Update from London Borough of Ealing Fair Trade Group

CAMPAIGNING TO MAKE EALING A FAIRTRADE BOROUGH

There are now 54 Fairtrade Towns across the UK, including one London Borough (Croydon). Here in Ealing we are working alongside several other boroughs to achieve Fairtrade Status and help fulfil Mayor Ken Livingstone's aim of making London a Fairtrade City.

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT IN EALING

Our Fairtrade Evening at the Town Hall, marking the 10th anniversary of the Fairtrade Mark and the 1st anniversary of the LBE Fairtrade Group, was extremely well attended. Contributors included Waitrose, the Co-op, Starbucks, Oxfam, Spring Fine Foods (a local wholesaler), Oxfam, Traidcraft, TVU, Scolarest and Drayton Manor High School. Speakers were: The Mayor of Ealing, Cllr Gucharan Singh; MP Clive Soley; Sarah Garden, the Fairtrade Foundation; Simeon Greene, representing Windwards Islands banana growers; David Parkin, Waitrose; and Nick Hempleman, the Co-op.

Fairtrade Fortnight was also celebrated with a two-day event at Ealing Abbey, and in many other churches across the borough. Several schools marked the occasion, and a Fairtrade coffee morning was held at West London YMCA.

NEW FAIRTRADE PRODUCTS

More than 250 retail products carry the FAIRTRADE Mark in the UK from coffee to fresh fruits. The FAIRTRADE Mark can also be found on hundreds of catering products. New products such as dried fruit and rice are currently in development. In February 2004 two new products became available:-

Fairtrade Footballs
An Acton-based company, Fairdeal Trading Partnership, has launched the first Fairtrade footballs. Made in Pakistan, they are available as Footballs Direct Standard Ball and Footballs Direct match quality FIFA Ball. They are available from www.fairdealtrading.co.uk and www.getethical.com., and from April will also be on sale in Co-op stores. The footballs are from three factories based in Sialkot, Pakistan which is at the centre of the export football trade. As Fairdeal Trading Partnership is an Ealing company, we would really like to promote these footballs, so if you a footballer or football fan and have any ideas or suggestions, please get in touch.
Fairtrade Roses

Tesco now offer two bouquets of Fairtrade roses from two farms in Kenya. The flower industry is one of the fastest growing sectors of the Kenyan economy and is the second largest source of foreign exchange after tea. Through the Fairtrade partnership, an additional payment of 8% of the export price will be used for projects to improve the social conditions of workers and their communities.

WE NEED MORE SHOPS AND CAFES TO SELL AND SERVE FAIRTRADE PRODUCTS

We are compiling a directory of retail and catering outlets that sell or serve Fairtrade products. We have now identified 11 shops: Coltsfoot and Kelp (W13), The Co-op, The Farm W5, Market Place Health Foods (W3), Millenium Health Foods, Oxfam, Safeways, Sainsbury's, Somerfields, Tescos and Waitrose, and 5 cafes: Costas, The Farm, Munsons, Starbucks and Thames Valley University.
But our targets are 30 shops and 15 cafes. Can you help us achieve this? If you know of a local shop or café that offers - or might be persuaded to offer - Fairtrade - please let us know. We have to let local businesses know that there is a demand, so volunteers are needed to go into shops and cafes and ask for Fairtrade products.

FAIRTRADE IN THE WORKPLACE
If you are trying to get your workplace to offer Fairtrade food and drink, you will be interested to know that Ealing-based company Zepbrook Ltd supply FT products to workplaces. Www.zepbrook.co.uk
Fairtrade dinks are now also available from Office Supplier Viking Direct.

NEXT MEETING
Would you like to join our Steering Group? Our next meeting will be on April 27th at Thames Valley University. For further details, or more information on anything in this newsletter, please contact us.

E-mail Fairtrade@ealing.gov.uk or ring JACKIE on 020 8537 0227

March 28th 2004