Fairtrade Yorkshire

Students at the University of Leeds can enjoy a fair Christmas after shopping at the annual University Fair Trade and Christmas Fair held in the palatial surroundings of Parkinson Court.

A wide variety of Fair Trade products was on sale including: food and drink items, handicrafts, fashion goods, accessories, stylish bags and jewellery.  Traders included Traidcraft, Oxfam and Fairer World.  Amongst the special Christmas purchases were Fairtrade christmas puddings, christmas cakes, nativity sets and dates from Palestine.

Members of Fairtrade Leeds set up a stall to sell Zaytoun products and to promote Leeds’ status as a Fairtrade City.

Over 2000 people attended the switching on of the Christmas lights in Skipton on 27th November.  This year the theme for the switch on was ‘make it a local and Fairtrade Christmas’ and the honour of illuminating the town went to Kaden of Water Street Primary School, who designed the poster for the event, and to Mark Dawson, the Coordinator of Fairtrade Yorkshire. 

The crowds were treated to an exciting entertainment line up including a rousing brassband and an appearance from Santa.  Late night shopping gave the people of Skipton the chance to marvel at the lights and purchase Fair Trade food, beverages and gifts from the many outlets in the town that sell them, including the dedicated Fair Trade shop, From the Source.

Skipton celebrated its first Christmas as a Fairtrade Town and following the switching on there was a civic reception in the Town Hall, hosted by the Mayor of Skipton, Councillor John Dawson.  Kaden was congratulated alongside runners up in the poster competition: Gemma of Greatwood Primary School and Jack from Parish Church Primary School.

Jack, Kaden and Gemma with the Mayor of Skipton and Mark Dawson of Fairtrade Yorkshire

This year’s spectacular Christmas light ‘switch on’ in Skipton, on Thursday 27th November, will have an extra special Fairtrade flavour. The slogan for the town centre switch on will be ‘make it a local and Fairtrade Christmas.’  Shoppers are encouraged to support the wide variety of local shops and businesses in Skipton, not least the thriving market. Skipton, which has recently been declared a Fairtrade Town, has many businesses which sell or serve Fairtrade products, and it is the home of the dedicated Fair Trade shop ‘From the Source’ which sells a selection of high quality hand made gifts and fashion items.

Kaden’s winning poster

On the 27th, live entertainment will take place from 5pm to 8pm, just outside of the Town Hall. A brassband will play from 5.30, leading up to the grand illumination at 6pm. The lights will be switched on by the Coordinator of Fairtrade Yorkshire, Mark Dawson, and the winner of the local and Fairtrade poster competition, Kaden, from Water Street Primary School. Over 200 entries were received in the competition to design a poster for the switch on and Kaden’s winning entry was chosen by a panel which included the Town Centre Manager and the Coordinator of Fairtrade Skipton. Many of Skipton’s businesses will be open for the evening. So come along and enjoy the magical atmosphere in the countdown to a Fairtrade Christmas.

The Malton and Norton Fairtrade Group hosted their annual Christmas shop at the Friends Meeting House, in Malton on Saturday 8th November. The group sold a wide variety of fair trade gifts, food, crafts, decorations and cards. The Malton shopper was introduced to an incredible range of quality ethical products, ensuring a win-win outcome for both shopper and producer. Despite atrocious weather, over £1600 of goods were sold.

A slightly soggy bunch of bananas a-peel to ASDA for better bananas

Campaigners from Leeds have called on Asda and Tesco stores to sell more Fairtrade bananas to prevent banana farmers and workers in the developing world suffering as a result of supermarket price wars.

They are asking the supermarkets to make the switch during November, when retailers typically negotiate supplier contracts for the year ahead.

Bananas are the UK’s favourite fruit – the UK public spends over £700m eating 5 billion of them a year – yet instead of making a decent living, many banana farmers that supply the UK are struggling to get by. For instance in Ecuador, one of the UK’s biggest suppliers, only 1 in 4 families working in the banana industry earns enough to take them above the poverty line.[1] Read the rest of this entry »

Children at Kirkstall St.Stephens Primary School were the first School Council to trial the “Peer Educators toolkit” on Fairtrade, developed by Leeds Development Education Centre (DEC). The toolkit is designed so children are taught the activities first with their School Council teacher, then go on to become Peer Educators, teaching the activities to the rest of the school.

The toolkits are part of the EC funded ‘Global Fairness: Schools as Agents of Change’ project which empowers children to learn about injustice and take action to make the world a fairer place.

Three toolkits have been developed on the themes of Fairtrade, Garment Workers and Waste.

Hannah Langdana, project coordinator, said “The banana role play game went really well, all the children were morally outraged that the banana worker only receives a 1p of the 30p price of a banana. In fact the children were so shocked that the children playing the role of the supermarket gave them their share of the money saying ‘have this, we don’t need it!’ If only real life was so straightforward!”

Feedback from the children showed the pupils’ enjoyment and learning, with responses such as “I felt happy and thankful for the farmers” and “I have learnt that fair trade is a really big difference to people’s lives”.

Schools are still being invited to trial the toolkits of Fairtrade, Waste and Garment workers, until Christmas. If your school is interested in a free Fairtrade workshop, please contact Hannah@leedsdec.org.uk.

Chairman of East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Patricia O’Neil declares the Riding a Fairtrade County.

Fairtrade supporters in the East Riding are on a high, as the Riding has been declared a Fairtrade County.  The East Riding of Yorkshire was awarded the status by the Fairtrade Foundation in recognition of the strength of support for Fairtrade in the area.  The status was given on the basis of 5 criteria: support from the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, evidence of a wide range of businesses stocking and serving Fairtrade products, use of Fairtrade by schools, community and faith groups, media coverage for Fairtrade action in the Riding and the existence of a strong Steering Group.  The flagship employer in the Riding, in recognition of Fairtrade products offered to staff, and a willingness to go further in support of Fairtrade, is BP at their east coast chemicals base.

Celebrations took place on 28th October in Beverley.  A civic event was held at the historic Guildhall where speeches were given by the Chairman of the East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Patricia O’Neil and the Coordinator of Fairtrade Yorkshire, Mark Dawson.  Civic parties from Beverley, Goole, Market Weighton and the Archdeacon of the East Riding were also present.  Mark Dawson commented ” Now we have this great achievement of Fairtrade status for the huge area of the East Riding.  Our aim is to harness the Yorkshire sense of justice, fair play and plain speaking, to stand up for producers across the globe.”

Civic leaders and Fairtrade supporters at the Beverley Guildhall

A celebration was also held at Toll Gavel Methodist church where the key note speech was given by John Turner, the Chair of FERN (Fairtrade East Riding Network), the group responsible for campaigning for the Fairtrade County status.  John told the packed church of the journey that the FERN group had been on in the long campaign towards status.  This year all the pieces have come together, leading to endorsement by the Fairtrade Foundation and the joyful declaration.  John paid tribute to all the organisations, groups and individual supporters who have helped in the successful campaign.

The officers of FERN (including John Turner on the left) celebrate at the Toll Gavel Methodist church.

Fairtrade Yorkshire welcomes t’Tour

Together we can end the cycle of poverty – and enjoy the ride!

A peeloton of Yorkshire’s very own Fairtrade bananas rides the Haworth to Oxenhope section of the Yorkshire Grand Depart route of the 2014 Tour de France. Destination: Fairtrade Yorkshire.

Yorkshire is the UK’s first Fairtrade Region with over 37 Fairtrade villages, towns, and cities, plus Fairtrade schools, universities, churches, cafes, restaurants, shops, businesses – and so on. Read more about Fairtrade Yorkshire.

The video was commissioned by the Bradford Fairtrade Zone for Fairtrade Yorkshire. Vive “Le commerce equitable”!!

Yorkshire: big hills, big heart, big on Fairtrade

(Special thanks to Rita Verity, Karen Palframan, Danny Hardaker, Liz Barker, John Sargent, Russell Brown, Simon Rawles photos, the Fairtrade Foundation, and all the cycling bananas – you know who you are)!

Fairtrade Yorkshire was named as a runner-up in the award for Outstanding Fairtrade Campaign. The awards were presented at a reception ceremony marking twenty years of the Fairtrade Mark, which took place at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London.

An independent judging panel of campaigning and fair trade experts named the Isle of Man Fairtrade Group as the overall winner, praising their “imagination, inclusion, inspiration and impact… in a way that typified exactly the kind of solid, cross-community campaigning which has taken place all across the UK to help get Fairtrade to where it is today after 20 years.”

In addition, the Fairtrade Foundation presented a Special Recognition Award to the early pioneers of the Fairtrade Towns movement – Garstang – who came up with the idea to unite their community in support of Fairtrade, and declared themselves the world’s very first Fairtrade Town.

Left to right: chef, writer and broadcaster Allegra McEvedy, MBE (patron of the Fairtrade Foundation); Helen Robinson and Sophie Bebb (fairandfunky, Holmfirth); Karen Palframan (chair of Bradford Fairtrade Zone and Yorkshire rep on the National Campaigner Committee); Rita Verity (Haworth Fairtrade Village); members of the Preston and South Ribble Fairtrade Group (joint runners up) and Mike Gidney (chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation)

Hannah Langdana (Chair of Fairtrade Yorkshire), Linda McAvan MEP, Karen Palframan and Richard Lane with the 20th birthday cake

This year is the 20th anniversary of the Fairtrade certification mark which guarantees fair payment and decent working conditions for millions of producers across the globe.

Fair Trade campaigners in Yorkshire celebrated at our conference, on Saturday 4th October at the Riddings Hall in the centre of Ilkley.

Speakers included Linda McAvan MEP (the chair of the European Parliament Committee on International Development) and Bruce Crowther (the founding father of the Fairtrade Towns movement). We heard a round up of what Fairtrade Yorkshire has achieved so far this year and discussed the Fairtrade movement with campaigners from across the region. And, of course, we celebrated with cake! This Fairtrade chocolate marvel was kindly made for us by Leeds’s Fairtrade Sinai Synagogue.