A Fairtrade Ethiopian In Bradford
An Ethiopian experienced snow for the first time on Thursday 3 March. Tadesse Meskela, a coffee farmer from Ethiopia, was in Bradford as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. He visited Baildon Co-op and joined volunteers giving away samples of Fairtrade coffee. He then went to Wesley’s café in the Methodist Church Baildon to drink Fairtrade coffee, supplied by Taylor’s of Harrogate; they buy coffee from him in Ethiopia. He said, ‘If you buy Fairtrade coffee we get a fair price so that we can eat enough, send our children to school and buy medicines.’ He was delighted that 48 volunteers from all the Baildon churches were each giving an hour to encourage the use of Fairtrade.
He spoke at the Girls' High School and visited the OXFAM shop in Skipton.
Finally, he spent time with Shipley Fairtrade Group giving out Fairtrade samples in Asda, Shipley.
‘Chocolat’ Helps To Celebrate Fairtrade Chocolate In Haworth
A packed West Lane Church, Haworth, heard Joanne Harris, the renowned author of ‘Chocolat’, talk on her writing and mention Fairtrade chocolate on Saturday March 5. The film ‘Chocolat’ was shown. Two Ghanaian women cocoa producers, who had hardly ever eaten chocolate, spoke about their delight in Fairtrade and the fact that Kuapa Coco from Ghana had taken part in setting up the Day Chocolate company in Britain which produces the luscious Divine chocolate. It is one the very few rich world companies in which Africans share the profits of the manufacture of the final product sold in the industrialised world.
Churches Celebrate Fairtrade
Baildon, Hall Royd Shipley and Saltaire Methodist Churches, Baildon Parish Church and Christ Church Windhill Local Ecumenical Partnership [Methodist and Anglican] all held Fairtrade services in Fairtrade Fortnight. They sold even more Fairtrade goods than usual. The One World Group in Baildon arranged to play the Trade Game after the parish church service.
Exhibition in Bingley
There was a Fairtrade exhibition in Bingley library foyer.
World Development Movement [Bradford] Distributed Fairtrade Goods In Morrison’s Girlington.
The World Development Movement Bradford group spent March 5 giving away Fairtrade products in Morrison’s Girlington and followed it up by lobbying Morrison's for more variety of such goods.
Young People From Bradford Team Up for a New Fairtrade 5 a side Football Tournament
On Saturday 12th March 2005 Manningham Sports Centre in Bradford kicked off a new Fairtrade Football Tournament . The tournament involved 100 young people from Bradford District, aged 10-16 years from many different backgrounds, and was co-ordinated by Save the Children, Christian Aid, Islamic Relief and Active Faith Communities. The event was sponsored by United Co-operatives Ltd.
During the day the young people not only found out about Fairtrade footballs, but also had the opportunity to meet and play with other young people from different backgrounds, and as Dominic Mughal from Active Faith Communities said: "Bringing young people from different backgrounds together like this is an important step towards community cohesion."
Waseem Aslam from Islamic Relief said: “Nowadays British football teams are made up of players from all over the world. They recognise the benefit of all playing together as a team from the outset to get maximum results. That's an excellent philosophy for life in general and a great message for these young people.”
The footballs used for the event were made in Sialkot, Pakistan and as Alex Jones from Christian Aid said:
“Fairtrade ensures a better deal for workers in some of the poorest parts of the world. This tournament helps the young people of Bradford gain an understanding of other people’s lives across the world.”
Imogen Gregg, Save the Children's Development Officer, who played a key role in the preparations for the tournament concludes:
"One of the best things football teaches is the importance of working together regardless of your faith. In partnership with the other agencies and with the support of our sponsor United Co-operatives, we created an opportunity for young people across Bradford to appreciate the importance of this idea and have a great time too. We were delighted with the event and look forward to developing this work in the future”
The winners were each presented with a Fairtrade football. All participants received free fruit, juices etc from the Coop. There were Fairtrade displays, and Fairtrade videos were shown. The Deputy Lord Mayor gave away some of the prizes. It was a highly successful day.
Schools Celebrate Fairtrade
The Fortnight highlighted how many schools are active on Fairtrade. Challenge College runs a Fairtrade café.
Salt Grammar School Year 12 and 13 had a presentation of Fairtrade; and the school was presented with a Fairtrade Football because the staff had bought so many Fairtrade goods.
The Church Primary School Baildon and Sandals Primary School Baildon also received footballs for the many purchases by staff of Fairtrade products. Both had Fairtrade Assemblies.
Hoyle Court Primary School Baildon had a Fairtrade Assembly and staff bought Fairtrade goods. Bradford Grammar School has a large regular sale to pupils of Fairtrade products.
Fairtrade Promotion at Morrison’s Girlington - Saturday 5th March 2005
During Fairtrade Fortnight in March, shoppers at Morrison’s store at Victoria Girlington had a chance to sample some Fairtrade goods and find out more about them. Bradford World Development Group organised members and friends of all ages to offer customers samples of chocolate and other Fairtrade snacks, and leaflets about Fairtrade. Enthusiastic volunteers did an hour or so each on 5th March, covering the hours from 8am to 8pm when the store is open on a Saturday. They found that many shoppers were interested and the store sold out of Fairtrade Chocolate! We hope that this event has encouraged more interest and commitment to Fairtrade shopping from customers and from the supermarket.
