This is an informal meeting open to anyone with an interest in Fairtrade and who may want to do something during this fortnight at their business, workplace, school, church or community group. There will be Fairtrade wine and beer as well soft drinks for us to enjoy whilst we share ideas for a really successful fortnight.

Fairtrade Fortnight 2009, which takes place from Monday 23rd February to Saturday 7th March, is a time for us to get involved and raise awareness of Fairtrade. There will be activities and events happening up and down the UK and it will be a great opportunity for you to help raise awareness among the residents of Gedling and show how you support Fairtrade in our borough.

Activities could be as simple as giving a fairtrade leaflet to customers and work colleagues or as ambitious as a glamorous Fairtrade fashion show or Fairtrade roadshow with free Fairtrade chocolate tasting. I’m sure you’ll have lots more ideas so come along and tell us about them.

Even if you cannot make the meeting on 12th November, please keep us informed of any planned activities and we will publicise them here on our website for everyone to see.

With your help we can make Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 in Gedling an event to remember!

We’ll look forward to seeing you there.

The Co-operative, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Morrison’s donated some of the Fairtrade items they currently have on sale: tea, coffee, drinking chocolate, chocolate, sugar, rice, honey, jam, biscuits, wine, oranges, pineapple, apples, pears, bananas, mango, T-shirts.  We were able to make an impressive display which attracted a lot of attention and gave us the chance to talk to members of the public about Fairtrade in general and what is available to local people doing their weekly shop.

We had a short questionnaire asking how much each person knew about Fairtrade  and whether they regularly purchase Fairtrade goods.  We completed 70 questionnaires during the day.  Since we usually talked to couples or to family groups, we talked to more than 200 people during the show.  At the end of the day, from the box of completed questionnaires, we pulled out two and shared the goods on display between them.  The winners were Cheryl Jones of Basford and Linda Gallagher of Carlton, who were delighted to receive their prizes.

The results showed that most people recognise the Fairtrade Mark and an increasing number are buying Fairtrade goods regularly.  86% of people recognised the Mark and most were aware of the meaning of Fairtrade.   More than half could think of between two and five Fairtrade items and more than a quarter mentioned six or more.  28% bought one Fairtrade item regularly (usually tea, coffee, chocolate or bananas), 37% bought between two and five items and 9% bought more than five items regularly.

Spotting the Mayor of Gedling, Councillor Richard Goodwin, on a tour of the Craft tent, one of our volunteers seized the chance to go through the questionnaire with him.  We were delighted to discover that he buys between two and five Fairtrade items on a regular basis, setting an excellent example to the residents of Gedling Borough!

The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Thursday 25th September at 7.30pm at Arnold Civic Centre.

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

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:

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!

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!

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!

The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Thursday 5th June at 7.30pm at Arnold Civic Centre.

Come along if you’d like to join us or just if you’re curious to find out more.

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

The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Thursday 3rd April at 7.30pm at Arnold Civic Centre.

Come along if you’d like to join our campaign or just if you’re curious to find out more.

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

The event was a great success with various businesses and organisation holding information and retail stalls. There was beautiful Fairtrade jewellery and clothing on sale as well as skincare products, food and gifts. Plus free Fairtrade tea, coffee and juice was flowing all day!

Gideon Gilbert, a banana farmer from St Vincent visiting Nottingham took part in the event and strutted his stuff on the catwalk in the Fairtrade Fashion show.

There was also music and a performance by local Fairtrade campaigners which you can watch here: