Busy in Birmingham!

Since our move to Birmingham, we have...

• ...sent letters to every secondary school in the country to tell them about our new School Speaker Network and free interactive CD-Rom for young people. Hundreds of CD-Roms have been requested and sent out and requests for school talks are already flooding in.


• ...extended our advocacy work. The Vegan Society already supports vegans in prisons, but we are now working to support vulnerable vegans in hospitals and care homes too. We have produced a catering booklet for hospitals and care homes, which will go out to all hospitals in the country.


• ...been working with many other catering groups. The University of Glasgow now carries our Vegan Society trademark, which shows that their vegan staff and students are well catered for. We are working with other universities, as well as restaurants and catering colleges, to gain improvements in their standard of catering for vegans.


• ...been preparing new publications for 2008, to include the "Young Person’s Guide to Veganism", the "Vegan for the Animals" booklet and the "Plant Based Nutrition" booklet.


• ...got our PR/Media officer (Amanda Baker), who is challenging the media whenever veganism is misrepresented. Amanda is also working hard to improve and update our website. Amanda organised our ‘Belching Brenda’ stunt on World Vegan Day; more information about this will be in the Spring Vegan magazine.


• ...been working with government bodies and other vegan societies around the world. Our Chief Executive Officer, Nigel Winter, has recently spoken at The Green Party National conference about the impact eating animal products has on the environment. A 3 day conference is now planned in London by the Climate Action group, starting on Tuesday 3 June 2008, on the relationship between food security and climate change. The opening day is set to be a day of action for local groups to promote the vegan message.


• ...been talking with the NHS, providing advice and information on veganism.


• ...been working with Sainsbury’s and advised on their labelling policy.


• ...funded vegan events such as free food fairs and the London, East Midlands, Bristol and International Vegan Festivals, which might not otherwise get the financial support they need.


• ...continued working on and up-dating our information book "The Animal Free Shopper": hundreds of companies have been contacted and have responded with their lists of animal-free products. The Animal Free Shopper is an indispensible guide to all things vegan and a must-have publication for vegans.


• ...continued to be a voice for veganism. We run a full-time Information Department where vegans and those considering veganism can find help, information and support. Our education and advocacy work is vital and in great demand.

What have Vegans in Lewes been up to?
Contributions to a Report to send up to Birmingham are invited.