Well, we can’t believe how quickly it’s flown by! Social Progress Ltd has officially been an active Fairtrade-supporting company for over 6 months! That’s too many cups of Fairtrade teas and coffees to count – never mind the teaspoons of Fairtrade sugar to go with them! We are also marking 6 months of officially being members of the Holme Valley Fairtrade Support Group – and what a jam-packed 6 months it’s been!
This blog post gives you an idea of the various Fairtrade events and activities which we, Social Progress, have been involved with since January 2015..! We’re part of the Holme Valley Fairtrade Group; a group of local group of schools, churches, businesses and individuals who are working together to raise awareness of Fairtrade in the Holme Valley!
Meetings are held monthly (one month during the day and the next on an evening) where members of the group can catch up on all the latest news and be involved with event plans etc. The meetings aren’t obligatory for members but they are encouraged to attend if they can to support the group and get involved. Janet and Esther have been to most meetings since January and have been involved with a variety of events (most of which are featured below). Meetings are held around the Holme Valley and are kept very informal but informative about the latest news and objectives. And more often than not there is some form of beverage or cake involved too!!
Fairtrade Fortnight – 23rd February until Sunday 8th March 2015
There were lots and lots of events put on across Fairtrade Fortnight for all ages and audiences – all in aid of raising awareness about Fairtrade and to encourage people to “shop local, think global!”
Social Progress Ltd was involved in three main events during the two weeks including the Holme Valley Fairtrade web-launch, our own networking event called #RetroFriday which had a Fairtrade theme and we were sponsors of the “Fairtrade Conference for Schools” organised by fairandfunky. Janet also did a presentation at the Conference to a group of invited local teachers about how effective social media can be for schools (if used correctly) and she used our #LostBanana campaign as an example…
GO BANANAS!
#LostBanana #Honley
During Fairtrade Fortnight we were loaned a 5ft giant inflatable Fairtrade banana to proudly display outside the Social Progress offices – alongside a massive inflatable mug of Fairtrade tea/coffee! Within 24 hours the banana went missing. Yes it really did! So Esther made “MISSING” posters, put them up around Honley traffic lights and plastered photos across our social media in an attempt to stir up the #bananaarmy and ask the locals for help! We ended up in the Huddersfield Examiner newspaper, on the Huddersfield Examiner website and social media, and in the Holme Valley Review. We had the most social media engagement we’ve had to date AND they included the #fairtradematters #fairtradefortnight hashtags! This was all because of a missing banana! If you’re interested to know more about this social media campaign, feel free to read the full story about the missing 5ft Fairtrade banana here.
Most recently Janet volunteered to help with the launch of the “Cotton onto Fairtrade Exhibition” which consists of a variety of celebrity signed bags. Autographs include Joanna Lumley, Annie Lennox and Sir Patrick Stewart. All bags are being raffled off at £1 per ticket and tickets can be bought for the bag(s) of your choice (Janet has her eyes on the Annie Lennox one!) Find out more about the Cotton onto Fairtrade exhibition here.
Last but not least we attended the Fairtrade Yorkshire Networking Event on Saturday 13th June in Leeds! We went along with Sophie Bebb of fairandfunky and together we represented the Holme Valley Fairtrade Group. We were really excited to be going and meeting other Fairtrade supporters from across Yorkshire! We found it very interesting to hear about the progress of the other groups and how they were campaigning to raise awareness of Fairtrade in their areas.
So overall it’s been a very busy 6 months! We are honoured to be part of such an active Fairtrade Group. Here’s to many more campaigns, events, Fairtrade bananas and #BananaSmiley selfies to help raise awareness in the Holme Valley!
Don’t forget to use social media to help raise awareness! It’s not as hard or scary as you think… Here’s a few hashtags to get you started: #FairtradeMatters #bananaarmy #FairtradeFortnight
Find HVFT on Facebook here: www.facebook.com/HolmeValleyFairtrade
Find HVFT on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/HolmeValleyFT
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