THE MULTI-SKILL SWAP SHOP - by Jane Utting
Daily Express
Friday February 11, 2005

Imagine a world where money doesn't change hands and you can get what you want simply by bartering. JANE UTTING investigates the nationwide network of LETS schemes.

When Bob Deschene fancied taking up archery, he didn't shell out money for his lessons. He found out what he could offer his teacher in return. In the end, Bob's archery lessons cost him a couple of trugs and some advice to help people make sense of their accounts. It might sound like hippie idealism but Bob, 55, is one of a growing number of people who are reviving the ancient practice of bartering through their Local Exchange Trading Schemes - LETS.

It works like this: goods and services are listed and priced in the local currency - Reading has "Readies", Brixton "Bricks", Camden "Locks" and in Brighton, where Bob's scheme operates, "Brights" are exchanged. After paying an annual fee, usually £5-£10, your neighborhood's your oyster - whether you need someone to babysit, service your car or lend you a karaoke machine.

To earn currency to spend, your skills and services are listed. There is no need to find direct swaps. Special cheques are filled in after each transaction and a treasurer records all the credits and debits.

Since the first group launched in Norwich in the mid-Eighties, thousands of people throughout the UK have been converted. Bartering is, after all, in our blood. Our ancestors relied on it before the Saxons began trading sword blades as currency. Keeping track of the hundreds of schemes is one of the projects of LETSlink UK, the coordinating body.

Mary Fee, honourary secretary of LETSlink UK, says: "Some people think they don't have any skills but it could be reading to somebody who is sick, knitting or helping someone with their shopping. Everyone has something they can do."

Mary, 56, who runs a small publishing firm in Islington, north London, offers haircuts and desktop publishing skills in exchange for help with envelope-stuffing, deliveries and household repairs.

Each group decides if money is allowed to change hands, the currency charged per hour and whether everyone's time is equal - whether they are lending someone a ladder or giving piano lessons.

Expenses are arranged beforehand: an aromatherapist might charge a nominal fee for the essential oils they use, for example, while a car owner may request petrol money. Haggling is accepted practice and there is no pressure for members to accept everyone's requests - although people are expected to balance their accounts.

"If people are unhappy with the rules they can join another scheme", says Mary. "And if there isn't one in their area I can put people in touch and they can get one off the ground."

She also puts people in touch with their local scheme if they are new to the area. "If they need it, they can receive help with their unpacking, DIY and garden," she explains.

Brighton is home to several thriving groups. One of them, the Bright Exchange, was formed 12 years ago and has 130 members who all provide their time for six Brights and hour. Bob, a senior manager in the NHS, joined three years ago when he moved into the area and now teaches new recruits the ropes. He's been involved with LETS for 15 years.

"Everyone can do something," he says. "It's an attempt to get people to pull together to make things happen. Because in our group everyone's time is equal, we're not putting a capitalist economic value on someone's time. Besides accountancy and book-keeping I offer business advice. I've also given people lifts to church and helped other move house.

"In return, I've had aromatherapy massage, counselling and archery lessons. One member made me some casseroles. Everything is done on a trust basis and I've never encountered any problems - the worst thing is when you need something and the people aren't available. Having a good mix of things on offer is important.

Chris Hand and Jenny Ridland are part of the team responsible for the Bright Exchange's organic allotment. The idea is that members have their own plot and exchange excess fruit and veg or donate them to a local homeless project.

"We thought it would be lovely for people to grow their own food and work together," says Chris, 47, a teacher. "We're currently marking out the plots and doing mulching."

Chris heard about the Bright Exchange through a friend and joined in 1998, after the first of her two children was born.

"I was looking to cut down my working hours and meet new people, so it was great. I went along to an induction and I'm still in touch with some of the members I met at that meeting."

Chris has given reflexology, taken rubbish to the tip and helped out with childcare and shopping. "When children are involved, we meet up first so they can get to know me. I might take one of my children along, too. It's great if you need someone to take the kids off your hands for a few hours."

So far she has spent her Brights on childcare, guitar tuition and having her plants watered while she was away. "I've also had help putting up some shelves and changing a washer on a tap. And I found a lady who helped me translate a business letter I needed to write in French."

Chris is listed in the directory's Listening Ear section which means, in return for Brights, she is willing to talk to members who might be new to the area, are lonely or are going through a hard time.

"They phone for a chat at a pre-arranged time, or you might decide to meet up for a cup of tea," Chris says. "They just want someone who can listen. If you click, that's how new friendships are formed."

The scheme also opens up services to people who might otherwise miss out because of the expense. "In one of our newsletters a woman told how she'd had a baby on Brights after finding a natural birt adviser in the directory," says Chris. "Not everytone would be able to afford something like that but with LETS it's within their reach.

Jenny Ridland, a mother of one, joined in 1998 when she first moved to Brighton. "I couldn't wait to get involved," says Jenny, 39. "It's a fantastic way of finding friends - we've had music nights and picnics. I've done painting and decorating, given lifts and looked after cats.

"Members have made me food for parties - one made an amazing fairy castle cake for my daughter's sixth birthday. I've also had some childminding. This weekend I need help collecting a new carpet and I've just found two members who are going to help me. It's great to be part of a community of like-minded people who want to help each other."

To find your nearest scheme, see www.letslinkuk.net

TRADE SKILLS IN SWAP SHOP - by Rachel Pegg
The Argus
February 28, 2005

No cash used in system to help your neighbors

If you need someone to look after your houseplants, teach you how to play golf or bake your child a birthday cake, you would expect to have to pay for the service.

Yet there are people in Brighton and Hove who would be willing to do all these things for free - if you do a spot of book-keeping, lend them a lawnmower or give them a few of your favourite recipes.

Members of the Brights Local Exchange Trading Scheme (LETS), known as the Bright Exchange, are willing to offer their time and talents on the basis that one day they will be able to cash in this kindness for something they need.

It might sound like something out of a Seventies commune but there are hundreds of people in Sussex belonging to these kinds of bartering schemes.

The idea is believed to have started in Manchester and has spread across the country.

It was once particularly popular in Brighton and Hove, with up to 900 members ten years ago.

Today there are about 150 in the city itself, with further LETS groups in Lewes, Newhaven and Hastings.

The core Bright Exchange group produces a directory bursting with details of services people can take advantage of, some more unusual than others.

Users can choose from Polish lessons, music therapy, trapeze practice, iris readings, beauty treatments and salsa dancing.

NETWORK

There are also more conventional favours such as being driven to a doctor's appointment, childcare, or having someone lend a sympathetic ear if you want a good chat.

The system works by allowing you to register up to five things you can provide in a twice-yearly directory, along with your telephone number.

There is a registration fee of £7.50 a year.

People pay for your time using cheques made out in Brights, which you can later exchange for the services of your choice from the list of LETS members.

Among the 27 categories are languages, therapy, spare 'helping' hands for decorating, building and construction, babies and children, pets, business and finance, office services and gardening.

There are no rules about who can register with a LETS scheme.

It is the sort of thing you would imagine Tom and Barbara Good from the TV show The Good Life getting involved in.

But membership isn't limited to those who shun capitalist society and live off the land.

Among those using Brights are students, teachers, single parents and an NHS manager.

Mum of two, Chris Kavanagh, from Hove, is one of the core group running the project.

She said: "We have got a huge range of possible things. We have also got a couple of pages where people have got an extra long ladder or sewing maching to hire. It's nothing to do with money, whatever you do. You write out however many hours somebody has done for you and you give them a cheque for that amount. It is the original cashless trading. We call it six Brights an hour. The only time money is involved is if somebody was out of pocket for petrol or ingredients."

Some of the more outlandish services are spiritual smudgings to clear a room of negative energy, playful voice work, prosperity consciousness, holistic breath therapy, divination and kombucha tea, which is a mushroom-based health drink.

There are also trips on a disability scooter and information about disabled access to the countryside.

Ms. Kavanagh said the scheme was still strong because there were a lot of 'Bohemian' people in Brighton.

However, she thought there were fewer members than in the past because it was now so expensive to live in the city.

She said: 'It would be good if they had a lot more schemes like this, even on smaller scales in different communities. It is being neighbourly. You meet a lot of different people you would have otherwise not met because you are all from different backgrounds. It is another network, a really wide variety of folk.

Deborah Knowles, also from Hove, has been a member for four years and produces the directory to earn her Brights.

UNUSUAL

She said: "I think it works because it is an equal exchange. It is egalitarian. I have used all sort of things. I have had cleaning, hairdressing, reflexology, different kinds of counselling. One I thought was unusual, but didn't go for myself, was soul retrieval. I think it's something to do with Shamanism."

Ms. Knowles, a creative writing student, is helping to put the directory on to a new computer system.

She said: "It is a nice way of meeting like-minded people, people who are more into alternative Brighton. It is part of the flavour of Brighton. It is what makes me want to live here, that there is so much alternative culture."

Kemp Town MP Des Turner helped launch east Brighton's LETS scheme five years ago.

He said: "People can use their skills and trade their skills. If they can hang wallpaper they can trade that against something else. I think it is useful, especially if people haven't got very much money. They can get something by trading what they can offer without paying anything."

Find out more by logging on to www.brightexchange.org.uk or call Chris on 01273 385461 or Monica on 01273 272216.

Well-being on offer from yoga teacher

Birth education teacher Karel Ironside offers Brights members the opportunity to sit in at one of her pregnancy yoga classes.

The 52-year-old mother-of-three, who lives in Ditchling Road, Brighton, has benefited from help with her garden, clearing out her office and alternative therapies.

She said: "I think it offers things that may not be available to people. There is also a sense of networking. Just through the register you find out about things you wouldn't otherwise know about.

"Something I used which I probably wouldn't have thought of was help to sort my office and paperwork. I had so many piles of paper that had accumulated.

"There are so many different communities in Brighton and Hove. There is definitely a whole section this appeals to. They are probably people who are more into sustainable businesses or healing and environmentally-aware people. They are probably people who have a sense of community as well."

Mother takes the chance to meet new people

Mum Chris Kavanagh, 48, from Hove, has been a Bright Exchange member for more than a decade.

She said: "I got involved when I had my first child. I was doing quite a lot of teaching. I cut down on my teaching hours and someone said there was this going on. They had a joining evening. I went along and thought, 'This is good.' I had a child and thought it would be another way of meeting people with children."

Ms. Kavanagh's children are now aged 11 and 5.

She offers counselling, reflexology and recipes over the phone.

She said: "It goes in fits and starts. One night last week I had two people phone me. It had been a bit quiet since Christmas. Sometimes you don't get any calls in a week.

"I have had people helping me put up shelves and practical things like decorating. Also people come and help me with the garden. I have had a lot of childcare and helping hands in the house.

"I've also had a lot of counselling sessions, therapies, massage, reflexology and admin support like typing and translation. I have had a lot of bits and pieces like making cakes. Somebody came to help me with my computer and I had advice on herbs from a herbalist."

Businessman with different approach

Idealistic businessman Bob Murphy joined the Bright Exchange when his healthfood store went bust seven years ago.

Natural Choices in St. James' Street was put out of trading after eight years, partly by supermarket power.

Mr. Murphy, of Islingword Road, Hanover, Brighton, believes he was not cut out for corporate culture because he refused to be a ruthless trader.

The 53-year-old said he would not make people spend money if they couldn't afford something and would be honest about whether they really needed it.

He said: "Sales people aren't supposed to take prisoners. Some people aren't good sales people. If you do a job for somebody, people with lots of money haggle. Brights people say, 'That isn't enough', which is quite refreshing."

Mr. Murphy offers Bright Exchange members reflexology, kinesiology, computing, massage, psychotherapy and an in-demand DIY service.

He said: "Quite often I go along and they say the kitchen-fitter said he was going to come back next week and do it."

Now a part-time carer for the council, Mr. Murphy said people using Brights had an alternative attitude.

"It is a slightly different approach to money, a bit more relaxed. They don't have to work a 60-hour week and then spend it all in Churchill Square. They are very nice people. That is one reason to join."

Executive dreams of an equal society

Unusually for a member of a bartering scheme, Bob Deschene is a highly-paid senior executive who could afford to pay for the services he uses.

But Mr. Deschene, 56, of St. Leonard's Road, Hove dreams of an egalitarian society where everybody's time is treated as equally valuable.

He knows this could never be possible so he joined the Bright Exchange.

Mr. Deschene, head of primary care at Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust, said: "You have to buy into the philosophy of equity of worth. If somebody has given you an archery lesson for an hour, that hour has the same worth as tax advice. In a capitalist society that isn't how it works. One person would get much more. I see it as a return to what communities are all about. It isn't ever going to be that big because everybody does it on the back of their lives. People have a living to make. Often people who join these schemes aren't flush with money."

Mr. Deschene has enjoyed archery lessons, aromatherapy, freezer meals, counselling. In return, he offers help with book-keeping and business advice.

He said: "If you work for the NHS you have got an attitude of putting back into the community. Philosophically I think it is the right thing to do. I don't like the fact that in a capitalist society, a solicitor gets paid £150 a hour and a babysitter gets £5. In the real world I charge £50 to £100 an hour. I don't think that is right."