17 Jul 2024/2025 Chairman’s Report on Fairtrade Activities
Keswick Fairtrade Campaign
Report from Kelvin Rushworth, KFTC Chair: 2024-2025
After being a KFTC member for just one year, I was elected as Chair at the
2024 AGM! Over the years, I had enjoyed Fairtrade tea, coffee and bananas
and followed many international Fairtrade stories with great interest. However,
the immense variety of Fairtrade products had eluded me. The last twelve
months have been a very steep learning curve for me and I am grateful to Jo
Alberti, Tom Rennie and Anne Baird for helping to educate me, ever so gently.
One highlight of the past year has been the erection of an elegant slate sign,
on the Fairtrade flowerbed created by Keswick in Bloom, just before the bridge
above the road leading to the lake. The sign was produced by Coniston
Stonecraft and financed by KFTC in partnership with Keswick Town Council. It
was great to welcome Cllr Claire Houghton as our KTC representative.
Fairtrade Fortnight took place, unusually, in September 2024. An exhibition of
the work of Fairtrade was displayed in the Keswick Library. Joe Human gave
a powerful talk on the Coffee Crisis in the Quaker Meeting House. Jo Alberti
spoke to Keswick Rotary at their lunchtime meeting.
Lesley Smith and Jo Albert, in partnership with Caldbeck One World Shop,
organised a tea and cakes afternoon at Lakehead Court. A lively Fairtrade
service was held in Southey Street Methodist Church, in partnership with
Keswick Churches Together and led by Martin Sleath of Kings Church.
During the fortnight, KFTC certificates of thanks were presented to Guest
Houses and Hotels serving Fairtrade products. It was hoped that the
certificates would be displayed publicly for guests and visitors to see.
In December, KFTC had a presence on the Oxfam table at the Threlkeld Craft
Fair and shared the stall at the Victorian Fayre with the Caldbeck One World
Shop. Lesley Smith and Jo Alberti organised a tabletop display of Fairtrade
Christmas products in Booths and Bernadette Fagan created a Fairtrade Tree
for the Southey Street Methodist Church Christmas Tree Festival.
Thanks to Anne Baird, KFTC has a lively presence on social media and a well
maintained website, giving coverage of many local KFTC activities and global
campaigns. Kelvin Rushworth and Jo Alberti regularly submit features for and
Letters to The Editor of the Keswick Reminder. Over the year, coverage has
highlighted many issues including the global coffee and tea crisis as well as
the relaunch of Fairtrade toilet rolls and laundry sheets.
Keswick, once again, has been awarded the status of a Fairtrade Community.
KFTC is a member of the Cumbria Fairtrade Network, supports Transform Trade
through a modest monthly donation and gives a regular donation to the
Keswick Area Food Share to buy Fairtrade bananas for their customers.
Through a developing partnership with the Keswick Tourist Association, KFTC
had a presence at the annual KTA Leaflet Drop and their stand at the Keswick
Mountain Festival. The KTA members’ newsletter features KFTC material.