Update – Chichester now has new Fairtrade co-ordinators in Polly Gaskin and Debbie Carter, both Green Party Councillors.
Chichester won status as a Fairtrade City in 2006 due largely to the determination of Liz Campling and others, but now only Liz is left of the original Chichester Fairtrade group and she is looking to pass on the responsibility of coordinating to others. Is this something you would be interested in doing with others?
Fairtrade plays a very important role in attacking world poverty and it would be a shame for our city to lose that status due to inactivity, we feel. There is after all a Fairtrade weathervane on the Cathedral which gained the city some national recognition, and a while back the Libdem City Council passed a resolution backing Fairtrade Chichester (FTC), there was a FTC rep on the council,and to the present day the tea, coffee etc used at the Council House are Fairtrade.
Last year the Fairtrade Foundation put the renewal of Chichester’s status as a Fairtrade City on hold whilst they were assured that there was a representative on the Council and that up-to-date information was available for local people. To this end the list of shops & cafes doing Fairtrade in Chichester on the website was updated, the FTC council rep who’d lost their seat was replaced and the Council renewed its pledge to Fairtrade.
FTC has existed under the Transition Chichester umbrella where its website is maintained and it has run a Fairtrade Café at Transition events which Liz is willing to continue to assist with as long as possible. She has also done occasional presentations at local primary schools.
Liz is now asking if we could continue the Fairtrade movement in Chichester, as clearly environmental sustainability and fairtrade go hand in hand. There is not so much to do. The minimum would be:
A representative on the Council – one of the newly elected green councillors has volunteered to take on this role
Keeping the website information up to date – our website manager, Tom Broughton, has agreed to continue this.
Occasional Fairtrade stands like the Café at Transition Chichester events – possibly 3 or 4 a year..
An event to mark Fairtrade Fortnight every year in February/March.This could be a FT coffee morning or cheese and wine at someone’s home for their neighbours.
So if you are interested can you please email contact@ecochi.org.uk asap – we hope to get a small group together to continue the good work Liz has been doing over the past decade or so, and Liz herself has said she is more than willing to give all the assistance she can to get things moving.