Saturday July 18^th marked another step forward for Fair Trade in Aberdeen, when the former Third World Centre, which traded until March 2009 in St Mary’s Chapel, Kirk of St Nicholas,  re-opened in new premises at 101 George Street.  Established in 1983, the Centre was one of the first Fair Trade shops in Scotland and was the driving force behind  the campaign that led to Aberdeen’s becoming a Fairtrade City in March 2004. 

 Fair Trade products have come a long way in twenty-five years and as well as those products that carry the Fairtrade Mark, the new shop will also stock a large range of goods from the wider Fair Trade market.   Supermarkets may be improving their ranges, but there will always be room for the shops that go that one step further, what you might call the “gold standard” of Fair Trade. As before, the shop is dependent on the help of volunteer workers and this is particularly important since trading hours will increase.   Fair Trade Aberdeen will be open Monday to Saturday between 10 and 5. 

Over the past week, Towera and I have spoken to approximately 1,200 people in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Stirling, Perth, and Fife during our Fairtrade Fortnight tour.

We’ve spent today in Oban, speaking to two primary schools and the high school and are setting off tomorrow for Skye, Ullapool, Inverness, Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Dundee the rest of this week.

Last year, I was introducing people around Scotland to the Fair Trade Nation campaign. This year, with recent poll findings that 1 in 4 Scots now know about the campaign in mind, I have noticed a tangible growth in awareness of fair trade in general and of the Fair Trade Nation campaign in particular.

Over 2 million people in Scotland already know that Scotland is working to lead the way as a Fair Trade Nation, and, after this Fairtrade Fortnight, word will continue to spread. Over the past year, more towns have become Fairtrade Towns, more schools are working to become Fairtrade Schools, more local authorities have become Fairtrade Zones and Fife is even working to become the world’s first Fairtrade Kingdom.

We are well on our way to becoming a Fair Trade Nation and the next year will be exciting as we seek to intensify our work with universities, local authorities, towns and helping local groups to work as effectively as possible and network more with other groups throughout Scotland.

Thanks to all who’ve come along to events we’ve spoken at and to those who’ve worked so hard to plan and host events during Fairtrade Fortnight in Scotland. You are helping Scotland lead the world on fair trade activity.

Towera has certainly been impressed and she has been telling audiences everywhere we’ve gone:
‘…the power is in your hands to change the lives of people in places like Malawi through buying fair trade. You are leading the world by working to become a Fair Trade Nation. Join the campaign and change people’s lives.’