Put my money where my heart is...

When it came to slogans, my late grandmother had a real flare; regularly winning competitions by completing the allocated question in “no more than 12 of her own words” (‘because Ajax is the household agent with all the best properties’ type of thing).  Alas, this is not a gift we share.  In fact as a child I always took the instructions rather too literally, thinking that 12 of my own words had to be exactly that i.e.12 hitherto unused words that I had personally invented (flinklesome, moomafluff…no real surprise my entries where swiftly consigned to the bin). Even with the ‘own word’ issue clarified, I still struggled with the word limit.  Fast forward some 30 years, still with a propensity to ramble, I often balk at the thought of answering questions (slogan competition or otherwise) for fear the right words will escape me once again.  Fortunately if something is truly right it never passes you by; so when asked why I invested in the Stockwood Community Benefit Society (Stockwood CBS), the answer comes to me very easily “both my head and my heart knew it was a sound investment” 

I appreciate most people reading this are now thinking, the Stockwood Community Benefit you what now?  In short it is a trust created to bring Rush Farm and Stockwood Business Park into community ownership and to ensure they benefit society forever - check out their website http://stockwoodcbs.org/ , plus a feature in Blue and Green tomorrow http://blueandgreentomorrow.com/features/stockwood-cbs-putting-a-local-farm-in-the-hands-of-the-people/ for details.

I had been weighing up various investment options when I serendipitously stumbled across a link to CBS on Twitter (somewhat restoring my faith in all things Twitter, social media is such a mixed blessing at times).   I have had the enormous fortune to visit Rush Farm in my capacity as a Dr.Hauschka brand ambassador (Elysia Natural Skin Care, based in Stockwood Business Park, is the sole importer and distributor for the Dr.Hauschka range of skin care products within the UK). I have also had the good fortune to attend talks by Sebastian Parsons, Elysia CEO and founder of the CBS. He really is an amazing person; a rare mix of business flare and environmental vision, a far cry from the image of biodynamic farming sometimes portrayed by the media (any mention of moonlight and they disappear into the realms of witchcraft, sorcery and voodoo).   One of the key things that I have learnt via my involvement with Elysia is that as individuals we have the power to make a difference, or to put it in rather clichéd terms “Every drop makes an Ocean”.  I knew that whether I invested £100 or £20,000 my investment would count; that I would be a valued member of the community.  This was a chance not only to make a profit (my head is sternly telling me this is an important consideration), 5% return is a pretty competitive rate, but to make a real difference in terms of education and environment (goodness knows I bang on enough about the these topics, nice to have a chance to put my money where my heart is for a change)