The Fair and Funky team, based in Holmfirth, organised workshops on Fairtrade at The Tolson Museum in Huddersfield in March. Nine schools from across the region joined to celebrate and learn about Fairtrade in four workshops from leading practitioners.

“Exciting and informative the children learnt a lot and really enjoyed all aspects of the day. The workshops were really interesting, we loved creating poems, learning where different Fairtrade items come from and using all our senses to taste chocolate.” Carlton Junior and Infant School.

Yorkshire’s roster of Fairtrade Towns is set for a new addition as Settle sets out on the path towards Fairtrade Town status.

Settle: Trading the Trainers

Starting this year, as part of ACE (Action on Climate Emergency, Settle) food group, several events were organised for Fairtrade Fortnight.  There were two at Settle Primary School. The founding father of the Fair Trade Town movement, Bruce Crowther led a chocolate making session with Year 3 and Liz Roodhouse, from Craven Development Education Centre, worked with Year 5 and 6 pupils using a ‘Trading the Trainers’ game. St John’s Methodist Church raised funds through a coffee morning and the church Eco-Explorers (4–11yrs) learnt about Fairtrade during their afternoon session.

And sorting out the beans (with Bruce Crowther)

So far, the Fairtrade Settle campaign has received support from the Town Council, all of the churches, the Quaker Meeting House and the Library.

As there are many events already held annually in Settle it makes sense to join those rather than create too many new ones. For example, every year from July to September there is a Flowerpot Festival and the Fairtrade Settle supporters are going to enter a display as part of this.  In the Autumn there is Settle Stories, this year the theme is Climate Justice and ACE will be in attendance.  The Fairtrade Foundation’s leaflet on Climate Justice fits nicely into that.

Christ Church Key Stage 1

In Craven, this year’s annual competition for schools was sponsored by Namaste-UK, the Skipton company that specialises in fairly traded clothing, accessories, unusual gifts, furniture and home furnishings mostly from Nepal, India, Thailand and Indonesia. Inspired by items made for Namaste using repurposed sari silk, children created bunting, banners, bags, scrunches, cushions and a quilt from left over fabrics, pre-loved garments, curtains and bedding and even discarded medical scrubs.

Lothersdale School

All the Key Stage 1 children at Christ Church School, Skipton, carefully chose fabrics to bring the greeting ‘namaste’ alive. “We had lots of fun designing, choosing materials and creating the letters for the sign” said Miss Garland, the Year 2 teacher. At Lothersdale School, the sewing group made bunting and used it at their Fairtrade coffee morning in the village hall.

A six year old boy, with a little help from his mum made a bag using one of his mum’s old jumpers that he couldn’t bear to see being thrown away. There was  a cushion made from a little brother’s Babygro too.

The upcycled bag

The competition provided an opportunity to link Fair Trade with the need to look after the environment and cut down on waste, and work in partnership with a local company supporting marginalised small producers.

The Lothersdale school council (and some additional Year 5s) created a fabulous Fairtrade team this year and joined forces with Christ Church to hold a village coffee morning on Tuesday 14th March. What a fabulous turn out we had! Thank you to the children and parents who donated the delicious cakes and bakes to sell. During the coffee morning, the children from school spoke really clearly and confidently to adults from the community about what Fairtrade is and why it is so important to buy Fairtrade items. A big recognition goes to Jack A, whose Fairtrade passion and knowledge impressed lot of members of the public. A huge thank you to, Laila, Isabelle and Harry who excelled at selling squares to a game and congratulations to Stephen Cohen for winning the grand prize of your Fairtrade socks – we hope they keep you toasty warm and no more holes.

A new addition to the coffee morning this year, was the hugely successful tombola. Thank you to Fairtrade Yorkshire who donated £50 to Lothersdale Primary School so we were able to run this properly. The tombola was filled Fairtrade items from the CO-OP, Tesco, Aldi and items donated by ‘From the source’ in Skipton. The tombola raised £45 in total which will be donated towards Fairtrade charities.

A huge part of the coffee morning is connecting with the community, and we are really appreciative to Liz Roodhouse who joins us each year to promote her fairly traded items. On offer were a range of Fairtrade items including Easter eggs, socks and purses.

Richard Taylor School Harrogate

At Greatwood and Water Street primary schools in Skipton, children wrote messages on leaves to world leaders and politicians explaining why it is important for them to keep their promises made at COP26. These were hung on guards around young trees on Skipton High Street setts during Fairtrade Fortnight.

Greatwood Primary School messages

At Cononley Primary School and Richard Taylor School in Harrogate the children made heart-shaped pledges which were later made into badges and fridge magnets. A huge heart and smaller hearts showed children’s love for people and the planet.

Fairtrade arts – Cononley

The Fairtrade Fortnight competition for schools this year was to create a rap, a poem or piece of art to inspire others to choose a world where farmers and workers are treated fairly and the planet we share is cared for and protected. It attracted over fifty entries and was sponsored by Fairtrade Yorkshire who provided Skipton Fairtrade with a grant to cover the cost of prizes.

See more for the winning entries:

Read the rest of this entry »

Celebrate the 18th anniversary of Leeds becoming a Fairtrade city with our birthday card competition!

Who can enter?

All schools and youth groups, for 5-16 year olds in Leeds. All organisations who enter will receive a certificate.

How can entries be sent?

Email photos or scans of the designs, together with the names and ages of children to hannah@leedsdec.org.uk but please keep the original A5 design for printing!

Prizes

The winning card will be printed and sent to all councillors and MPs across the city. The school/ youth group will receive a Fairtrade football and Sarah Ridley’s new book “ Fairtrade First”!

Deadline for entries: 07/03/22. Winners will be announced 18/03/22.

What is Fairtrade?

Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions and fairer pay for people growing and making the products we use.

Leeds DEC can run fun and interactive workshops at your school to deepen children’s understanding about Fairtrade, such as Be a Cocoa Farmer. To find out more click here  https://www.globalschools.org.uk/workshop-list

“Chocolate is made out of cocoa beans!”

“Why is cocoa farming so hard and why do people get paid less money?”

“I didn’t know that the shell of the cocoa pod is yellow!”

“Fairtrade should be all around the world!” Year 3 pupils at Tinsley Meadows Academy

“What went well?” “ Everything! Just at the right level. Very engaging and interactive. Good plenary- pulling it all together!” Year 1 teacher at Wakefield Grammar Pre- Prep School

“ Lots of hands on (actions) to reinforce, lots of children given opportunities to share ideas.” Year 1 teacher at Wakefield Grammar Pre- Prep School

What is Fairtrade Leeds?

Leeds has been a Fairtrade city since 2004, this means that the council support Fairtrade ( eg by serving Fairtrade refreshments in their meetings.) Across the city, Fairtrade products can be bought. Schools and faith groups support Fairtrade. Events are organised to promote understanding of Fairtrade and a steering group keeps up the pressure to make sure activities continue to happen! Fairtradeleeds.org.uk

During the lead up to the COP26 climate conference, All Saints CE Primary School in Totley (near Sheffield) took part in the ‘Wave of Hope’ project with their partner school in Uganda, the Old Kampala Primary School. The ‘Wave of Hope’ project was the initiative of the Crack the Crises coalition, of which the Fairtrade Foundation and 69 other organisations are part of. Each child wrote a message of hope for the world on their traced hand – hands were chosen because they reflect our connection with the wider community and a wave signals a growing momentum for change as more people speak out and take action for a better future. Digital images of the display were sent to Crack the Crises and were part of a digital gallery used to greet world leaders at COP26.

Leeds was bursting with Fairtrade events during Fairtrade Fortnight 2019. The group connected with local schools, businesses and churches as well as the university.

1 March     Schools’ Fairtrade Celebration held at Leeds Civic Hall.  Approximately 60 children attended from 15 schools. Fabian Hamilton M.P. opened the event and the Lord Mayor closed it.

2 March  Coffee Morning at the Methodist Church Hall in Chapel Allerton. As well as cakes and coffee there was a Traidcraft stall, a Zaytoun stall, and Fair Grounds – a fairly traded jewellery company.

5 March   Fairtrade stall at Leeds University Fairtrade Fair.

7 March    Fairtrade stall at Lyons Davidson Solicitors. We were invited to have a stall in the foyer of the company.

9 March   Fairtrade stall at Cardigan Road Co-op.  In conjuction with the manager of the shop, we gave free tastings of Co-op wine and chocolate, with a display of every other Fairtrade product in the store.

Gooooooal!! Pupils from across Leeds and Wakefield put Fairtrade in the back of the net!

Friday 22nd June saw schools from across Leeds and Wakefield come together to celebrate Fairtrade and learn about the people who make footballs at Leeds Civic Hall.

This annual event, run in partnership with Leeds Development Education Centre (DEC) and Fairtrade Leeds for the 8th year, featured special guest Angus Coull from Bala Fairtrade Sports balls. Pupils had a go at making their own footballs and learnt about how Fairtrade means that football workers in Pakistan can now benefit from free eye care and subsidised glasses and free school books and backpacks for workers’ children. The Fairtrade Premium also part funds projects such as water purification plants located just outside the factory gates so that anyone in the community can take advantage of free, safe drinking water.

“It is particularly important that we focus on the people who create the footballs during this World Cup, who often are paid low wages for the hours of work they put into stitching the balls together” said Hannah Langdana, from Leeds DEC.

Pupils from Brownhill Primary School commented “We loved the event. We all got to learn something new about Fairtrade!”

The Coop sponsored the event and provided real life case studies of how Fairtrade can change the lives of the farmers and their communities.

Other special guests included Hilary Benn MP who said it was a “Fantastic event” and the Lord Mayor of Leeds Cllr Graham Latty. Stalls were run by The Beehive Fairtrade shop, Europe Direct and Leeds DEC.

An exciting new book has been published by York Fair Trade Forum.  Edited by experienced educationalists, it is suitable for use in the classroom or by youth groups.

Every Fair Trade group should have a copy (or several).

We all depend on people and countries from far and near for the things we use and eat every day.  What we buy affects the lives of the people who grow, produce and make what we buy.  So, many of us buy fair traded, or ‘Fairtrade’ goods, which give those who produce them a fair price and better working conditions.

There is a long history, in many different countries of people who have helped to improve the lives of producers by selling only goods which had been fairly produced.

Read about just 10 of these courageous and visionary ‘champions’ in this book.

Buy 1-10 copies    £4 each plus postage

Buy 11-20 copies   £3.75 each plus postage

Buy 21 -24 copies    £3.50 each plus postage

Buy over 25 copies    £3.50 free postage

Orders from:

helen@fairtradeyork.com

By post: Book sales c/o Fairer World, 84 Gillygate York YO317EQ