Latest News from Fairtrade Hay

The Fairtrade Foundation have renewed Hay's status as a Fairtrade Town. Quite a bit of work has to go into providing the evidence for this, so the Fairtrade Hay group are rightly delighted.
The Fairtrade Foundation commented: "Your group has demonstrated dedication to ensure Fairtrade becomes part of daily life in Hay-on-Wye. You have managed to engage successfully with a great number of people and with a variety of local organisations."
We're coming to the end of Fairtrade Fortnight now, and the Fairtrade Hay group are speaking twice to the pupils of Hay School, and showing a short film about cocoa farming in West Africa, as well as a display in the school lobby. The theme this year is the campaign to secure a fair wage for farmers, especially women farmers.
Hay Deli is promoting the Fairtrade Palestinian company Zaytoun in its shop window, with a Saturday tasting session. Zaytoun's range includes olive oil, herb mixes, grains, almonds and dates.
The Fairtrade Hay group are also going to do a survey shortly of shops and businesses in Hay to assess how much Fairtrade produce is offered, and to see where they can encourage an increase. I was involved in the very first such survey - it'll be interesting to compare the two.
Fairtrade Hay meets on the first Monday of every month at 6.30pm in the Blue Boar - new members always welcome!

Allan Saidi at Hay School

There's a good article on the Hereford Times website
http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/local/11839602.Hay_on_Wye_celebrates_Fairtrade_Fortnight/?ref=rss
with a picture of Allan Saidi, the Malawi sugar farmer, at Hay School with members of the Fairtrade Hay group.