Market Catherine-de-Barnes

LUCIA’s recent Christmas sale in Catherine-de-Barnes was very well supported by Fairtraders and made over £260 for women and children’s projects in Ethiopia!

Traces of Rock (www.tracesofrock.com), Fair Trade Design and Ubuntu all had stalls. LUCIA were selling ethically traded silk scarves and jewellery, plus tickets for their annual Christmas Draw which this year includes two hampers of Fairtrade goods. One of Solihull’s Fairtrade representatives also popped in and was able to chat with colleagues from Birmingham Fairtrade.


Further information on the projects LUCIA supports, and contact details for Christmas Drawer tickets (for the Fairtrade hampers!) may be found at: 


www.luciacharity.org.uk

Community Health and Fair trade

Great to be at the annual Heart of England Community Health fair event this saturday.  I didn't get to see any of the lectures, but there was a friendly atmosphere throughout.  Some great conversations with children and adults at the event raising awareness of fair trade - see my blog for more.

Interviewing one of the volunteers

Our stall at lunchtime

Our new eco-poster

What is a Fair Share?

A question we thought about at Kings Heath Primary School After-School Club.  What is a fair share?  We looked at what we thought was important, and initially, whether things were equally shared in our group.  Then we thought about the wider world and how things were shared, as well as what we thought was fair, and unfair.

Two people in our group did not have breakfast.
How many people in the world do not have enough food to eat?

Who has a games console in the group?

What we thought distribution of games consoles was like in the world

In the world, 1 person has a computer, 9 do not.
In our group, 15 people had a computer, 1 did not

Fairness at School - who got a detention for something they didn't do?

Justice not Charity

If the world were a village

I'm preparing a brief workshop for Kings Heath Primary after-school club, drawing heavily on Stan's cafe wonderful 'Of all the people of the world'.  We'll probably have a few of the figures from a book we've enjoyed in our family for a while - 'If the people of the world were a village' - see video above, as well as some figures the group will be finding.  Who said maths is boring?

We're going to throw in some fairtrade nuts and other foodstuff, a pinch of chocolate (thanks John Boyle and Midlands Cooperative), and look out for more photos on our FAB FOOD Photos!

Please keep sending your photos in - any way we can help support or promote all things fairtrade (or fair trade), please drop us a line.

Do you like Harry's Nuts?

Harry is a great (if not the greatest) nut artist.  But do you think your nuts are better than Harry's?  If so, we want your Fairtrade Food Photo for our competition!

See link above for competition details

Birmingham Sustainability Forum

6.00p.m. - Exhibition/displays etc in Council House, with drinks;
participants asked to choose a workshop/table.

5.45 p.m. Brief Facilitators (go through document) Derrick Taylor

6.25 p.m. MC (tbc) to do housekeeping and introduce Cllr. Tilsley

6.30p.m. - Official opening by Cllr. Paul Tilsley, Deputy Leader;

6.40p.m. - Brief intro by MC:

6.50p.m. Municipal Waste Review : Kevin Mitchell BCC: 15 minutes presentation

7.05p.m. Transport: Visions for Movement-David Bull Assistant Director Development Strategy 15
minute presentation

7.20 p.m. FOOD SECURITY-John Boyle Midlands Co-operative Society 15 minutes presentation

7.35 p.m. Energy Consumption and Anaerobic Digestion-Phil Beardmore -Localise West
Midlands

7.50 p.m. - WORKSHOPS : What will the key actions for Birmingham be on each them,

Rangoli FT logo

Our first entry to FAB FOOD Photo competition - keep sending them in!  Closing date is 1st October.


'Rangoli' Fairtrade logo, made with damsons, apples and beans.  


Wiki - Rangoli is a traditional decorative folk art of India. These are decorative designs made on floors of living rooms and courtyards during Hindu festivals and are meant as sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities.^[1]...Rangoli is a symbol of religious and cultural beliefs. It is considered an important part of the spiritual process. why the various gifts and sacrifices in the 'altar' are created when creating the माँडने. Rural Anchaloan home - yard Buharkar Llypane still exists after the custom of making rangoli. Land - called the purification of the spirit and prosperity lies behind it...Rangoli symbolizes joy and happiness Rangamayie expressions.


For more food art ideas, see:


Stan's Cafe 'Veg City' 
What makes School?
Foodscapes: amazing food art by Carl Warne

There's a lot of images, slideshows, stuff on google and youtube on food art.  One of my favourites below:

The Great Debate Working Towards a More Ethical Jewelry Industry

RAPAPORT... The Birmingham Assay Office,  in partnership with International Jewellery London (IJL), will host the fifth "Great Debate," next week to provoke discussion and prompt action towards a more ethically and socially responsible global jewelry industry.  For the Great Debate 2011, there is positive news and some inspiring pioneers will be telling their success stories.

Designer  Stephen Webster will explain his personal involvement with Fairtrade & Fairmined Gold and show a film documenting the conditions he found during a recent visit to the mines of Peru.

Dr. Gaetano Cavalieri, the president of CIBJO, will explain the role of the group's Corporate Social Responsibility Centre of Excellence in Antwerp.

Catherine Sproule, the director of the Responsible Jewellery Council (RJC) will profile some companies that have now achieved accreditation to RJC's exacting standards.

The Great Debate will be chaired by Michael Allchin, the chief executive of The Birmingham Assay Office, and will be a platform for the audience to ask speakers how they achieved delivering ethical projects thus far.  The event will be held at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in the Inspiration Theatre on September 5, 2011, from 11:15 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

See: http://www.diamonds.net/news/NewsItem.aspx?ArticleID=36964&ArticleTitle=The+Great+Debate+to+Feature+Webster%2C+Cavalieri%2C+Sproule+

Campaigners voice in the Fairtrade Foundation

Midlands and North Wales Region Networking

Bringing people together to agree recommendations for how the Fairtrade Foundation can best enable campaigners to have a voice. 


3rd September 2011 
10:00 to 4:00 
Function Room, 
Midlands Co-operative Society Member Relations Centre,  
Birmingham Midlands Institute www.bmi.org.uk/map.html 


To register:  http://fs16.formsite.com/FairtradeFoundation/form1/index.html 


The event will also include an opportunity to hear the latest news and updates from the Fairtrade Foundation and plenty of time for regional networking and sharing ideas and ambitions with other campaigners. Working with staff from the Fairtrade Foundation, some of the day will be dedicated to regional planning and plotting - ‘where do we want to go in our region?’ What could we do together to take Fairtrade forward in our area, county or region? What do we see as the ‘biggest campaign wins’ and are we more likely to get there by combining forces? Who know’s who, who’s good at what and how can we become stronger through campaigning together?  


The event We'll be using Crowd Wise, a consensus voting technique, that allows a group to discuss, refine and decide on (or prioritise) proposals for change. See www.neweconomics.org/projects/crowd-wise

Creative Co-operatives

Starting a Co-operative in the Creative Industries

Are you a freelancer, graduate, pracitioner or adviser?

Find out about Co-operatives and co-operative ways of working.  Meet potential collaborators.  Talk to people who've been there and done it. Share ideas.

• See the Electro-Swing Circus, Birmingham's newest creative co-operative
• Meet experienced co-operators from Wave Desing and Co-operative Web
• Get expert business development advice from Co-operative Futures
  
  
  To book follow link:
  
  
  http://creativeco-operativesbirmingham.eventbrite.com/

FAB Food Photos

Israel and Palestine in a changing region

A talk by Richard Burden MP

7.30 p.m. Friday 15 July

A talk by Richard Burden MP, who chairs the all-party Palestine group in Parliament. `The entire Middle East is going through a transformation that we have never seen before – a huge upsurge in popular protest calling for rights and democracy. It is right for people to speak of the importance of pursuing the Middle East peace process at this time without soft-pedalling, but it is also true that "process" is not enough. The people of both Israel and Palestine deserve an enduring peace. And – as the Arab Spring turns to summer, autumn and winter – we need actions, not just words, by the international community to help bring that about'.

Venue: All Saints Church, 2 Vicarage Road. Kings Heath, Birmingham, B14 7RA

Call for a fair share for Zambian People

Zambia’s people are rich in copper. Annual exports amount to hundreds of thousands of tonnes. Last year, the price of copper on the world market rocketed. Yet with one doctor per 10,000 people and life expectancy a mere 47 years, Zambia is still trapped in a cycle of aid.  Zambia’s people do not benefit from the wealth beneath their feet. They are unaware of how much foreign mining corporations pay for their copper, in the form of taxes and royalties. Without this information, they cannot call for a fair share of the profits to be spent on schools, hospitals, and basic services like electricity.

Use the CAFOD link below to email George Osborne asking him to ensure that oil, gas and mining companies are more accountable to citizens in the developing world.

http://e-activist.com/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=58&ea.campaign.id=10092

Mike Cross

All Saints Kings Heath

Celebrate Co-operation!

Sunday 26th June 2011

11am - 2pm

 

Birmingham Metropole NEC Hotel

B40 1PP

 

As part of Co-operatives Fortnight 2011, co-operative members and the general public are invited to free event at the Birmingham Metropole Hotel next Sunday.

 

This will include a wide range of tastings, workshops, demonstrations, competitions and an exhibition, reflecting the breadth of co-operative enterprise in the region, and across the UK as a whole.

 

The event is free to enter, but coach transport is being provided from across the region for £3 return - details from John Boyle on 0121 233 1545 or john.boyle@midlandsco-op.com

 

(Co-operatives Fortnight runs from 25th June - 9th July and this year's theme is 'Yours to Share' - see www.uk.coop/yourstoshare).

 

NB  This event is running alongside Co-operative Congress, the Co-operative Movement's largest annual gathering, and has been organised by members of Co-operatives West Midlands including the Midlands Co-operative Society, Heart of England Co-operative Society, Midcounties Co-operative and the Co-operative Group.

Community Day 19th June

Come and visit the Fairtrade stall at the University of Birmingham’s Community Day on 19^th June 11.00 – 4.00 for a sample of delicious Fairtrade chocolate and a chance to win a Fairtrade hamper

 

Fairtrade drinks in Kings Heath

All Saints Church Church, a FAB affiliated church, has conducted it's own survey to track down fairtrade drinks in Kings Heath.  We encourage anyone who is interested in surveying, or sells fairtrade, please contact us.  We want to promote all fair and ethical trading businesses in Birmingham.


Please take a photo of fairtrade goods as you find them, add location and email to us (fairtradebirmingham@googlegroups.com) we can add to our database.


If you are a twitterer, why not photo fairtrade goods, add #ftlabel and location and forward to @fairtradebrum?


Thanks to everyone at All Saints!


Parish survey on fairtrade tea / coffee

Establishment Fairtrade products

High St

Station Pub coffee
Freshways supermarket none
KFC tea
Subway none
Buywise coffee
Asda tea, coffee
Goose pub tea, coffee
Jangles (Inshops) none
Baptist church coffee shop tea, coffee
Delicious tea, coffee
Razzels tea, coffee
Hare & Hounds pub none
Poundland none
Caffe Latte tea, decaf coffee
Pear Tree pub none
Ali's food store none
Sainsbury's tea, coffee



Station Rd

Nisa supermarket tea, coffee



York Rd

Kitchen Garden cafe tea, coffee
York cafe none
Kings convenience store none



Silver St

Lidl tea, coffee
Quids Worth none
Kings sandwich bar none



Poplar Rd

Maison Mayci tea, sugar
Cafe Organic tea, coffee




Alcester Lane's End

Tesco tea, coffee
Mrs Beeton's kitchen none
Sid's Convenience grocery none
Cocks Moor leisure centre cafe none
" Klix machine tea, coffee

Iceland none
Viva cafe none

For further information contact Dr. Mary Taylor, cmarktaylor@hotmail.com or Professor John Hull, j.hull@queens.ac.uk

The Parish Office

All Saints Church

2 Vicarage Road

Kings Heath

Birmingham

B14 7RA

United Nations Association

Acorn Printing, Coventry

We provide Fairtrade and organic clothing that are registered to international standards of ethical manufacturing including Fairtrade, WRAP and the Fair Wear Foundation.  These garments can then be printed or embroidered with designs and logos.


We’ve been providing Fairtrade clothing since 1984 and we’ve grown from a small shop to a unit on an industrial estate. We’ve provided thousands of decorated Fairtrade and organic garments to companies, universities and individuals all over the UK and Europe. We've recently supplied many companies in Birmingham with Fairtrade clothing including the University of Birmingham.


http://www.acorn-printing.co.uk/menswear/39_Fair-trade-Organic/


http://www.acorn-printing.co.uk/ethical.html


http://www.acorn-printing.co.uk/


If you would like any garments printed or embroidered please get in contact and we’ll certainly provide you with a good deal.


Acorn Printing Services Ltd.
Acorn House
Falkland Close
Charter Avenue Industrial Estate
Canley
Coventry
CV4 8AU

Our new Facebook Fan page

We've created a new Facebook fan page. Please come and show us your support by clicking the “like” button.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fairtrade-Association-Birmingham/132575800150988

FAB meeting – 19th May 2011

Present:
Lorraine (Birmingham City Council – Sustainability Officer), Charlotte
(Traces of Rock), Marcus (Community Art Worker), Sian (Sustainability West Midlands),
Lizzie (University of Birmingham Sustainability), Jane (University of Birmingham
Procurement)

Appologies: John, Steve, Sylvia, Paul

Matters Arising: At the AGM Paul had suggested a scheme through which FAB could award local
businesses Fairtrade status (as the Fairtrade Foundation does not have a scheme). Paul is in discussions
to get this set up.

Website, Facebook etc.

It was commented that from the website it was unclear that everyone who is interested in ethical
trading is welcome to join FAB and come along to the meetings. This resulted in discussion about the
use of FAB’s blog and Twitter to communicate better. Everyone was encouraged to add their comments
to help generate interest.

It was suggested that we blog for a volunteer to sort out the website as it is dormant but is still being
paid for. A decision needs to be made whether to stop paying and just keep the domain name or to re-
design the website.

There was discussion about how FAB could use the blog – e.g. businesses that sell Fairtrade and ethical
goods could be listed in a directory; minutes of meetings could go on – this may encourage new people
to join. Criteria for gaining Fairtrade status could be put on Twitter and hopefully this would get them to
join in.

Marcus is keen to continue working on a Youth Forum – it should be possible to get funding. Other
suggestions for involving young people were Envision (6th formers projects including Fairtrade) and
young persons’ version of Paul’s business scheme. Schools can link via social media.

Lorraine informed the group that there will be a Climate Change Festival 5th – 9th June 2012 with a
sporting theme (because of the Olympics). It is likely there’ll be an X-Factor type show on the stage
rather than paying for acts and events such as an unfair football match or unfair tug of war.

Next meeting 16th June, 5.30pm at Co-op Member Relations Centre, BMI, Margaret Street, B3 3BS

Saturday 28th May, Friends of the Earth market, Fighting Cocks pub Moseley.

Sunday 19th June, Community Day, University of Birmingham, B15 2TT

Sunday 26th June, 11am – 2 pm Celebrate Co-operation, Hilton Metropole Hotel, NEC B40 1PP

Sunday 25th September – ‘Fun in the Park’ Solihull Fairtrade group.

Saturday 10th March – Fairtrade Fortnight Ethical and Sustainable Market, Birmingham city centre.

Revolver World is now developing Food services products; basically Kilo bags of Fairtrade coffee beans along with a range of machines for both retail customers and Cafe's. We have teamed up with manufacturers Frachino and Jura to bring both professional barista and home equipment for consumers. We have a new range of Fairtrade fresh coffee beans for commercial users in kilo bags featuring; Fairtrade Kenya AA, Fairtrade Organic Costa Rica, Fairtrade single estate Colombia and Cafe Americana Swiss Water decaf.

Our retail coffee's Fairtrade AFRICA (a blend of Uganda and Tanzania Arabica coffee) and our single estate Fairtrade COLOMBIA is available at selected branches of The Co-operative in both the Midcounties (Oxforshire, Buckinghamshire, Warwickshire, Shropshire and the West Midlands) and Penrith (Cumbria) trading areas for £2.99 for 227g. We are also rolling out our coffee in Holmesfirth, Yorkshire through the Fairtraders co-operative and in Norwich through Alls-Fair.

Please contact us about our range of Fairtrade coffee and very affordable pro-coffee equipment, if you are thinking of setting up a cafe; 0121 270 0877. www.RevolverWorld.com

Test

Fairly
Sent from my BlackBerry smartphone from Virgin Media

Fair trade enters the Dragons Den

Piecing together a story from B'ham Archive images

Over the last three weeks over 100 young people from Holy Trinity Catholic Media Arts College have been working on their own ideas for fair and ethical trading to appeal to young people in Birmingham.

Their creative ideas could be developed with the support of Fairtrade Association Birmingham and Creative Partnerships.  Their enquiry 'should all trade be fair?' was supported by a range of our different fair trade experts who made presentations about their practice, and answer any questions about the ideas of the young people.
Apart from the obvious enthusiasm of young people to explore fairness and trading, there are a range of curriculum learning objectives that could be covered by this project. We supported learning by offering a range of different workshops covering related issues:

• Birmingham and Fair Trade - Marcus Belben (Bham Archives and Heritage)
• Marketing and Publicity - Marcia Springer (Bright Space)
• The Cooperative movement - John Boyle (Midlands Coop)
• Fairtrade and film, John Cooper (Just film Cooperative)
• Trade and Charity, Sylvia Gardner (LUCIA)
• Faith and Fair trade, Karem Issa (Faiths Act Fellow with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation).

Mapping out where goods have come from to make their clothes

The dragons den was hosted at Holy Trinity, the panel including young people, teaching staff and Jane Colbourne (FAB secretary and procurements manager, University of Birmingham).  Each class from year 8 presented one of their ideas, including clothing for young women, sportswear, drinks and make up, mobile phones and an app to find fairtrade goods, footwear including fairtrade trainers (Fairtrainers+, the dragon's den winners) and not forgetting chocolate.

Clothing designed during project

Presentations were mostly organised with powerpoint, including drama, artwork and a rap, all demonstrating the understanding of young people and their creative approach, in their words, to 'young people changing the world'

Sushan Dasgupta also coordinated a meeting at Shared Earth, on 10th March to discuss and develop a youth forum for young people and schools across Birmingham. Our work at Holy Trinity and all the other schools we have worked with over fairtrade fortnight in Birmingham, has demonstrated a need to collaborate more with young people to develop their campaigns on fair and ethical trading in Birmingham.

Kit on at Kings Heath Primary

Two days of workshops at Kings Heath Primary saw us working with the stay & play group, and the whole of year 3.