Feltoe's Folk Carols 2012

Friends of Justice Matters, the fabulous Feltoe's Folk are performing another night of carols and cheer at the Elephant Inn, North Finchley this Friday (7th December) from 8pm.

Feltoe's Folk are a foot stomping seven piece band comprising of whistles/melodica/bodhran (Adam Dore), fiddle (Sarah Wu), double bass (Mike Dore), guitars (Andrew Feltoe & Chris Dore), cajon drum (Josh Hill) and vocals (Jo Dore, Chris Dore, Adam Dore)

Last year they packed the pub to standing room only. This year they've promised some great new reels you can sing along to, as well as old favourites.

Come along, bring a friend or two - all proceeds are going towards the great work being done at the North London Hospice, so bring a light heart and a heavy wallet!

Update

Just a quick post to remind you that we are partnering with the Bohemia pub in North Finchley to give presents to isolated older people this Christmas. Pick up a gift for a lady or gent (max spend £10 per gift) and bring it along to the Bohemia on Wednesday 5th December where we will wrap them together. Christmas jumpers and reindeer antlers optional...

This is a practical opportunity to bless our neighbours, support a local business and build community in our area so do make an effort to join us - why not invite your colleagues? Even if they can't came, they might still want to contribute a gift. All the information's on our website. Don't forget to say you're coming on Facebook too!

Plans are underway for our Christmas party - we'll circulate details as soon as they are confirmed.

See you on Wednesday!

16 Days of Activism

Tomorrow marks the middle of the 16 Days of Activism campaign - marking the days between International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Human Rights Day (10th December). Read our member Ann-Marie's latest blog in the Huff Post on the campaign and follow 28 Too Many's next 15 themed posts & tweets!

Do 'Like' the 28 Too Many Facebook Page if you haven't already to help them progress their cause!

"A total elimination of all violence against women and girls may be hard to imagine but each day I think about saving one girl from FGM. This means she is spared from a painful, traumatic and potentially fatal procedure."

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Injustice in your pocket

Earlier this year we screened Blood in the Mobile, about blood minerals mined in the DR Congo and used in mobile phones. Now Friends of the Earth have done some new research into tin mined for use in smartphones - find out more and then take action!

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

Barnet PledgeBank

Another opportunity to make a practical difference to someone in the community this Christmas:

"Barnet Council will coordinate getting seasonal gifts to young carers, but only if 12 people will donate a gift."

http://pledgebank.barnet.gov.uk/donateagift2012

Shared from the Justice Matters Facebook Page

JM Weekly Update

Hello friends

Its that time again - the third Wednesday in the month, which can only mean that it's time to get together for another cafe session. This will be our final session in the Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical season (though not the last session of term, don't worry! More on that below.) As trailed last week, this week we have Ash Chafe coming to speak on his experience of life as an ordinary radical living on Strawberry Vale - be sure to come along and hear what he has to say! 

That's 7:30pm this Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley. Come early, grab a coffee and a pasty and meet someone new.

Don't forget that we gave you two challenges last month - to adopt a new ordinary radical habit and to invite someone along to this session. We look forward to seeing how you've done! In all seriousness, we are eager to see JM grow further - we want to fill Coffee Republic with members (and Raj's till with enough takings that we can further reduce our room hire costs), so please do get out and spread the word!

Speaking of getting out, some of us spent yesterday out of our comfort zones at Brent Cross. Read more about what we were doing and why in the post below.

I'd also like to flag up another opportunity to do something practical - we are partnering with The Bohemia to provide gifts and Christmas dinners to some of the older people of Finchley. The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent, bring it along to our next pub session (5th December) and we'll spend the evening wrapping them up. There are more details below. This is an excellent opportunity to support a local business, invest in our community and raise our visibility, not to mention to bring festive cheer to some senior citizens. We'd love for all of you to get involved with this, so get thinking about what you might give...

That's all for now - have a great week, y'all!

Sam and Victoria, Elaine, Sara, Lizzie

Dressing up as a toilet at Brent Cross

Me and Victoria (sans toilet costume)

Yesterday, I did two things I've never done before. Ahead of World Toilet Day on the 19th November and encouraged by the Justice Matters spirit of getting involved, I went along to support Elaine and others raise awareness and funds for WaterAid.

I've never stood in a public place and collected for a good cause before (at least, not since my junior school days, when I once spent an afternoon helping to pack people's food shopping while dressed as a bear for Children in Need. There are no pictures, I'm afraid.) To push me further out of my comfort zone, I was dressed as a toilet. (Again, I'm sorry to say there are no photos of me thus attired).

Tina, Elaine (sporting the toilet costume)and Victoria

As we learned when WaterAid came to speak at JM last year, 2.5 billion people around the world live without access to clear water and sanitation. It's not exactly a glamorous subject, but imagine for a minute not having a toilet to use when you need it. This injustice results in the deaths of 2,000 children every day from water-borne diseases. In fact, more children in the developing world die from diarrhoea than measles, AIDS and malaria combined. It also causes health issues for women who hold on until after dark, so no one can see them go, only to face the threat of assault from being out alone at night.

I don't know how much we raised yet (I'll post an update when Elaine tells us), but I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to be involved in tackling the indignity suffered by too many of our neighbours. We will be finding more opportunities like this for members of Justice Matters to put their passion into action and live out  the lessons from our Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical. I hope that many more of you will join us next time we step out of our comfort zone to "seek justice [and] defend the oppressed".

Outside John Lewis - clearly popular with ethical shoppers!