Herefordshire Fairtrade News

Latest directory addition

2008-06-27T07:32:00.000+01:00

LOWER BUCKTON COUNTRY HOUSE in Buckton, near Leintwardine, is the latest addition to the Herefordshire Fairtrade directories, opening all year for dinner, bed and breakfast. Lower Buckton's philosophy is to to buy only Fairtrade imported food which is Fair Trade and/or organic with the remainder being local, seasonal food from small-scale, independent producers and suppliers. In this way Buckton hopes to support small, rural economies both home and abroad.

Buckton uses: Fairtrade coffee, tea, drinking chocolate, fruit, in season: bananas, pineapples, melons and so on, imported spices and nuts

Lower Buckton Country House
Buckton
Leintwardine
SY7 0JU

01547 540 532

www.lowerbuckton.co.uk

Fairtrade Schools assessors needed

2008-06-26T18:55:00.001+01:00

Over 1,800 schools are now working towards becoming Fairtrade Schools. As the scheme grows from strength to strength we need your help. If you have experience of working in education and can volunteer a few hours a month from home, we would love to hear from you. Please email schools@fairtrade.org.uk for more information.

Mortimer Country Food Fair

2008-06-26T18:48:00.001+01:00

First Mortimer Country Food Fair launches
Brampton Bryan Saturday July 19 2008
9.00 am – 5.00pm

The first Mortimer Country Food Fair will be held in Brampton Bryan on the Shropshire and Herefordshire borders on Saturday July 19 2008. Philip Dunne the Ludlow MP will be attending to show his support.

Created to celebrate the diversity and quality of the area’s food, this new event will feature cookery demonstrations with local produce, food talks, book readings, stalls and regional cuisine.

Says co-founder Carolyn Chesshire of Lower Buckton Country House “ This area of North West Herefordshire and South Shropshire has some of the best producers of slow food and organic produce in the country – as well as some of the best B&Bs, hotels and restaurants to be found anywhere.”

“We have started what we intend to be an annual event to raise the profile of these producers and local companies. For this reason we have made entry free of charge to encourage both local people and visitors to come and try the very best of seasonal, local and organic produce.”

The event, which co-insides with British Cherry Day will be supporting the campaign to save the great British cherry. Carolyn Chesshire will be creating a cherry based recipe which she will be demonstrating on the day.

Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow will be attending in the afternoon, he said: “I am always keen to support local businesses, and believe it is important for food security and local food sourcing that we maintain a vibrant agricultural sector in this country. Consumers need to reconnect with farmers and gain a better understanding of where the food they eat comes from. It is a great way to support local farming, and buying food locally also helps the environment by cutting transport costs and boosts the economy by reducing reliance on imports."

The Fair will be held around the historic Manor Farm Barn in the ancient village of Brampton Bryan, headquarters of booksellers Aardvark Books (co-founders of the event).

There will be book readings from The Food Maze, written by Robert Elliott, one of the owners of Aspen House, the award-winning local B&B and restaurant. Walford Court, the renowned local Tea Room and B&B will provide Barbecued food to taste and buy. There will be wine and cider on offer along with beers from the new Ludlow Brewery. There will also be stalls selling cakes, fruit, vegetables, herbs, eggs, meat, cheese, and jams from local farms as well as stalls selling hand-made jewellery and textiles by local craftspeople.

Website: www.mortimercountryfoodfair.com – coming soon

Of monopolies and men...

2008-06-26T18:24:00.002+01:00

This message from The National group of Christian Ecology Link was read out at our last Fairtrade meeting in Leominster. The communication was part of a conversation on the group web chat room about industry in this world. After the Hay Festival it all rings very true.

The Monopolies commission has no jurisdiction in the USA, Where these companies operate in Europe and the UK they craftily split themselves into smaller companies using different names. Cargill has two operations in the UK - Banks Cargill and Frontier Agriculture. The World Bank and the World Trade organisation were set up to promote these American conglomerates and make it easier for them to gain a stranglehold on world markets. Notice how, time and again, European companies get their knuckles wrapped for infringing World Trade rules but American companies never do. Notice also that wherever America sends its troops to "sort things out" Cargill is one the companies that comes in behind them.

Haliburton is the other, one but they are involved with construction (re-construction ??) I did of course omit the other two companies who play a major role and are also interlinked with Cargill and Monsanto.

Archers Daniel Midland (ADM) are the worlds largest food ingredient company. It is a safe bet that practically all the food in your cupboard or fridge contains at least some ingredients made by ADM. They specialise in soya products and until two years ago owned health food companies Granose, Direct Foods and Haldane Foods. These have since been sold to another American giant - Hain Celestial Foods, a soya food manufacturer, but it is almost certain that ADM still continues to supply them with ingredients.

Bunge is the other company in the quartet. On their website they state "Bunge manufactures fertilizers and crop nutrients for farmers, from whom we buy grains and oilseeds. We ship these commodities in bulk to customers around the world, and process them into refined products, such as meals and oils." They are in fact the world's largest manufacturers of rape seed oil and have a processing plant in the UK. As one might expect they are totally committed to biofuels. They are also a major supplier of soya protein and soya oil.

Compared to these giants, global food manufacturers like Nestle are small fry. And of course Nestle also buy from the quartet. Practically all the chocolate produced by Nestle, Cadbury and Mars comes from the Cargill processing plant in Cote d'Ivoire. All cocoa farmers in Cote d'Ivoire, the world's largest cocoa producers, are forced by law to sell all their produce to Cargill.

Because they get such a low price from them they are forced to employ child labour, most of them slaves from Mali. If you buy chocolate from any of those three companies you are supporting child slavery. Just one of many stories that can be told about any one of the four American giants.

So what on earth can we do?

I have long been involved in Fairtrade and Trade Justice events, and a lot has been achieved. I just wonder what can be done now.

I was made aware that Multi National companies do not pay tax by the You and Yours radio programme a few weeks ago. I was amazed. It is so unfair. I expect that most of the population, even if they are not prepared to pay a bit more to see workers across the world get a fair wage, would feel angry about unfair tax.

So I have sent this letter to my MEPs.

A lone voice does nothing but if anyone else felt like doing similar we might make some more small changes.

Dear……………..
I was dismayed when I heard on a BBC news programme that Multi National companies pay no tax or VAT in Britain. Is this really true? If so I must suppose it is the same in the EU generally.

Please can I ask you as an MEP to look into this very unfair situation. There must be a way to make laws to make these companies pay their fair share for social responsibilities. If the whole of the EU taxed these Multi National companies, working together, we would not be put in a vulnerable position.

Barbara Mark

Injustice - A thought from Salford

2008-06-26T18:23:00.000+01:00

When we went to the City Art Gallery we saw the painting by John Charles Dollman from 1904 called Famine. It is a haunting painting of a skeletal man draped in clothing, just like the BBC TV pictures of the Somalian people shown to us in late June 08, and staving wolves looking for food. Did he foresee what the world is heading for? He said the painting was about the souls of humanity. Well, humans are driving the world to that end, with their souls lost to consumerism.

Barbara Mark

Hereford City Fairtrade

2008-06-06T08:18:00.002+01:00

The next meeting of the Hereford City Fairtrade Steering group will be on Friday 13th June at 9.30am. Contact John Dinnen for further details on 01981 540 730. Venue is the Cafe @ All Saints, High Town.

Cut price bananas threaten the poor

2008-05-25T10:16:00.002+01:00

The Observer (25.05.08) reports...

A supermarket banana price war has broken out and been widely condemned by overseas aid charities.

Asda triggered the battle when it cut the cost of a kilo of the fruit from 77p to 72p last Wednesday. Tesco and Morrisons followed suit the next day and Sainsbury's, which sells only Fairtrade bananas, matched the 5p reduction 24 hours later.

Read the full article here...

Get to Hay by bus not car

2008-05-22T23:12:00.000+01:00

It is the Hay Literary Festival, May 22 to June 1st and this year you can get there by bus (and buy Fairtrade when you get there of course!) A full bus timetable is operating from Hereford Station, early morning to late evening. No parking, convenient run direct to the festival site. Please make use of it and enjoy the festival. If you can't read the timetable below click on it for a larger version.

HereFOODshire Challenge: Update from Trish

2008-05-22T08:08:00.001+01:00

The Herefoodshire challenge is now into its 4th month.

Recent discovery: good localfood offerings at the Spread Eagle and the Castle Hotel in Hereford!More recommendations for hot local food spots in Hereford itself welcome. Keep asking where your food is coming from!

Arriving:spring onions, asparagus, tomatoes & cumbers & homegrown salad

On the way out: apples, parsnips, leeks

Events coming up

Saturday June 14th: Fairtradecounty meeting at 2pm at the Forbury,Church Street Leominster. Good valueFairtrade/local lunch available first – and the Farmers Market is in Corn Square all morning

Saturday June 14th: Eardisley CAP host an evening of local film shorts at the VillageHall, accompanied by local hotdogs and puddings made by the WI. Tickets are £5:book via Central Stores on 01544 327231

Saturday 19th June: Mortimer Country Food Fare in BramptonBryan from 10-4pm, free entry: Slow food, Carolyn Chesshire, stalls &Aardvark books (cookery specialists)

Sunday June 22nd: Herefoodshire informal monthly meetingand potluck supper at the Granary, South Street (next doorto the Talbot), Leominster from 7.30pm. Bring a random local offering - bread will be supplied as Herefordshireflour is still elusive. Please email to let us know if you can come by June19th

28/29th June: Shobdon Food & Garden Festival:lots on including cookery demonstrations & a Herefoodshire slot, see http://www.shobdonfestival.co.uk/index.htmfor more info

Thursday July 10th:Herefoodshire evening at Leominster Community Centre, School Rd (offBroad St car park) run by Leominster Transition Towns. Starts at 7.30pm. Entry free.

Tuesday July 22nd: Herefoodshiremeal at Aspen House Hoarwithy: Aspen House scooped top spot in theGuardians’ eco-B&B section for the Central region with their aim ofsourcing all their food within 10 miles. Supper will be a special price of £12.50for 2 courses + tea or coffee: bring your own local drinks or buy soft oralcoholic drinks from Aspen House, Booking essential on 01432 840353 as numberslimited. Aspen House have a splendid list of local suppliers on their website: http://www.aspenhouse.net/realfood.php

Saturday September 6th:'Exploring Herefood': leisurely guided walk round food related places old & new, including the Farmers Market in High town Hereford followed by potlucklunch. Start at 13, Harold Street at 11am, please bring Herefordshire food &/or drink to share for lunch. Nocharge.

Under development:

* August to October : Herefoodshire Trial meets the Herefordshire Trail: plans to walk the whole 154 miles of the Herefordshire Trail between August and October to check the local food offer across and around the county. First section from Leintwardine to Leominster. Email herefoodshire@hotmail.co.uk if you’d like to join a day’s stage or have ideas of good food places to drop in to en route.
* More WI events
* Harvest Suppers with local food

Thanks for all your support - much appreciated!

Millichap Peace Fund Lecture

2008-05-17T09:22:00.000+01:00

This is a reminder about the talk in Hereford on 27th May. There is an extra Millichap Peace Fund Lecture at 7.30pm on 27th May in the Friend’s Meeting House in King Street. It is Prof Jeff Halper of ICAHD (Israeli Committee Against House demolition). Jeff is an excellent speaker (I have been in a guided party in Israel-Palestine led by Jeff) and is very knowledgeable about peace activities in Israel and Palestine.

We are very luck to get him as a speaker on the day after presenting his new book at the Hay Book festival. If you can’t come to Hereford on the Tuesday 27th May at 7.30pm try and see him at 7p.m. on Monday 26th May in Hay (check details in the Hay programme). See the details about Jeff on the poster.

Jeff is an Israeli of American Extraction and he hopes to meet Jimmy Carter who will be talking on the Middle East on that Sunday.

Herefordshire Fairtrade Steering Group Meeting

2008-05-17T08:29:00.004+01:00

Herefordshire Fairtrade County Steering Group is meeting on June 14th 2008 at the Forbury Chapel, Church Street, Leominster, 2pm, and invites all those involved with or concerned about Fairtrade in the county to join them.

The Leominster FT group will be hosting a low cost, high quality fair-trade/local lunch in the Forbury Chapel, Church Street, Leominster at 1pm: Homemade soup and paninis a speciality! This will be followed by a short meeting at 2pm.

Meetings have been slim for awhile -so we've changed the day and the time and hope very much that every group & town can be represented by one person - though everyone with an interest in Fairtrade is very welcome!

The Farmers’ Market is in Corn Square between about 9am and 2pm so if anyone wants to include a visit and pick up some local food they will need to come earlier.

Agenda
1. Matters arising from last meeting (March 4th 2008- attached)
2. Update on developments from all the groups around the county
3. Publicity:

a. County Directory
b. Town directories
c. Other, eg Postcards / Banner

4. County Fairtrade website –any new developments
5. Other Events planned
6. Renewal of county FT status - due (see attachment)·
7. Links with local food/ethical goods and farmers markets
8. Work with schools- what done and future plans
9. AOB
10. Date of next meeting

Ethos World Fairtrade Day

2008-05-09T14:05:00.000+01:00

World Fair Trade day is tomorrow Saturday 10th May! Ethos are having a coffee morning in aid of Shakti Nepal childrens home in Katmandu. The theme for this years world Fair Trade Day is sustainability so we have lots of alternatives to the plastic bag. Traidcraft stall, coffee, tea and home made cakes available. Come and find out about fair trade and ditch the plastic bag. 10.00 am to 2.00 pm. Ethos, Little Tarrington Farm.

Are you a Panter? Join the World Record Pants Flash

2008-05-08T19:42:00.000+01:00

Definition of a Panter: Someone who loves pants but hates the fact that most of our underwear is made from unfairly traded cotton, grown with the use of pesticides and produced in sweat shops. Someone who wants to rid the world of bad pants.

Pants to Poverty, the crack team who are working to rid the world of bad pants, is inviting people from all over the West Midlands to become Panters and join the World Record Pants Flash attempt in Birmingham on Saturday 17 May 2008.

Hundreds of Panters will be joining force by simultaneously standing motionless, in their pants, for five minutes, to raise awareness of the unfinished business of third world debt and the issue of unfair trade at the same time as setting a new world record of ‘the most people wearing just their pants in public’.

Date: Saturday 17 May 2008

This is the eve of the Jubilee Debt Campaign’s day of celebration marking the 10 year anniversary of the 70,000 human chain which took place in Birmingham.

Time: Meeting at 10.00am at Walkabout pub, Langley Building, Regency Wharf, 266A-271 Broad Street, Birmingham, to get changed into your free pair of Pants to Poverty fair trade and organic pants (plus white boob tubes for women).

The World Record: All Panters will proceed to Centenary Square (a major Birmingham landmark) for 11.30am to create the world record. All Panters will strip down to just their pants (and fairtrade boob tubes for women!) in order to set a new world record for the largest group of people wearing just their pants in public.

Pants to Poverty is a new kind of campaigning social enterprise organisation that really does have it feet firmly planted at a grass roots level at the same time as developing edgy streetwise underwear. Working directly with farms and factory workers, Pants to Poverty sources and sells designer fair trade, organic, sweatshop free pants from India. All of the profits are invested in supporting its mission to rid the world of bad pants.

For further information about this event, please contact:

Kristine Nudds, Kristine.nudds@pantstopoverty.com, 07941 672226

HereFOODshire Challenge: Update from Trish

2008-04-17T20:24:00.000+01:00

Our local / Fairtrade food odyssey continues - month 2 of the Herefoodshire Challenge is now complete.

Eating in has been delightful - eating out is harder work and admittedly involves rather more forward thought than is convenient.

Its lucky I'm fond of cheese & chutney sandwiches with excellent local salad leaves...

We’ve said goodbye to parsnips and to most of our first sack of flour.

And hello to baby carrots, rhubarb – and news that the first asparagus is up. We’ve created a few raised beds at home and have broad beans, lettuce and radishes waving – and are already running out of room.

The 5minute Herefoodshire video, skilfully made by Paul Wright, has been shown and enjoyed atseveral events. We have copies on DVD you can borrow - just email. We also have more publicity cards if you’d like some.

We’ve continued to do well on publicity and now have more than a page of hits on Yahoo. I’ve talked to the county WI, Transition Towns (Hereford), kept the radio up to date, had an excellent brunch at Bircher and pushed local food at the Borderlines Film Festival’s Rural Perspectives event last Saturday. The day included 2 powerful films, The Lie of the Land by Molly Dinnen, which laid bare the threats small UK farmers face in a sure footed and entirely undogmatic way and an appalling German film, Our Daily Bread, silently documenting the indignities visited on people, animals and the planet by industrial agriculture. The most positive response to both films – in my opinion - is to buy lots more local food from small producers! Which luckily is not difficult in Herefordshire.

For more info on the Herefoodshire Challenge look at myherefordshire.com and our blog (see links at the bottom). Do join Lucy & make your own pledge on myherefordshire by pressing contribute: it all adds to the momentum!

Events coming up

* Year of Food & Farming free event this Saturday (April 19th) in High Town, Hereford from 10-4pm, including a Food Trail, free tastings & Farmers Market www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk
* National Mills Weekend, May 10 -11th, features 2 historic corn and feed mills at Rowlestone & Staunton on Arrow: email me for programme or ring Alan Stoyel on 01544 230235
* Mortimer Country Food Fare in Brampton Bryan on Saturday 19th June from 10-4pm, free entry: Slow food, Carolyn Chesshire, stalls & Aardvark books (cookery specialists)
* Shobdon Food & Garden Festival 28/29th June: lots on including cookery demonstrations, see http://www.shobdonfestival.co.uk/index.htm for more info
* Food themed walk in Hereford, followed by local refreshments: date to be confirmed

Looking ahead

* A short project is looking at the feasibility of a mill in the county so we could access Herefordshire flour
* 16 acres of naked oats have been planted – I may yet get some local oats!
* A survey of shops in Hereford and Ross offering local food is underway
* 3 primary schools in the Kingstone area will be making 10 minute films about local food as part of the Year of Food and Farming, working with Catcher Media. These should be complete next March.

Future of Hereford City?

2008-04-17T20:09:00.000+01:00

The public are invited to attend a public meeting to look at ways forward to develop Hereford City Centre as a vibrant, enjoyable and economically viable place to work, live and visit. The meeting is organised by Hereford City Partnership and Herefordshire Council.

WEDNESDAY 30TH APRIL 2008
5.45 PM
HEREFORD TOWN HALL

I am Ashamed

2008-04-07T19:26:00.000+01:00

I am ashamed
That my style of living makes others suffer,
That my house and garden packed with goods
means others have terrible lives;
with working conditions resembling Charles Dickens’s stories.

My desire for cheap goods
means people
have poor wages,
quite often loose their land,
some become slaves,
and some
even die
of starvation.

As teenagers in the 60’s we thought we would bring freedom;
what we brought to this world was slavery to possessions.

The youngsters of today talk about ‘Fair Play’.
I do hope they will bring better things than we have.

Barbara Mark

Leominster Fairtrade Cafe

2008-04-03T10:17:00.000+01:00

Is there anyone from Hereford Sixth Form College, or any of the Hereford Colleges, who could help with the Leominster Fairtrade Cafe on the second Saturday of every month. We run it to support the Farmers Market on that morning and to promote other outlets selling Fairtrade in the area. You could just come once or go onto our volunteers list and be called every now and then, on a rota basis. Please contact us if you can help.

Tupsley Fairtrade Day

2008-03-31T14:49:00.005+01:00

Tupsley Fairtrade day on 8th March was a great success as part of Fairtrade Fortnight. A Fairtrade Lunch, plus numerous Fairtrade stalls including Traidcraft, Ethos and Love Zimbabwe added to the festivities.

EATING THE COUNTY

2008-03-27T17:49:00.004Z

Herefordshire Friends of the Earth and Transition Hereford present the HereFOODshire Challenge: Eating the County.

CANAL ROAD DAY CENTRE (behind Morrison’s supermarket)on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2ND, AT 7:30PM.

Trish is a sustainability officer with Herefordshire Council and has taken up the challenge for a whole year to eat only food and drink produced within the county. The only exceptions to this will be for Fair Trade items such as coffee and bananas. She will be talking about the problems and benefits involved and how she is dealing with them.

An excerpt from the film, CUBA – THE POWER OF COMMUNITY will be shown as an introduction to her talk, explaining how the Cuban people learned to feed themselves when their Russian support system and oil supplies were suddenly cut off.

Trish will also show a short film about local Herefordshire food and then be issuing a challenge herself to anyone who would like to try the idea for a week or a month to discover what food lies on our doorstep.

Transition Town Hereford and Friends of the Earth urge you to come along and be inspired by Trish’s example to prepare ourselves for the difficult times ahead of oil and energy shortages and food security.

A question and answer session will follow and a discussion on local food security.

FAIRTRADE tea and coffee will be available.

ADMISSION FREE – a collection will be made to defray Trish’s expenses.

Climate Walk

2008-03-17T20:14:00.002Z

Christian Aid is helping poor communities to recover from the ravages of climate change. Join us for a sponsored/donation walk on BANK HOLIDAY Monday MAY 5th 10:30 am for 6 miles, starting Clehonger Old Church. We'll be taking a circular walk along river, roads and fields and lunching at Belmont Abbey (sandwiches, baguettes etc for sale - please support their special opening for us if possible). Sponsorship forms from are available from 01432 860974.

All welcome, even last minute, but to help catering, please book your meal on 01568 797561.

The real costs of climate change

2008-03-17T19:59:00.003Z

A traditional Filipino meal and talk on Christian Aid’s work helping communities after Typhoon Durian in the Philippines
7.00pm, 18th April 2008
St John’s Methodist Church, Hereford

Join Hereford Christian Aid for a Filipino meal and hear from Jo Fisher about her visit to the Philippines where Christian Aid has been helping the people of Bicol recover from a typhoon that caused a catastrophic mud slide.

Jo Fisher (Dinnen) grew up in Much Birch and went to Bishops School. She now works for Christian Aid. It would be helpful if you could book your meal in advance by ringing Merryn Hellier on 01568 797561. All welcome.

Also join us for a sponsored walk for Christian Aid’s work on 5th May.

Café at Hereford Sixth Form

2008-03-05T09:42:00.000Z

At Hereford Sixth Form College the students marked Fairtrade Fortnight by running a Fairtrade Café. The Café and Traidcraft stall sold £200 worth of goods and raised £175 for various charities.

“The students were very enthusiastic and there was a great atmosphere in the Café.” said John Dinnen of Hereford City Fairtrade Steering Committee. “Some of the students asked searching questions about how international trade should be reformed to improve the life of people in the developing World”.

Herefordshire Fairtrade Steering Group

2008-02-22T13:12:00.005Z

Its a while since we all met, so I hope all of you involved in Fairtrade either through business or campaigning work will be able to join us for this meeting to catch up on Fairtrade Fortnight and see how and what all the groups are doing.

The meeting is on Tuesday 4th March in Shire Hall, Committee Room 2, starting at 5.30pm.

The agenda currently includes the following - please let me know if there are other matters you would like to raise.

Agenda

Update on developments from all the groups around the county
Feedback on Fairtrade fortnight events
Publicity: what would people find most useful?
Our website -any new signings?
Feedback on
stand at Herefordshire Food Festival 27/28 October
Fairtrade film and Social (Oct 07)
Other Events planned
Any other links with local food and farmers markets
Work with schools- what done and future plans

Fairtrade at the Sixth Form

2008-02-22T13:03:00.000Z

There will be a Fairtrade Cafe and Stall at Hereford Sixth Form on Friday 29th Feb. This will run from 10am until around 1.30pm as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.

Fairtrade at Sainsbury

2008-02-07T08:52:00.000Z

Picture shows Hereford Sainsbury staff members Jan Sands (C.T.S Checkouts) and Megan Edwards (P.R. Ambassador)

Fairtrade has been on the agenda at Hereford Sainsburys. A Fairtrade Day on 2nd February saw a stall (pictured) at the store and all customers given a free teabag: Sainsbury red label tea is now fairtrade. The store is taking part in Fairtrade Fortnight which will end on the 13th February 2008. If customers spend over £5 on fairtrade produce they can choose a free gift which might be a tea towel, apron or an oven glove.

Sainsbury now stick more Fairtrade lines than ever before including sugar, honey, jam, ceral bars and many wines and spirits. All bananas are now Fairtrade.