Wimborne kicks off Fair Trade Fortnight (February 23 – March 8) on Saturday, 28 February in Wimborne Square, 10am-3pm. The youth charity attached to AFC Bournemouth will set up an inflatable goal strike in the square and budding Wayne Rooneys and Kelly Smiths can test the accuracy and speed of their shots for a small fee to be shared between AFCB youth outreach and local fair trade promotion.
Fairly traded footballs will be on sale as well as refreshments. There’ll be music and fair trade promotion throughout the day, including African drumming, performed by pupils of St Michael’s Middle School at 1.30pm.
“Fair trade hits the target in so many ways”, said Robert Pearce, convenor of the Wimborne Town Fair Trade Group. “It guarantees liveable wages for the million and a half growers and makers of the 5,000 fairly traded products now available in the fair trade range. It funds education, healthcare and innovation in communities worldwide which may have relied on handouts, or, worse still, no support at all. Fair trade’s growth in the UK has been in excess of 10% a year even throughout the recent tough trading conditions, so it’s a good proposition for stockists of fairly traded items. It guarantees that shoppers can buy high quality goods, grown or made in conditions that enable their producers to trade their way out of poverty. It’s win-win all round. So come to Wimborne Square on Saturday, 28 February, have a shot at goal, and sign up to international trade which has fairness at its heart.”
