Fairtrade status growing

Chesham's Fairtrade Town status has been renewed again thanks to the ongoing efforts of The Reverend Colin Cartwright and his steering group. Lots of initiatives have been taken forward in the past year. The Chiltern Fairtrade Film Festival held at the Elgiva theatre in March showed four films and sold more than 300 tickets while the raffle sponsored by Waitrose, raised some £300. Colin and the group explained about Fairtrade to the following groups: Brownies, Children Humanist Association, Methodist Women’s Fellowship, Second Chesham (Trinity) Scouts, sixth form students at the High School, St Mary’s Fellowship, St George’s Fellowship, Birchwood/SCOPE, Christchurch Youth Group, Rendezvous, Thomas Harding School and even the William Ramsey School in High Wycombe. A sixth form conference was held at Chesham Park Community College. New retail outlets M & Co and Starbucks join the existing: J. Sainsbury, Waitrose, Healthright, Lucia's and Oxfam. The town council offers only Fairtrade tea and coffee at meetings and to hirers of rooms at the town hall. See our most recent previous blog. In the UK Fairtrade can claim 70% recognition of the Fairtrade Mark, which means that even more producers can benefit from Fairtrade and earn a decent living.