Just a very quick message to wish you all the best for a ‘fresh & local” 2010 at great prices, and all from up to 30 local producers at each site.

Roath Market every Saturday, between 9:30am-1pm in car park at front of Mackintosh Sports Club on Keppoch Street, near Albany Road and City Road CF24 3JW. Map

Riverside Market every Sunday, between 10am-2pm at Fitzhamon Embankment in Riverside, right opposite the Millennium Stadium. Cardiff CF11 6AN. Map

Join the RCMA Market Garden!

Riverside Market Garden is a new ethical model for sustainable local food production - a project created by RCMA Social Enterprise (the 'Riverside Market people').

(You can read more about it at: www.riversidemarketgarden.co.uk and on the BBC Website)

A new 10 acre Market Garden is being created 8 miles from Cardiff to make more fresh food available to the local community and our first crops will be available soon!!

The site will produce a wide range of organic vegetables, with an additional focus on saladstuffs, herbs and soft fruit.

We will also offer horticultural training and care placements, with educational visits for schools and colleges, and fun days out for members and their families.

We are offering individuals and organisations a chance to become shareholders in this mutual society for community benefit.

Shares start at £50 and can be bought online (see link below) with PayPal or Credit Card etc.
or at Chapter on the night of the launch! (Our target in this phase is to sell 200 shares). The share offer is FSA approved, and you will get a personalised Share Certificate – which makes a great gift!

Shares can be paid for by standing order at £10 per month - Members will get discounted produce and the chance to take part in celebrations and activities at the site.

For more information see the Riverside Market Garden website

Riverside market is now on YouTube!

Check out the small film that interviews Steve Garrett and gives you a 'taste' of what you can find each and every week at both our markets here

Riverside market is UK's top Farmer's Market

According to the Local Food Advisor website

It’s Official: Some of the best coffee in the UK is available at Riverside market!!

At a recent regional heat for a national coffee making competiton, regular stallholder 'The Caffeine Kid' took all 3 drinks titles on the day for best espresso, best cappuccino and best signature drink!

Check out the Speciality Coffee Association Europe’s website - you will see a familiar face!

Also, RCMA are cover stars...

We feature on the cover and in a three-page article in this month’s Cardiff Life magazine!

Finally...

This picture from our Community Allotment project. To find out more about our Community Allotment project in Pontcanna Fields: please call Project Manager Jenny Howell on 07532 385899 or outreach@riversidemarket.org.uk Everyone welcome!

Can it get any better?

Each week at both sites there are up to 30 producers selling the best in fresh, local welsh and organic food, together with delicious home-made ‘world’ foods representing the diversity of Cardiff, from bread and cakes, fish and meat, flowers and fruit & veg, to farmhouse cheese and Welsh organic whisky – the first certified organic whisky in the world!

Many of our stallholders are prizewinners in their own right!

As always, please tell your friends and contacts – we depend on word of mouth for publicity.

Craft Stalls now a regular feature at the markets

Craft Stalls are now a regular feature at RCMA’s Riverside and Roath Markets. We hope this will provide yet another reason for people to come to the markets, and also help support some of the many artisans and craft makers who live in and around Cardiff. As with the food stalls, people can only sell high quality items that they have made themselves.

Wales True Taste

RCMA* won Gold at this year’ Wales True Taste awards in the Local Sourcing Initiative section. That award is really a reflection of the quality, commitment and consistency that local producers bring to our markets, so many thanks to them (Also special congratulations to our regular stallholders for their own True Taste awards: Penrhiw Organic Farm, Hafod Cheese, Oaklands Organics, and Greta’s Wholefoodies). Link

"LOCAL FOOD - IT'S MILES BETTER!"

P.S . Our “Lifetime” jute shopping bags are for sale at the fair trade tea and coffee stall

*Riverside Community Market Association

National Recognition

RCMA has received strong recognition in National Media in recent years. In 2009 we received the following accolades for our award-winning Riverside Market:

We were runner-up (once again!) at the BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards

Riverside Market is in The Independent's '50 top UK Markets'

On the Local Food Advisor website we are listed as one of the top ten farmers markets out of ‘more that 800 markets’ across the UK

In February 2009 Riverside Market featured 5th in The Times’ website list of the top twelve farmers’ markets in the U.K.

In 2008 we were 4th in the Daily Telegraph’s Top 10 U.K. Christmas market

RCMA Social Enterprise Ltd. has steered the award-winning Riverside Market through it's ten years of growth and development to become the largest farmers' market in Wales, as well as organising various spin-off activities such as: setting up sister farmers' markets in Roath (East Cardiff) and Newport; organising RCMA's schools outreach programme; setting up the RCMA Community Allotment Garden; writing the RCMA Urban Farmers' Market Toolkit; supporting the Riverside Food Coop; setting up the 'Taffside' South Cardiff Food and Health Network (with two paid part-time outreach workers); and overseeing the development of the RCMA Market Garden project. We have recently been invited by the Cardiff IKEA store to run a regular farmers market at the entrance to the store and hope to have this up and running by September 2009.

Activities and Awards

RCMA runs award-winning producers' markets in Riverside and Roath (Cardiff), a Community Garden + regular education/outreach activities in the community.

The market and RCMA have won a number of awards and accolades in the last few years, including:

2009 Wales True Taste - Winning Gold in the Local Sourcing Initiative category
2009 BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards - Runner Up (Best Market category)
2008 Telegraph top ten Christmas market. Article
2008 Network Wales Awards – Runner Up (Green Award category)
2008 + 2004 FSA Wales (Award for Food Action Locally)
2007 Metro Food and Drink Awards - Winner (Wales Food Hero of the Year)
2007 Diversity Awards Wales - Winner (Community Group)
2007 UKTV Food Heroes Award - regional finalist (Wales)
2005 BBC Radio 4 Food and Farming Awards - Runner Up (Local Food Retailer)
2004 Wales True Taste Awards - (Food Retailer)
2004 Food Standards Agency Wales - 'Award for Food Action Locally'
2003 Environment Wales '10 of the Best' award
2003 Community Enterprise Wales 'Top 10 Regenerators' medal

RCMA Annual Report 08-09