Council to Celebrate Fairtrade City Status at Balmoral
May 23, 2017
Fairtrade will be the talk of Balmoral this Saturday as the Council celebrates the Lisburn Castlereagh area achieving Fairtrade City status.
The Council is encouraging residents to visit its Fairtrade stand in the Council Marquee (Stand A1) this weekend to learn more about how they can play their part in supporting Fairtrade products.
Councillor Uel Mackin, Chairman of the Council’s Fairtrade Steering Group and its Development Committee, said: “I am very pleased that the Council area has been awarded Fairtrade City status in advance of World Fairtrade Day on Saturday 13th May. This is down to the commitment of local retailers, schools and churches using and/or selling Fairtrade products. Our residents have also played a part through choosing to purchase Fairtrade products, thereby assisting farmers in the developing world. I’d like to thank everybody for supporting Fairtrade products leading to this Award.
“To celebrate the City’s Fairtrade status the Fairtrade Steering Group will be manning a stand in the Council Marquee at Balmoral Show on Saturday 13th May from 9.30am – 6.00pm. Please show your support for this achievement and visit the stand to find out which local retailers stock Fairtrade goods. There will also be a limited supply of Fairtrade products on the stand to give an example of how popular items have become Fairtrade. Be sure to call in and visit us.”
Dr Theresa Donaldson, Chief Executive of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council added: “The achievement of Fairtrade City Status is only the start of our Fairtrade City journey and there is always more to do. On behalf of the Council, I would like to thank the Steering Group for its hard work over recent months that has allowed us to achieve this status in a relatively short time. The Steering Group has identified specific plans for the year ahead to develop Fairtrade principles further in our area; and the Council hopes that all of the local community will support this initiative now and in the future.”
The Council’s marquee is located at Stand A1 at Balmoral Show, which is adjacent to the main entrance to Balmoral Park.
Dr Stange, Secretariat of the All Party Fairtrade Group at Stormont, said: “We are delighted to welcome Lisburn Castlereagh to the Fairtrade movement which brings us ever closer to making Northern Ireland a Fairtrade devolved region. We now boast more than 1,900 communities worldwide, taking practical steps to making a fairer world trade system a reality through Fairtrade. Today, more than 1.6 million farmers and workers across 74 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system, but there is still many practical easy steps we can all do to assist these most marginalised developing world producers.”
For more information on Fairtrade please log on to www.lisburncastlereagh.gov.uk/fairtrade