Fairtrade Yorkshire

Skipton

We will be using the knitted tree bands we made last year around the trunks of the trees on the High Street. Water Street and Greatwood Primary schools will be decorating two railings around the young trees with messages to world leaders and politicians urging them to keep the promises made in Glasgow, and messages to passers-by that choosing Fairtrade is choosing to tackle the climate crisis.

On Saturday 6th March there will be a Fairtrade stall in Holy Trinity Church at the top of the High Street from 10am to 3pm when we will be promoting local Fair Trade businesses – Namaste, Whitakers chocolates and From the Source.

Embsay with Eastby

Monday 21st February – Fairtrade chocolate cake will be served at ‘Making Waves’, the village weekly community café and this year’s promotional leaflets will be given to every customer. We are also going to be raising money for Traidcraft Exchange by using their ‘Find the Queen Bee’ game.

Saturday 26th February – There will be a coffee morning with a Fairtrade stall in the village Institute Hall from 10am to 12. To link with this year’s theme the village Library is going to display a selection of books on the environment and sustainability, which will include Skipton author, Katie Daynes’s book, “Can we really help the polar bears” published by Usborne last September.

Monday 28th February – Another chance to promote Fairtrade at ‘Making Waves’. Café profits for both Mondays in FT Fortnight will be given to Traidcraft Exchanges’s Big Brew

Shrove Tuesday 1st March – Fairtrade banana pancakes will be served from 12 to 2pm in the Cavendish Pub in the village and once again in the evening from 5.30pm to 7pm.

The primary school will be decorating the railings around the elm tree in the centre of Embsay village with messages and pledges.

An online event organised by Africaniwa (based in Halifax) and sponsored by Fairtrade Yorkshire

Join us for an online evening of story telling, music and art with the Africaniwa tribe from the UK, Ghana and around the world. Renowned musician, Richard Wiafe (pictured) is one of the featured artists.

Here is the link to register:

https://us06web.zoom.us/ meeting/register/ tZwkcu2qrj8vHtBIvUYovEGcWSg1gO Duzjcl

Most people who grow the cocoa that goes to make our favourite chocolate bars can’t afford to buy the fruits of their labours. Too often the cocoa beans are whisked off to the coast and sent off in ships to be processed in Europe. Children of cocoa farmers deserve better jobs in cocoa growing areas so they can stay with their families. And you can help.

Africaniwa are raising funds for a landmark project to incorporate cocoa processing into the curriculum of basic schools in cocoa growing communities in Ghana using Tarkwa Breman Girls School in the Western Region as pilot.

The pilot is expected to involve 6 staff and 210 pupils. We are working with a chocolate maker in Accra to deliver training to the teachers. Some of the pupils and teachers will be joining us live from Ghana on the evening to share their experiences and hopes for the project.

Throughout the evening you will have an opportunity to find out about the project and contribute to the fundraiser. We hope you enjoy hearing our story and if you are able, we’d be very grateful if you could help us raise funds to support the teachers and students in this vocational education programme.

Fairtrade Fortnight webinar with Shared Interest’s Kodzo Korkortsi

Join Kodzo Korkortsi – Foundation Manager at the Shared Interest Foundation live from Ghana as we explore the challenges faced by cocoa farmers in the region.

Tuesday February 22nd, 2022 11:00 AM

Learn what it’s like to farm cocoa in a time of climate change and how we can support the industry and keep up our supply of our favourite Fairtrade chocolate

Here is the link to register:

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEpcuivpzIpEtRwkI7Morf017H75ST3_ZMY

All Fair Trade fans in the east of our beautiful county will want to visit Near and Fair.

Near and Fair are a family owned independent fair trade shop based in Hull’s historic Trinity Market Arcade, selling ethically sourced gifts, clothing, and groceries from around the world.

They are registered with the British Association of Fair Trade Shops (BAFTS).

Check out the website: Near and Fair

Facebook.com/NearAndFair
Instagram.com/NearNFair

Fairtrade Fortnight 21 Feb – 06 March is a time to stand up for the producers of our food, drink, clothes etc who are overworked, underpaid and often exploited.  If you would like an activity to do during this fortnight then please consider the 90kg Rice Challenge.  Get your family, friends, neighbours and community involved and see how many bags of rice you can sell in order to help small holder farmers in Malawi work their way out of poverty with dignity and empower them to provide a secondary education for their children.

Take the 90kg rice challenge

Tuck into a fair Christmas treat from  Whitakers Chocolates a family business based in Skipton.

Over 80% of the Whitakers range uses Fairtrade Cocoa and over half the range is Vegan Society approved. Whitakers Chocolates takes their role as a leading chocolatier very seriously and strives to offer sustainable chocolate products at affordable prices.

In-line with their environmental and sustainability goals, Whitakers decided nearly 2 years ago to support the Fairtrade Foundation and also to revamp and develop their packaging to achieve 100% recyclability status by 2022. They invested heavily in the development and launch an ever growing Vegan chocolate range.

Whether you are looking for luxury boxed chocolates, gift hampers, Vegan gifts, Gluten-free chocolates or stocking fillers – Whitakers have just what you need – from dark chocolate fondant creams, milk and dark wafer thins, luxury chocolate truffles, Merry Christmas themed chocolate bars, stem ginger, rose Turkish Delight, signature mint crisps to the new and exclusive launch of the UK’s first Vegan selection tin.

Consumers can buy with confidence and buy from a true Yorkshire based family business.

The full range of luxury chocolate gifts and hampers can be found at the online shop: www.whitakerschocolates.com

Whitakers Chocolates offer FREE UK delivery on all online orders over £40!

To keep updated with chocolate news and new product launches, you can follow Whitakers on social media, you’ll find them on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest.

Please note: last orders for guaranteed delivery Sunday 19Th December (midnight).

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.

The Moths to a Flame project for COP26 in Skipton and Embsay

Moths to Flame in the making

The Fairtrade town and village groups worked together in the Great Big Green Week and encouraged others to join them making moths out of the middle of plastic milk containers. The moths made in Skipton and Embsay became part of an installation comprising 20,000 others in Glasgow’s Botanic Gardens for COP26, where they provided an oasis of calm and contemplation. If you’re asking why moths it’s because the moth is a metaphor for our relationship with energy.

Skipton and Embsay moths

The Moths to a Flame project was the brainchild of the Plymouth Energy Community and aimed to help people make creative connections with action on climate change. We certainly enjoyed the experience and were delighted when the moth installation won the Sustainability People’s Choice Art prize 2021. This short video on You Tube https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=wyJnvUy75yM  will give you a tour of the exciting installation and the photos show some of the moths we made and some in the making.

Moths to Flame art installation at Glasgow Botanic Gardens

Fairtrade supporters across Yorkshire are calling for COP26 to be more than just blah, blah, blah. Climate justice is needed to ensure that the countries of the global south, who have contributed the least to escalating climate change, are given the support they need to adapt to the changing climate. The Fair Trade movement is at the forefront of assisting producers to cope with the adverse effects of climate change and has a key role to play in creating sustainable livelihoods for the future.

Fairtrade supporters joined the Global Day for climate justice march in York on Saturday 6th November. The march began at York Minster and the protesters demanded that world leaders assembling at COP26 deliver on promises of a low carbon future and climate justice for the world’s poor.

Global Day for Climate Justice march in York

Across Yorkshire Fairtrade supporters have been drawing attention to the need for climate justice. They supported the Young Christian Climate Network march for climate justice, as activists walked from Cornwall to Glasgow, passing through our region. Events along the route included the holding of  a special service at York Minster, which was led by the Dean. At a local level, Fairtrade campaigner Cynthia Dickinson set up a display of climate related artwork in the Crofton Parish Centre and promoted the Wave of Hope, to persuade leaders to do act swiftly in the face of the escalating climate crisis.

Fairtrade stalwart, Cynthia and the artwork display in Crofton

Wave of Hope window display

The international community must confront trade injustice, enforce transparency and accountability in supply chains, and secure climate financing mechanisms, living incomes and wages for the world’s smallholder agricultural producers, artisans and workers in order to successfully address the climate crisis and guarantee a sustainable future for all, the world’s leading Fair Trade organizations announced today.

In a position paper released ahead of the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, Fairtrade, the World Fair Trade Organization, and the Fair Trade Advocacy Office and 14 additional signatories from the global Fair Trade movement, have outlined the critical steps deemed necessary for achieving comprehensive climate justice, including urging the private sector to increase transparency and accountability over sustainability in supply chains; demanding strengthened environmental regulations and trade rules; and calling for facilitated access to appropriate funding mechanisms for smallholder farmers and producers.

Without these measures in place, the signatory organizations argue, the international community’s climate ambitions will continue to fail the planet’s most vulnerable communities, particularly the smallholder farmers and agricultural producers, who remain increasingly affected by the consequences of climate change.

“Our planet’s farmers and agricultural workers are on the frontline of the global climate crisis. But far from being victims, they are integral in developing those key climate solutions that can reverse environmental degradation and pave the way towards a more sustainable tomorrow,” declared Dr. Nyagoy Nyong’o, Global CEO of Fairtrade International.

Download the position paper:

Fair Trade Movement Position Paper