A Decade of CamLETS
A Development Seminar

The twenty participants were CamLETS members representing roughly 10% of the membership. There were no Timebank members and no Community Development professionals present. Sadly our guest speaker from Stroud LETS was taken ill and could not attend. Nevertheless the mix of long term and new members, heavy and light traders and diverse personalities created a very positive and inspiring dialogue.

The morning session was fairly formal with topics on CamLETS itself, Timebanks and other LETS systems. The objective was to develop a consensus on the current state of CamLETS and how we should develop in the future. The level of contributions to the meeting, held `in the round', was most gratifying giving a true sense of democratic ownership.

Peter Pope (instigator of CamLETS) began with a chronology of LETS activity in Cambridge and the UK. An objective of the meeting was to "learn from best practice in community skills exchange" and it soon became apparent from the decline in other LETS systems such as Lancaster that CamLETS already has many strong features. Originally trading was facilitated by regular meetings which were well attended and provided a welcome stimulus to new and hesitant members. The meetings often relied on the enthusiasm of a key individual and as early members established their own pattern of trading attendance declined and new members became unsupported.

The absence of a Trading Activator over the past two years (no volunteers) also contributed to a decline of trading and more members being over committed. The meeting was very positive about finding fresh ways forward, not accepting decline as inevitable.

Lulu Agate (prospective Trading Activator) outlined TimeBanking using a pack provided by Time Banks UK. An attraction of TimeBanks is the single paid Co-ordinator, freeing the membership from administration. It emerged that TimeBanks are targeted at more vulnerable members of the community, particularly those with mental health and alcohol-related problems. The audience felt that the structure inhibited rather than liberated members due to the zealous bureaucratic process which characterises them. The feature which did arouse interest was that of Brokering, carried out by the Co-ordinator, who matches members' needs to services offered.

In the absence of Jacky Glasgow from Stroud, Peter summarised their recent experiences of a substantial decline in membership and the loss of the wholefood café (a LETS member), which served as a meeting point. Their present structure continues with a traditional Core Group of members but administrative tasks are carried out by a single Coordinator who is remunerated in a combination of LETS and sterling for twelve hours per week. She reports that their accounting software is unreliable and has been partly responsible for recent difficulties.

In Lancaster which was once a close parallel to Cambridge in its size and ethos LETS trading has stopped and to some extent has been replaced by the activities of a `Swap-Shop', which meets weekly. There are also other LETS systems which have adopted TimeBank software for their administration without the full TimeBank trappings.

The session was concluded with a P.M.I exercise (PLUS/MINUS/INTERESTING) where members placed post-it notes which they had been writing during the morning onto boards on the wall in these categories. This is a very effective way of engaging all participants and keeps a record of all the ideas generated.

We then took an hour's break during which the ideas fermented while we enjoyed a superb lunch provided by Athee Pillay and Lulu Agate. Eating has always been a prime focus of CamLETS!

The afternoon session was skilfully facilitated by Lulu Agate, building a consensus picture from the assembled notes:

• ** Buddies to partner new members emerged strongly
• ** Regularity of meetings is perceived to be very important
• ** Brokers
• The Stroud café had a strong resonance - a) a physical meeting place b) the comfort of sharing food in a community
• PACT - (Petersfield etc) could provide a venue from 2004
• The directory should include reminders of trading etiquette
• The egalitarian tradition of charging 10 Cams per hour regardless of the nature of the trade was strongly endorsed.
• Meetings having the form of workshops or talks were advocated.
• The TimeBank concept received short shrift. Amongst the reasons given, members expressed concern that reliance on the Coordinator does not generate a sense of community, and by focussing on particular groups seems to aggravate exclusion. The reported costs seemed to be out of all proportion to the hoped for benefits.
• ** CamLETS has a Social Fund but what has it done?

** These suggestions were carried forward to the AGM in October as implementing them required a change to the Constitution.

The event was very enjoyable and counted a success by the organisers. We are very grateful to Cambridge City Council for funding the whole day.

PP & LR
September 2003