Fairtrade has existed in Bradford for over 20 years.
David and Mollie Somerville have sold the products on a not-for-profit basis from their house in Heaton; they now have a turnover of more than £8000 a year. Many churches have run Traidcraft stalls for a similar length of time: Traidcraft is a part of the Fairtrade movement.
The certifying of Haworth as a Fairtrade Village in 2002 encouraged other communities in the District to aspire to do the same. Shipley became a Fairtrade town in 2005, closely followed by Baildon.
Meanwhile in 2002, Bradford council passed a resolution that they wished the District to become a Fairtrade area.
In 2004 the Royal Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce celebrated its 250th Anniversary. It sought important causes to champion, as had been their mission from 1754. In Bradford a group of three Fellows of the Society decided to take Fairtrade as their local theme. They arranged a Coffee House Challenge in Starbucks Coffee House in the Wool Exchange. Customers who were drinking coffee at Starbucks could make comments all day about Fairtrade; their ideas were recorded. In the late afternoon, the Lord Mayor made an opening speech for a group of coffee drinkers interspersed with leaders of the main political parties in Bradford, the Bishop, prominent British Asian businessmen and Fairtrade activists. As a result Bradford Council acted on its policy of 2002 and appointed a Policy Officer, Dani Mistry, to convene a Fairtrade Steering Group for the District. It has met regularly since 2004. Members were those with an active interest and involvement in the Fairtrade movement.
On March 6 2006 Bradford was formally declared a Fairtrade Zone. At City Hall, Bruce Crowther from the national Fairtrade Foundation presented the Lord Mayor, Councillor Valerie Binney, with a framed Certificate. The Lord Mayor hosted a celebratory Reception. To achieve this status, Bradford was able to declare 75 retail and 32 catering outlets as selling two or more Fairtrade products. For Bradford, a Fairtrade Future beckoned.
Councillor Valerie Binney, the Lord Mayor, holds the Fairtrade Zone Certificate
From left to right, Bruce Crowther [Fairtrade Foundation], the Lord Mayor, Malcolm Veigas [Head of Bradford markets], Councillor Anne Hawkesworth [Environment Portfolio holder], John D Anderson [Chair of Fairtrade Bradford]
Edward Mancey from Bradford Grammar School represents the youth of Bradford stepping into a Fairtrade future from under a Fairtrade arch.
John D Anderson
