20% off day

Remember, this Saturday, 26th February we are having a one day only sale when  there will be a whopping 20% of all crafts.  

We will be open from 10-1 that day.

Pop along to 9A Orchard Crescent and pick up an ethical bargain or two!

Lots of news!

It's all happening in the Small World!

Following a meeting early in the new year with staff from North Berwick based Earth Matters, we now showcase each other's stock.  This means that visitors to Orchard Crescent can peruse a wonderful range of children's clothing including Little Green Radicals t-shirts with their funky slogans "I Recycle My Tantrums" and "I only eat organic chips".

Another reason to pop into the shop is to see Douglas Findlay's watercolours.  Douglas, a regular customer and member of Musselburgh Art Club, kindly donated five paintings to the Small World and prices are in the region of £10-£20.

Earlier this week, we were delighted to learn that we had been successful in receiving a grant of £150 from Fairtrade East Lothian.  We will be using this award to trial a new honesty box scheme (more about which later) and to cover the cost of attending events, hold sampling days and other outreach throughout the county.

It's a busy time in the shop with many of our regular customers starting to hold church fairs again after the winter break.  Happily, we are receiving lots of enquiries from new customers planning events for Fairtrade Fortnight.  We are also preparing for the new Spring/Summer season and on Saturday 26th February are having a one day only sale when  there will be a whopping 20% of all crafts.  We will be open from 10-1 that day.

During Fairtrade Fortnight we will be hosting several events. 

We are very excited to be part of the first ever  World Book Night on Saturday 5th March when one million books are being distributed free in the world's largest ever book giveaway.  We will be giving away 48 copies of David Mitchell's 'Cloud Atlas'.  Come and join us from 7p.m. for a glass of wine.

On Tuesday 8th March, Ken Mkangala, a macadamia nut producer from Malawi, is going to launch our new service - the Fairtrade Honesty Box Scheme - in Prestonpans Library.  

Honesty Boxes have been popular in large workplaces for a long time.  Mostly they consist of rather unhealthy snacks and decidedly non-fairly traded chocolate.  We know that loads of people love our Fairtrade stock but can't always get to the shop in our opening hours.   We have decided to trial a Fairtrade honesty box scheme in Prestonpans.  The boxes with contain approximately £25-worth of stock and customers can leave money for their purchases in the box. The host organisation (usually within a public building) can choose from "Best Sellers", "Sweet Treats" or "Gift" ranges.

Our final FTF event is our Open Day on Saturday 12th March from 10-1.  There will be a chance to sample some free Fairtrade food and take a look at crafts from the new range.

Finally, would you like to see "Welcome to Prestonpans - Fairtrade Town" signs? It really could happen!  Please get in touch if you would like to join a steering group aimed at securing Fairtrade Town status for Prestonpans.

Fairtrade Events throughout East Lothian

26 Feb

10-1 - 20% off all craft, Small World Shop

Sat 5 Mar

7 p.m.-World Book Night event, Small World Shop

Tue 8 Mar

time to be confirmed- Launch of honesty box scheme, Prestonpans Library.

Wed 9 Mar

Fair Trade Conference, QMU. To register a free place please contact Nicola at the Scottish Fairtrade Forum (nicola.jamieson@sftf.org.uk)

Fri 11 Mar

10-12 Fairtrade Coffee Morning, ReMade, 147 North High Street Musselburgh in collaboration with the Green Gift Company

Sat 12 Mar

10-1 Open Day, Small World Shop, Prestonpans; 

10-5 Supplier Day, Earth Matters, North Berwick

Unilever response on Sourcing of Cocoa from Cote D'Ivoire

(I guess that means we won't be stocking Magnums until 2020 at the earliest.....)

Hello from Unilever,

Thank you for contacting us to request that Unilever cease purchasing cocoa from the Ivory Coast.

While we fully understand your concern the situation is a complicated one. Taking this kind of action is not as straightforward as it may seem and may have a number of unintended consequences.

Unilever does not source cocoa beans directly from Ivory Coast. Indeed, we buy less than 1% of the global production of cocoa beans and are therefore a relatively small player in purchasing terms.

We do, however, buy some cocoa-based ingredients (e.g. cocoa powder, chocolate, etc) from large, third-party suppliers and it is impossible today to determine the origin of all the beans used in the ingredients we buy. This is because our suppliers source from many different countries and supply us based on how we want the ingredients to taste rather than where the beans come from.

In addition, a boycott of cocoa from Cote d'Ivoire would potentially have serious ramifications for large numbers of smallholder farmers who are dependent on it for their primary income for themselves and their families.

Cocoa production involves around 4 million small farmers globally, with a further 45 million people dependent on cocoa for their livelihoods. It is these farmers whom we are intent on helping. Under our Sustainable Living Plan (which we launched in November 2010), we are committed to sourcing 100% certified sustainable cocoa by 2020 to ensure that in the future our supply chains will be fully traceable.

This means we will be working with our suppliers and other partners to identify ways of engaging with smallholders to make sure that they can increase their output in an economic, socially and environmentally sustainable way.

Finally it is worth emphasising that Unilever does not support or endorse individual political parties. Our mission is to improve the lives of billions of people everywhere with products that address their needs for basic hygiene and good nutrition.

Yours sincerely,

External Affairs Department

Unilever PLC
Registered in London number 41424
www.unilever.com

Remember folks, the only way to be sure no-one has been exploited is to buy products with the Fairtrade logo. 

Could you use £150 to promote fairtrade?

Would your school, club or congregation like to hold a Fairtrade activity or event?  

Would you like some money to help you?  

If the answer is 'yes' then please think about East Lothian Council's new small grant scheme which can provide grants of up to £150 to help raise awareness of Fairtrade within the local community.

Remember that the Small World, Prestonpans, can supply groceries, craft and homewares on a sale or return basis.

Schools - we can supply cartons of juice, flapjacks and dried fruit snack packs for your healthy tuck shop.

We also have a wealth of educational material we can give you for your Fairtrade display.


Funding is limited so don't delay!

Shake Up Your Wake Up!

Farmhouse Breakfast Week (23 to 29 January 2011) aims to raise awareness of the benefits of eating a healthy breakfast and demonstrate the variety on offer.

With one in four people regularly skipping breakfast, it is time many of us re-evaluated our morning routine.

Why eat breakfast…

• Breakfast eaters tend to be slimmer than breakfast skippers.
• Eating breakfast can aid concentration and mental performance at work and at school.
• It provides you with the nutrients and energy needed for an active lifestyle.
• Research shows that breakfast eaters are less depressed and have lower levels of stress than breakfast skippers.

If you want to Shake Up Your Wake Up, remember The Small World stocks a range of Eswatini Jam (Guava, Peach & Ginger, Mango, Marula, Melon & Ginger, Pineapple).

We also stock Traidcraft GeoMuesli in Exotic Fruit, Mixed Berries and Fruit and Nut varieties.

Four great reasons to buy GeoMuesli:

It tastes great! Traidcraft have partnered with Alara who are the UK's leading organic and fair trade muesli suppliers and their recipes have been refined and tested by a panel of muesli enthusiasts!

Eco-friendly packaging. The new packaging is made up of a recyclable carton (from sustainable wood sources) and a new Super-ECO inner film which is fully biodegradable.

Juicy fruits. Traidcraft have sourced some exciting new ingredients especially for this muesli, including the world's first Fairtrade Chilean flame and ruby raisins. These are plump, juicy and sweet and are perfect for muesli. We know that in the past some of the dried fruit has been a bit on the chewy side so we've made sure all the new fruits are suitably juicy and delicious!

It's a healthy way of starting the day. Made from high quality whole food ingredients these are highly nutritious cereals. Even better, by eating them you're helping improve the lives of producers across the globe.

If you are looking for breakfast ideas, take a look at Shake Up Your Wake Up - and remember to visit the Small World.  During Farmhouse Breakfast Week, Small World customers can pick up a free recipe booklet (limited stock).

World Hunger Day: 9 January 2011

World Hunger Day is about raising awareness of chronic  persistent hunger . It is also about celebrating the achievements of millions of people who are already ending their own hunger and meeting their basic needs.

World Hunger Day seeks to inspire people in both the developed and developing worlds to show their solidarity and support to enable many more to end their own hunger and poverty and make the journey to self-reliance.

The theme for 2011 is "Empowering People. Ending Hunger".

Empowerment requires many things: illiteracy reduction, microcredit, cooperative management, improved farming, microfinance, and of course fair trade.

Fairtrade works to empower the most marginalised in the global trade system – small-scale farmers and workers. For certain products, Fairtrade only certifies small farmer organisations. Examples include coffee, cocoa, cotton and rice. By favouring democratic organisations of small farmers, Fairtrade gives the stability rural families need to plan for the future. The alternative for many is to move to already overcrowded urban centres.

Plantations and companies using hired labour can sell certain products through Fairtrade if workers are organised and benefit from Fairtrade. The Fairtrade standards protect workers basic rights according to the International Labour Organisation conventions. This means health and safety standards, freedom of association, collective bargaining , no discrimination and no bonded or illegal child labour. The Joint Body, which includes a majority of worker representatives, decides how to invest the Fairtrade premium, works to create good working relationships between management and workers, and helps workers gain skills in leadership, communication and project management.




The Fairtrade premium is a sum of money paid on top of the agreed Fairtrade price for investment in social, environmental or economic development projects, decided upon democratically by producers within the farmers’ organisation or by workers on a plantation.The premium is fixed by the Fairtrade Labelling Organisation Standards Unit in the same way as the minimum price and remains the same, even if the producer is paid more than the minimum price for the product. The premium fund is typically invested in education and healthcare, farm improvements to increase yield and quality, or processing facilities to increase income.

In the UK, the Hunger Project will be running many events to mark the day - read about them here.

New Year Resolutions? Let the Small World help!

According to uber-cool social networking site 43 Things, the top New Year's Resolutions for 2011 are:


1.  Lose weight  
How about replacing your favourite choccie bars for some yoghurt coated raisins or some of our dried fruit snack packs?
2.  Eat, drink, learn, or try something new
We continue to expand our range and are stocking items from more producers than ever before.  Why not try our Swazi Lime Pickles or swap your usual brand of coffee for some Machu Piccu

3.  Set an attainable athletic goal, like running a 5 or 10k  

The Edinburgh Marathon runs past our door on Sunday 22nd May - why not run on our behalf - we'll cheer you on!

4.  Save money  

Our Ecover refill service can save you a packet!  A 1.5l refill of laundry liquid is only £5 compared with buying a new bottle at £6.60! 

5.  Be happy

Every time you buy a fairly traded item, you can be happy knowing your purchase has made the difference to the producer.  Spread the happiness!

6.  Take a photo every day for a year

If you decide to do this, why not exhibit your work in the shop?  We are going to be a venue for the 2011 Three Harbours Arts Festival! 

7.  Fall in love
...erm.  Not sure how we can help with this one but, if you Love Food but Hate Waste, then pick up a free Canny Bin kit to help reduce food waste.

8.  Get a job

We always need volunteers in the Small World.  Both behind the scenes and in the shop (Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10-12 and 2-4 and Saturdays 10-12).   It's fun, fulfilling and fattens up your CV!
 
9.  Read more

Not only we do have a collection of fair trade recipe books for loan, we also have a free bookcrossing shelf in our entrance hall.  Just help yourself!

10.  Keep a notepad of awesome moments  

Awesome moments require awesome notepads and our Goonj (it means 'echo') range of recycled pads are perfect.


May we suggest another couple of resolutions?

Buy Fair Trade!

Continue to buy Fair Trade!

Tell others about Fair Trade!

Visit the Small World and say hello!