On Sunday 20th June the Gedling Fairtrade group had a stall at the Arnold Carnival.  Vicky and Allan arrived in time to get everything set up by 11am.  Vicky had organised an attractive display on Fairtrade in Gedling Borough and had produced a leaflet listing all the local Fairtrade outlets.  David had produced a short Fairtrade quiz.  It had photos of 5 pairs of items and people had to say which of each pair was Fairtrade.  Between us we made pretty sure that nobody could get the answers wrong!  People then gave their names and a contact number, which went into a draw for the bag of Co-operative Fairtrade goods displayed on the stall.

Vicky and Allan talked to visitors until one o’clock.  Then Rachel and Ash took over until 4pm. Vicky and Allan came back to round off the afternoon and pack up at 5pm.

There were 78 entries for the draw.  We tended to talk to family groups so we must have talked to about 200 people altogether during the day.  Most people were very responsive but it wasn’t all plain sailing.  We had the usual question ‘But does the money really get to the people who need it?’   We did our best to explain how the Fairtrade system works, through co-operatives and individual farmers, to ensure small farmers really do get a better return for their crop.  Another visitor told us that, if farmers got a low price for their product, then that was business and they had nothing to complain about!  If they wanted change, they had governments who should do something about it.  Vicky and Allan explained they felt that we, as consumers, have a moral responsibility to avoid exploitation and pay a decent price for goods from the developing world.  We failed to persuade him but at least we had the chance to talk to him about the issue.

Another advantage of the day was that we got 25 people to sign up for our planned e-mail newsletter, helping to spread support for Fairtrade across the Borough.

Tuesday 22nd was a happy day for Taran and Maya, who live near the centre of Arnold; Allan rang up to tell them they had won the draw.  He offered to deliver the bag of Fairtrade goods on Wednesday at 4pm but it appears there was an important football match on at that time.  The handover was therefore delayed until Thursday.  The photo shows Taran and Maya with their prize.

Our grateful thanks are due to the organisers of the Arnold Carnival and especially to the employees of the Council, who are always efficient, helpful and friendly.