Some news on current Fairtrade campaigns, and Fairtrade dates for your diary:

Make Food Fair calls on Government and Businesses to take tackle the injustices in the food system.  The first step for the campaign is a petition to David Cameron to ensure he champions smallholder farmers at the G8 meeting in Northern Ireland this year.

Full details at: www.fairtrade.org.uk/makefoodfair

Fair Trade Beyond 2015 Declaration:  2015 is the year by which the UN Millenium Development Goals are supposed to have been met.  As the deadline approaches, the UN and its members are discussing what kind of framework they wish to have after 2015.  The Fairtrade Foundation has produced a Fair Trade Beyond 2013 Declaration, and is asking us to get local politicians to sign it.  Details at: fairtrade.org.uk/beyond2015

Diary Dates

• 11 May 2013: World Fairtrade Day
• 28-29 September 2013: International Fairtrade Towns Conference, Oslo, Norway
• 5 October 2013: Fairtrade Supporter Conference, London
• 24 February-9 March 2014: Fairtrade Fortnight
• 28-30 March 2014: International Fairtrade Towns Conference, Kumamoto, Japan

Our double anniversary celebration – 10 years since Ealing Fairtrade Group was formed, 5 years since Ealing became a Fairtrade borough – will have food, drink and entertainment, plus a display of pictures and photos of the group’s activities over the past 10 years. Come and help us celebrate!

Frank Olok, Co-ordinator of the Malawi Fairtrade Network, will be a key guest at our celebration. The Malawi Fairtrade Network is a civil society organisation in Malawi representing Fairtrade producers. Frank’s background is as a trade advisor. His role involves visiting Fairtrade producer organisations to explain Fairtrade to them and working with them to gain certification, so he has lots of insights on the benefits of Fairtrade to communities in Malawi. The other angle of Frank’s work is with the Malawian government – he advises and lobbies them on behalf of producers to increase the Malawian government’s commit to supporting Fairtrade through it’s policies as a driver of development and GDP growth.

We are also pleased to announce that entertainment will be provided by local folk band Oddfellas: www.oddfellas.co.uk. The band (pictured below) plays tunes and songs from the British Isles and America on banjo, bodhran, bass, fiddle, guitar, mandolin, mandola, spoons and recorder – sometimes all at the same time.

Details of the event are below.

10 years of Ealing Fairtrade Group

5 years as a Fairtrade Borough

Date: Friday, March 8 2013

Time: 6.30 – 9.30 pm

Place: West London Trade Union Club, 33 High Street, London, W3 6ND

If you would like to join us, RSVP to Info@ealingfairtrade.org.uk  - entry strictly by invitation only.

To celebrate Fairtrade Fortnight beginning tomorrow (from 25 February – 10 March), hope you enjoy reading this brilliant blog post on the benefits of Fairtrade roses: Fairtrade roses in winter.

“I have to say that these sturdy, leafy, straight-stemmed roses from Kenya are a revelation, compared to the usual roses, which I assume come from the Netherlands. They are also a good deal at about £8 for a hefty bunch and last at least a week if not two weeks. I’m told the longest they have lasted is 32 days!”

During the October 2012 half-term, the Kids Cookery School in Acton kindly promoted Fairtrade by having a Fairtrade ingredients display and running Fairtrade muffin making lessons with the kids. See the delicious looking results below, thanks @KidsCookerySch!

Pumpkin muffins made with Fairtrade sugar, mango and raisins! Click on the photos to enlarge.

Exciting news for cake fans! We’re pleased to announce that Hobbycraft have kindly agreed to run a Fairtrade Cake Decorating workshop in their Greenford store, Wednesday 31 October 2012, 12-3pm.