Will News of our tomato jam “spread” to 10 Downing Street?

We spent the afternoon “jamming” with Rt Hon Eric Pickles, MP for Brentwood and Ongar.  Eric, of course is also busily serving as Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, so to get a diary slot with him was a real coup for The Brentwood Belles WI.

Eric Pickles MP with Jane Miles, Sam Wait and Jenny Gray

We wanted to tell him about the jars of tomato jam we’ve busily been making to support the Oxfam GROW project and to see if he can help us to encourage the government to promote investment in small scale agriculture in developing countries.  Inspired by our visit from Craftivist Collective’s Sarah Corbett, we are making at least one jar of jam per Belles member – along with a hand embroidered lid – to use as a starting point for discussion about all the steps that we can taken individually and jointly to improve the global food system.

Eric was already aware of the GROW project and is a key supporter of Brentwood’s Fairtrade initiatives, so was receptive to our message and applauded our efforts so far. He suggested that we might want to come along to the Department for Communities and Local Government’s annual Christmas ‘do’ to give jars to his staff and explain how they can make a difference locally to improve the food system globally.  What a great opportunity and one we will gladly take up when the invitation arrives.

TBBWI’s Sam Wait explaining the Oxfam GROW project with Eric Pickles MP

In the meantime, we have given Eric four jars of tomato jam and asked if he can distribute to people who can make a difference.  He’s agreed to give a jar to Sir Robert Kerslake who is not only Permanent Secretary (Department for Communities and Local Government but also Head of the Civil Service.

Pretty awesome!

Eric Pickles MP with a jar of tomato jam, made as part of theOxfam GROW project by The Brentwood Belles WI

Eric’ll have a think about who else would be suitable recipients for the remaining jam jars.  Sam (TBBWI founder, former president and all around shy and retiring type ;-)) suggested to Eric that maybe David Cameron would like to have a bit of tomato jam on his breakfast table.  Hmmm…will our jam make it to 10 Downing Street?  Watch this space!

Sam, founder of TBBWI, said:

It was fantastic to receive such a positive response from Eric.  If we can work with him and use his considerable influence to bring this campaign to the attention of those who are in a position to really make a difference, well, wouldn’t that be a brilliant start to TBBWI’s campaigning activities?  Our motto is, of course, that you won’t know if people will help until you pluck up the courage and ask!

Jane, TBBWI president, summed up the meeting by saying:

Our session with Eric Pickles exceeded our expectations as he was genuinely interested in what the Belles are doing.  He was impressed by the level of commitment of our members in joining the GROW campaign and greatly admired our hand embroidered jam jar lids.  We look forward to following up with Eric to see how he can continue to support our local efforts to help make a difference globally.

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Here’s how you can get involved with making tomato jam, too!