Devizes Carnival of Fair Trade

On Saturday 21st February Devizes Town Hall hosted a Carnival of Fair Trade. The event was organised and supported by Wiltshire Churches Together, Voluntary Action Kennet, Devizes Fairtrade Group and Devizes Town Hall. This was a celebration of the commitment to fair trade by the churches, diocese and towns in Wiltshire. The aim was to come together to organise a day of feasting and fun and to promote Fairtrade Fortnight, 23rd Feb to 8th March.

Throughout the day there were a variety of events, including a church service led by Stephen Conway, Bishop of Ramsbury, attended by mayors from across Wiltshire. We were entertained by jazz from Kennet Vale Band, and had the opportunity to hear from a variety of speakers in the afternoon, including Bridgit Strawbridge from TV’s ‘It’s not easy being green’. Kids and families had the chance to take part in a quiz and treasure map challenge.

Around 20 stalls came to promote fairly traded goods and stallholders included Plush Chocolates, Fruto del Espiritu juices from Columbia, Silverchilli jewellry, Love Zimbabwe and Fiema Crafts. Local supporters of fairly traded goods included The India Shop, Wiltshire Village Meats and Abecketts Vineyard.

Fair trade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers. This applies at home as well as overseas. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than the market price), fair trade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. The Carnival day was a great success - thank you to everyone who came along and offered support for this event.
Remember to support Fairtrade Fortnight!

Did anyone see the story in The Sunday Times on 11 January (Money is dead – long live barter by John-Paul Flintoff)? Although the story dealt mainly with the economic aspects of various barter schemes it did mention Time Banks, and point out that they deal largely in the kind of help money can’t buy, and TBs operate a system in which “everyone’s time has the same value…and can improve the quality of life in communities”.

We particularly want the Time Bank to support older people, so if you know of someone who falls into that ‘third-age’ category ,and who could do with a hand with those odd jobs that are a bit more than they can cope with, let us know! Even in the unlikely event that they really can’t contribute anything, other people can ‘donate’ time credits to provide the help that’s needed.

But while we're talking of improving life in communities.......A big thank you to every one who came along to the PACT centre in Pewsey on Thursday 19 February for the first session of a regular English Conversation Club for people wanting to improve their English language skills.

Poland, Slovakia, the Phillipines and Pewsey (!) were represented and everyone agreed it was an interesting and enjoyable evening.
We plan to make it a weekly event, andseveral TB members have said they’d like to be involved. Weekly sessions should mean that “the home team” (Time Bank) and the “away team” (learners) can drop in as and when they’re free.

If you’d like to help, (or if you know someone who wants to improve their English conversational skills), come to the PACT centre on Thursday evenings at 7.30.