As the Love Local Trust Local Awards plan a new season, founder Barbara Cossins looks back at how far they’ve come already
I can’t believe where the year has gone! It’s been a while, so a quick recap on the past year seems in order … In February we had our amazing Love Local Trust Local (LLTL) award ceremony at Kingston Maurward – Dorset’s own agricultural college. The beautiful setting of the Grade II listed Georgian country house created an amazing atmosphere to celebrate the achievements of all our entrants.
In June, we held the Open Farm Sunday event at Rawston Farm, where all hands were needed to help spread the word of what is being grown, produced, caught, reared, brewed, crafted, and cooked here in Dorset.
Education is key – people need to know what is growing, how it is grown and what it is turned into for them to eat and drink.
We were thrilled that so many of our Love Local Trust Local sponsors and winners came to help us and to showcase what they are producing (we could not have done it without you all, thank you!).
Love Local Trust Local 2024
A lot has been going on behind the scenes since the 2022 awards finished. We have been revamping our website – due to launch this autumn – which will become our information hub for all things Love Local Trust Local, so everyone can find out what we do, who we support and who is supporting us.
Our directory section will make it easy to find and connect with local producers who share our ethos and support our brand, and we are relaunching our membership and sponsorship packages so that we have something to offer every business and producer, no matter their size.
We are totally self-funded, other than the support of our sponsors for the awards, so we have been working hard to earn some grants to help us achieve our goals and mission.
We have been interviewed by Woman’s Own magazine about food labelling and its misuse – it is great that they want to hear about what we are doing with the label. It’s always heartening to hear feedback about our articles and that our message is resonating with the public, considering everything that is going on in the world right now. We were absolutely thrilled to hear that in August, 110 MPs signed an open letter calling for supermarkets to add ‘Buy British’ tabs to their websites.
We set up our label in 2018 to fight against the corruption of food labelling – it felt as though there was no voice for UK farmers, growers and producers. This is a great step forwards for British food!
While all the planning has been going on, we have been continuing to support our 2022 and all previous winners and sponsors through our social media channels.
In March 2024 entries will open for the 2024 Love Local Trust Local Awards. We cannot wait to share with everybody what is planned and how you can get involved. Exciting times are ahead for the Love Local Trust Local brand, and we would love you to join us! We will keep you updated on our progress.
