The Big Brew Launch Event
Friday 26th February 2010

Paul Chandler, Chief Executive, Traidcraft spoke at an evening held at St Mary Magdalene church, Holloway, chaired by the Rt Revd Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton and Chair of the Diocesan Global Development Group

Paul spoke of the massive growth and mainstreaming of Fairtrade products. It is by the choices we make as consumers, people power, that ethics have been put into the boardrooms of the big companies. In recent conversations, Government Ministers and MPs had told him that 80% of people campaigning actively on development issues are from the churches

Illustrating the difference that fair trade has made to the lives of producers, Paul has noticed that young people are beginning to return from the cities to the land as the opportunities to prosper have increased

The challenges ahead concern the impact of climate change, the mainstreaming of Fairtrade, and the role of dedicated Fair Trade organizations

Traidcraft is firmly committed to reaching the smaller, more marginalised producers. Recently there has been a tendency to focus on changing the bigger producers who supply the big companies to Fairtrade standard but he emphasised that the balance should not be lost

Traidcraft is at the forefront of innovation in fair trade, for example rubber gloves and BBQ charcoal, which may later result in the setting a Fairtrade standard for these products

Traidcraft is also known for its partnership with craft workers, where a standard can’t be set, but trading fairly can make a huge difference to people’s lives

Church representatives expressed gratitude for the stories and worship resources which Traidcraft provide via their website and which help them share the fair trade story with their churches, schools and places of work. See the Traidcraft website

In July St Albans North Harrow laid on a belated Fairtrade tea dance for the Big Brew -
a great success with many requests for a repeat!

At St James, Hampton Hill, two Big Brew events were arranged with the Carers and Toddlers group (The Ark) that meets on Monday mornings

There were nice little goody bags for the adults, including a Make it Fair action card. There was also a big display in church for the two weeks of FT Fortnight

At St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park, Comfort Kumeah from Ghana was the speaker. She is a member of Kuapa Kokoo cocoa growers’ cooperative and is now the national secretary for the

 

St Mary Magdalene Littleton held a Big Brew Tea Dance

All Souls St Margaret-on-Thames, Twickenham held    2 stalls of Tearcraft and Traidcraft goodies over the fortnight on Sundays and at at their 'LIttle Souls' Playgroup. They showed a video about the 'Big swap' in church and ran a special month's theme on Food and Fairtrade on their website

St Mary Finchley held a Winnie-the-Pooh's Tea Party which the Mayor attended.
A pianist entertained with Disney Tunes

The Guides at St Mary with St Alban, Teddington held a Big Swap Tea Party on a sunny afternoon in Fairtrade Fortnight. Guests were offered tea, coffee, fruit juice and home-made cakes and biscuits – all fairtrade. The final cup of tea poured was number 192, so the Guides easily surpassed their challenge of serving 100, in recognition of this year’s centenary of Guiding. Eighteen families pledged to “go Fairtrade” as much as practicable