20th Anniversary of UK Timebanking

Time bankers from nation-wide gatherered together for two days to celebrate twenty years of time banking in the UK.

From Pembrokeshire to Paxton Green, time bankers reunited at the annual conference arranged by Timebanking UK and hosted at Brunel University, London. There were even representitives from Portugal, Italy and Spain who shared their own unique perspectives on time banking. Featuring talks on a wide range from subjects from timebanking as a whole to mental health to social media from people such as Edgar Cahn – the father of time banking, Lord Low of Dalston – the patron of Timebanking UK, Jon Offord – from BBC London Radio, Funmi – from Paxton Green time bank and our own Reyaz who gave a talk on the history of Fair Shares.

Aside from the talks there were also workshops designed to help give individual time banks a boost in necessary skills such as how to create effective risk assessments and advice on insurance. Both of which are vital components in keeping members of your time bank safe. Of course they also had a workshop on co-production and sustainability – trying to solve the age old question of how to secure funds and get your members involved in the process as well.

It was a fun and informative get together allowing old friends to meet back up and exchange experiences and also giving new faces an opportunity to introduce themselves and dive deep into time banking.