSR practitioners, containing a large range of
case studies within the categories of community, education,
environment, governance, new product development, strategy, supply
chain and workplace.

Financial support from
Co-operative and Community Finance (C&CF) is helping an award-winning
community media company in South London to
secure its future and provide better facilities for young people.  C&CF is
providing a loan to Eclectic Productions to enable it to purchase and refurbish
its offices in New Cross.  This is part of a joint lending package with Triodos
Bank.

Eclectic
Productions was formed in 2002 after winning an ‘Awards for All’
grant for a small community media project, and it has now grown into a
successful social enterprise dedicated to improving the lives of young people.  In
the last year it has won awards for its contribution to the community and for
creativity.

There are now three
strands to the company, including the running of South City Radio (formerly
Radio Peckham) in which over 200 local residents and 100 local organisations
are involved in broadcasting the station full-time over the Internet.  It also
uses radio technology to help speakers of other languages learn English, and it
runs the Representz programme – a multimedia channel for young people to make
and discuss radio, video and internet content about issues that affect them.

Paul Kilty,
Financial Director at Eclectic Productions believes that in the current
economic climate, purchasing the building is the right step to securing its
future.  He said: “The loan from C&CF has been a great boost to us,
and we are looking forward to starting the refurbishment.  Our plans are to
purchase our offices, and turn the basement into a training facility, radio
studio and conference room.  Having ownership of our office will be a major
asset to the company, and it will enable us to continue to run programmes such
as the teenage pregnancy project, peer research and Representz for the
foreseeable future.”

Speaking about the
investment, Ian Rothwell of Co-operative and Community Finance said:
“Eclectic Productions is a democratic and accountable social enterprise
that has shown dedication to young people and its local community for many
years.  This loan will give its premises a new lease of life and C&CF
believes that the new facilities will encourage more people to become involved
with the worthwhile projects on offer.”

Call Outs to the
Coalition:

1) Calling for all Trade Union
contacts!
 
With the fabulous news that Unison are mobilising their
members and organising a feeder event for the march (see below), we’re working
on getting other Trade Unions on board. We’ll
be at a TUC fringe meeting next week and we’re working
to get Union head offices on board, but we need everybody
help get unionists mobilised on the ground. Can you
help?

• Do you have local groups that can contact their
  local trades council or union
  branches and get them
  involved? 
• Do you have any Trade Union contacts that might be interested in getting
  people to the Wave? If you do, please let us know by e-mailing Tom.Wright@foe.co.uk and
  try to get them mobilising their union branches!

2) Getting
people to The Wave

Coaches – Are your members
mobilising in their local areas? Organising transport is a great way for local
groups to get people in the area involved, and encourage concerned citizens
to take that next step in coming to The Wave with a group of like minded
people! 
 
This
may seem daunting, so here’s our guide on how
to book a coach,
please send it to all your supporters and lets get those coaches coming in with
thousands of people from around the country. 
 
We’re doing our best to collate information on all Wave-related transport on our website, so if you know of
coaches that have been organised, and aren’t on the map, please let us
know!
 

Trains – There are now two
Wave trains bringing people to the Wave! And a ‘How to charter a
train’ guide is on it’s way. If you, or one of
your supporters are interested in chartering a train, just let me
know.
 
There’s a new train planned from the South
West: Starting in Plymouth, it will pass Bristol and Bath and
arrive into Paddington in time for the Wave. Details are still to be confirmed,
but as soon as we know more, it’ll be on the transport map.
 
And from the North,
The Wave
Express, a 500 seat
charter train organised by CAFOD, Christian Aid, Friends of the Earth, Leeds
Justice and Peace Commission, Stop Climate Chaos and TIDAL, will be travelling
from Bradford, Leeds and Doncaster to London King’s
Cross for the Wave. More info
here: http://local.stopclimatechaos.org/2009/the-wave-express/

3) Stewards
needed!
 
Can your supporters be stewards at the Wave? Please send
this stewarding
form out to your supporters, and encourage them to
volunteer. Steward volunteers can send their form straight back to us at: office.intern@stopclimatechaos.org, but even better,
please collate steward forms from your supporters (you’ll need to change
the return e-mail address on the form) and forward them to us with
recommendations on who would be good steward supervisors.
 
Please return steward forms as soon as possible so we can get an idea of
numbers in advance, but no later than 6th
November. There will be steward briefings on Thursday 26 November
and Tuesday 1 December at 6.30pm, as detailed on the form.

4) Getting
The
Wave in supporter publications
 
Have
you all booked promotion for the Wave into your supporter magazines? Cover
stories; articles; adverts; flyer/ poster inserts; photos; call outs for
local mobilisation in supporter magazines and newsletters: they’re all vital for
getting the word out and making sure everyone knows this is the
unmissable climate event.
   

Wave mobilisation
updates:

Unison have exciting plans for
a feeder event. Unison members
will meet at the Unison head office
for a rally before setting off together for the Wave. Watch
this space for more details.   

The Woodland Trust are promoting the Wave in
the way they know best – by dressing up as
trees! Look out for them at the Bentley
Wield Woodfair in Lewes on 18-20th September.
 
 
Let us know what
you’re doing to mobilise for the Wave and I’ll include it in the next Wave
Special. 
I look forward to
hearing your news (fiona@stopclimatechaos.org)!

Here
at Article 13, we
greatly advocate and support the planting of trees and integration of
green spaces into urban areas. Increasing the number of trees in
built up areas can provide environmental, social and economical
benefits, through offering a natural carbon sink (e.g. absorbing CO₂
from cars), a habitat
for a wide diversity of life form (e.g. insects and animals), health
benefits (source of oxygen and fresh air), and increase its aesthetic
value. The benefits of planting trees can be interconnected with the
wider issues of global climate
change,
natural resource management, governance and sustainable development.

As
part of Article 13’s United
Nations Global Compact (UNGC) commitment
(http://www.article13.com/csr/ungc_iip_values.asp)
we
are supporting Tree-athlon this year in our efforts to promote
greater environmental responsibility (Principle 8). Below are some
Article
13 resources which make up part of our advocacy and information
dissemination.

Once
again, Article 13’s team will spend their energy helping the
environment, and at the

same
time improve our fitness and have some fun!! If you would like to
support this

worthwhile
cause: http://www.justgiving.com/Article-13/.

Tree-athlon
(http://www.tree-athlon.org/)
is a unique environmental fundraiser
event which raises money for the charity Trees for Cities and takes
place in London, Leeds and Manchester. In the Tree-athlon,
participants run 5km run, make a tree wish and receive a sapling to
plant. This year A13 will have 5 participants in the London event.

A
small selection of Article 13 resources includes:

• Climate
  Change Resource Centre

http://www.article13.com/csr/climate-change-cont.asp

• CSR
  best practice: Forestry

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=31

Article
13 case examples:

• SJ
  Berwin

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1368

• DHL
  Express UK

http://www.article13.com/A13_ContentList.asp?strAction=GetPublication&PNID=1444

For
information on how Article 13 can assist you in auditing your
company’s practices, developing environmental action plans, and
reducing your business related environmental impacts, contact Fiona
Banyard on 020 8840 4450 or email fionab[ ]article13.com

Ashridge Trees has been growing and selling bare rooted fruit trees
since 1996 during which time sales have steadily increased. However a
surge in demand in 2007 which continued in 2008 has prompted us to
increase the range we propagate in several ways.

We have increased the number of varieties of apple, pear, plum,
damson, cherry and quince and
medlar so that we can now supply over 80 varieties of fruit
including a number of old eating and cider apples such as Brace ma Girdle,
Court of Wick, Pitmaston Pineapple and Tom Putt. The selection of each
tree has also improved in that most are available as either one or two
year old plants with the latter being ready pruned as bushes, cordons and
half standards. Finally the apple rootstocks we use (which are all
british) for the first time include
M9 for dwarfing use and M25 for full standard production as well as our
usual “all-purpose” MM106. Obviously other types of fruit are grown on
equivalent rootstocks to allow for a mixed orchard where everything is in
proportion.

This is part of the continuing expansion of our bare rooted
fruit tree range which we deliver together with formal and native hedging, trees, roses and soft
fruit, across mainland UK by next day courier. Barerooted plants have a
number of advantages over their pot-grown equivalents; they are cheaper
and they tend to be larger and more healthy. Crucially they are
environmentally more friendly as fewer pesticides, fungicides and
fertilisers are used in their cultivation, they use no compost (peat based
or otherwise), no plastic pots and because they have no earth on their
roots when they are sent to you, they occupy less space, use less
packaging and being lighter consume far fewer carbon miles than pot grown
plants and trees.

You can find our fruit trees at http://www.ashridgetrees.co.uk/Fruit-Trees and more information from the contact details
below. 

Frances de Bosdari

Ashridge Trees Limited

Phone: 01963359444

Fax: 01963359445

www.ashridgetrees.co.uk

What
is it?

The
Converging
World presents Climate350, a campaign to raise awareness
of the present day impacts of climate change and to show support for
the CoP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December. Forming
a major element of the campaign, 350 performances will take place in
the streets and venues of Bristol between 7^th
September and 18^th
December2009.

Why
Climate350?

Climate350
is part of an international movement to encourage national delegates
to push for a commitment to limit CO₂
emissions to 350 parts per million (ppm). Currently 450ppm is held to
be a politically appropriate target; scientists say this is
dangerously high.

This
conference will be our last chance to agree internationally on
policies that will help us avoid the worst of climate change. We
need to show our negotiators that people care about the outcome of
this summit and that they expect the final decisions to reflect
scientific guidance. 

Not
many people know about the conference or what “350″ stands for.
Through the performances thousands of people in Bristol will become
aware of this historical global decision and will be able to take
part in ensuring the right outcome.

What
will Performance 350 achieve?

Each
performance will result in evidence of support for Climate350’s
targets; signatures on a petition, photographic records of each event
and an expanded membership of the Climate350 Facebook and Twitter
groups. Members of these groups will receive updates of the
conference and will be able to use the forums to empower the
negotiators to reach for ambitious targets. These records will be
presented to our representatives as evidence of mass support for the
Climate350 campaign.

Where?

Various
Bristol venues are supporting this campaign. So far we have received
confirmation by Arnolfini,
Mr Wolfs, Coexist Canteen, The Grain Barge, East Side Roots and The
Bristol Festival and Millennium Square by At-Bristol. They will all
be hosting performances regularly throughout the campaign.

Check
www.climate350.org
for our program, participating venues and acts!

What
you can do?

Keep
check of our online program and come to the performances to celebrate
the things we’d like to preserve of the world we know. Speak to our
campaign reps to get a better understanding of
Climate350 and sign our petitions. If you would like to perform or
volunteer please send an email to performance@climate350.org
or volunteer@climate350.org
accordingly.

Who
are we?

The
Converging World is a Bristol based charity whose objectives are to
tackle climate change whilst supporting the move towards a just and
sustainable world. After the campaigns finish in December we want
people to continue to engage with us in the transition to a new low
carbon, sustainable and converging world. Visit our website for more
info www.theconvergingworld.org

TAPE Launch – 24th September 2009 7pm till close, free entry

International designer Ryan Frank and Indie label TAPE hit the charts at this year’s London Design Festival
New UK Indie record label TAPE will be exhibiting their launch range of merchandise designed by Ryan Frank,
and will also be showcasing some of their musical talent at Music/bar
venue 93 Feet East 150 Brick Lane, London. Expect big sounds and live
performance from YoMundo, Animals on Wheels, Theo Bard and the Super
Luckies.
The merchandise range to be launched currently consists of a computer
cover, a universal phone/mp3/handheld sleeve and a vinyl record sleeve.
All products are handmade from fabric-backed 100% cork, with a custom
stitched edging in a selection of bold colours.
This range of sustainably sourced cork-based products will grow over
the next few months, so expect some new edgy, eco-chic products to
emerge from the depths of London’s Borough of Hackney. TAPE’s founder
Daniel Cross decided to keep production in E9, thereby supporting local
business and keeping transport to a minimum.
Daniel says: “Music is going digital, maybe we are old school, but we
love the physical element. So teaming up with Ryan to develop a
complimentary, tactile and cool music-oriented product range makes big
sense, and so far the response has been super positive.”

You can purchase the product range here: http://taperec.com/shop/products/

Dimensions of Vinyl sleeve:                 265/265 mm            
Dimensions of cpuPouch:                    425/290 mm
Dimensions of iPouch:                         130/88 mm

Shoreditch Shelf – 23rd and 25th September 2009

Ryan Frank free-range furniture designer prepares for battle with international art group – Secret Wars.
Ryan’s latest project the ‘Shoreditch-Shelf’ becomes a battle field for premier art group ‘SecretWars’
The SecretWars graffiti artists group, take their trademark ‘marker-pen’ illustration contest to the London Design Festival using Ryan Frank’s iconic shelf as canvas.
The first live art battle will take place directly on to a
Shoreditch-Shelf in the Bricklane Gallery on Wednesday the 23rd at 3pm.
Two respected artists will do an illustration directly onto the
Shoreditch Shelf, from both sides at the same time.
On Friday the 25th from 2-5pm the Secret Wars posse will then take
their markers and might to the courtyard of 93 Feet East, where they
will step onto a purpose built stage and commence another ‘art jam’.

The completed
boards will be put on display in the Bricklane Gallery, where they can
be selected to be transformed into a unique Shoreditch-Shelf. www.thebricklanegallery.com

Origins of The Shoreditch Shelf
The Shoreditch Shelf is inspired by the now iconic Hackney Shelf, which
originated when large white boards were installed at graffiti
‘hot-spots’ around East London, allowing for graffiti and sporadic
stenciling. Once covered boards were removed and transformed into
mobile shelving units, bringing London street art indoors.

About SecretWars
Secret Wars is the World’s premier live art battle – working in
similar ways to Fight Club, where two contenders have a set amount of
time to make an illustration using black marker pens in front of an
audience. For more information, go to Www.secretwars.co.uk

1st ‘artjam’ 3pm on Wednesday  23rd of September – 196 BRICK LANE, E1 6SA, 3pm
2nd ‘artjam’  2-5pm 25rd of September- Yard @ 93 Feet East. 150 Brick Lane, East London E1 6QL

Dimensions of Hackney Shelf:                   1800/1200/450 mm

Enzo- stacking stool – 24rd and 26th September 2009
Ryan Frank international free-range furniture designer launches ‘Enzo’ stool with live performance workshop

‘Enzo’ a felt-free version of the celebrated ‘Isabella’ stool, spices up this now in-demand range.
Constructed
from a solid section of spruce wood the stool represents a more budget
rugged option, while keeping the same iconic shape.
Spruce is a certified European softwood sourced from managed forests,
ideal for heavy-duty usage. The fun and functional stools can be
stacked on top of each other when not in use creating the trademark
totem pole structure.
‘Enzo’ comes in a selection of natural wood stains, boasting a range of bold and earthy colours.

To promote the new colour range, Ryan will be hosting an ‘organic’ staining workshop on Thursday and Saturday the 24th & 26th of Sept in the yard area of 93 Feet East.
Live on stage the designer will be showcasing the purpose build
‘Scuff-o-nator’ – a contraption allowing the designer to blotch,
blemish, scuff and stain a limited number of ‘Enzo’ stools with a range of vegetables, spices & herbs.

Origins of Enzo
Enzo is the little brother of the celebrated Isabella stool. Isabella is a totem pole style stacking stool made from straw and wool felt.
Isabella recently won ‘Most sustainable product’ 2008/09 at the Hidden
Arts annual award, received an Honorable Mention at the annual Green
Dot Award 2008, and has been selected by the National Design Museum of
New York for inclusion in the next Design Triennial exhibition.
Enzo and Isabella are in production in the UK and distributed in the
EU. In an effort to reduce transport and support local manufacturing a
second producer in the USA is used for distribution in the Americas

1ST workshop Thursday 24th September 1-4pm – 93 Feet East, Yard, 150 Brick Lane, East London E1
2nd workshop Saturday 26th September 1-4pm – 93 Feet East, Yard, 150 Brick Lane, East London E1

Dimensions of Enzo:                   400/400/200 mm

About Ryan Frank
Ryan Frank is a South African born furniture designer living and working in East London. His collection of edgy free-range furniture makes frequent use of sustainable materials and draws inspiration from the urban landscape and his African roots.
His work has also won Ryan several awards including a Green Dot Award
2008, Most Sustainable Product 2006/07 and Most Environmentally
Conscious Company 2008/09 at the Hidden Arts Annual Awards ceremony.
For more information visit www.ryanfrank.net

About the venue 93 Feet East – Live music venue and bar.
150 Brick Lane London, E1 6QL www.93feeteast.co.uk

Car makers are being forced to make significant cuts in their
vehicles’ CO2 emissions, but some countries appear reluctant to
buy the greenest models – British motorists languish at sixteenth
place in a league table of who buys the most polluting models in
Europe, according to a study carried out on behalf of the
Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

Portuguese drivers are the greenest in Europe when it comes to
buying cars with an average CO2 rate of 138g/km
(eg. VW Polo) – the least green motorists are from Latvia
with a figure of 177g/km (eg. Suburu Imprezza). The average British
driver comes sixteenth in the list with 158g/km (eg. VW Passat).

EU regulation is striving to cut the CO2 emitted by cars to an
average figure of 130 g/km by 2015.

Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis, said: “Car makers can build green
cars, but they need us to buy them. The report found that strict new
emissions laws are having a strong effect on the availability of
cleaner cars, but wealth, motoring taxes, fuel prices and consumer
attitudes, which vary wildly from country to country across Europe,
have much more of an effect on how clean a car is chosen.”

 ”There was a fuss in Britain when road tax increased for the
most-polluting cars, but we are lax by European standards – we need
a more sophisticated carrot and stick approach to encouraging people
to drive lighter cars if we want to do better in next year’s league
table.”

League table results:

Ranking 2008. Country/Average CO2 2008(g/km)/AverageCO2 2007/Rank 2007

1.      Portugal / 138 / 144 / 1
2.      France / 140 / 149 / 4
3.      Italy / 145 / 147 / 2
4.      Denmark / 146 / 160 / 12
5.      Malta / 147 / 148 / 3
6.      Belgium / 148 / 153 / 5
7.      Spain / 148 / 153 / 6
8.      Poland / 153 / 154 / 7
9.      Hungary / 153 / 155 / 10
10.     Czech Republic / 154 / 154 / 8
11.     Slovenia / 156 / 156 / 11
12.     Romania / 156 / 155 / 9
13.     Ireland / 157 / 162 / 13
14.     Netherlands / 158 / 165 / 15
15.     Austria / 158 / 163 / 16
16.     Great Britain / 158 / 165 / 16
17.     Luxembourg / 160 / 166 / 18
18.     Greece / 161 / 165 / 17
19.     Finland / 163 / 165 / 22
20.     Germany / 165 / 169 / 19
21.     Cyprus / 166 / 170 / 20
22.     Lithuania / 170 / 177 / 21
23.     Sweden / 174 / 181 / 23
24.     Estonia / 177 / 182 / 24
25.     Latvia / 181 / 183

Car makers – Ranking by average CO2 in 2008

Ranking in 2008. Manufacturer/ranking 2007/ Average CO2 in 2008(g/km)

1.      Fiat/ 2 / 138
2.      Peugeot-Citroen / 1 / 139
3.      Renault / 3 / 143
4.      Toyota / 4 / 147
5.      Hyundai / 7 / 149
6.      Ford / 8 / 152
7.      GM / 5 / 153
8.      Honda / 6 / 154
9.      BMW / 12 / 154
10.     Suzuki / 9 / 156
11.     Mazda / 13 / 158
12.     VW / 10 / 159
13.     Nissan / 11 / 161
14.     Daimler / 14 / 175

Bristol Credit Union
is well equipped to take advantage of the expected changes in credit union
legislation thanks to a subordinated loan from The Co-operative Loan Fund.

The Legislative Reform Order due to
be laid before Parliament in October will give credit unions the flexibility to
accept local community groups, companies and social enterprises into membership
and to extend membership to new groups of people, such as housing association
tenants and employees of nationwide companies. This will allow large numbers of
people to benefit from credit union services for the first time.

Bristol Credit Union is using the
loan from The Co-operative Loan Fund as resource capital that will be used to provide
members with greater lending opportunities and investment capital over the
coming years. The loan is the final part of The Co-operative Loan Fund’s
2004 initiative, in which over £200,000 was allocated to help support credit
unions in the UK.

Bristol Credit Union was developed in
2005 and 2006 through a partnership of smaller community credit unions, and it
is now proud to offer financial support to the city of Bristol and its surrounding area. The members
of the credit union share a common bond of living in and around Bristol and this
has resulted in the city becoming more inclusive, and benefitting from greater
economic activity and a lower risk of financial exclusion. There are now over 4,500
members in Bristol Credit Union, plus local organisations, landlords and advice
agencies who work alongside the credit union to benefit its savers and
borrowers.

In addition to the wide range of
savings accounts on offer, Bristol Credit Union also welcomes loan applications
from its members, who are safe in the knowledge that by law, their interest
rates will be lower than two percent per month on the reducing balance of the
loan. It is credit union policy to meet the borrowing requirements of as many
members as possible, depending on the available funds, and the loan from The
Co-operative Loan Fund will ensure Bristol Credit Union have sufficient money
to meet the needs of its investors for the foreseeable future.

Speaking about the loan, Bristol
Credit Union Chief Executive James Berry said: “Bristol Credit Union is
delighted to receive this loan from The Co-operative Loan Fund, as it
represents a vote of confidence in us and our future development plans. The
loan enables us to maintain a comfortable capital to assets ratio through an
expected period of fast growth, and helps us to develop further services for
our members, many of whom are financially excluded. Bristol Credit Union has
over 4,500 members across Bristol,
working together for mutual financial benefit. By building a strong capital
base we can help members by encouraging further saving deposits, and
investigate mortgage lending too. It is great to work with an organisation that
understands credit unions and co-operatives.”

The loan is very unusual in the sense
that it is subordinated, which means that in the unfortunate event that credit
union suffers severe financial problems, The Co-operative Loan Fund ranks below
the credit union savers on the creditors list. In addition, the credit union
only needs to make interest-only payments for 10 years and then repay the lump
sum, which relieves a lot of pressure for Bristol Credit Union.

Ian Taylor
at The Co-operative Loan Fund added: “This is the third subordinated loan
we have made to credit unions, and in the current financial climate we believe
it has come at a crucial time. The money will be used to ensure Bristol Credit
Union can support its members and help them overcome the difficult financial
times ahead. We are pleased to be able to offer our support to an organisation
such as Bristol Credit Union, which puts its member’s interests first and
promotes a strong community ethos.”