In this mini podcast episode, we meet long standing Rainbow Turtle volunteers: Gillian Henry, Roisin Mulholland and Maureen Brough. In it they share why fair trade is important to them and what are their favourite products that they can buy in the shop. Unsurprisingly, chocolate and coffee feature high on their lists!
Michael Gidney, currently the chief executive of the Fairtrade Foundation, has worked for at least 30 years in international development (which corresponds nicely with the 30th anniversary of FT movement in UK). He started out as a teacher in Kenya and then for their children’s services in an orphanage, has worked with Voluntary Services Overseas and with Amnesty International. He joined Traidcraft in 19991 and became Director of Policy, then moved to the Fairtrade Foundation in 2009 as deputy executive director and has been chief executive since 2012. He is also a trustee of Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
This was a most interesting interview where we discussed the dangers of commoditisation of products and the importance of fair trade to producers and farmers.
We’re delighted to announced that series 3 of our podcast, Rainbow Turtle Rebooted, is planned to be released during fair trade fortnight 2024 with episode 1 out on Monday 9th September. So if you’d like to listen to it, please subscribe to it in your relevant app. In the meantime, here is a taster…
As part of its celebration for the 30th anniversary of the fair trade mark, Renfrewshire schools ran an artwork competition using this year’s theme for fair trade fortnight of Being The Change. As I took photos of all these fantastic panels outside Paisley’s museum, I couldn’t help but be moved by their inspiring work. Enclosed are the shortlisted and winning entries.
Renfrewshire has a proud history of supporting the Fairtrade movement, with Paisley first becoming a Fairtrade town in 2003. Then in 2007, Fairtrade Zone status was achieved for the whole Renfrewshire area, with Renfrewshire Council working alongside many volunteers, stakeholders and communities across Renfrewshire, many of whom continue these efforts today.
Renfrewshire’s children and young people have always been champions of the Fairtrade movement and are often the catalysts for changing purchasing habits within their own households. Many Renfrewshire schools and nurseries support the Fairtrade movement across their school communities.
The beautiful artwork displayed here has been created by pupils from Mary Russell School in Paisley, Newmains Primary School in Renfrew, and St Peter’s Primary School in Paisley.
The artists’ ages range from Primary 4 up to secondary pupils and the work shows their response to ‘Be the Change, which is the theme for this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight.
We would like to thank all the children and young people, and their teachers, for such fantastic and creative pieces. [Text courtesy of Renfrewshire Council.]
Thanks to Renfrewshire Council for organising and funding this competition.
Fairtrade is an international movement to support the fair, ethical and sustainable production and procurement of goods.
Fairtrade focuses on paying a fair price for products to support low income and disadvantaged farmers, producers and workers in lower income countries.
Fairtrade is often recognised by the Fairtrade mark, which indicates that the production of an item has met agreed standards. ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ helps to celebrate Fairtrade movement. In 2024, Fairtrade Fortnight runs from Monday 9 September to Sunday 22 September.
Fairtrade closely aligns with efforts to tackle the climate crisis-at the heart of Fairtrade is sustainable farming and empowering smallholder farmers. Fairtrade products also comply with strict environmental standards.
Many Fairtrade producers and farmers are based in the global south, in areas most significantly impacted by the extremes of weather recognised to be caused by climate change.
Find out more at www.fairtrade.org.uk
Friends of Rainbow Turtle, Spot, Bruno and Sylvia have been busy making films for young ones, to educate, entertain and inspire on a variety of Fairtrade topics. Spot has been learning about the manufacture and production of Fairly traded footballs in Pakistan, Bruno has been making hot chocolate for his friends and thinking up ideas for a bake off in September for Fair Trade Fortnight, and Sylvia has been looking at fast fashion, taking on the Shein Machine, and trying to understand how the Fairtrade Premium benefits workers and their communities.
The teddies recently made a visit to Newton Mearns Primary School, in Glasgow, where children and teachers are working hard to become a Fairtrade school. The pupils are very keen to organise a Fair Trade football tournament for this Septembers’ Fairtrade Fortnight and they are also planning a Fairtrade community coffee morning at their school this spring. Rainbow Turtle will continue to support them in their efforts and the teddies really look forward to visiting more schools and community groups in the future.
If you would like Spot, Bruno and Sylvia to visit your nursery, school, community or church group please do get in touch with Philippa, who is covering maternity leave for our education officer Linda. Her email is philippa@rainbowturtle.org.uk
When: Tuesday 10th October at 7pm.
Where: Paisley Methodist Central Hall (Smithhills Street entrance).
The annual general meeting of the Rainbow Turtle charity will take place in person as above. We would be delighted if you could attend to hear about the progress of the organisation.
For more information about the AGM, and to obtain copies of the papers for it, please click on the following link.
The business section of the meeting will be followed by the showing of a set of 5 short films commissioned by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum marking the 10th anniversary of Scotland as a fair trade nation. The films feature people from 5 different towns across Scotland (Alford, Castle Douglas, Motherwell and Wishaw, Paisley and Perth) celebrating the work that they are doing for fair trade. After the films we will have a discussion about them featuring a panel including Charles Sim of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, John Riches of True Origin (formerly JTS), and Nate Strawser of The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters. Tea and coffee will be provided with an opportunity to sample some Rwandan coffee from the Gatehouse and Kilombero Rice from True Origin.
Please email us to let us know if you can or can’t attend.
We do look forward to seeing you at the AGM.
We’re delighted to announce our charity’s AGM on Tuesday 25th October 2022 at 7pm at the Methodist Central Halls in Paisley (Smithhills Street entrance). Tea and coffee will be provided. All welcome. Please email info@rainbowturtle.org.uk if you plan to attend.
The business section of the meeting will be followed by a talk by Kiera Wilkins of the Scottish Fair Trade Forum about the Alternative Coffee Company from Nate Strawser of The Gatehouse Coffee Roasters in Paisley who roasts their Rwandan coffee. There will be an opportunity to sample some Rwandan Coffee from the Alternative Coffee Co.
Enclosed are the papers for the meeting (please click on the link to open the relevant paper):
It’s this time of the year again and Fairtrade Fortnight – the UK’s biggest celebration of all things fair trade, is around the corner. This year the festivities will start on the 21st of February and come to an end on the 6th of March. During these 2 weeks, there will be plenty of opportunities for all people – big or small, to take part in different activities. Across the country, there are online workshops, seminars, cook-alongs, exhibitions and many more.
Here at Rainbow Turtle, we want to start the celebrations by organising a “Design a Fairtrade t-shirt” competition for young people. This year’s Fairtrade Fortnight theme is CHOOSE THE WORLD YOU WANT and we feel that giving young people a voice in the discussion about the world future is fundamental.
So we invite every young person in Renfrewshire and beyond to share their creativity with us. Don’t be shy! Creativity, striking ideas and understanding of the topic are just as important as artistic skills.
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOUR DESIGNS!
The selected artworks will be displayed in the Rainbow Turtle shop and submitted for the national Fairtrade Fortnight competition organised by Fairtrade Foundation.
You can download the t-shirt template below or pick one up from the Rainbow Turtle shop.
THE DESIGNS HAVE TO BE SUBMITTED BY 4 PM ON THE 26TH FEBRUARY 2022 VIA EMAIL (education@rainbowturtle.org.uk) OR TO THE RAINBOW TURTLE SHOP.
Have you seen our spectacular COP26 window display celebrating cooperation and close connections between consumers and producers and between all of the people around us? We hope so, as time doesn’t slow down and we had to say farewell to our COP display to welcome another wonderful artwork created by very talented Nicola Henry. Nicola is a Glasgow based illustrator, who was kind enough to let us into her world right in the time for Christmas. Come down to the shop to see us and admire Nicolas’s work in full. Besides the wonderful window display, we also have a lot of new stock and we (probably) have everything you need to finish off your Christmas shopping or simply treat yourself during this cold weather.
We have a range of nativity scenes – felt from Nepal, wood and olive wood from Bethlehem (doesn’t get more authentic than this!). On top of that, we have a big range of Christmas tree decorations and of course – TONS OF CHOCOLATE – white, milk, dark, vegan, big bars, mini bars, hearts, coins, elves, angles…you name it!
For those of you looking for more practical gifts, we have a fresh delivery of items made from inner tubes, coffee sacks and lorry curtain fabric: washbags, wallets, sports boot bags, ‘gig’ bags and decorations. For smaller humans we have some new Christmas themed items from Lanka Kade – perfect for Christmas stockings (which you can also get in our shop – Christmas sorted!).
If this doesn’t convince you, I don’t know what will. Our fantastic volunteers know answers to all your questions about the origins of items stocked in the shop. They are also great if you just want to pop by for a little chat. I’m going to risk saying that we have the best volunteers in town! 😀
So get your warm coat, hat and mittens (if you can’t find them, it’s ok, we have some in the shop!) and pop down to see us!
To see more of Nicola Henry’s work please head to her website: https://www.nicolajanehenry.com/ or find her on Instagram at https://instagram.com/nicolajanehenry
Teachers and parents setting home learning activities may be interested in a fun game this Fairtrade Fortnight: being a Fair Trade detective! The Scottish Fair Trade Forum are asking for help in tracking down Fair Trade products all around Scotland, which you can alert them to here. These entries will then be added to their map, so that we can all see just how much the message of Fair Trade is spreading across the country.
So next time you visit the supermarket, local shop, or really any business with your children, ask them to have a look around for Fair Trade products, and maybe even let the shop know, either in person or online, if you aren’t happy with their selection!
