Activists gather for the first Fairtrade Region Yorkshire conference
Campaigners at the 2013 Fairtrade Yorkshire Conference
Fairtrade campaigners from across Yorkshire gathered this past weekend at Leeds University for the Fairtrade Yorkshire Campaigners’ Forum. The one-day event was an opportunity for networking, training and learning from each other, and also elected our first regional representative to the Fairtrade Foundation’s National Campaigner Committee.
The event was attended by Adam Gardner, Community Campaigns Officer from the Fairtrade Foundation. Discussion sessions looked into the future of Fairtrade campaigning and how Fairtrade Yorkshire can develop. Workshops covered subjects such as activities for schools and raising your local media profile.
Adam Gardner, Community Campaigns Officer, congratulating Karen Palframan
Children from Bankside Primary School gave a presentation on how their School Council had researched and promoted the use of Fairtrade products, and had learnt about the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh and what it tells us about the true cost of unfair trade.
Karen Palframan was nominated and elected as the first Yorkshire representative on the National Campaigner Committee. Karen is the chair of the Bradford Fairtrade Zone and Fairtrade Ilkley groups. She is an experienced and dedicated campaigner – in May she travelled down to London to keep up the Yorkshire end at the handover of the Make Trade Fair petition to David Cameron. Congratulations Karen!
