:::Disclaimer:::
This is NOT an official blog of the Fairtrade Foundation OR of the official steering group which is doing the campaign for a Fairtrade London (www.fairtradelondon.org.uk).
This blog is just the project of a University student studying Journalism and writing about an interest…..and is NOT related to the Fairtrade Foundation in any way.
If you have any concerns with the content of the blog, please email me directly and NOT the Fairtrade Foundation. Sorry for any confusion caused.
Welcome to my blog about London becoming a ‘Fairtrade City’… by this, I mean the concerted effort of boroughs, schools, companies and universities in promoting and sustaining Fairtrade in their shops, canteens, selling it throughout the land and hopefully making a difference in another.
I hope to report on the progress of London becoming Fairtrade-friendly with news of any developments, details of events happening around the capital, interviews with Fairtrade supporters/suppliers and also my own opinion on things!
Please feel free to leave comments/suggestions!
Hi!
I live in a Fairtrade Town in South Devon having recently moved here from London Bridge. Devon is keen to be the UK’s first Fairtrade county.
The reason I moved to Devon was so that I could operate my ethical fashion label called Quail By Mail. I specialise in clothing made from organic and Fairtrade handloomed cotton.
Earlier this month a few Fairtraders and I teamed up and snagged a rent free shop on the Brixham high street for the whole of Fairtrade Fortnight to sell Fairtrade clothing and food. It was an amazing experience because not only did it create a community buzz but we educated a lot of people about what Fairtrade is about, the labeling system etc. I’ve been buying Fairtrade products since the late 1990s and I’m only 37 years old but I was surprised to find so many people who really had no idea what Fairtrade was! So my fellow shop keepers and I Fairtraded our little hearts out and spread the word to the masses.
Good luck with the blog. Can I link my blog to yours?
cheers
Shauna Chapman
Quail By Mail, Devon
I don’t know whether this is an appropriate forum, but there are a few Fair Trade events coming up in Croydon and surrounding area:
1) April 26th: Fairtrade Dance and Auction
Venue: Regina Coeli school hall, Pampisford Road, South Croydon
Time: 7:30pm
Tickets: £7.50 – including Fish & Chip supper, bring your own drinks
2) May 3rd: The world’s best fudge comes to Croydon
There will be a tasting of Burnt Sugar fudge, voted the world’s best by Observer Food magazine earlier this year, at the Fair Enough shop, 136 Church St. Croydon CRO 1RF on May 3rd.
Come along and taste the fudge, made with Fairtrade sugar from Kenya, and other fairtrade ingredients where available.
May 3rd will also mark the start of our Spring sale – great reductions and some special purchases of Fairtrade items.
3) May 3rd: All Saint’s Warlingham Churchyard Fete
Burnt Sugar fudge tasting as well. Fair trade and other stalls. the event will be opened by David Bellamy, at All Saint’s church in the centre of Warlingham – just south of Croydon
Best wishes
Christopher Hunt
Croydon Fairtrade Network
Hi – what a great blog… but what about putting the official Fairtrade London website (www.fairtradelondon.org.uk) as one of your right hand links too?
Shauna – your shop in Brixham sounds like a great opportunity, I hope you managed to sell lots of stuff. It’s great about Devon wanting to be a Fairtrade country, but there are already some counties that have achieved this, so you won’t be the first. Wales is really gunning it, they’ve got campaigns in every county and almost every single town now, with several having met the goals already.
I reckon the South East of the country has some major catching up to do….! C’mon Londoners!
On this subject, if anyone lives in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, we’re trying to get a campaign network together. You can join a newly started Facebook group – just paste this link into your browser to find it…. We’re hoping to have a presence at the Earls Court Food Festival on 6th July, as part of the wider London campaign. There will also be loads of other fair trade stuff there, so come along!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5897688699
Barbara
Good luck! Really enjoyed reading the blog – keep up the good work.
Folks,
Half of all the Sainsbury’s stores now stock Liberation nuts, we would like to be in as many as possible. Can you do us all a favour and ensure your local store stocks the nuts? You will find them in the snacking section…if they’re not there please ask for them! We need to sell thousands per week through JS to retain our listing so we have our work cut out, losing the listing would be a disaster for us and could impact on the producers further down the line. Appreciate all your help, and keep up the great work you’re all doing!
Barbara, you’re right! Devon won’t be the first Fairtrade county! Oh well…I think there ought to be a race NOT to be the last Fairtrade county/city! Fairtrade your heart out every body!
Shauna Chapman
Quail By Mail – ethical, organic and Fairtrade womens clothing made in Devon
Hi,
I thought you or your website visitors would be interested in the Fairtrade Merton campaign website which is at
http://www.fairtrademerton.org.uk
The site gives information about the campaign to get Merton to be fairtrade. It also has how to get involved, information for faith organisations and schools on becoming fairtrade, and a directory of fairtrade outlets in Merton. If you could add a link to your website so people can find out about the campaign we’d be really grateful,
Thanks
Alex
It is inspiring to read about the excellent fairtrade initiatives being implemented in the UK – well done! We here is Australia are beginning to see some progress but still a long way to go.
Great site and well done !!!
Keep up the good work
Please feel free to join our Peros Fairtrade facebook page –
http://www.facebook.com/pages/PEROS-FAIRTRADE/80322014775?v=wall