The Fairtrade group were busy yesterday at Hay Castle, where a party was held to welcome visitors from our twin town of Timbuktu. They were serving teas and cakes to a packed hall.
Timbuktu has been through a very difficult time recently, with rebels taking the town and imposing strict Islamic law there, but things seem to be getting better now, with the delegation of teachers and midwives now able to travel to visit Wales.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Wednesday, 18 September 2013
Fair Trade Celebration Weekend in Brecon
Love Zimbabwe has been one of the stalls at the Hay Christmas Fairtrade Fairs - and some of the others the group has held throughout the years.
On Friday, Martha Musonza of Love Zimbabwe will be heard on Radio 2, talking to Jeremy Vine. Martha and her husband David have also been talking to Roy Noble for his Sunday breakfast show on BBC Radio Wales. This is all in the run up to the Wales Fair Trade Fair weekend which they are organising in Brecon on Saturday 4th October. It's the seventh event they've organised together - and that's only a small part of what they do to promote Fairtrade and to help the people of Zimbabwe. They've been to Seattle to give talks, and had a stall at Glastonbury, and will even be talking to members of the House of Lords in November, before they go back to Zimbabwe with solar panels and irrigation equipment for a community centre funded by the Welsh Assembly!
In Brecon, Martha is promising African dancing, live music and drumming, sheep racing and a children's African village, as well as around 30 stalls selling Fairtrade goods.
Meanwhile in Hay, the Fairtrade Group are starting to think about the Christmas Fair in the Buttermarket, and possibly a talk about Shared Interest. There is a lady in Brecon who is on the Shared Interest Council, and as the group invests money from events that it puts on in Shared Interest, it might be a good idea to publicise how that works and how the money is spent.
On Friday, Martha Musonza of Love Zimbabwe will be heard on Radio 2, talking to Jeremy Vine. Martha and her husband David have also been talking to Roy Noble for his Sunday breakfast show on BBC Radio Wales. This is all in the run up to the Wales Fair Trade Fair weekend which they are organising in Brecon on Saturday 4th October. It's the seventh event they've organised together - and that's only a small part of what they do to promote Fairtrade and to help the people of Zimbabwe. They've been to Seattle to give talks, and had a stall at Glastonbury, and will even be talking to members of the House of Lords in November, before they go back to Zimbabwe with solar panels and irrigation equipment for a community centre funded by the Welsh Assembly!
In Brecon, Martha is promising African dancing, live music and drumming, sheep racing and a children's African village, as well as around 30 stalls selling Fairtrade goods.
Meanwhile in Hay, the Fairtrade Group are starting to think about the Christmas Fair in the Buttermarket, and possibly a talk about Shared Interest. There is a lady in Brecon who is on the Shared Interest Council, and as the group invests money from events that it puts on in Shared Interest, it might be a good idea to publicise how that works and how the money is spent.
Friday, 9 August 2013
Planning More Events
There won't be a Fairtrade Picnic this year, but the Open Garden was a success again, and raised enough money (see below) for the group to invest another £250 with Shared Interest. Shared Interest are trying to reach a target of thirty three million pounds invested to celebrate their twenty fifth anniversary.
Next year the Tourism Group are planning a fashion show, and it might be possible to get involved with that - if so, another £250 of Fairtrade funds would go towards the organisation of the event. If the money is not needed for that, the money will go to Fairtrade Foundation funds. The WI are also planning a recycled fashion event, so it might be possible to join forces with them as well.
Fairtrade Hay has been offered a stand on the Buttermarket for the 31st August, so look out for us there! We are hoping that the stand can be set up beside the Jump4Timbuktu stall, so people who are involved in both organisations can look after both stalls (a good way of multi-tasking!).
We're also hoping to persuade Lisa Marie to let us have a regular Fairtrade column in WyeLocal, to talk about all the different shops that sell Fairtrade goods in Hay.
Next year the Tourism Group are planning a fashion show, and it might be possible to get involved with that - if so, another £250 of Fairtrade funds would go towards the organisation of the event. If the money is not needed for that, the money will go to Fairtrade Foundation funds. The WI are also planning a recycled fashion event, so it might be possible to join forces with them as well.
Fairtrade Hay has been offered a stand on the Buttermarket for the 31st August, so look out for us there! We are hoping that the stand can be set up beside the Jump4Timbuktu stall, so people who are involved in both organisations can look after both stalls (a good way of multi-tasking!).
We're also hoping to persuade Lisa Marie to let us have a regular Fairtrade column in WyeLocal, to talk about all the different shops that sell Fairtrade goods in Hay.
Wednesday, 26 June 2013
Good News from the Open Garden
The Open Garden at Brilley this year raised £200 from the teas - with special thanks to Louise, one of the helpers "who was clearly born to 'do teas'" according to Jo Eliot.
Fairtrade Hay will be meeting again soon to discuss events in the Buttermarket, the community picnic, Piece by Piece in September and the Christmas Fair.
It's all go!
Fairtrade Hay will be meeting again soon to discuss events in the Buttermarket, the community picnic, Piece by Piece in September and the Christmas Fair.
It's all go!
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Love Zimbabwe in Hereford
Love Zimbabwe have been coming to the Fairtrade Hay Fairs since the very beginning, and now they've got a spot at All Saints in Hereford. There's a very good post on Vanadian Avenue describing them and their work. The link is:
https://cocamidemea.wordpress.com/
and the date of the post is 22nd April.
https://cocamidemea.wordpress.com/
and the date of the post is 22nd April.
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Wonderwool
Fairtrade isn't just tea and coffee - this Fairtrade alpaca yarn comes from Uraguay. It was seen at the Wonderwool exhibition at the Royal Welsh Showgrounds at Builth Wells this weekend. Even better, all the coffee stands were serving Fairtrade refreshments.
Wednesday, 27 March 2013
The Year Ahead
There was a meeting at The Swan on Monday night, where the Fairtrade group planned for the year ahead.
But first, there was a bit of crowing!
YAY, US!!!!
The Fairtrade Wine Tasting that we organised for Fairtrade Fortnight was a resounding success! The only two criticisms we received were that the chaps from the Co-op, lovely though they were, were not wine experts, so could only really read out the tasting notes, and also it was sometimes hard to hear them (but that was possibly because everyone was having such a good time and chatting so loudly!)
We are looking into doing it again, possibly with Tanners, the wine merchants in Hereford, and fairly close to Christmas when people's minds will be on which wines they want to choose for the festivities.
We also managed to put another £200 into Shared Interest, which makes loans to Fairtrade businesses.
The group in Egypt which one of our committee is involved with have made some iPad bags and picture books for us to sell when we are doing stalls. They do a lot of patchwork with recycled cloth - the iPad bag is made from old ties. At the moment they are looking into the possibility of gaining Fairtrade accreditation for themselves, which would mean it would be possible for them to have loans from Shared Interest, and would make it easier for them to market their products (they do very good oven gloves - I have a pair). They have also been commissioned to make a Fairtrade banner for us.
On May 18th and 19th the Smallholders Fair will be held at the Royal Welsh Showground, and there will be a Fairtrade stand there, which may be staffed partly by members of Fairtrade Hay.
During Hay Festival, at the end of May, the Fairtrade notice board will be on display at Hay Church - in fact, it is there now, as a permanent feature, though it was in the Library for Fairtrade Fortnight.
On June 23rd, Jo Eliot and her husband Noel Kingsbury will be opening their garden again as part of the Open Gardens scheme. This was very successful last year (and they do have a very beautiful garden). There will also be teas and cake.
On 28th and 29th September there will be an event at Hayfield Community Gardens called Piece by Peace (or possibly that should be the other way round). The whole thing is based on the community pot firing sessions that happen in Timbuktu. People gather around kilns to fire their pots, share food and music and storytelling, and generally have a good time. Two Towns One World had the idea to do something similar in Hay, so there will be workshops ahead of time for people to go along and create a pot to be fired. They are even going to ask some of the authors who come to Hay Festival this year to get involved, and make a pot that can be auctioned for charity. The potters of Brook Street Pottery in Hay are involved in organising this - they actually have a kiln at the back of the shop, and if the door onto Chancery Lane is open, you can see it in use as you pass by.
They will be creating a song about Hay which will be sent to Timbutktu, and there will be a project with local schools looking at food from field to plate, showing children the seeds going into the ground, the flour being ground at Talgarth Mill locally, and the bread being baked in local baker Alex Gooch's ovens.
As part of the festivities, Fairtrade Hay will be running their Community Picnic, with co-operative games, an art walk, sticky sticks (make a model by pushing the sticks together), and face painting, so there will be masses of things to see and do.
We are even thinking ahead far enough to the next Christmas Fair - you have to book the Buttermarket this far in advance! This year it will be held on the 7th December.
But first, there was a bit of crowing!
YAY, US!!!!
The Fairtrade Wine Tasting that we organised for Fairtrade Fortnight was a resounding success! The only two criticisms we received were that the chaps from the Co-op, lovely though they were, were not wine experts, so could only really read out the tasting notes, and also it was sometimes hard to hear them (but that was possibly because everyone was having such a good time and chatting so loudly!)
We are looking into doing it again, possibly with Tanners, the wine merchants in Hereford, and fairly close to Christmas when people's minds will be on which wines they want to choose for the festivities.
We also managed to put another £200 into Shared Interest, which makes loans to Fairtrade businesses.
The group in Egypt which one of our committee is involved with have made some iPad bags and picture books for us to sell when we are doing stalls. They do a lot of patchwork with recycled cloth - the iPad bag is made from old ties. At the moment they are looking into the possibility of gaining Fairtrade accreditation for themselves, which would mean it would be possible for them to have loans from Shared Interest, and would make it easier for them to market their products (they do very good oven gloves - I have a pair). They have also been commissioned to make a Fairtrade banner for us.
On May 18th and 19th the Smallholders Fair will be held at the Royal Welsh Showground, and there will be a Fairtrade stand there, which may be staffed partly by members of Fairtrade Hay.
During Hay Festival, at the end of May, the Fairtrade notice board will be on display at Hay Church - in fact, it is there now, as a permanent feature, though it was in the Library for Fairtrade Fortnight.
On June 23rd, Jo Eliot and her husband Noel Kingsbury will be opening their garden again as part of the Open Gardens scheme. This was very successful last year (and they do have a very beautiful garden). There will also be teas and cake.
On 28th and 29th September there will be an event at Hayfield Community Gardens called Piece by Peace (or possibly that should be the other way round). The whole thing is based on the community pot firing sessions that happen in Timbuktu. People gather around kilns to fire their pots, share food and music and storytelling, and generally have a good time. Two Towns One World had the idea to do something similar in Hay, so there will be workshops ahead of time for people to go along and create a pot to be fired. They are even going to ask some of the authors who come to Hay Festival this year to get involved, and make a pot that can be auctioned for charity. The potters of Brook Street Pottery in Hay are involved in organising this - they actually have a kiln at the back of the shop, and if the door onto Chancery Lane is open, you can see it in use as you pass by.
They will be creating a song about Hay which will be sent to Timbutktu, and there will be a project with local schools looking at food from field to plate, showing children the seeds going into the ground, the flour being ground at Talgarth Mill locally, and the bread being baked in local baker Alex Gooch's ovens.
As part of the festivities, Fairtrade Hay will be running their Community Picnic, with co-operative games, an art walk, sticky sticks (make a model by pushing the sticks together), and face painting, so there will be masses of things to see and do.
We are even thinking ahead far enough to the next Christmas Fair - you have to book the Buttermarket this far in advance! This year it will be held on the 7th December.
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