July 15th saw Leeds Shared Earth host their third and busiest Network Night to date! The theme was fair trade in education and was kindly supported by three speakers who all have connections in the various processes of bringing fair trade into the school curriculum.

Sarah Stead a teacher from Adel Primary School, and the co-ordinator for fair trade at the school, came along to talk about what is required of a school, who are aiming to gain fair trade status. She also explained what was required of the school; she also brought along example lesson plans as well as mid term planning which showed how fair trade is integrated into subjects within their curriculum.

Hannah who is responsible for introducing fair trade to schools, from the Leeds Educational Development Centre was there to talk about how the centre can support schools who wish to aim for fair trade status. Hannah also brought along information for interested schools who were present.

Finally, Ian Adderley, chair of the Leeds Fairtrade Steering Group gave a talk in his capacity as a fair trade schools assessor. He went through the processes of applying for fair trade status, including a breakdown of each criteria area and what pitfalls to avoid when going through the application process.

Entertainment throughout the evening came from the children’s African Choir at Gledhow Primary School, who entertained everyone with beautiful traditional songs from South Africa. The school are twinned with a primary in Durban in South Africa, and brought along some Zulu beadwork made by the children there. As well as this they brought in a CD they have made which we now have on sale in the shop.

As well as the teachers and governors who came along on the evening, and Oxfam fair trade school speakers who were there offering their services to schools, there were also many friends and staff of Shared Earth including the area manager Lynne Dawson and her husband David, and the Managing Director Jeremy Piercy and Mary his partner as well as staff and managers from other branches. It was lovely to have so many supporters of Shared Earth there also, particularly as this was to be the last Network Night for Debbie Fletcher, the branch manager and Jess Turner Baker, her assistant manager.
“I’m really touched at just how many people came along tonight”, said Debbie, “The Network Night’s popularity grows everytime we host one, and it’s an indication of how important Fair trade is viewed in this city and how it’s community continues to grow and thrive”.

Towards the end of the evening, Debbie presented Jeremy with a cheque for money raised in the shop for a children’s education and business project in India called Karm Marg. Shared Earth are close friends of this venture, and are also one of their main buyers of the products they produce, Jeremy, will give the money to the project when he next visits India later this year. The money was raised through a chargeable gift-wrapping service in store; all the money raised went to Karm Marg.
http://www.karmmarg.org/

Due to the success of the evening, it is now planned that there will be another Network Night on education during the Autumn, the new manager, Marianne Black, will be organising this, and it is anticipated that similar speakers will be coming to give their advice as well as be on hand to talk to. Gledhow Primary have also kindly offered to come along with their full choir next time (all 30 of them!). Some teachers were unable to attend due to it being the last week of the academic year and therefore, a busy time in the school calendar. This gives them the opportunity to come along and use the resources and contacts that will be there on the evening again.

If you would like to come to the next Network Night, then contact the shop on 0113 2457660, or email leeds@sharedearth.co.uk

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Gifts Today, July 2009

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If you’ve been watching Mary Queen of Shops on BBC2, you’ll realise what a struggle it is for retailers in some small market towns – if you’re not struggling already yourself, that is.

Q. How do you cope as a retailer in a small town?

The effect of out-of-town shopping centres can be horrendous. Towns become “ghost” towns when footfall reduces to the extent that you just can’t keep doing. The advent of multiples attracts custom, but if independents can’t compete, and an important multiple like Woolworths closes, it can have a negative effect in the long run. In a recession, head offices don’t care about the local town, they care about their overall profits. A new out-of-town shopping centre is the worst threat of all.

There’s no easy answer. Action is needed at both local and central government levels; this is not just an economic issue. It’s a social issue about the type of country we want to live in. The greed of developers whose only concern is to make money should be curbed.

Mary’s suggestion – if things haven’t already gone too far – was to act together with other retailers. We need to think of creative ideas to market our towns and high streets, not just our individual shops. She took the example of Tewkesbury in Devon, and showed how much extra trade they could attract by working together.

The issue of saving costs was not really explored, an unexciting topic for TV, perhaps. Asking for help from landlords, Mary said, was almost pointless. But let’s be optimistic – if their properties are empty, they’re not making any money. In Bristol, where Shared Earth opened a shop in the Mall three years ago, sales plummeted by 25% last autumn when the Cabot Circus shopping centre opened nearby. Our landlord – ironically another shopping centre – has hinted that substantial help may be on its way.

Marketing is key, and I firmly believe that fair trade, preventing climate change and other ethical issues are ingredients in marketing today. Another small town in Devon recently became internationally famous. “On May 1st, 2007”, its website states, “every trader in Modbury joined together to make Modbury plastic bag free. The first town in the British Isles to do so” Its 40-odd shops have seen a definite increase in footfall.; the website goes on, “Please DO NOT telephone the shops directly, we have been inundated.” It’s worth a look. With reports on national TV and media, this was a marketing coup as good as getting Mary Portas involved.

A sustainable jute bag with the logo “I love Tewkesbury” – or any other town – would promote Tewkesbury and the environment. I have given our Bristol shop manager the task of approaching local shops to ask if they’d like their own, individually designed, jute bags – Shared Earth has a supplier in Kolkata which makes them fair trade as well as sustainable. Acting effectively as a wholesale agent, this will provide an extra income to a shop that is struggling.

Can you think of similar creative ideas that will either increase footfall or increase income whether footfall increases or not? Can you do something on the Internet? Can you work with one of your suppliers to promote their goods, locally or in neighbouring towns, to increase your income and maybe your margins by obtaining a better discount? Can you harness the public concern about climate change as you market your business? And can you work together with other retailers to increase your chances of success?

Finally, a challenge to this magazine. Can it act as a forum for ideas from retailers on the ground – what are we doing that works, that will save our towns and help us beat the recession?

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SHARED EARTH Leeds is holding a Network Night on Wednesday 15th July 2009 at 6:30pm. Find our Leeds shop >>

This time, our theme will be centred around fair trade in schools. We have some great speakers coming along, and entertainment is being kindly supplied by Gledhow Primary African Choir, you may have heard of them before, as they performed for Nelson Mandela when he visited Leeds! As well as this, we shall have, as usual, fair trade wine, coffee, juice, and nibbles a plenty!

The speakers we have lined up include someone from Leeds Development Education Centre, who will be talking about how schools can work towards becoming fair trade certified, also a fair trade assessor will be explaining about how to ensure you put in a good application, and we shall also have staff from a local school who have already received fair trade status,. All these people will be onhand to chat to guests and give advice and talk about their experiences.

This is also an opportunity to network with schools in general whether it be in fair trade or in global issues in general, such as giving workshops to schools, talks, even setting up a stall during a school event.

We anticipate this will be an even more popular event this time round, and we would love you to come along and be part of it!

Everyone is welcome!

Find our Leeds shop >>

Gledhow Primary African Choir

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