On Thursday 4th March we were very pleased to hold a celebration event to mark Gedling Borough gaining Fairtrade status and to thank everyone who have supported our campaign.
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.
We have some fantastic news. Gedling borough has officially now been given Fairtrade Town status by the Fairtrade Foundation!
We are very pleased to have achieved this status and thank all of the Fairtrade suppliers and supporters in Gedling who contributed to making this happen.
There is still a lot of work to do though, raising awareness about Fairtrade in the borough and encouranging more shops to sell Fairtrade goods and more shoppers to buy them!
If you have some time to help us then we’d love to meet you. Come along to our next meeting on 17th February or please get in touch to find out more.
Fairtrade Fortnight will be here very soon and activities are taking place up and down the country to celebrate and raise awareness for Fairtrade produce.
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!
Yippee! We have now met the criteria for Fairtrade Town status and our application is being processed as I type.
This means lots more to do in 2010, starting with Fairtrade Fortnight, when we’ll be holding a celebration event for our supporters and a competition for local schools to create a Fairtrade poster.
Throughout the year we’ll be working hard to continue to raise awareness of Fairtrade in our borough and looking for even more supporters and suppliers to add to our directory.
If you know of any shops, cafes, businesses, organisations, schools or places of worship in Gedling borough that either sells or uses Fairtrade goods then please let us know. We’d love to say thank you to them and promote them here on our website.
Come along to our next meeting on Thursday 21st January, 7.30pm at Gedling Civic Centre, Arnold, Nottingham, NG5 6LU to find out more about our campaign, share your ideas and get involved.
The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Thursday 10th December 2009, 7.30 at Gedling Civic Centre.
At this meeting we will be making plans ready for our Fairtrade Town application and events during Fairtrade Fortnight in Feb / March 2009. We’d love your help and support. You don’t have to commit right away if you’d prefer to find out more first. To see the kinds of things we do please see our ‘Gedling Fairtrade Group Needs You!’ post.
The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Wednesday 21st October, 7.30 at Gedling Civic Centre.
The group really needs to expand its members so that we can organise more activities and continue to gain support for Fairtrade. Do come along and meet us. You don’t have to commit right away if you’d prefer to find out more first. To see the kinds of things we do please see our ‘Gedling Fairtrade Group Needs You!’ post.
Since the Gedling Fairtrade Group was founded in September 2007 they have been very impressed to find a number businesses and organisations in the borough selling and using Fairtrade goods. They’ve also learned that many people in Gedling are now routinely adding Fairtrade items to their shopping list and understand the meaning of Fairtrade for farmers in developing countries.
Now Gedling Fairtrade Group are looking for volunteers of all ages and talents to be involved in their activities. Raising awareness about Fairtrade can be done in so many ways and you can give as much time as you wish.
Here are a few ways that you can get involved:
Share ideas for activities
Help organise events
Create displays and publicity materials
Write articles and press releases
Talk to the public, businesses and organisations about Fairtrade
Help survey shops, cafes and businesses for our Fairtrade Town application
The Gedling Faitrade Group usually meets once every 3 months and so involvement in the group does not have to be a big commitment. You might have a particular skill or experience that you would like to share with the group too.
Some of our previous activities include a glamorous Fairtrade fashion show, stalls at Arnold carnival and Gedling Show, a visit from a Fairtrade farmer and displays about Fairtrade in the borough.
Do get in touch or come along to one of our meetings if you’d like to find out more.
About Fairtrade
Fairtrade means supporting farmers in developing countries. By buying a product with the Fairtrade mark you can be sure that farmers earn a fair wage which allows a better standard of living and access to services such as healthcare and education for their children.
The next Gedling Fairtrade Group meeting will be on Monday 24th August at 7.30pm at Gedling Civic Centre.
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.
Congratulations to the Smith family who won a selection of lovely Fairtrade goodies from our fun Fairtrade quiz!
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!
Since the Gedling Fairtrade Group was founded in September 2007 they have been very impressed to find a number businesses and organisations in the borough selling and using Fairtrade goods. They’ve also learned that many people in Gedling are now routinely adding Fairtrade items to their shopping list and understand the meaning of Fairtrade for farmers in developing countries.
The Gedling Faitrade Group usually meets once every 3 months and so involvement in the group does not have to be a big commitment. You might have a particular skill or experience that you would like to share with the group too.
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!