East Kilbride wins Fairtrade honours

Feb 20 2008 By Lynda Nicol, East Kilbride News

EAST Kilbride has followed the lead of its neighbour Strathaven and achieved Fairtrade Town status.

The honour will be bestowed on the town by the Fairtrade Foundation at a special reception this Friday in the council chambers in the Civic Centre.

The reception will also recognise the work of the campaigners, teachers, businesses, cafes, church members, football teams, and library staff.

And it will herald in the start of Fairtrade Fortnight, a festival of activities to raise consumer awareness that products with the Fairtrade mark guarantee the producers a better price.

Speaking of the award of Fairtrade status, the chair of East Kilbride Fairtrade Group, Joan Wright, said “We are delighted and would like to thank everyone who has helped.

“There is such a variety of Fairtrade products, from food to textiles and footballs. Not only are they good quality, but by regularly buying products with the Fairtrade mark we can all help make a big difference to other peoples lives. “

East Kilbride’s journey to Fairtrade status began in 2005 when local woman Kirsten Robb, who had worked in Tanzania, persuaded a bus load of East Kilbride people to travel through to Edinburgh to attend the Make Poverty History rally.

Kirsten later arranged a public meeting at East Kilbride Arts Centre to bring the issue to the fore and two months later the East Kilbride Fairtrade Group was formed.

The group has since encouraged many businesses to offer Fairtrade products and carried out initiatives including poster and poem competitions, Fairtrade football tournaments and a Christmas fayre to help make EK a Fairtrade Town.

In autumn 2007, South Lanarkshire Council passed a resolution in support of the initiative

Events planned to mark Fairtrade Fortnight include:

Free Fairtrade coffee for visitors to the Starbucks in Centre West on Wednesday, February 27, along with the chance to win a Fairtrade hamper.

A coffee morning in East Kilbride Old Parish Church hall from 10am till noon on Saturday, March 1. At 11.30am the minister the Reverend Anne Paton will also be presenting the prizes for the schools’ Fairtrade poster and poetry competitions.

A display of school Fairtrade posters and poems in the Central Library from Monday, March 3, until Sunday, March 9.

A Fairtrade coffee tasting session at Starbucks on Thursday, March 6, when they will be giving away free goody bags.

Anyone holding a Fairtrade-themed event should contact Kirsten Robb on 07963273209 or robbkirsten@yahoo.co.uk to add it to the Fairtrade Festival Fortnight events list.

And businesses, cafes, schools, churches or workplaces interested in getting their organisation Fairtrade status or stocking fair-trade products can also contact Kirsten or www.fairtrade.org.uk.