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Ten thousand miles separates Ringwood from South America but following an approach from Ringwood School, Ringwood Town Council is promoting ways of bridging the gap.
Pupils at the school had made a presentation to the Town Council, which showed that producers of certain foods, for example, coffee and tea received only a minimal amount of the price paid by the consumer in England.
The Town Council established a Working Party to promote the Fair Trade concept and gave the pupils the lion share of representation on the Group.
They also invited Churches Together, Greyfriars Community Centre and the Chamber of Trade to join with them to promote ways of overcoming the exploitation of producers in under-developed countries.
On 20th January, Ringwood became the first town in the New Forest to obtain Fairtrade accreditation. Congratulations to everyone who helped but particularly to students at Ringwood School who first brought this initiative to the Town Council and who worked with Councillors, business people and Churches Together to produce the evidence to meet the Fairtrade Foundation's criteria. Now that the town has Fairtrade status there is much to do to carry this through for the long term. The group that worked so hard for accreditation will continue to meet to develop Fairtrade. Anyone who wants to be involved is invited to contact the council. |
Notes on Fairtrade Working Party Meetings (pdf) |
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The Town Council is now canvassing support of all commercial premises, including shops, asking them to stock or supply to their staff Fair Trade products.
Businesses that agree to support the initiative will be included in a free Directory being designed and prepared by the School's pupils.
The Directory will also be displayed on the Council's and School's websites. Cllr Terry says that the Council invited the Chamber of Trade onto the Working Party, particularly so that they could obtain their support and so that the Council could
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apply for Ringwood to obtain Fair Trade accreditation, which will show everyone that the people of Ringwood do support producers in much less developed countries.
If you represent a business in the town and would be prepared to complete a short questionnaire, please complete the online form on the following page and send it back to the Town Council electronically, or download the PDF File which has also been made available, printed out, fill it in, and send it back to us. |
