Prestonpans Fairtrade Town Steering Group

It might just have seemed like a few people having a chat over a cup of coffee but today's meeting was actually quite momentous.

Representatives of the Small World, East Lothian Council, local faith groups & schools, and the Community Council convened the inaugural meeting of the Prestonpans Fairtrade Town Group.  What made the meeting - and the subsequent agreeing of the group's constitution -  so important, was that it enabled us to meet one of five Fair Trade Town 'goals'.  

Briefly, the five targets required to be met in order to secure Fairtrade Town status are:

1. The Council must pass as resolution to support Fairtrade ☑
2. Fairtrade products must be readily available in both shops and cafes ☑
3. Local workplaces and community groups must support Fairtrade ☑
4. the use of local media and events to promote Fairtrade ☑ ...and...
5. A local Fairtrade Steering Group must be convened....TICK!

Thank you to everyone who came along to the meeting.  There will be lots of opportunities to be involved in the project and membership is open to anyone who has expressed a commitment to promoting the objectives of the Prestonpans Fairtrade Town Group.

Our application to have Prestonpans be made a Fairtrade Town has been submitted to the Fairtrade Foundation....watch this space!

Springtime in the Small World

We've had a lovely Fairtrade Fortnight!  

 

The first ever World Book Night was lots of fun - hopefully it will be an annual event.  

We were delighted to meet Ken Mkangala from Malawi on his Producer Tour of Scotland.

Our Open Day on Saturday 12th gave us a chance to talk to Fiona O'Donnell MP about Fairtrade and we look forward to welcoming her back to she shop soon.

Of course, we met lots of customers, old and new, gave out information, free samples, supplied coffee mornings, tuck shops and fayres, and our volunteers gave talks at schools throughout the county.

In the gardens of Orchard Crescent, the crocuses and daffodils are appearing.

The shop itself has had a bit of a spring makeover with a new kitchen for those all important cups of Fairtrade tea and coffee that keep the volunteers happy while pricing stock.

There has been a lot of new stock arriving from India recently. Our gift range is proving very popular so if something takes your fancy, don't leave it too long before you pop in - these papier mache cat boxes are going fast!

Multicultural Day, Prestongrange Museum

On Sunday 10th October, two of our volunteers manned a stall at Prestongrange Museum's Multi-Cultural Day.

Our marquee neighbours were the Edinburgh Chinese Culture Association, and East Coast FM.  It was really nice to meet our fellow Fair-Traders from The Green Gift Company and the One World Shop. 


We would like to attend more of these type of events.  It's a learning curve and notes for next time include:

• A 'bag of tricks' including hooks, sellotape, scissors is very handy.
• Take a flask of Traidcraft hot chocolate and a geobar or two.
• Taking orders (on a pay on collection basis) for higher priced items worked well.
• We need to think of ways to utilise the space around us (i.e. not just the table)
• The things with very obvious price signage sold well - people don't like picking things up to see price.
• People are genuinely interested in the origin of craft items - it pays to know about your stock and have some producer info

The Multi-Cultural Day was very well organised and widely publicised thanks to the efforts of East Lothian Museums Service.  We met potential customers, networked and learned a few things.  We were so glad to have been part of it!