Visit the Fairtrade Village at the Thames Festival
The Mayor’s Thames Festival, Saturday 13th – Sunday 14th
September, will provide the final push on Fairtrade before London is
formally declared a Fairtrade City, when Londoners will have the
opportunity to support the cause and enjoy some delicious Fairtrade
treats.
The UK’s leading Fairtrade chocolate company Divine
Chocolate and other Fairtrade companies including Cafédirect, OKE
smoothies and Cream O’Galloway ice-cream, will be hosting the first
ever Fairtrade Village, sponsored by The Co-operative Food. The
Fairtrade Village will be held at Hibernia Wharf opposite Southwark
Cathedral and will run from noon until 10pm on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th September.
The
Thames Festival is a spectacular free celebration of London and brings
Londoners together to watch live dance and music, sail on the Thames,
watch performances and enjoy the best food & drink that our city
has to offer.
The campaign to make London a Fairtrade City was
first launched in 2003 and was followed by five years of campaigning in
schools, universities and churches, in shops and town halls. People in
Boroughs across London have done their bit to achieve the goal. So
with London on the cusp of being designated a Fairtrade City this is a
fabulous opportunity to support the cause and enjoy some Fairtrade
treats!
Lend your support for the Fairtrade London campaign by
stopping by at The Co-operative Food sponsored Fairtrade Village.
Savour the delights on offer from the host of Fairtrade companies
involved and get into the party mood with a fantastic jazz band - you
won’t be disappointed by all that’s on offer!
- Farmer-owned
chocolate brand Divine Chocolate will be showcasing its gorgeously
indulgent range of bite-sized muffins, cookies and brownies – all made
with Divine’s critically acclaimed 70% dark chocolate. www.divinechocolate.com
- Dubble, Divine’s sister company, still the only Fairtrade
chocolate created specifically for young people, will be sampling its
scrumptious crispy chocolate bars as well as offering the opportunity
to sign up to its exciting new campaign Mission:Possible ,for young
people to increase the availability of Fairtrade goods in independent
UK shops. www.dubble.co.uk
- Agrofair, the leading importer and distributor of Fairtrade
and organic tropical fresh fruit will be sampling their delicious new
OKE smoothies. www.okefairtrade.com
- Cafédirect will be serving warming mugs of Fairtrade tea, coffee and hot chocolate www.cafedirect.co.uk
- Ehrmanns Wine will be serving its range of Fairtrade wines, www.ehrmannswines.co.uk
- Tropical Wholefoods and Tropical Forest will be displaying tropical dried fruits and honeys. www.tropicalwholefoods.co.uk www.tropicalforest.com
- Drop in on Fairtrade and organic company Cream O’Galloway for ice-cream and frozen yoghurt www.creamogalloway.co.uk
- Buy some Fairtrade candyfloss from Tate & Lyle’s stall. www.tasteandsmile.co.uk
- Be sure to visit Pants to Poverty’s stall and support their campaign for fairer trading in the clothing industry. www.pantstopoverty.com
- Hug womenswear and Little Green Radicals clothing range for
babies and children will be showcasing their range of Fairtrade and
organic cotton clothes. www.hug.co.uk
- The Co-operative Food will also be sampling a selection from its market-leading Fairtrade range. www.co-operative.coop
- And don’t forget to visit the Fairtrade London stall to support the campaign and get a guide on what they can do to help make London the Largest Fairtrade City in the World! www.fairtradelondon.org.uk
- Ends -
Please contact Rosanna Mayhew on 0207 378 6550 or rosanna@divinechocolate.com for images and more information.
Editors Notes:
Fairtrade London Campaign: The
aim of the Campaign has been to increase awareness and availability of
Fairtrade products in homes, shops, cafés, workplaces, tourist venues,
schools and colleges across the capital. Promoting Fairtrade in London
will not just raise awareness amongst London’s 7.4 million residents,
but will reverberate internationally thanks to London’s position as a
global centre in media, business and tourism. Bringing international
and local communities together will raise the profile of Fairtrade and
benefit more producers. London will be the biggest Fairtrade City in
the World.
For more information visit www.fairtradelondon.org.uk
For
London to be officially recognised as a Fairtrade City 17 London
Boroughs need to achieve Fairtrade status and two of the 47
universities in London also need to achieve status. The following Five
Goals also have to be achieved*
1. Official declaration of intent, motion passed in the council.
2.
At least 750 retail outlets and 375 catering establishments must be
selling and serving products that carry the Fairtrade mark.
3.
One flagship employer in each Fairtrade borough and faith groups need
to be made aware of the campaign across London to raise awareness
across all cultures.
4. Media coverage across London wide media.
5. Steering Group established to catalyse the process.
criteria set by the Fairtrade Foundation who receive, and process applications.
Fairtrade Foundation: www.fairtrade.org.uk/
Fair towns:
Globally, over 500 towns or communities have achieved Fairtrade status
through a commitment to Fairtrade across local government, businesses
and retail outlets, with the UK having nearly 400. The initiative spans
from the smallest Fairtrade community, Fair Isle in Scotland, with just
60 residents, to Birmingham, the world’s largest Fairtrade city, and
even includes glamorous San Francisco.
Divine Chocolate:
Divine
Chocolate Ltd is co-owned by Kuapa Kokoo, a co-operative of 45,000
cocoa farmers in Ghana who grow the Fairtrade beans for Divine and
Dubble, and who share in the profits.
For more details about the Divine range of Fairtrade chocolate and the story of Divine and Kuapa Kokoo visit www.divinechocolate.com
Divine Chocolate has won a number of prestigious awards. These include Good Housekeeping’s Favourite Fairtrade Product 2008 and Best Food Brand in the SHE magazine Ethical Awards 2007. Divine Chocolate Ltd was awarded Best Social Enterprise
2007 at the Enterprising Solutions awards run by the Office of the
Third Sector. Divine recently won Best Ethical Business at The
Observer Ethical Awards 2008.