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Southampton - a Fairtrade City |
WHO WE ARE
We began life as Southampton Fairtrade City Group in 2003: a broad-based group campaigning to win Fairtrade City status for Southampton. To achieve this, we needed clear support from the City Council, a certain number of shops, cafés and restaurants selling and serving Fairtrade goods, widespread use of Fairtrade products by businesses and organisations (eg in works canteens) and general understanding and support from the community.
We achieved Fairtrade City status in 2004 and celebrated the award with festivities at the docks and in the city centre including the distribution and consumption of a consignment of Fairtrade bananas donated by producers in the Windward Islands. They completed the last stage of their long journey by sailing boat to arrive in style at the Town Pier.
Since then we’ve campaigned to strengthen and extend Southampton’s Fairtrade City status. In this, we have been greatly helped by our relationship with the City Council. Together with the Council we have set up a Fairtrade City Steering Group, and we have received excellent support from both elected officers and Council officials, who have helped us to make new contacts and initiated activities with us.
Since 2003, we have organised a range of activities designed to make fair trade an important part of Southampton life. Among other things, we organised, in some cases with MakePovertyHistory, several successful conferences designed not only to promote fair trade but also to explore debates within the movement; we’ve supported both Southampton’s Universities in gaining Fairtrade University status; we’ve held public meetings; provided stalls at events; spoken to schools, churches and other organisations; and published a City Fairtrade Directory, updated this year. Much of the research for this update was done by volunteers from the Philippines, under the Global Exchange scheme. We found it interesting and salutary to be on the receiving end of international aid.
In 2007 we adopted a revised constitution and a new name: Southampton Fair Trade Group. The change indicates that while we still see maintaining Fairtrade City status as an important part of our work, we also want to embrace other aspects of fair trade, including goods which for various valid reasons do not hold the FAIRTRADE Mark, but whose fair trading credentials are impeccable. We wanted also to indicate that although promoting fair trade is our central concern, we see it as part of a wider question of general fairness of trade. For us it is important to show that fair trade is part of a wider problem of general trade justice, and interlinked with other world inequalities.
Membership of the group is open to anyone who shares our aims, and our monthly business meetings are open to all members of the Group.
We are now planning various events for 2008.
We work with and are supported by a wide range of organisations.
Current Officers:
- Chair: Frank Boulton
- Vice-Chair: Bernard Carré
- Secretary: Lindy Jessup
- Treasurer: Caroline Tendler
- Minutes Secretary: Anna Ridehalgh
- Membership Secretary: Amna Bartholomew
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