Last Friday Bexhill and Battle's MP, Huw Merriman, was delighted to present prizes and certificates to the joint winners of the Bexhill Fairtrade Town's Bear Hunt which took place during Fairtrade Fortnight earlier this year (March).
At a socially-distanced small gathering on the breezy De La Warr Pavilion terrace, Bexhill Fairtrade Committee Member, Neil Woodroffe, congratulated the Grant family and the Martin family, especially children, Kenneth, Laura and Harvey, and apologised that the presentation had been delayed due to the COVID-19 situation.
Last March, twenty named teddy bears had been placed by the Fairtrade Committee in cafes and shops which support Fairtrade in Bexhill town centre, Little Common and Sidley. To help raise awareness and promote the catering and retail outlets that served and sold Fairtrade products a competition to find the Fairtrade teddies was devised. Many children and schools set out on the bear hunt in spite of the inclement weather at the time and Bexhill Library staff helped by supporting the questionnaires.
The winning children who all attend St Mary Magdalene’s RC Primary School in Bexhill were presented with bars of Fairtrade chocolate. They promised to share their experience with their school friends at St Mary Magdalene's later in the year. A big thanks was also extended to the owners of the participating establishments and it was sincerely hoped that they will all survive and reopen in due course.
Huw Merriman congratulated the winning children and spoke briefly about the importance of supporting the Fairtrade movement and his role as vice-Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Fairtrade. He said “I am delighted that we have been able to get together outside today to personally congratulate Kenneth, Laura and Harvey for being such fantastic bear hunters. It is great that our young residents are learning all about the importance of Fairtrade which supports so many farmers and producers.
The APPG on Fairtrade, for which I am vice-Chair, recently had some bad news when we heard that Nestle plans to stop purchasing Fairtrade cocoa and sugar for its popular 'KitKat' sweet bars.The Fairtrade Foundation estimates that 16,000 cocoa farmers who supply Fairtrade cocoa and sugar for KitKats will be worse off. They will also lose around £1.9m in Fairtrade Premium and their access to the market. This will deprive their communities of schools, water pumps and health centres which the Premium has helped to provide. The current coronavirus pandemic means that this timing could not be worse for these communities. As MPs we have written to Nestle to urge them to reconsider and we hope that consumers do the same.”
The Bexhill Fairtrade Town Committee, vice Chairman Lesley Shareif said “We are really pleased that Huw was able to help present the awards to our wonderful winners of the Fairtrade Bear Hunt. I also want to thank all our cafes and retailers who took part and who sell Fairtrade. They are putting their hearts into supporting the poor producers ".
Committee Chairman, Jack Doherty, said “In solidarity with about 650 other towns, we are most disappointed that Nestle is about to withdraw the earned Fairtrade premium in a heartless and cynical manner in the midst of this Covid19 threat. In normal times it is terrifying but now it is devastating. They will lose essential income for living and will doubly lose out on affording the means to fight Covid19. Last year Nestle's profits were in region of £10 to £30 Billion but the producers only receive about 6% of the value of the chocolate bar. The chocolate farmers of the Ivory Coast and sugar farmers of poor Malawi and Fiji need our support NOW. Come on Nestle, change your mind and put the sweet taste back in producers lives, help them fairly save their lives then we'll have a fair break! Come on everyone, join Huw, Fairtrade groups and use social media to remind Nestle that their action will break lives".
