Archive for September, 2016

Gold: always believe in your soul

Bradford and bling came together with a presentation on Fairtrade gold at Bradford Cathedral on 12th September.

Dan Omondi Odida, a gold miner from Kenya, came to speak to a crowd of seventy Fairtrade supporters, including attendees from the University of Bradford.

Karen Palframan (Fairtrade Yorkshire and Fairtrade Bradford Zone) and Dan Omondi Odida Photo credit: John Sargent  jackharrybill.co.uk

Karen Palframan (Fairtrade Yorkshire and Fairtrade Bradford Zone) and Dan Omondi Odida Photo credit: John Sargent jackharrybill.co.uk

The Dean welcomed everyone to the Cathedral and ethical jewellers Rory McQuaid (the Ethical Jeweller, Otley) and Caroline Kindy (Element Jewellery, Hebden Bridge) supported Dan in the presentation, alongside Adam Gardner from the national Fairtrade Foundation and Mark Dawson and Karen Palframan of Fairtrade Yorkshire.

Dan spoke of the need for Fairtrade gold in order to address injustice in the gold trade.  This includes the lack of a fair price, child labour, ill health as a result of processing the gold, and environmental  damage caused by gold mining.

Fairtrade gold guarantees a fair price and a Fairtrade premium in addition (which can be spent by gold mining cooperatives to improve life in their communities).  The Fairtrade gold scheme includes safety and environmental standards.

Photo credit: John Sargent

Photo credit: John Sargent

You can check out Fairtrade gold jewellery for sale on these websites:

The Ethical Jeweller

Element Jewellery

Fairtrade gold rings will also be available from Argos.

 

Find out more about Fairtrade gold at the new ‘discover gold’ site: http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/discovergold

Posted on September 26th, 2016 by Fairtrade Yorkshire News

Holme Valley Fairtrade are winners

We are absolutely delighted to announce that Holme Valley Fairtrade is the WINNER of THE BIG FAIRTRADE BREAKFAST CHAMPION CATEGORY in The annual Fairtrade Foundation campaigner awards.holmfirth  The group was crowned as victor because of their involvement in the launch of the Fairtrade All Party Parliamentary Group held at Westminster during Fairtrade Fortnight.  The APPG was set up by Holly Lynch MP (Halifax) and Jason McCartney MP (Colne Valley).  The panel were particularly impressed with the way the APPG opportunity brought Fairtrade to a wide audience, engaging everyone along the way with a fun and thoughtful approach.

Posted on September 26th, 2016 by Fairtrade Yorkshire News

Baildon scarecrows stand up for Fairtrade

“Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, Fairtrade man
Bake me a cake as fair as you can”

‘Nursery rhymes’ was the theme for this year’s Baildon Scarecrow Walk with 70 scarecrows to be found around the town centre.  Baildon Fairtrade group designed and built one along with a huge ‘cake’ decorated with Divine chocolate wrappers.

The annual Scarecrow walk is organised by Baildon in Bloom. This years took place on a warm sunny September Saturday, with hundreds of people finding scarecrows in various locations around the town.

Families and children patted the enormous cake baked by the Fairtrade man and more than 330 children went away with Fairtrade stickers while adults joined them in trying delicious Fairtrade chocolate cake buns.  Interested young people and other supporters were offered information about how Fairtrade supports sustainable farming practices.  Many people say that they already buy Fairtrade products and yet the point still needs to be made that without this organisation these producers would not have a livelihood. “With farmers and workers, we can all share.”

Posted on September 14th, 2016 by Fairtrade Yorkshire