A big congratulations goes out to Susan Elwood of Sherwood who won the bag of Fairtrade goodies from our Arnold Carnival prize draw!

Thank you to everyone who took part in the survey and prize draw and and an even bigger thank you to all of you who support Fairtrade.

Here’s a picture of Susan receiving her prize:

At the Arnold Carnival 199 people took part in our survey to find out about local residents’ knowledge of Fairtrade and their Fairtrade buying habits.

Here are the results:

Question 1 – Have you seen this logo (Fairtrade logo) before?
Yes - 90%
Yes I think so - 2%
Not Sure - 0.5%
No - 7.5%

Question 2 – Do you know what the logo stands for?
Yes - 80%
Partially Correct - 12%
No - 8%
Question 3 – How many products can you name with this Fairtrade logo?
0 - 7.5%
1 - 8%
2-5 - 45%
6-10 - 30%
Over 10 - 9.5%

Question 4 – How many of the Fairtrade items do you buy on a regular basis?
0 - 24%
1 - 23%
2-5 - 45%
Over 5 - 8%

National figures released for Faitrade Fortnight in March 2008 show:
70% recognise the logo (compared to 90% at the Arnold Carnival).
64% understand the meaning of the mark (compared to 80% at the Carnival).
25% regularly buy several Fairtrade products (compared to 53% at the Carnival).

As you can see, these results are very encouraging. Compared to national figures local residents are much more aware of Fairtrade and what it means. Double the number of people in our survey regularly buy Fairtrade goods too!

The Gedling Fairtrade Group joined in the celebrations at Arnold Carnival this weekend to raise awareness about Fairtrade and our campaign to gain Fairtrade Town Status for Gedling Borough.

There were Fairtrade goods on display, information available and delicious Fairtrade chocolate to sample.

We also conducted a short survey with our stall visitors to find out how much the residents of Gedling Borough know about Fairtrade. Although we haven’t yet collated the results it was encouraging to learn that lots of people are aware of Fairtrade, how it benefits producers and how many products they buy on a regular basis.

Those who helped us with our survey were also entered into a prize draw to win some lovely Fairtrade goodies including chocolate, wine and coffee to name just a few items - more on that later. Watch this space!

The Gedling Fairtrade Group will be at this year’s Arnold Carnival taking place at Arnot Hill Park on Saturday 2.00pm – 10.30pm Sunday 11.00am – 10.00pm

Come along to find out more about Fairtrade, the types of Fairtrade goods you can buy and Fairtrade Town status for Gedling.

Whilst you’re there check out some of the other carnival attractions including the fun dog show, craft marquee, table top activities for children and the The Battle of Britain Dakota memorial flypast on Sunday.

Visit the Gedling Borough Council website for more information.

We’ll look forward to meeting you there!