Latest news from the North Coast Community Exchange

Coleraine August meetup

August's meeting, held in the Sandel Centre in Coleraine, was lively and positive and Olivier explained how transaction activity in the North Coast Community Exchange continues to increase (more than 700 Waves worth of exchanges in July)

New and varied offers are being added regulary and members are trading with each other more as they get to know one another through the reguar meetings. New members from Portrush and Portstewart have joined us in the past few months.

Elaine explained that Olivier is increasingly involved in the IT side of the system and working closely with the founder, Tim Jenkin as they continually improve the system and make it even more user friendly (See below for information about the Community Exchange System founder)

Swell Portrush (NCCE0035) organiser and NCCE member, Gemma Reid (NCCE0016) gave us a very interesting talk about this year's Swell event in Portrush. She told us the background of from its launch four years ago, up to present day.

Swell is a showcase of local talents for local people, it is a community event... not just a festival to bring more tourism to the area, this is right up our street.

If you take a look at the Swell's wants you will see how members of the exchange can help this October and be part of this exciting community, creative and environmental event.

Our next meeting will be in Portrush on Wednesday 4th September 7pm (Elephant Rock hotel, Vi's room, Portrush) and that will be a great opportunity to learn more about the festival and talk about ways you can be involved.

There was time after Gemma's talk for other members present to share about their recent exchange experiences. It was really interesting and encouraging to hear how varied the transactions have been and about the many positive aspects of exchanging with one another.

There was also the opportunity to trade at the meeting as several members brought along table top items to exchange for waves.

Meet Tim Jenkin, founder of Community Exchange System

Tim Jenkin was an activist for the banned African National Congress (ANC) in the 1970s. He was arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activities. He escaped from the Pretoria maximum security prison in 1979 and went into exile in the UK.

During the 1980s he built and ran a secret communications network for the ANC. From 2002 he has been building Community Exchange Systems, an internet-based global trading network which allows participants to exchange goods and services within their local community without using a national currency (each group using its own community currency instead)

Tim is still the main developer and administrator the Community Exchange Systems. He is currently building a team to modernise the system and create a mobile app.

• youtube doc about Tim's escape from prison and helping the ANC with encrypted communication : The Vula Connection
• Hollywood movie starring Daniel Radcliffe about Tim Jenkin's escape from Pretoria prison https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKwsz6ua5EM