Target reached!
£1000 will allow us to produce 10,000 beer mats for CND Cymru & over 30,000 for ...
Beer Not Bombs - CND Beer Mats
Bradford, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Aim
We want to get thousands of our beer mats into bars across the country, to promote peace and strengthen our movement in a fun new way.
What are we trying to do?
In the build up to the peace/climate demos happening on 21st April (The Big One) and at RAF Lakenheath (20th May), we want to engage more people with our campaign. Beer mats have been used in advertising for years, so why don't we have a go for CND? So far we've got interest from groups based in Manchester, London, Wales, Lancaster, Durham & Yorkshire.
By organising social events around the distribution of beer mats, we hope to create a greater sense of community and attract people to join and campaign for CND.
Why does the project matter?
We are in a time of rising nuclear tensions and dangers. How can spending billions of pounds on nuclear weapons be justified when people are facing a cost of living crisis? To ensure our message of peace heard, where better to go than the place many local communities are built around? That's right, a pub.
Who are we?
The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is a movement of people campaigning to get rid of nuclear weapons in Britain and worldwide.
We campaign non-violently to achieve British nuclear disarmament – to get rid of the Trident nuclear weapons system and stop its replacement. This includes working with local councils and communities to ensure our message gets across.
How have we used the beer mats in Yorkshire?
In December, Leeds CND hosted a trial of the project with a pub tour with 1,000 CND beer mats, spreading them across bars in Leeds to promote our work in a friendly new way. It was great to see the engagement from young people with this campaign. People had great conversations with the public and bar staff when the mats were spotted and contacts were made online via the QR code on them. The graphic was designed by a Leeds CND member.
> Some photos <
Method
We want local groups to distribute the beermats to independent, local bars - at least 100 beermats to each (if more are provided they are likely to stay longer). A bar tour social is a great way to do this. In Leeds, we found that starting friendly conversations with the staff at independent bars helped getting the bar accepting them.
100 beer mats may sound like a lot, but on a busy Friday or Saturday evening they can be used up quickly! Therefore, we want to do a big print order - the more we order the less each beer mat costs, the more we can distribute and we can even have a regular presence in some bars. If our activists build new relationships with bars, these could be a great spot for future local CND related meetings!
The QR code on the back of the beermat allows people to access key links/sign up forms via their mobile phones - an easy way to find out more and engage with local peace work. We are using linktree as our hub spot and are working with London CND to develop interactive ideas so that the QR code will link to an interactive hub spot site to find local groups. This will be able to find out how to get involved and access social media, recent press coverage etc. Some examples of how a local group's linktree could look like:
- https://linktr.ee/yorkshire_cnd
- https://linktr.ee/yscnd
- https://linktr.ee/cnduk
- https://linktr.ee/ded_ucation
Beermat Costs
We want to do a reasonably large print order to get the cost per beermat low enough for local groups to use them widely as a cost-effective campaigning tool.
The cost of 10,000 beer mats if a regional group orders directly from the company = £500+VAT
However... If we order, for example, 10,000 each for 5 regions the cost is only £232+ VAT per region.
Production
We would hope to have the beer mats printed and distributed w/c 10th April. To do this we need to order them by mid/late March. The more money we raise, the wider the CND message can be spread, and we can distribute them on a large scale.
Any questions?
Please email: [email protected]
Or phone: 01274 730 795
This project successfully funded on 28th March 2023