'Fairtrade Fortnight' (March 1-14) marked the 10th birthday of the 'Fairtrade Mark'.

Local charity/development education centre, Global Connections, celebrated the event by organising a number of awareness-raising events throughout the county.

'Fairtrade Fortnight' had been highlighted in the national press and on television during the two weeks of this nationally celebrated event.

The Global Connections team sought to promote 'Fair Trade' that can improve both the quality of life for the producers in developing countries and guarantee them a fair deal.

The quality of the 'Fairtrade' produce for the consumer is also worth highlighting and through offering opportunities for the public to sample the 'Fairtrade' produce they can actually find out for themselves just how good the products are.

Such was the interest for awareness-raising by local schools and youth groups in Pembrokeshire that some of the workshops had to start a week before the actual official celebrations to meet with the demand.

'Fairtrade' workshops took place in Ysgol Brynconin, Pembroke Dock Community School, Lamphey and Pembroke's Golden Grove School.

The workshops had two elements. Firstly, education officer, Janie Pridham, provided a half-day awareness-raising workshop on fair trade and trade justice issues.

Then, local community artist Pauline Le Britton, of Sand Palace Arts designed an innovative art based workshop involving the children making a 'Fairtrade' chocolate box, which they decorated with the appropriate 'Fair Trade' logos.

The beautifully detailed boxes with their intricately crafted contents were then put on display at the 'Fairtrade Exhibition and Fair Trade Evening' in Narberth on Thursday, March 11, where the evenings guest speakers judged the different categories including box with 'Best Contents', 'Best Packaging', 'Getting the Message over' and 'Best Slogan'.

Also raising the profile of 'Fair Trade' was youth officer, Luke Williams.

Luke carried out 'Fairtrade' awareness-raising workshops with after-schools clubs at the Bloomfield Centre and Ysgol Glan Cleddau.

On Tuesday, March 2, a 'Fairtrade' coffee morning was held at the Eastgate Centre in Pembroke, with people attending from all parts of the county.

Participants were treated to a bottomless cup of freshly brewed 'Fairtrade' coffee or tea plus welsh cakes produced by the Pembroke WI. To add interest to the morning there was a Traidcraft stall, Tear Fund stall and a WI stall.

The morning proved a good opportunity for networking and brought people together with like-minded interest on 'Fairtrade' and 'Trade Justice' issues.

It was also an opportunity for others to learn about more about 'Fairtrade' as they browsed the resource stand provided by Global Connections and then for those that were interested there was an opportunity to watch 'Fairtrade' videos in the resource centre.

There were also plenty of free 'Fairtrade' product samples for people to try provided by Global Connections and the Trade Justice stallholders. This gave everyone a chance to find out just how good some of the 'Fairtrade' produce really is as well as providing a better profit and a fair deal for the producers. The proceeds from the day are being donated to the Fairtrade Foundation. 

 Global Connections are indebted to the Co-operative Society for funding and support for the coffee morning and to the Pembroke Dock branch of the Co-op for providing 'Fairtrade' Tea and Coffee. A special thank you is extended to the St Bride's Hotel, Saundersfoot, for providing cups, saucers etc. on the day.

In the second week of 'Fairtrade' fortnight, on Thursday March 11, two events were held in association with SPAN.

A 'Fair Trade' exhibition was held during the day and this was followed by a 'Fair Trade' evening, both at the Queen's Hall in Narberth.

The exhibition had stalls manned by local 'Fair Traders' including, Traidcraft, Frontline Organics, Harvest Stores and there was also a stall manned by Emma Richards representing the Co-operative group, who have been nationally promoting their 'Fairtrade' produce.

There was a resource and information stall provided by Global Connections and also an opportunity for the public to take samples and try 'Fairtrade' chocolate.

Videos were shown all afternoon and some people took the opportunity of finding out more about 'Fairtrade' from the Global Connections team and the stallholders.

Despite the inclement weather the evening event was a success and early birds were treated to a free glass of 'Fair Trade' wine provided by the Co-op.There was a very interesting talk on 'Fairtrade' provided by guest speaker, Craig Owen from Oxfam Cymru.

There was also a highly enjoyable play involving audience participation provided by Bea Sutton with assistance from Audrey Rogers, Traidcrafts local representatives. This seemed to be a fun and thought-provoking method of getting the audience to think about 'Fairtrade'.

There was also a 'Fairtrade' quiz organised by the evening's compere, Chris Urack, of Global Connections.

First prize went to Sarah Bailey, who won a hamper of 'Fair trade' goodies and wine.

The evening culminated with a live music session from Pembrokeshire's most dynamic semi-acoustic band, 'The Buzzards'.

Global Connections are indebted to the Co-op, Oxfam, Traidcraft, Fairtrade Foundation and SPAN for their support in Fairtrade Fortnight, to the Department of International Development (DFID), the Sustainable Development Fund 'Planning for a Sustainable Future', Welsh Assembly Government, Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority and New Opportunities/ENFYS for funding.

For information on the work of Global Connections or any of the events mentioned contact Nicky on 01646 687800 or visit our website at http://www.globalconnections.org.uk">www.globalconnections.org.uk.