The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will take place on Monday 10th October, 7pm at Gedling Civic Centre.

At our next meeting we will be discussing our action plan for maintaining our Fairtrade Borough status and new publicity materials. Come along and share your thoughts and ideas or just to see what its all about.

Contact us if you would like to know more.

Click here for details on how to get to Gedling Civic Centre

The celebration took place at the beautiful Newstead Abbey, our flagship supporter venue. We arrived there early to decorate the Abbey cafe and courtyard with a whopping 40 metres of bunting created by pupils from Pinewood Infant School & Foundation Unit and Killisick Primary School. The bunting flags were adorned with drawings and paintings of the Fairtrade mark, Fairtrade products and lots of messages about buying fairtrade!

In the spirit of the theme of Fairtrade Fortnight, the group decorated a large sheet made from Fairtrade cotton with the words “Show off your Label”.

We were very happy to be joined by the Mayor of Gedling, Councillor Pat Blandamer, who presented the local school children with certificates for taking part in the Show off your Label bunting activity.

After a speech from the mayor and photographs by local press we enjoyed lovely Fairtrade refreshments in the Abbey Cafe.

We would like to say a huge thank you to the staff at Newstead Abbey who were so friendly and welcoming, helping us to organise the event and keep the Fairtrade tea & coffee flowing. Also of course to the parents, teachers and children of Pinewood Infant & Killisick Junior Schools, the Mayor of Gedling and everyone in the borough of Gedling who continue to support Fairtrade.

This event marks Fairtrade Fortnight 2011 and the second year of Gedling being a Fairtrade Borough.

Anyone based in Gedling and interested in supporting Fairtrade is welcome to come along. Meet other local Fairtrade suppliers and supporters and see the Fairtrade Fortnight themed “Show off Your Label” bunting, hand made by pupils of local schools, Killisick Junior and Pinewood Infants Schools. The Mayor of Gedling will also be presenting certificates to the schools.

Delicious Fairtrade refreshments will be served at the Abbey Café too!

If you would like to come along or have any questions, please contact us.

We’ll look forward to seeing you there!

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.

Here is the e-mail sent by David on behalf of the Gedling Fairtrade Group with candidates’ responses below (copied exactly as written)…

I am writing to you on behalf of the Gedling Fairtrade Group in the run up to the general election to find out your views on Fairtrade. We have recently (Feb 2010) managed to gain Fairtrade status for Gedling Borough by reaching the Fairtrade Foundation’s criteria of numbers of shops, cafes, businesses, restaurants and community groups using or selling Fairtrade goods.

I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions:

1. Do you agree with the principles of Fairtrade and if so can you tell us what you personally have done and currently do to support Fairtrade?

2. If you were elected would you be prepared to support our group to maintain Fairtrade status (we need to meet the criteria each year)?

3. What do you think that the next government needs to do to ensure that Trade is fair and meets the need of poor producers in developing countries as well as consumers in the UK and EU?

Please do visit our local website for information about Fairtrade in Gedling – http://fairtradegedling.org.uk/ . We will put your replies on our website so that our supporters can see them.

Response from Bruce Laughton – Conservative

Hi David I helped Bishop Ronald and my Auntie Val make Southwell the first Free Trade Town in Notts my County Council ward and introduced it into Notts County Council. Action speaks louder than words. Thanks. For contact. Bruce

Response from Julia Bateman – Liberal Democrats

Thank you very much for your email regarding Fairtrade.  I think it impressive that as a group in the community you have been committed to gaining Fairtrade status for Gedling Borough by reaching the Fairtrade Foundation’s criteria of numbers of shops, cafes, businesses, restaurants and community groups using or selling Fairtrade goods.

I recently responded to the Fairtrade “one simple question” campaign with a resounding yes, that if elected as MP for Gedling on May 6th, I would  support the continued growth of Fairtrade in the UK.   I agree with the principles of Fairtrade and try do my small part such as purchase Fairtrade goods in supermarkets (such as the Co-op)  particulary coffee.  I know it doesn’t sound much but every little helps. I would try to keep in mind what shops, cafes, restaurants have the status and choose accordingly.

If elected I would be pleased to work hard with and support your group to maintain Fairtrade status  in the Borough. (we need to meet the criteria each year)?  I would like to see you have a celebration day in March next year because you have retained your status. I would like to help you in any event after the election period.

As you will know, global fair trade sales have grown rapidly over the past decade, reaching €2.4bn in 2007, 47 percent more than the year before and it is estimated that 7.5 million people benefit directly from fair trade prices. Local governments in Europe and North America have used their procurement policy to purchase fair-trade-labelled products, though central governments (including the UK’s) remain more cautious, largely because of concern about the interaction with WTO and EU rules.

While Liberal Democrats continue to support the growth of the fair trade movement, we also want to break down the underlying barriers to trade and promote sustainable trade and investment in developing countries by:

• Working through the European Union and World Trade Organisation to seek to remove the subsidies and tariff barriers that prevent the poorest countries in the world selling their goods on fair terms and promote environmentally sustainable trade.
• Working to end the dumping of subsidised agricultural exports by developed economies, which is undermining farming in Africa and other parts of the world.
• Requiring companies benefiting from open markets to behave responsibly and adhere to OECD guidelines. We will also promote a new international agreement to encourage investment, particularly in the poorest countries.
• Increasing opportunities in richer countries for sustainable products from developing nations.

Thank you again for taking the time to get in contact with me on this important issue. Please do publish this response on your site or I am happy for you to forward it to your members.

Kind regards
Julia

Response from Vernon Coaker – Labour

Thank you for your email.  I fully support Fairtrade, as I have always done.
Vernon

Response from Dave Marshall – UKIP

Hi, thank you for your email regardind Fairtrade. I do agree with the principle of fairtrade and i have swapped some of my purchases accordingly. I would also be delighted to support the work you have been doing to get a fairer price for poorer farmers, although we need to ensure that the monies go to the farmers and not the respective governments or regimes. Keep up the good work!!

Stephen Adcock – BNP

Unfortunately we were not able to find an e-mail address for the BNP candidate. If anyone knows his work (not private) e-mail address please forward it to us so that we can ask for his response to the same e-mail.

Special thanks go to all of the suppliers and supporters within Gedling Borough who sell or use Fairtrade in their shop, cafe, workplace, school, community group or place of worship.

Joining us at the celebration were the Mayor, the Lady Mayoress, councillors from the Borough and local suppliers and supporter as well as pupils and parents from Killisick Junior School who have been very supportive.

ASDA, Sainsbury’s, The Cooperative and Gedling Borough Council all provided donations to help us host this exciting event and provide Fairtrade wine and juice for guests to sample. Christie Picture Framing & Gallery very kindly framed our Fairtrade Borough certificate free of charge and this will be placed on display in the Gedling Civic Centre.

During the evening prizes were awarded to pupils from Killisick Junior School who were winners of our Fairtrade ‘The Big Swap’ poster competition. Winners were Michael Shaw, Chloe Bonnar, Ariya Shadamani, Kyra Holehouse, Holly Stevenson and Abbie Webb:

Here are the winning posters and many of the other fantastic entries:

Take a look at our videos below to see speeches from the night.

Although Gedling Borough has Fairtrade status there is still a lot of work to do. Please do get in touch if you would like to get involved.

Swap to Fairtrade

This year’s Fairtrade Fornight theme is ‘The Big Swap‘ so between 22nd February and 7th March we’ll be encouraging the people of Gedling to swap their ordinary shopping items for Fairtrade ones.

Come along to our display in Gedling Civic Centre during the fortnight and pick up some free Fairtrade tea to try and find out where you can buy Fairtrade goodies in the borough.

Schools’ Poster Competition

We are also organising a poster competition with the big swap theme for local infant and junior schools. Winners will be chosen at the end of February and prizes will be awarded by the Mayor of Gedling at our celebration event.

If you would like to know more about our poster competition for schools please contact us.

Our Fairtrade Celebration

This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight is particularly exciting for us because Gedling Borough has now met the criteria to become a Fairtrade Town!

On 4th March we will be holding a celebration event to mark the occassion and to say thank you to all of our supporters. Invitations will be coming to supporters shortly but if your business, organisation, school or place of worship sells or uses Fairtrade produce and we do not already know about you (please see our directory and supporters pages) then please get in touch.

Tell us about your events

If you are holding an event during Fairtrade Fortnight then please tell us about it and we will post it here on our website!

We’re very close to achieving Fairtrade Town status and just need a little more help to get there. More than anything we need group members who could give some of their time to help us raise awareness of Fairtrade in the borough.

So, if you would like to get involved or just to find out more, do come along to the meeting.

If you have any queries or comments then please get in touch.

See below for a map to the venue.
Visit the Gedling Borough Council website for bus routes and directions.

View Larger Map

Pictured above are: Lyndsay, Philip, Matthew, Tania, Tyler, Steven and Jacqueline.

For the quiz we asked participants to identify the Fairtrade product from a pair of six possible options. We hope the Smith family enjoyed their winnings!

We had a great day overall and talked to around 250 – 300 people at our stall. Many of the folks we chatted to were aware of Fairtrade and make a habit of buying goods showing the Fairtrade mark in their grocery shopping. So well done people of Gedling! There were 150 competition entries in total.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by to say hello and took part in our quiz!

The carnival takes place on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June at Arnot Hill Park, Arnold, Nottingham. We’ll be there on Sunday in the craft marquee so come along and say hello. If you’d like to give a helping hand on the day then do get in touch.

Other attractions at the show include live bands and entertainment, arts and crafts workshops, sports, a fun fair, food and drink and lots lots more!

Check out the Arnold Carnival 2009 programme