Fairtrade Town status - progress in Epsom & Ewell

9.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 2nd Aug 2004

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Earlier this year Cllr Jonathan Lees had originally proposed that the Borough Council should itself take the lead in encouraging the formation of a local group to work towards obtaining "Fairtrade Town" status for Epsom & Ewell. Following the rejection of this idea by the ruling RA Party, more than 40 local people gathered in Christ Church Hall on 19th July to talk about the way forward. Several messages of support were also received from others unable to attend this meeting.

Sarah Green, the Campaigns Coordinator for the UK Fairtrade organisation, gave an illustrated presentation about the Fairtrade movement. She spoke about the meaning of Fairtrade Town status and how progress towards it could be made in Epsom & Ewell.

After Sarah, local people spoke from their own perspective, ranging from running a Fairtrade stall in a local church to the various steps that we need to take. This was followed by a lively question and answer session. Discussion included how best to deal with the current problems caused by politically motivated opposition from RA councillors and move towards achieving Fairtrade Town status for Epsom & Ewell.

Cllr Jonathan Lees, who arranged the meeting, said afterwards that the presentation was extremely good. Seeing the impact the Fairtrade movement could make both locally and abroad, had made him realise afresh why so many people were keen to be associated with it and why he wanted them to obtain recognition in this way.

As a result of the meeting a small committee has been established to plan the next steps. If you would like to get involved then please ring Jonathan Lees on 07801 432459 or e-mail him at jmeilees@yahoo.co.uk

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