Fairtrade crusaders' Polish link (From South Wales Guardian)

Fairtrade crusaders' Polish link

5:00pm Friday 26th October 2012 in Ammanford news

AMMANFORD Fairtrade campaigner Phil Broadhurst recently met up with fellow campaigners from England and Poland to discuss the upcoming International Fairtrade Towns Conference.

Mr Broadhurst travelled to Garstang, the first Fairtrade town in the world, to meet up with the founder of the Fairtrade Towns network, Bruce Crowther, and Tadeusz, a campaigner from Poznan in Poland where the next international conference will be held this November.

“It was really inspiring to get campaigners who helped establish the first Fairtrade towns in England and Wales together with a campaigner from Poznan, which will hopefully soon be confirmed as the first Fairtrade town in Poland,” he said.

“Moments like that remind us that a few people really can start an international movement. The movement began with the idea being discussed by a handful of people at an OXFAM meeting in Garstang.

“Soon after, at a Welsh class, I was discussing the idea with my teacher, Annette Hughes, who had been promoting Fairtrade for several years.

Similar people were getting together in small groups all across the UK at that time, and since, and the movement has really taken off over the last ten years, with over 1,000 Fairtrade towns spread across 18 countries.”

The Ammanford Fairtrade Group is meeting at Ammanford Church Hall on Wind Street on Thursday, October 25 and those present will be signing a postcard of solidarity to be sent to the conference. The meeting starts at 7.30pm and all are welcome to attend.