St Andrews Fairtrade Town Campaign

Minutes of meeting of St Andrews Fairtrade Town campaign group, 7.30 pm, Wed 2.4.14 at home of JC.

Present:           Julian Crowe, Tucker Diego, Mary Popple, Marie and Peter Robinson.

Apologies:       Izzy Corbin, Averill Marks.

1.         Matters arising:

i)          Link to university website still to be confirmed; Fairtrade recipe page not yet live. ii)         Network of Fairtrade outlets along Hadrian's Wall probably inapplicable to St Andrews, but something similar might be appropriate for the pilgrim route across Fife/Scotland currently being developed. MP to try to find out more about the proposed Fife route.                                                                                                          ACTION: MP

iii)        Fine Food Fayre held earlier in the year had gone well; TD to forward a contact address of whoever will arrange this next year.                         ACTION: TD

2.         Fairtrade Fortnight

i)          supermarket stall

• A successful info stall had been held on Sat 1 March at Morrison's, 10-4 pm.
• About 300 Finders (A4 fliers) printed by ourselves had been handed out; in the future 350 should be available.  The information for the Finder had been collected by the university Fellowship group, and this generated a photo and article in the St Andrews Citizen.
• 50 more Finders to be printed out for use round the town, e.g. at church stalls and in the libraries.                                                                         ACTION: JC

• A large banner to hang in front of the table to make it clear that it was a Fairtrade stall would be useful at such events, especially where there is no room for the vertical banner.

ii)         Talk by Fatima Ishmael at the Parliament Hall, South Street, at 2 pm on Sat 1 March

• This had been attended by about 12 people, and had been a good and inspirational talk.
• In order to generate larger audiences in the future it might be possible to join forces with other related groups, or for such talks to be combined with the university Green Week activities.
• The possibility of holding a Fairtrade debate with the university Debating Society was discussed, along with some possible topics.  TD to contact the Society with regard to their programme for next year.  Group members to send potential titles for debate to TD.                                                                ACTION: TD and all

iii)        The university 'Bake-off' competition.

·         This is now available on video; MP had assisted in judging this, along with the head chef from the catering department who is interested in extending the use of Kilombero rice.

iv)       Students' wine-tasting event with Fairtrade wines.

·         This had been successful, and future wine and cheese events might be held in conjunction with town businesses.

3.        Town Website

·         MP to up-date the directory with new Finder info. and any new outlets/products noted by the group, e.g. new Fairtrade shop in Crail                            ACTION: all

4.        Finances

·         We still have £113.28 in the bank.  New funds to be sought (for publicity, printing costs, banner, samples etc) possibly via Community Council grant.  IC to be asked for advice.                                                                                                                                                                                                                 ACTION: MP

·         The university Fairtrade steering group is currently setting up its own bank account.

4.        Campaigns

i)         Hotels

·         PR and IC had both produced a list of the town hotels (around 19).

·         Hotels to be contacted initially by a letter asking for information about their use of Fairtrade products, and offering further info on suppliers etc., and to set up meetings/ contact via telephone, if desired.  MR to draft a letter and circulate for comments. 

                                                                                                                       ACTION: MR

ii)        The Open

·         MP had made contact with the R&A re. 2015 Open at St Andrews, and a meeting had been arranged for 28.4.14.

·         TD to try to find a representative from the university to attend with MP, otherwise  MR or JC will attend.

                                                                                                                       ACTION: TD

5.        AOB

i)         One World Group

·         MP to contact the university One World Group re. possibly selling Kilombero rice on their Friday stalls outside the university library.                                                                                                                                                                       ACTION: MP

ii)        Two academic articles (CAFOD 2013, A.M. Smith 2013)

·         These had been read and it was agreed they are useful and worthy of wider dissemination.  TD to forward them to the Transition group as a possible basis for future student research topics.                                                            ACTION: TD

·         How to engage a wider audience with Fairtrade issues, in particular how to take Fairtrade forward, and Fairtrade as an idea rather than a product, was discussed.

·         Possible future activities besides a debate: a panel discussion, and offering speaker(s) to the university Open Association.

iii)       Date of next meeting: Tues 17 June 2014, 7.30 pm at home of MP.