Transition Penwith

With over 42% of our towns and villages no longer having a shop of any kind by 2010 many more local communities will have no small shops or services at all. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is hosting a Keep Trade Local Day in Truro on Saturday 25^th October to raise awareness about the need to safeguard the future of small independent shops and the communities they sustain.

All are welcome to visit our team at our FSB trailer which will be on Lemon Quay all day on the 25th to find out about the campaign and what every person can do to help. At 11am the Mayor of Truro will formally welcome us to the town. We have invited many more officials and key business people to come along and sign our petition and show their support. We also invite you to stop by to add your name to the petition and talk to us about making a difference.

A national photo exhibition tour, which is being sponsored by the Arts Council England, will also be in Truro at the Hall for Cornwall on the same day. An array of photographs, illustrating independent retailers from across the country, will be hung in the cafe to echo how the empty spaces in our towns and villages could be better utilised but for small businesses being driven out of our high streets.

The FSB invites as many people as possible to visit them on the day, sign the petition, talk to key influencers invited to attend the day and let them know how important local trade is to them. FSB members will also be visiting local businesses to leave petitions with them for concerned shoppers to sign.

More informtion

1. For information, updates and to view the National Keep Trade Local manifesto visit the website at www.fsb.org.uk/keeptradelocal. The FSB has also set up a Keep Trade Local Petition on the Number 10 website at http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/keeptradelocal/.

2. For a link to the Cornwall regions Keep trade Local webpage go to:

http://www.fsb.org.uk/data/default.asp?id=199&loc=122

3. To view a sample of the photographs visit http://www.maxinebeuret.com/. The images are under A Nation of Shopkeepers strap line. Images are available for publication through the press office.

4. The tour will visit eight regions across the UK, starting Melton Mowbray in Leicester on the 2^nd September 2008. Other regions are: Haslemere, Surrey; Castle Market, Sheffield; Truro, Cornwall; Darlington, County Durham; Coventry, Warwickshire; Huntley, Gloucestershire; and Harleston, Norfolk.

5. Over 50% of the turnover of independent retailers goes to the local community, compared with just 5% from supermarkets. In the UK, 2000 local shops are closing each year; since 1990 40% of bank branches have closed; 2500 Post Offices face closure across the country; and around 27 pubs a week, circa 4 pubs a day, are closing.

6. For details on the FSB's National Keep Trade Local campaign contact Aviva Bresky at aviva.bresky@fsb.org.uk. The Local contact in Cornwall is Ann Vandermeulen ann.vandermeulen@fsb.org.uk

7. The FSB is Britain's biggest business organisation with over 215,000 members. It exists to protect and promote the interests of the self-employed, and all those who run their own business. More information is available at http://www.fsb.org.uk/.

8. Sponsors of the Keep Trade Local tour are the Arts Council England. The Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery in support of the arts.

For information contact:

Ann Vandermeulen – 01822 833963

ann.vandermeulen@fsb.org.uk