Thursday 15 November 2007

Fairtade meeting

We gathered in Shepherd's yesterday, mainly to discuss what we were going to do for Fairtrade Fortnight next February/March.
We'd already decided that we were going to have a market stall on the Thursday markets, and we are going to try to get some reasonably local Fairtrade companies to come along too.
Julie went along to the Granary to give them their prize for filling in our questionnaire - and she had some difficulty in getting anyone to pose for a photo. They were delighted with the prize, though.
One of the things that's worrying Julie is that we haven't been able to get much publicity for the bid for Fairtrade status. So many other interesting things have been happening in Hay recently that our little story has been squeezed out. She said that one town was refused Fairtrade status for this reason - not enough publicity, so they couldn't demonstrate local support.
The next most important thing will be the Council vote on the 3rd December. One of the Fairtrade people from Llandod are coming down to give a presentation to the Council members and, still thinking about the publicity angle, one of the ladies on the committee said "We could have a demo! We could stand under the clock tower chanting 'What do we want? For Hay to be made into a Fairtrade town. When do we want it? As soon as possible!'" This is a lady who looks very respectable, and has just become a granny - and her equally respectable friend said instantly "I've got a couple of placards at home!"
So there we are - not a serious demonstration; just a bit of fun as the councillors arrive for the meeting, which will hopefully get us a bit of publicity in the local papers too.

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