Chelmsford Fairtrade Supporters' Events

This page is designed to promote events that are run by Chelmsford Fairtrade supporters. Fairtrade Fortnight is our busiest period but activity in a variety of forms take place throughout the year. During Fairtrade Fortnight 2009 our supporters held at least 25 events. These included community organisations, faith groups, businesses, trade unions, colleges and the university. We also publicised many others during the year so please bookmark this page if you would like to find out what is happening.

OXFAM AND CHELMSFORD TUC invites you to a discussion on Climate Change.  4 December 2009 7.30pm - 9.30pm, Christ Church, New London Road, Chelmsford.

Thriftwood School Every Tuesday and Wednesday in term time the school's coffee shop is open from 10am to 2pm. You can buy Traidcraft products and much more.

Catholic Parish of St. Augustine of Canterbury, Springfield. Churches. St. Augustine, Springfield, New Hall Chapel, Boreham, Church of our Saviour, Chelmer Village. All sell Fairtrade goods and food on a quarterly basis after all three Sunday Masses. Fairtrade refreshments after Sunday Masses at St. Augustine's and New Hall and occassionally at Chelmer Village.

A Few Ideas to Promote Fairtrade

Fairtrade Fairground. What about holding a Fairtrade Fair in your school on a Friday and call it Fairtrade Friday. Try to ensure that as many of the lessons that day have some kind of Fairtrade theme e.g. use Fairtrade sports balls in PE lessons, look at where products come from and how they are grown in Geography lessons etc. Hold a Fair at lunchtime and get different year groups to put on different activities to get the whole school involved. Students could also do a survey at their local supermarket and collate the information as part of a project on Fairtrade. Look at www.fairtrade.org.uk/schools for lots more ideas. 

Workplaces.  Organise a mini-fair in your office one lunch time. Have some Fairtrade products to sample and a couple of activities – maybe a quiz – for colleagues to take part in. Organise a coffee morning.
Get your workplace canteen, school canteen, or university café to have a Fairtrade day during Fairtrade Fortnight when they prepare as much as possible with Fairtrade products. This might help them to switch to more Fairtrade products permanently. Don’t forget to promote it widely and get as many people as possible to try the Fairtrade options.

Pot-luck Dinner.  Hold a pot-luck dinner party at your house for your local organisation, with everyone having to bring a dish using Fairtrade ingredients.

Mothering Sunday and International Women’s Day. Both Mothering Sunday on 2 March and International Women’s Day on 8 March, fall during Fairtrade Fortnight. Why not use these nationally recognised days as an opportunity to encourage people to think about women rights across the world? Fairtrade is helping to empower women across the developing world by giving them their own income and involving them in decision making. Ask your trade union branch, workplace or organisation to mark International Women's Day by having a Fairtrade Tasting.

Hold a stall with suitable gifts for Mothering Sunday such as chocolate and wine and give people information about the nearest place they can purchase Fairtrade roses, to ensure that mothers have a completely Fairtrade Mother’s Day.
Create a Fairtrade Fortnight display with a Mothering Sunday or an International Women’s Day theme. There are lots of case studies of women in Fairtrade and posters featuring female producers. Make Mothering Sunday cards with a Fairtrade theme and sell them – you could use dried Fairtrade rose petals. Bake a Fairtrade cake for your mum or wife! Use a notice board in your workplace to let colleagues know the nearest place to get Fairtrade chocolates, wine and roses for Mother’s Day or International Women's Day gifts. Use the stories of women in Fairtrade as part of Mothering Sunday services.  Have a film night in your home and invite friends round to watch one of the suggested films on the Fairtrade website with some Fairtrade drinks and snacks.

Competitions. Hold a poster competition to promote your Fairtrade campaign.
Get people to show their support of your Fairtrade campaign by making their mark (handprint!) on a sheet of Fairtrade certified cotton. You can take this round to other events during Fairtrade Fortnight. Display it somewhere prominent afterwards.

Fashion Show. The range of Fairtrade certified cotton clothing and homeware is increasing at a phenomenal rate. There are currently almost 1,000 products available from baby clothes to school uniforms. A great way of showcasing these products and having a social event – possibly a fundraiser – is to hold a fashion show. Hold your fashion show in the most unusual place you can think of – but keep it practical. How about a catwalk down the high street,  on a boat or by the canal, or on the steps of the town hall? 
Get in touch with local retailers that sell Fairtrade certified cotton products and get them to support your event by providing clothing samples – an event like this is a great advertising opportunity for them. A lot of high street retailers now have a range of Fairtrade clothing. Look at www.fairtrade.org.uk/cotton for more details.
Make a night of it and put on some other entertainment – perhaps a band or a DJ. Make sure there is a slot for someone to talk about your Fairtrade campaign.

Promoting Your Event.  To create visual impact and get a good picture for the local papers, how about trying some innovative ways of representing the FAIRTRADE Mark? Don’t forget that the Mark is a certification label, and as such it is important to maintain its integrity at all times so check the resources section for how to use the Mark properly.
Create your own Fairtrade product costumes – everyone loves to dress up – and go bananas in the high street. 
Create a giant map of the world and place Fairtrade products in the places they come from, or have a little quiz and see if participants can correctly place products on the countries they come from.
Create your own FAIRTRADE Mark mosaic by downloading a high resolution version of the Mark, getting it blown up and cut out into squares, which people can hold above their heads for an aerial photo.

OTHER IDEAS 

The above are only a few ideas for possible events and activities you could arrange to raise awareness of Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight and throughout 2008 – there are a whole host of other ways to engage people and get them to choose Fairtrade.  Have a look at the Fairtrade Fortnight Action Guide from 2007, which can be read online at the Fairtrade Foundation's website – there are more ideas in there that might inspire you. Here are a few to try:

Get sporty. Don’t forget about Fairtrade footballs, rugby balls, netballs, volleyballs and basketballs! So why not hold a sports day with Fairtrade sports balls and refreshments? Get your football club to use Fairtrade footballs for their matches during Fairtrade Fortnight; if this is not possible for the actual match, then suggest a half-time penalty shoot-out.

Fairtrade pledge. Get individuals to pledge that they will switch one of their regular grocery purchases to Fairtrade e.g. bananas – you could create a pledge form and collect them to display somewhere public. Workplaces that have made a commitment to use Fairtrade products can enter details on the Fairtrade at Work website and receive a pledge form to display in the office.

Fairtrade themed quiz. There is a range of quiz questions that you can download from the Fairtrade Fortnight resources page – one set for primary schools, one for secondary schools and one for adults. Use these for anything from a school quiz to your local pub quiz.

Blind tastings. There are a few people out there who are not aware of the great range and quality of Fairtrade products and get nervous about switching from their usual brand. Put their fears to rest by offering them the opportunity to do some blind tastings of Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products e.g. chocolate, coffee, tea etc. Get a couple of similar priced Fairtrade and non-Fairtrade products, remove the packaging and ask people to try them. Create a survey to see which are the most popular – hopefully the Fairtrade ones will come out on top!

PowerPoint/speaker events. Download the Fairtrade Fortnight 2008 PowerPoint presentation from the Fairtrade Foundation's  website and use it to introduce Fairtrade to the uninitiated. Invite speakers from other local organisations who might be able to contribute to a debate or discussion. Schools can use the Schools PowerPoint on the Fairtrade Schools website – present it at an assembly during Fairtrade Fortnight and let the whole school know what you are doing on Fairtrade.

Supermarket trolley dash. Approach your local supermarket and arrange a ‘Supermarket Sweep’ trolley dash in which participants can only pick out products with the FAIRTRADE Mark. This could be really fun and a good way to engage with the supermarket staff as well as their customers and help them learn more about where the Fairtrade products are located in store!