Staff and students at Birmingham University get involved with Fairtrade Fortnight

• Feb. 25 by Victoria Elmore (2)

As part of ‘Fairtrade Fortnight’ Birmingham University staff and students have been getting involved with promoting Fairtrade products.

On Monday (21st February) evening they held their first event of the fortnight ‘Fairtrade Wine Tasting’ where members of the public and university came along to taste some of the best Fairtrade wine, with grapes coming from as far as Chile, Argentina and Western Cape.

Birmingham University have been involved with FairtradeUK since 2003 and have continued to campaign for the increase of Fairtrade consumption on campus, by selling products in the university shops and recently opening a Tradecraft stall on campus.

By holding the event, staff at the university hoped to raise money for the Fairtrade Foundation and continue to increase awareness on campus.

One of the organisers at the event, Lucy Whalley, said:

“The evening was a great success, with over 50 people attending and raising over £250 for the Fairtrade Foundation

Since the start of promoting Fairtrade products we have seen a real increase in Fairtrade sales on campus which shows that events like this really do help to raise awareness and it’s a great thing to be a part of.”

The night also saw a video from John Boyle of the Co-op, a talk from Bob Gwynne on the benefits of Fairtrade and the wine-tasting  was led by Rob Price from the Birmingham Wine School.

The night didn’t go without a bit of fun, with several quizzes and prizes being awarded to guests at the event.

This years Fairtrade Fortnight is running from 22nd February – 7th March, with forthcoming events, including: Fairtrade & Local Buffet: 25th February, Fab ‘n’ Fairtrade: 27th February.