Author Archives: Malcolm S

Sudbury Fairtrade Group

Sadly, this group no longer meets regularly as more members are urgently needed.  However, Churchhes Together in Sudbury & District has been seeking to keep fair trade on the local agenda, particularly as the town is due to renew its status as a fair trade town.

In January Revd Richard Stainer from Suffolk Fairtrade spoke at a forum meeting and encouraged us to get involved in the renewal of status and to that end members from Churches Together wrote to councillors and addressed the town meeting to encourage support for the renewal.  The town council have since approved the application for renewal in principle, but a team is needed to complete the application and continue to raise the profile of Fair Trade in the town.  We hope to hold a fair trade fair and fashion show, but this can only be done with a committed team of volunteers to help with the planning and organisation.

Please encourage your churches to make sure their Fair Trade status is up to date and please reflect whether fair trade is an issue you would be willing to help promote in the town.  If anyone is interested in joining a fair trade planning group, please contact Ruth Ridge ruthkridge@gmail.com .

Ruth Ridge, on behalf of CTiS&D.

Fairtrade Coffee Morning

In September 2024, during Fairtrade Fortnight, a special Fairtrade Coffee Morning was held at St John’s Methodist Church Hall in Sudbury.

Donations supported the work of the Fairtrade Foundation.

Those who attended were invited to:

• Try out some of our favourite bakes made using Fairtrade ingredients.
• Find out where you can pick up fairtrade goods.
• Discover why Fairtrade is so important for farmers, communities, and the environment.

Copies of Fairtrade-goods-and-where-to-buy-September-2024 were available.

News from the Fairtrade Foundation.

Our next Fairtrade Fortnight will be from Monday 9 September – Sunday 22 September 2024.

2024 will be our big ‘three-oh’ birthday, so we want to use the occasion to highlight how 30 years of working together has made the FAIRTRADE Mark a leader of life-changing impact for farmers and workers across the world.

So, next year we’re going to shake things up a little bit!

The headline news is that our Fairtrade Fortnight 2024 will be moving to September as part of our year-long milestone celebrations. This will give us more time to make the most of the activities and awareness around the campaign.

Throughout 2024, there will be lots of opportunities to get involved with our activities, and we’ll be in touch soon with more details.

We know you’ll want to join us in celebrating the significant impact that the FAIRTRADE Mark has had in the world, and thank you for all your incredible support and contributions.

For more information, see https://www.fairtrade.org.uk/get-involved/current-campaigns/fairtrade-fortnight/

The Sudbury Fairtrade group met on 24 Apri 2023.

Read the Minutes of the meeting.

What do you know about Fairtrade? Have you ever bought a fairtrade banana? Or noticed the Fairtrade mark on a bar of chocolate and wondered what it meant?

What is Fairtrade?

Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world.  Buying Fairtrade products ensures that producers receive a fair price for their goods – and there is also a ‘social premium’ which goes towards providing community facilities such as clean water.   Producers decide on projects democratically.
Paying sustainable prices addresses the injustices of conventional trade which tends to discriminate against the poorest, weakest producers.

The Fairtrade Mark

The FAIRTRADE Mark is a registered certification label for products sourced from producers in lower income countries. It’s used only on products certified in accordance with Fairtrade Standards (and on promotional materials to encourage people to buy Fairtrade products). To find out more visit the wonderful Fairtrade Foundation website at www.fairtrade.org.uk

Fairtrade in action – go bananas!

There are lots of fairtrade products available – in Sudbury shops you can easily find fairtrade coffee, tea, sugar, chocolate, bananas, socks, tomatoes, stationery, and all kinds of crafts and gifts. But the one we notice most often in the supermarkets is probably bananas.

Trading bananas is the cornerstone of many lower-income countries’ economies, with an estimated global export value of $7 billion. It is believed that for more than 450 million people in lower-income countries, bananas (and plantains) are essential staple crops.

There are currently 258 Fairtrade certified banana organisations (co-operatives and commercial farms), representing over 36,480 farmers and workers in 16 countries.

Banana farmers and workers across the world are facing increased financial struggles and uncertainty. Fairtrade’s minimum price means that farmers and workers can build their resilience. This year Fairtrade raised the minimum price, while in 2021 we introduced a Base Wage for banana plantation workers.

Between 2000 and 2020, Fairtrade banana sales in the UK generated over £114 million in Fairtrade Premium for farmers and workers. Fairtrade Premium is an additional sum of money which goes into a communal fund for workers and farmers to use to improve their social, economic and environmental conditions for example by paying for schooling or to improve housing.

Sudbury – a Fairtrade town

A Fairtrade town is one that has made a commitment to supporting Fairtrade and using products with the Fairtrade Mark. Any area can work towards Fairtrade status and everyone can be involved. By choosing to support Fairtrade, a town adds its voice to demands for a trade system that puts people, not profit, at the heart of the transaction. We believe that our voices are louder when we speak together.

Sudbury added its voice to this movement ten years ago, and we are now working to renew our status in 2023. Watch out for events and promotions and please support your town!

And, of course, choose Fairtrade wherever you can!

If you are, or have been, a Fairtrader please get in touch as we would like to create a Sudbury area network to pool resources and help each other.

We’ll be at Sudbury Market on March 11th to celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight – come and say hello!

If you would like to help with promoting fairtrade in the area, please email the steering group on info@sudburyfairtrade.org.uk

Download this article as a pdf here .

The Sudbury Fairtrade group met on 6 February 2023.

Read the Minutes of the meeting.

Fairtrade and Traidcraft in Sudbury

The person responsible for Fairtrade and Traidcraft in each organisation is asked to contact the secretary of the Sudbury Fairtrade Group, Sara Merritt (saraljpx@gmail.com ) with a view to highlighting Fairtrade Fortnight (February 27th to March 11th 2023) and for mutual support now that Traidcraft plc has gone into receivership.

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Sudbury Fairtrade Group

From Sara Merritt saraljpx@gmail.com .

I am writing as the new Secretary of the Sudbury Fairtrade Group, which as you know works to promote fairtrade in the town and maintain Sudbury’s status as a Fairtrade Town. 

For farmers and workers around the world, Fairtrade means workers’ rights, safer working conditions, and fairer pay. For shoppers it means high quality, ethically produced products.

Next Spring, we will need to renew our membership of the Fairtrade towns, and there is work to do for that. So it’s all hands on deck! If you can spare a little time to help, or if you know anyone else who is enthusiastic about Fairtrade, please get in touch with me. 

Our next meeting is on Monday January 23rd, at 3pm at 98 Melford Road, Sudbury.

In the meantime, please find attached the Minutes of our last meeting. 

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The Sudbury Fairtrade Group met on Monday 10 October 2022.

Read the Minutes from the meeting.

The Sudbury Fairtrade Group met on Friday 28 January 2022.

Read the notes from the meeting

The Sudbury Fairtrade Group met on Friday 3 December 2021.

Read the notes from the meeting.