The South-west Fairtrade Business Awards
We are delighted to say that for the second year running Voyage Fair Trade has been awarded gold in the South West Fairtrade Business Awards for a business selling multiple products! The awards were held in Bristol on 11th March in the @ Bristol Science Centre. The awards are open to any business that sells and/or uses and promotes Fairtrade in the south-west region of England.
On the 11th we made our way up the M5, crossed the fabulous Clifton suspension bridge and for once made it straight to our favourite car park without getting lost! Then it was just a short walk to @Bristol. The 11th March was one of those mild sort of days we had before the cold weather came back and it was great to be out on the terrace having coffee and chatting to like-minded people before the event started.
The award ceremony was opened by the Bristol and South-West Fairtrade Co-ordinator Jenny Foster who explained that Ana-Maria Gonzalez, who was due to give us a talk about her Fairtrade coffee and cocoa production in Nicaragua, had unfortunately been double booked with a school and was not coming. It had been decided that it was more important that the schoolchildren hear about Fairtrade from Ana-Maria so we watched a video in which she was interviewed a few days previously on a cold, windy Bristol street corner (poor woman!). The main speaker was Liz Earle MBE who also presented the awards. Liz Earle has become involved with fair trade gold and it was shocking to hear about the present working conditions of some of the miners.
Our hearts were in our mouths when the Multiple Products Awards category was announced, hoping we had reached the criteria to gain gold again. There had been much form-filling in on our parts, writing about what we had done in the past year selling and promoting Fair trade and also detailing our plans for the future. Thankfully all our commitment (and form filling!) paid off and we now have another gold certificate! :)
