Strictly
Fairtrade Tea DanceUniversity Hall
Surrey University Campus
Guildford
Sat 27th February, 4 - 8 pm
The Strictly Fairtrade Tea dance (see left column) will be our launch event for a Surrey campaign.
Thursday 25th February
Taysir Arabesi will be speaking at Godalming Friends Meeting House at 7.30pm at an event hosted by Guildford Peace and Justice. Taysir is Zaytoun's Director in Palestine. He lives in Salfeet district which is an area highly dependent on olive cultivation and one which has seen much of its rich agricultural resources stolen through the construction of the illegal settlements. He has been working with community agricultural projects for the last ten years and has been instrumental in the grass roots campaigning against the building of the illegal annexation wall in the West Bank. Taysir is a passionate speaker about the rights of the small farmer and of the Palestinian people and an advocate of the power of fair trade.
Friday 26th February
Taysir will be speaking again at an event hosted by members of the Shah Jahan mosque in Woking from 6pm.
Guildford Fairtrade Steering Group and Zonta Club Guildford have combined forces
to hold a Fairtrade wine tasting evening, supporting by Guildford Borough
Council, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm. Zonta is a global organization of executives
and professionals working together to advance the status of women worldwide
through service and advocacy. Come to Guildford Trinity Centre, 6 Trinity
Church yard, GU1 3RR.
Saturday 27th February 10am
Big Brew tea and coffee tasting morning between 10am and 12 am at St. Nicholas church Great Bookham (Pastoral centre)
'Swap It' street event in Addlestone by the main roundabout in the town centre
Leatherhead's Steering group have organized displays of Traidcraft goods to run through Fairtrade Fortnight in the new Fairtrade "All Stars Café" in the Theatre in Church Street, Leatherhead, and will be running a coffee and tea tasting between 10am and 12 noon on the Saturday morning.
Paul Chandler, Chief Executive of Traidcraft will be speaking at Digby Stuart College, Roehampton University. Event starts at 10am. Contact Moyna Bridge from Oxted on 01883 716257 for more information.
Guildford and Woking Strictly Fairtrade Tea Dance at
the University, 4-8pm. PLEASE SEE COLUMN TO THE LEFT FOR MORE INFORMATION.
Sunday 28th February
Tatsfield - OUR NEWEST FAIRTRADE VILLAGE - will be celebrating being awarded Fairtrade Village Status on in Tatsfield Village Hall at 7pm. Please call Hilary Harber on 01959 577949 if you wish to attend.
Lingfield and Dormansland is organising a Mad Hatters Tea Party for February at Lingfield Community Centre
Big Swap tea party at 50 Row Town.
Saturday 6th March
'Swap It' street event in Addlestone outside Tesco's.
22 February - 7 March
In the new FT 'All Stars Cafe' in The Theatre, Church Street, Leatherhead (just off the High Street), there will be additional displays of Traidcraft goods etc, posters, leaflets and a CD running during the fortnight. Several of us will be there from 10am - 12noon to offer coffee and tea tasting during the morning.
St. Pauls church Camberley will have stalls for Fairtrade food,
handbags and clothes after Sunday morning services through Fairtrade Fortnight
(i.e. between 10.30am and 11am, and again between 12.15pm and 1pm).
»Posted by Becca | 14 Jan 2010 | Updated 20 Feb
The focus this year is tea. So we are pleased to invite you to join us for
Strictly
Fairtrade Tea Dance
University Hall
Surrey University Campus
Guildford
Sat 27th February, 4 - 8 pm
Tickets are £4 from the University Box Office (01483 686876) or store©surrey.ac.uk. This will be a fun event with a competitive element. We are organising it with the Guildford Fairtrade group and are looking for teams from both Woking and Guildford to perform dances which will be judged. So if you know anyone who likes to dance (it doesn't have to be ballroom) and who would like to enter a team to do a (max) 3 minute piece, then please get in touch. There will be 2 categories: one for people who do do a bit of dancing; and one for complete amateurs - maybe workplace teams etc.. We will of course be hoping that Woking make a good show!
Even if you don't dance, please put this in your diary! There will be some demonstrations for us all to watch, Fairtrade tea tasting, live music, competition dances to watch and a slot for everyone who wants to have a go. If any of you would like to help by baking a cake, making tea etc., then please do get in touch. We would love to have new volunteers. You will also need to register your interest in having tickets as numbers will be limited (there will be a small charge for these). Our aim is to improve the lives of tea pickers who will benefit by more tea companies becoming Fairtrade buyers through our efforts. Further info: ussufairtrade©surrey.ac.uk
Saturday 6th March Woking group will have a stall in Mercia Walk just off the town square throughout the day.
We have 6 copies of the DVD Black Gold, all about coffee farmers in Ethiopia. Why not organize an evening at your church or youth group, or simply a evening with friends with a glass or two of Fairtrade wine and screen this film. You will never think the same about your simple cappuccino!
For more information about the film, go to www.blackgoldmovie.com or contact Becca.
The Fairtrade Foundation has recently designed materials to promote Fairtrade in the workplace. We would really like to know what offices and other places of work in Woking, however big or small (major companies, garages, estate agents, hairdressers, whatever), use Fairtrade now. If your place of work doesn't, what about planning a tasting session during Fairtrade Fortnight? What about talking to whoever orders coffee and tea for your workplace about using Fairtrade? More and more workplaces are switching, realising that employees feel good about working somewhere prepared to make ethical choices. Do contact WFAN if we can help.
You could also go to the Fairtrade Foundation's website www.fairtradeatwork.org.uk, which contains resources specifically for those wanting to encourage their employers to make the switch. You could also simply send the witty Fairtrade at Work viral to colleagues (www.fairtradeatwork.org.uk/FT_s_8_2.html).
The Fairtrade Foundation has just announced that beauty products
have now joined the range of Fairtrade options available in the UK. People can
now buy lip balms, face masks, body butters and shower gels from five companies
including Boots, Bubble and Balm, Essential Care, Lush and Neal's Yard. Each
beauty product contains one or more Fairtrade-certified ingredient, such as
cocoa butter, shea butter, sugar or brazil nut oil, benefitting disadvantaged
producers from countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To date, 57 beauty
products have been licensed by the Fairtrade Foundation and we know many more
will follow.
»Posted by Becca | 29 June 2009
The new cafe at The Lightbox - called Palette - the Art
of Taste - now has Fairtrade coffee, apple juice and orange juice. The
new owner, Nigel, is committed to using local and ethically sourced products.
A big thank you to all the local campaigners who have repeatedly let The Lightbox
know that we would like to see Fairtrade products available there, given that
Woking is Fairtrade Town!
»Posted by Becca | 27 April 2009
We had two cotton producers from Cameroon visiting Woking schools
for a day. We also launched a new Fairtrade Directory for Woking in the Peacocks
on Saturday 7th March.
The big event was another of our great debates. The title was Is there time
to be Fair? Is climate change more urgent than global poverty or civil liberties?
and we had a great panel to help us explore the tensions between these issues.
They were:
• Kate Allen, Director Amnesty International
UK (AI is about to launch a campaign about human rights and poverty);
• Andy Atkins, Executive Director
Friends of the Earth (formerly with Tear Fund so he also knows a lot about poverty
in developing countries);
• Barbara Crowther, Head of Communications
Fairtrade Foundation (Barbara knows so much about Fairtrade and is the person
you often hear answering those tricky questions on the radio.)
The event was held at Christ Church, Woking on Saturday 28th February. »Posted
by Becca | 25 February 2009
Traidcraft have brought out a number of exciting resources
for Fairtrade Fortnight 2009, including a church pack full of sermon notes,
prayers, reflections, project case studies, event ideas and youth activities
suitable for Fairtrade Fortnight and beyond. There is also, free of charge,
a fundraising pack and a DVD.
See www.traidcraft.co.uk/fairtrade
fortnight.
Or, the packs can be ordered from 13th Feb from 0845 330 8900,
quoting the following codes:
Church pack – 49564
Fundraising pack with DVD – 51308
»Source: Anne Witton of Traidcraft | 07 January 2009
I just found out that Thorntons in the Peacocks are now selling 3 different Fairtrade chocolate bars. I can attest to the tastiness of the milk chocolate one! »Posted by Becca | 25 November 2008
Latest research commissioned by the Fairtrade Foundation and launched to coincide with World Fair Trade Day on Saturday 10 May 2008, shows more UK consumers than ever before – 70% of the population – recognise the FAIRTRADE Mark, up from 57% in 2007.
The research also shows that more people understand what the Mark is about, with 64% of the population linking the Mark to a better deal for producers in the developing world, and that people are really being influenced to buy Fairtrade products. 1 in 4 of the UK’s shoppers now regularly buy several products carrying the Fairtrade Mark.
Of course in Woking we are not surprised by this. We have had so much support at our campaigning events and know there are hundreds of people spreading the Fairtrade message week in, week out, across the town. Just keep up the good work! »Posted by Becca | 23 July 2008
If you have spotted Fairtrade products somewhere that you have not seen before, please do let us know. Here’s what we know about that is new:
• There will be a Fairtrade chocolate-tasting event at St. Mary of Bethany Church on Thursday 21st May 2009. Tickets £2.50 from Becca. The evening will include a speaker from Trading Visions, the charitable arm of Divine Chocolate, who will be talking about what makes good chocolate - both in terms of taste and ethically.
• We plan to have a stall on 'Environment Day' at The Lightbox on Saturday 6th June 2009.
• Having already created a Myspace page for
WFAN, a sympathetic student has kindly agreed to also construct a Facebook page.
Everyone is encouraged to sign up as "friends".
»Posted by Becca | 27 April 2009
There was a big rally in London on Saturday 28th March, before the G20 leaders met in London to discuss the current financial crisis. Those of you who were at the debate we held at Christ Church, Woking, on 28 February will have heard Andy Atkins, head of Friends of the Earth, say the time to act is now, well before the Copenhagen meetings on climate change later in the year.
More than 100 organisations have joined the platform to date including development NGOs, environmental NGOs, faith groups, Diaspora organisations and trade unions. Platform members include: Trades Union Congress, Oxfam, Action Aid, Tearfund, World Vision, Friends of the Earth, World Development Movement, United Nations Association and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.
Schedule: Assemble Victoria Embankment, 11am (Nearest tube: Temple); Rally in Hyde Park from 2pm
Consult www.bond.org.uk
for more information.
»Posted by Becca | 16 March 2009
Hi everyone. We just wanted to send out a quick newsletter to tell you how Fairtrade Fortnight went. We had loads of publicity in local papers for our events, particularly the Fashion Show which was covered by the Woking News and Mail and the Heathrow paper Villager. The main thrust of ... {MORE}
• Talk: Fairtrade
in Palestine - Friday 29th February – Shah Jahan
Mosque, 8pm. Taysir Arabesi, a Palestinian working with the ethical company
Zaytoun, spoke about how fair trade is making a difference to Palestinian farmers
through the sale in the UK of olive oil, dates and other products.
• Fairtrade Fashion Show - Saturday
1st March – Cotton on the Catwalk, Food Court, The Peacocks Shopping
Centre. Designs in Fairtrade cotton by students from Brooklands College were
modeled throughout the day.
• Business Breakfast - Woking
Fairtrade Action Network is delighted to be working with Cafedirect
and the Lightbox to hold a Business Breakfast. Local business leaders
were able to hear all about the work and motivation behind Fairtrade innovator
Cafedirect, and heard directly from an African tea farmer about the difference
Fairtrade makes in the lives of his community.
• Schools photographic competition
- We ran a schools competition as in previous years. This year it took the form
of a photographic competition and the winning entries wereon display in the
Lightbox in March.
See Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 poster
Several of us from Woking helped put on the first South East regional event. Representatives of about 25 local Fairtrade groups attended this networking event and heard from Fairtrade Foundation speakers about plans to develop regional networks to provide support for activists.
The next step is to canvas opinion from groups across the region about how we move forward so watch this space!
For more information, contact Becca Rowland at Rebecca.rowland@ntlworld.com.
 |
|
Fairtrade Fortnight 2007: Fatima
Lopez at Scythwood School with mayor - Cllr John Kingsbury - and pupils |
We had a great Fairtrade Fortnight here in Woking.
Not only did we have a massive turnout for the trade economics debate, but we held two stalls: one in Wolsey Place on Friday 2nd March and another in the Peacocks on Friday 9th March (both over the lunch period) and talked to numerous people about asking their workplaces to make the switch to Fairtrade.
We discovered that some large Woking companies, such as Royal Blue, are already using Fairtrade tea and coffee. Employees from several other companies, such as Lastminute.com, which has a call centre in the centre of Woking, told us how much they would like their employers to make the switch.
In addition - thanks to Stephen Marriott who works for fairtrade company Cafedirect and lives in Brookwood - we were able to bring a fairtrade farmer to Woking for the second year running. Fatima is 23 and is being trained as a coffee taster in her community in Nicaragua, thanks to Fairtrade. She spent the day with children at Horsell village School, Sythwood School, St. Dunstans and St. John the Baptist, and her visit was covered by both the News and Mail and Woking Review.
Esquires, one of our local coffee shops which really supports the use of Fairtrade products, has won an industry award as the best in the South East.
The Woking Fairtrade Action Network AGM was held at the Maybury Centre. Anna Seifert spoke about fairly traded Palestinian olive oil and her recent trip to see the olive harvest and meet the farmers..
WFAN has been given the go-ahead to hold a Fairtrade Fashion Show on the ground floor of the Peacocks during Fairtrade Fortnight. We are looking for some young enthusiastic campaigners to help put the show together. Contact Jenniann for more details.
Woking Mosque – We have made some great contacts at the mosque by holding a stall each Friday prayers through Ramadan. We mainly sold fairly traded olive oil and dates, but also other Fairtrade products. To our surprise the honey was really popular too. Several members of the mosque have indicated that they would like to set up their own stall on a regular basis, which would be brilliant. Did you know, Muslims break their fast each day with a date which is why selling fairly traded Palestinian dates went down so well!
Guildford was busy in October and November with 3 fairs that all had a Fairtrade element. The Guildford Fairtrade group held a Fairtrade fair, the Compassionate Living fair had a Fairtrade stall as well as a stall for the Zaytoun Palestinian Fairtrade products and the Cathedral held a Christmas fair with Fairtrade and Palestinian stalls as well.
Becca helped out at the cathedral fair and heard that £500 of fairly traded Palestinian olive oil was sold. Good job!
The Fair is actually in the Cathedral itself - primarily to raise funds for the Cathedral (mainly building restoration work), but it would be really good to have some Fair Trade stalls too… (as we should be a Fairtrade Church by then). If you would like to have a stall please email Elizabeth to see if there are still spaces: E.Thompson AT surrey.ac.uk
In at Waitrose in Goldsworth Park you can now find Fairtrade Belgian chocolate waffles and Fairtrade vanilla extract. The choice keeps on growing. There are now over 2,500 products with the Fairtrade Mark. Please click on where to get fair trade goods in Woking for the latest in and around Woking.
WFAN committee member Sue Biddle writes: "You might like to know that the Co-op in Pyrford are selling superb, really good quality cotton shopping bags for 99p each. They are a good size with the fairtrade logo etc. on them. I've bought them for my friends."
Now that cotton has Fairtrade certification we have found out that not only M&S but also Monsoon, Next and Debenhams have all launched Fairtrade cotton clothing ranges, mostly T-shirts, vest tops, underwear and PJ’s. However, enquiries into local stores indicates that none of the Woking branches are currently stocking these products and tell us that they are too small. Please keep asking for Fairtrade!
The links page has links to clothing companies who sell cotton with the fair-trade mark – many of whom were exhibitors at last year’s fabulous Fairtrade Fashion show.
[ Selected photos of 2005's Fairtrade Fair and Fashion Show
Ten products from Fair Trade and Organic company Tropical Wholefoods are currently on trial in in the new Wholefoods sections of six Morrisons stores including Woking. The products are:
If the trial is successful, then Tropical Wholefoods will get listings in all Morrisons stores. This will enable them to increase their purchases from their Fair Trade suppliers considerably.
Is Fairtrade for those with a heart and Free Trade for those with a head? A debate on the Economics.
Some 350 people turned out for this WFAN-organised debate, coming from as far as London, Godalming, Aldershot and Reigate. It just goes to show that there is an appetite out there for people to better understand the relationship between trade and poverty.
The
speakers were (left to right in photo):
You can get a copy of a recording of this debate on CD from Becca (see Contact Us page). You may at some stage also be able to listen to the recording on www.christchurchwoking.org.uk.
View (1) speaker profiles (2) a copy, in pdf format, of the relevant poster on the debate on the economics of fairtrade.
Local campaigners were delighted to hear that the Sainsbury’s Café at Brookwood will be changing their coffee to Fairtrade as part of a national decision. Congratulations Sainsbury’s on the switch!
We would like to offer one or two teachers from each school in the Woking area the opportunity to attend an after school training session on Tuesday 16th January, 2007, 4:00-5.30pm at Oaktree Infants School, Gorsewood Road, St. John’s. The aim is to explain how your school can become a Fairtrade school.
Please email Claire Jackson, WFAN Schools Co-ordinator (see contact us page), with the names of your school and one or two teachers by the end of the Autumn term.
We also heard not long ago that the coffee shop at Wisley RHS Gardens is now serving Fairtrade coffee as the norm. With a great gift shop on site, Becca didn’t need much persuasion to check out if this was true. If you visit do remember to tell the staff that you are pleased they now have Fairtrade coffee.
Sue Biddle has joined our steering group as a speaker on Fairtrade. She is happy to speak to adult groups and is taking bookings. [ Photo of the group who attended the Traidcraft speaker programme last summer. Sue is on the top row, second from right ]
Café Americano's coffee is now supplied by Union Coffee Roasters. Some of the coffee carries the Fairtrade Mark but all of it is fairly traded. The reason not all coffee carries the FT Mark is that for it to be sold through FT channels a farmer must be part of a cooperative. This means that small individual farms in remote locations may not be able to participate in the Fairtrade process. Union Coffee Roasters is an ethical firm that seems to make a point of working with farmers in this situation. If you want to know more, their Care For Coffee web site is www.michaelsobellhouse.co.uk/cfcmain/home.htm. All their sugar is also now Fairtrade.
Please click on www.fairtrade.org.uk/pr110306.htm.
Woking’s Fairtrade group have been awarded a sum from the ‘Awards for All’ programme of the Lottery Grants for Local Groups. The sum is to cover the cost of producing a leaflet about Fairtrade which will be sent out to all households in the Borough as an insert to the November issue of the Woking Magazine. Plenty of spare copies will be available from Becca for anyone who has an opportunity to distribute them further.
*** See FT photos 2006 for photos. **
Becca has been sent a 20-minute Powerpoint presentation, with accompanying script, on Making Poverty History. It celebrates what was achieved by the MPH campaign in 2005. If you would like to use it or have one of the WFAN team present it to a group or church congregation, contact us. You can also download it using the following links:
Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to achieve this. Without the efforts of many, many people this would not have been possible.
There was a celebration in Guildford Cathedral of the fact that Guildford Diocese has achieved Fairtrade status through the hard work of many people in the parishes.
Woking’s Fairtrade fame has spread. A group from Norway visieted Woking on 7th February to see how we ran the campaign to become a Fairtrade town.
This took place at St. Saviour’s Church, Woodbridge Road, Guildford. There will be two very eminent Speakers. Susan Prowse, who works with Hillary Benn in the Department of International Development, will talk about World Trade. Barbara Lawes is the Mothers Union Worldwide Special Projects Officer will explain how the work of MU has become so effective in the Developing World by enabling women to use their own initiatives and talents to improve the lives of their families and local communities. There will be Exhibitions, Workshops and Music based on issues from Peru, West Indies and Sudan. Admission is FREE but, to give an indication of the numbers involved, please contact MU at Diocesan House (01483 504009) or any MU Branch. Coffee will be served on registration. Lunch will be provided by the charity PROJECT PERU who will make a moderate charge to cover their costs, so a polite request is made for participants NOT to bring their own food. (The Guildford Jubilee Debt Campaign group was formed this spring, part of a coalition of local/regional groups and national organisations whose focus is on changing UK government policy on debt.)
Despite the soggy day there was a good turn out from right across the country. Eight of us from Woking showed up. We were able to meet with our own MP, Humfrey Malins, for about half an hour. Mr Malins said of our contingent: “I was delighted to receive this delegation. I am writing to the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on their behalf, asking what this government will do to respond to trade justice concerns.” [ statement that Humfrey Malins' gave us on the Conservative Party’s position on fair / free trade ]
Campaigners have been lobbying the government for change on trade rules so as to do away with trade conditions that force farmers in developing countries to compete with cheaper foreign imports. It is encouraging how far the debate about trade has moved on over the last few years. We have to keep pressure up for the world trade organisation meeting which takes place in December! You can check out the Trade Justice Movement website at www.tjm.org.uk.
 |
| Children from Oaktree School with their Fairtrade award and artwork. (Click picture to ENLARGE) |
Oaktree School in St Johns has just become the first school in Woking to achieve Fairtrade status. To become a Fairtrade School, Oaktree School for infants had to meet three goals that involved promoting Fairtrade.
Councillor Ken Howard is a governor and chair of the Eco committee at the Oaktree School commented, “It’s really not difficult to gain Fairtrade status for schools, and it’s so important. Even if people only put one Fairtrade item in their shopping basket, it will make a difference.” Head teacher, Mrs Glen Alder added “Fairtrade is already in the curriculum and it helps children think about the wider world.”
If you would like to know more about how Fairtrade gives farmers in third world countries a better deal, then visit www.fairtrade.org.uk
Anyone wishing to contact Becca following her interview on the Breakfast Show can do so by emailing or phoning her.
Campaigners from our group joined millions of others from around the world in a week of action for trade justice. The campaigners called on the government to put trade justice on the agenda of the G8 (meeting of the world’s richest nations), when it meets in July. The global week of action is a part of the year long campaign to Make Poverty History, which was launched in Trafalgar Square by Nelson Mandela in February.
 |
| Becca, Billie and families present Humphrey Mallins, Woking's MP, with 10 banners that had been signed by hundreds of Woking people, asking Tony Blair to help' make poverty history' in 2005. (Click pic to ENLARGE) |
The organisers - the Trade Justice Movement - want poor countries to have the right to help farmers and vulnerable industries. At present, such countries have to accept 'free trade' policies, resulting in millions of farmers being left to compete with cheap imports that flood their markets. Unable to sell their goods they lose their only means of making a living. The week ended with a national protest night in London , where our Woking group joined 25, 000 people to make it the biggest trade justice event so far. Gordon Brown paid tribute to campaigners, saying:
I would
like to pay tribute to all those who have, out of shared conviction, commitment
and courage, gathered in Westminster and will hold a vigil all night calling
for trade justice. The Trade Justice Movement forms a unique coalition that
shows that we are each of us not powerless individuals but that acting together
we have the power to change the world for the better. And because of the challenge
you posed to us, the government have said clearly that poor countries should
not be forced into trade liberalisation either as a result of aid conditionality
or mercantilist approach to trade negotiations.
But I know you will not rest because words have to be turned into action by
all of the international community and action into outcomes that help all of
the world’s poor. And so, I commend not just what you have achieved so
far but for what you aspire to achieve.
Make Poverty History day at St. Saviours Church, Woodbridge Road, Guildford, included speakers and workshops, youth parliament, music, art and drama, and the Make Poverty History Youth Concert. For more information on the Trade Justice Movement visit www.tjm.org.uk .
The 'flash mob' that took place in Woking Town Square on the 6th November was a huge success, with over 100 local supporters showing up. [Photo 1] [Photo 2]
last update: 25/11/2008 |
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![[Photo 1]](pics/banana_mob_medium.jpg){kind=link}
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