Veggies Catering Campaign is based at the Sumac Centre, providing resources and a meeting place for local groups and individuals campaigning for human and animal rights, the environment, peace and co-operation.
The Sumac Centre is an associate member of Radical Routes, a network of radical co-ops whose members are committed to working for positive social change, one of a number of trading co-ops and social centres.
The Sumac Centre is part of the UK Social Centres Network.
See also UK_Social_Centre_Network on Wikipedia and Social Centres on Veggies Networking Directory.
The Sumac Centre is on Veggies Directory:
http://www.veggies.org.uk/directory/detail-4-.htm
Sumac’s community works on many levels:
– our local residential neighbourhood
– likeminded people city-wide
– UK networking for mutual support at gatherings hosted at Sumac and events supported elsewhere
– international solidarity with similar social concerns worldwide
The Sumac Centre is a loose consensus run body, which is manifest in the monthly meetings, and is also in effect a trading name of The Rainbow Centre, which is (kind of) the ‘parent company’. Established in 1985, the Rainbow Centre very much still exists as a legal entity, with Directors, Committee, AGM, etc. This seems very complex and multi-layered, but that is partly intentional so as to make it difficult for others to infiltrate or take over.
Sumac Secondary Rules and Ethical Policies
The primary rules are the dry, legal ones we don’t choose;
Secondary Rules are ones we write ourselves to govern ourselves. They were formally accepted at the Rainbow Centre AGM in 2012. Read the Sumac Secondary Rules and Ethical Policies here.
The Sumac Centre is the home base for many groups, (the list …here… is a bit out of date). Other emerging Social Centres may be interested in reading our Moving On Business Plan.
Forest Fields Social Club
The ‘Sumac Bar’ is actually the Forest Fields Social Club (FFSC), which is the legal entity which has the license, with its own constitution. It is in effect run by the Bar Collective, which is a sub-group of the Sumac Centre.
Veggies Catering Campaign
Veggies is a tenant group, with its own directors, some of whom job-share to co-ordinate the work of Veggies. The work of Veggies supports the Sumac Centre, through the regular payment of rent, which contributes to the Sumac Centre mortgage.