Here you will find the latest news about our campaign, and any Fairtrade related events which will be coming up, whether they are run by us or other organisations.
If you have an event you would like to have put on this page, please email our Webmaster.
Breaking News:
Woodbridge Now An Official Fairtrade Town
We are proud to annouce that as of Saturday 23rd February 2008, Woodbridge is an official Fairtrade Town. Our application was sent to the Fairtrade Foundation in January and the decision has come in time for an official presentation at the Fair Trade Fashion show this Saturday (details below).
Fairtrade For Woodbridge wishes to thank all those who have worked to make this possible. More details of this and our activities over the coming Fairtrade Fortnight (25th Feb-9th Mar) will appear here shortly so please check back again soon after reading about the events below.
Upcoming Events
Click for details
Fair Trade Clothes Show - Saturday 23rd February
Black Gold Movie Showing - Sunday 2nd March
Fair Trade Clothes Show
Saturday 23rd February 2008
An opportunity to come, view and purchase food, fashions and fair trade goods at Woodbridge Methodist Church, St John's Street, Woodbridge.
From 10.00am there will be stalls selling and giving information about fairly traded goods. Light refreshments will also be served all day.
The evening will include two Fair Trade Clothes Shows (starting at 6.30pm and 8.00pm) with a catwalk and local personalities showing off the latest fashions made from Fairtrade and other fairly traded materials. These require tickets priced at £5.00 each, available from the following places:
The Singhing Piper, 1, Gobbitts Yard, Woodbridge
The Georgian Coffee House, 47A The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge
St Mary's Shop, Market Hill, Woodbridge
For more details or to volunteer to help, please call 01473 626858 or 01728 621225.
Showing of Black Gold Movie at The Riverside Theatre
Sunday 2nd March 2008 at 3.00pm and 5.00pm
"The most provocative documentary of the year, which has already changed the way millions of people drink coffee, Black Gold tells the story of Tadesse Meskela and his struggle to keep his 74,000 Ethiopean coffee farmers from Western exploitation. Black Gold exposes the truth behind each cappucino and demands each and every one of us to Wake Up and Smell the Coffee."
For more information see www.blackgoldmovie.com and www.theriverside.co.uk.
Previous Events & News
Café Noel at St John's Church, Woodbridge
Saturday 24th November 2007
Café Noel is one of two Fairtrade coffee mornings held every year at St John's Church in Woodbridge. The most recent, on Saturday 24th November 2007, was an excellent opportunity to find out more about Fairtrade in a relaxed and friendly café style environment. There were stalls selling goods from Traidcraft, Tearfund, and FairPlay Seed. Argentinean crafts, an environment stand and Christian book and music stalls we also there. Due to how popular they were previously, we (Fairtrade For Woodbridge) were selling official Fairtrade footballs and rugby balls at cost price on our own stand. Naturally, Fairtrade refreshments and homemade cakes were available to sit down with and enjoy.
Face painting was another popular attraction for the children (but not just the children!) and a toy corner was available for the little ones. A local band called Joshua's Army also added to the atmosphere.
The morning was a real success, with a a comfortably full church throughout the morning. We would like to thank all who came and especially those who helped in so many different ways. Our next Fairtrade coffee morning at St John's will be in May 2008. Please check back here in April for details.
You can read about and see photos from a similar coffee morning lower down this page.
Fairtrade Fortnight
Monday 6th - Sunday 19th March 2006
Every year the Fairtrade Foundation declares a national Fairtrade Fortnight - an opportunity to raise awareness of Fairtrade and encourage people to think more about how their shopping habits affect other people. Promotion is done by special events, advertising, tv and radio programmes and more. Many shops also choose to promote Fairtrade at this time by holding special offers on the products they sell which carry the FAIRTRADE Mark.
Last year Fairtrade For Woodbridge set up and manned stalls in both Budgens and The Co-op in the Thoroughfare throughout the two weeks, giving out information and free samples of some Fairtrade products, as well as pointing people to shops and Cafés in Woodbridge which sell them. Unfortunately we were unable to organise the same this year due to our members being either ill or occupied by other concerns.
We have, however, still been active in the town. Below you can read about us giving away Fairtrade footballs to some of our local schools. We have also been encouraging businesses around town to promote Fairtrade, and are pleased to say that Notcutts, Jars of Clay, The Good Food Shop, Rainbow Apothecary and the Town Council are promoting Fairtrade Fortnight by giving away copies of our new Fairtrade Town Directory.
If you would like to receive a copy of our first Fairtrade Town Directory, complied by ourselves, please email info@fairtradeforwoodbridge.org.uk or ring 01394 382589.
Farlingaye Fairtrade Footballs!
Monday 6th March 2006
On the first day of Fairtrade Fortnight 2006, our chairman Anthony Lumley went to present 20 FAIRTRADE Marked footballs to Farlingaye High School. He was met by sixth form students and John Yorke, head of P.E. The balls he presented were handmade in Singapore, and each bears the FAIRTRADE Mark, indicating they were made in safe and stable working conditions by people who were paid fairly and treated well. The same Mark certifies that no child labour was used. Mr Yorke stated that “Sports equipment from the major brands has a bad reputation for exploitation of workers, so these balls are really good to have. When the youngsters see the Fairtrade logo on them it will make them interested to find out more about it."
One of our members who is in the sixth form at Farlingaye said at the time “I’d like to see Woodbridge become a Fairtrade Town. The school can be a big part of that. It’s important to get young people thinking about issues like Fairtrade and choosing Fairtrade products.”
Fairtrade For Woodbridge has always felt that our local schools are important places to promote Fairtrade and help people understand the issues of trade justice, and felt this would be a great way of doing that whilst at the same time supporting our schools and the fitness of our local children and young people. Another 20 footballs were presented to Kyson County Primary School on Friday 17th March.
If you would like to have Fairtrade footballs presented to your school (providing it's in Woodbridge) do get in touch with us. Alternatively, if you would like to contribute towards the cost of another set for another school, we would of course be very pleased to hear from you, as our funds are extremely limited! Please email us or ring 01394 382589.
Café Olé - Saturday 7th May 2005
Fairtrade Coffee Morning at St John's Church
Saturday 7th May saw another Fairtrade Coffee morning in St John's Church, Woodbridge. These are held twice a year: one in May called Café Olé, and another before Christmas called Café Noel. The purpose of these events is to give people a chance to come together and enjoy a relaxed café style atmosphere, whilst at the same time learning more about Fairtrade and seeing what sort of things are now available. As well as being able to enjoy home made cakes and a choice of Fairtrade tea or coffee, people were able to browse the stalls around the church and buy anything that tickled their fancy. There were stalls selling beautiful hand carved animals and other artwork, Traidcraft products including a variety of foodstuffs, drinks, snacks and cards, and Tearcraft handcrafted gifts, jewellery and artwork. Cardcraft was also there, selling Christian books, music, and a selection of fairly traded cards and stationary. Children were also catered for, with a créche area for the little ones, and face painting and hair braiding on offer from Revival, the youth congregation of St John's Church, who are raising funds for a mission trip to Romania this August. We held our own stall as well, offering people information about Fairtrade and our campaign to make Woodbridge an official Fairtrade Town, as well as projecting an informative slideshow throughout.
The morning went very well, and a large number of people came along. As always though, there was plenty of cake left over, which went on sale at the end for people to take away! The next similar event at St John's will be in late November or early December. We will advertise it on here as usual, and play a strong part in it.
You can see for yourself what this year's Café Olé was like by browsing though the photos below. You can click on each to see a larger version, or cycle through them once you have one open.
Town Council Supports Campaign
On the evening of Tuesday 11th January 2005, we were invited to give a presentation to Woodbridge Town Council about our campaign to make Woodbridge an official Fairtrade Town. We gave a twenty minute presentation and answered councillors' questions afterwards, before leaving them to start their meeting. One of our members stayed for the meeting to see what response there would be. There was some discussion over the matter, which brought up some objections relating to the effectiveness of Fairtrade, but a vote was cast, and the motion was passed, with eight votes in favour, three against and one abstention.
Fairtrade For Woodbridge is pleased with the response, and having the backing of the Town Council means another step has been taken towards becoming a Fairtrade Town. There is, however, still quite a way to go. The Town Council are now officially supporting the campaign, but the backing of Suffolk Coastal District Council is also needed in order to gain Fairtrade Town status for Woodbridge. Fairtrade For Woodbridge, and individual consumers (the general public) also need to encourage more local businesses, retailers and catering establishments to stock and serve Fairtrade products. If you would like to help in this, please email us. We can provide you with literature and/or specially designed 'Order Up!' cards to leave with your local caterers and shop owners.
Our Official Launch at Café Noel in St John's Church,
Woodbridge Street Fayre in The Thoroughfare.
Saturday 4th & Sunday 5th December 2004
Saturday 4th December saw the official launch of the campaign to turn Woodbridge into an official Fairtrade Town. A special Fairtrade coffee morning was held at St John’s Church, with the Town Mayor Russell Geen in attendance. Many people came to this social and educational event, and enjoyed sampling Fairtrade products such as tea, coffee and chocolate, as well as a wide range of home-made cakes. There were stalls set up around the church, selling Fairtrade and other fairly traded products, and offering information on the issues of trade justice, and the concept of Fairtrade Towns. At eleven o’clock the Mayor officially launched the campaign by cutting a specially made cake with the FAIRTRADE Mark on, after giving a short speech on the benefits of Fairtrade and the worthiness of the initiative. The local steering group, Fairtrade For Woodbridge, were delighted with the response and the number of people who attended.
The following day, the group manned a stall at the Woodbridge Street Fayre, hoping to further raise awareness of Fairtrade and their campaign. They gave away free samples of Fairtrade products, and a selection of information sheets and booklets. Again, a higher than expected level of interest was shown, and another five hundred information sheets were snapped up.
The weekend showed how there really is a lot of concern over the issues of trade justice, and many people are already actively buying and supporting Fairtrade. Others supported the concept but did not know where they could buy such products, which goes to show how important it is for more shops and catering establishments to start stocking them.
The launch of the campaign has been extremely successful, and very encouraging to see just how many people are willing to see Fairtrade move into the mainstream market. Fairtrade For Woodbridge hope to carry on raising awareness of the issues it tackles, and encourage even more people and local businesses to consider switching to Fairtrade products, as quite simply, the more people buy Fairtrade products, the greater the number of producers in developing countries who benefit from Fairtrade will be.
Written by Marc Fowler, Fairtrade For Woodbridge
Email: marc@fairtradeforwoodbridge.org.uk
Monday 6th December 2004
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