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.

Latest Reports added 27th April 2010:

Fairtrade Wine Tasting Evening - read about the fun we had sampling Fairtrade wines

Fairtrade and Fancy Footwork - our recent Fairtrade Tea Dance

Fairtrade Wine Tasting Evening

Just42, a youthwork charity in Woodbridge, organised a wine tasting as a follow-up to Fairtrade Fortnight.

Wine expert Jude Mullins, from the Wine and Spirit Education Trust in London, began by explaining that there are many good quality Fairtrade wines on the market. Of the 290 wines listed on the Fairtrade Foundation website we had time to sample six:

Four from South Africa

• Co-Op Fairtrade Sparkling Brut
• Thandi Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon
• Fairhills Cabernet Sauvignon Petit Verdot 2008
• Thandi Sauvignon/Merlot blend 2008

One from Argentina

• Tilimuqui Torrontes

One from Chile

• Co-Op Fairtrade Carmeniere 2008

One example of the advantage of Fairtrade certification is demonstrated in the Fairhills vineyards of South Africa set up in 2005. The Fairtrade premium has helped build schools, daycare and community centres benefitting the 1,000 Fairhills workers and their families.

Of the 25 guests present at the tasting, many were complete novices yet Jude soon had us commenting on the wine’s ‘appearance’, ‘nose’ and ‘palate’. We learned that a red wine could be clear, a nose could be clean and that a wine could be ‘long’, ‘medium’ or ‘short’ (this relates to the length of time the taste lingers). It was a fascinating evening and Jude commented that there was something suitable for any occasion, barbecue, aperitif or even a wedding in the case of the Sparkling Brut. Wine tasting usually involves seeing, swirling, smelling, tasting and not swallowing but the wines were so good the ‘not swallowing’ bit was ignored!

Personal favourites were the Sparkling Brut from the Co-Op (£7.99 a bottle) and the Fairhills Petit Verdot from Tescos (£4.49). “I would be happy to have any of them again" said Chairman of Fairtrade for Woodbridge, Anthony Lumley.

Fairtrade for Woodbridge are grateful to Just42 for organising and hosting the evening, to Jude for travelling up from London to teach us and to Budgens, the Co-Op, Wines of Interest (Ipswich) Adnams and Tescos for supplying wines.

Fairtrade and Fancy Footwork

As part of the nationwide Big Brew campaign, Fairtrade for Woodbridge hosted an afternoon ballroom and latin Tea Dance on the 7th March in Woodbridge Community Hall. Sixty eight dancers waltzed, quickstepped and cha cha cha’d to a wide variety of music including Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra, Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones.

Dancers were able to choose from the range of Fairtrade products available from the Traidcraft stall including chocolate, sugar, raisins, biscuits and footballs or sit down with a cup of Fairtrade tea and slice of home-made cake. Run as an event to promote Fairtrade in our town, as part of the ongoing Fairtrade Town campaign, participants said ‘it was a great success’.

Tackling Child Labour
Response to BBC's Panorama Investigation - March 2010

Did you see BBC's Panorama on 24th March, titled "Chocolate - The Bitter Truth"? The report was about child slave labour and Fairtrade was shown to be a way in which child labour could be eradicated through the stringent checks involved. Sadly, child labour had been found on one of the farms that Nestle source from for chocolate, raising concerns that even Fairtrade isn't managing to prevent these practices. There are detailed responses on the FLO website and the Foundation's:

(International) Fairtrade Labelling Organization's response

(UK) Fairtrade Foundation' response

Fairtrade Window Stickers In Woodbridge Shops

We have recently created two window stickers to help raise awareness of Fairtrade in Woodbridge. One is a general 'Support Fairtrade in Woodbridge' sticker which we would encourage people to display in their cars, homes, schools etc. The other says 'Proud to sell Fairtrade here in Woodbridge'. We are giving one of these to each shop, catering establishment, hotel and B&B in the area who sell or provide Fairtrade products. Each sticker is 10cm square and can be attached to the inside of any window. They are 'self cling' and can be moved around as required.

If you would like a sticker to display in your window, please call Marc Fowler on 01394 470473 or email info@fairtradeforwoodbridge.org.uk

We have already distributed the 'Proud to Sell Fairtrade' stickers to the following businesses, so look out for them when you shop in Woodbridge; The Bull Hotel, Boots, Browsers, Budgens, Co-Op, Costa, Georgian Coffee Shop, Oxfam, Le Chocolat Belge, St Mary's House.

Home | About Us | About Fairtrade | Suppliers | News & Events | Links | Accessibility