Above - local groups at Brunswick Methodist Church NewcastleBelow - toilet rolls and jewellery; Traidcraft HQ in Gateshead
Leo Osborn, the District Chair, had organised a wonderfully action-packed and inspiring visit to
Leo Osborn, the District Chair, had organised a wonderfully action-packed and inspiring visit to
the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District.
It began at Brunswick Church in the heart of the city where Eden Fletcher and Deacon Eunice Attwood are the ministers. It has a very varied outreach programme and on Friday morning we met representatives from a number of groups who clearlyfeel very welcome at the Church.
These include those who work with young people who go missing (Scarpa), women caught up in the sex trade, and teenage asylum seekers. Each group said how helpful it was to be able to be located in the same place and share some of their experience.
From there we went to the Headquarters of Traidcraft in Gateshead and had a tour of their warehouse - bigger than we expected, which is not surprising for a £22m business.
It is a tribute to organisations such as this that some fairly trade goods are now to be found in every supermarket in the country - but there is still much pioneering work to be done. So please consider having a Traidcraft Stall at your church or school - even once a year would help.
2 comments:
We have a regular Fairtrade stall at our church and Reading is now a Fairtrade town.
When we were first married Sandy worked as Youth Worker at Brunswick and I worked for Traidcraft. So it was great to see your blog about your visit. When I was at Traidcraft 18 years ago the turnover was 6 million - it is a tribute to hard work and determination that fairtrade is no so much part of the retail Market in the UK. I hope that tightening budgets will not knock Traidcraft too much.
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