|
|
|
|
On this Page:
|
|
Simply Divine Divine milk with orange, irresistible chunks of smooth, creamy milk chocolate with zesty, mouth-watering orange Rich Divine Dark chocolate bar with 70% cocoa solids - perfect for an after dinner treat |
All Divine chocolate is made using the finest cocoa beans purchased on fair trade terms from Kuapa Kokoo, a farmer's co-operative in Ghana. In addition to receiving fair price for their cocoa, Kuapa Kokoo also benefit from a share in the profits of Divine. After all, they do own part of the company.
Upstarts Awards
Traidcraft and its founder, Richard Adams, have both picked up major awards for their pioneering work in promoting social enterprise.
Both were recognised as social enterprise champions in this year's New Statesman "Upstarts Awards" with Traidcraft taking the organisational category and Richard receiving the individual award. For the full story, visit Traidcraft.
The Bhopal Rehabilitation Centre, India
Traidcraft's Julia Franklin and Helen Lockie from the product development team have been to Bhopal to work on developing their range of leather products. ideas for the spring 2006 catalogue include passport and travel accessories, jewellery cases, stationery and office accessories.
The Bhopal Rehabilitation Centre was established in 1985 to assist and rehabilitate the victims of the Bhopal gas disaster, especially those who had lost family members. So far, it has provided training for 360 men and women.
In the current catalogue, you will find a handmade soft leather wallet (page 14) and a black leather purse, with a compartment for coins and 8 openings for cards and notes (page 4). Both these items are stocked in our Traidcraft shop.
Marjorie Clarkson
|
|
Traidcraft Within Traidcraft has a brand called Traidcraft Within. Over the coming year, you will see this brand appearing on a growing range of products that are branded by other companies. It is a sign that Traidcraft has worked with the producers involved to ensure that they are benefiting properly from the trade. See Traidcraft WITHIN for more details.
|
Dorothy Slater writes: "Early in 1984, my son Philip asked me if I could sell some Traidcraft tea and coffee at our church. Not knowing anything at all about Traidcraft, I asked for more details and thought it sounded an excellent idea.
"Of course Brian Holroyd immediately wanted to extend the idea to selling a whole range of their products and I found myself flung in at the deep end! I soon found some willing helpers including Marjorie Clarkson, who was very enthusiastic. My flat was taken over by huge boxes of goods and after a while it became obvious that, because of the way our church had welcomed the Traidcraft philosophy, I was short of space, not only in my flat, but in my spare time.
"Marjorie, very ably assisted by Michael and often the whole family, took over the task of organising Traidcraft and, most wholeheartedly and artistically, developed it to its present very healthy state. She has done more than most people realise to promote Traidcraft, not only at Wylde Green, but much further afield, becoming an area co-ordinator and supplying reps who are operating in a much smaller way, with goods on sale or return. “As the storage and display facilities were of a rather temporary nature (i.e. cardboard boxes and two tables!), Charles Ainsworth and June Northway explored the possibilities of ‘something better’. Unfortunately, Charles died before this was completed, but June’s husband Graham took over. The result was the excellent mobile cupboards we have today. In 1984 we sold almost £2000 worth of goods and this has increased each year to £10,000 in 1992."
The next landmark for Traidcraft came in 1993, when a small group looked at the possibility of selling Traidcraft goods in a “short-let” shop, somewhere on Boldmere Road, at least in the pre-Christmas season. In the event, no suitable premises materialized.
Instead, the new shelving was added to the walls of the transept, by Walter Arthur, Jack Marsh and John Micklethwaite, and the very much improved ‘shop’ was opened to the public at various well publicised times. (3,500 homes were leafleted!) And during the ten weeks the shop was open to the public for the first time, before Christmas 1993, we took over £8000!
In the first full year of opening to the public, 1994, a total of £17,400 worth of goods was sold. It was quickly realised that quite apart from this magnificent result, there were many other ‘spin-offs’ from the new Traidcraft ‘shop’:
· We could now afford to have a much larger and wider range of stock – and to help even more churches and organisations by providing them with sale or return goods.
· We have developed a truly ecumenical team of enthusiasts, willing to do their ‘shift’ in our building – and this ‘grass-roots’ ecumenical contact continues to develop and deepen.
· The larger ‘profits’ also enable the shop to give generously to the church, to Traidcraft Exchange (the charitable wing of Traidcraft), and to any emergency disaster appeals.
The church is now open at set times, which has enabled people to pop in, to look, to talk, to sit quietly and pray.
Traidcraft itself has developed from those early days. The first order (pages and pages) had to be painstakingly copied out by hand, by Jenny (Dorothy Slater’s daughter). Compare this with the phone, fax and E-mails of today. Nor was there always absolute clarity – as when ’12 boxes’ of tea, produced 144 packets! 1 box apparently = 12 packets! And in those early days, that was an awful lot of tea!
In the February 1995 Tidings, Traidcraft’s previous year was summed up in these words: “It has been achieved… because of the vision, the imagination and the sheer hard work…of Marjorie and Michael Clarkson and Ruth and Robin Loutit. They continue to shoulder the day-to-day responsibility of ordering, unpacking, pricing, sorting rotas, making the stall look attractive, finding floats and banking money … so many of the behind-the-scenes tasks, which largely go unseen and are taken for granted.” By 1999, sales were running in the region of £25,000 p.a.
Not everyone finds the idea of a ‘shop’ in the church easy. For others, however, it has come to be a symbol of our concern for justice for all God’s people, showing that we are prepared to act, as well as talk. As Elisabeth Kasten (a young German ordinand, who did her last piece of ministerial training with us) wrote on her return to Germany in 1997: "I like … especially that you sell Traidcraft products after the service in the church building. For me that is a way of getting word and action together as the two aspects of worship. So my final comment is: Keep on this way! And be happy with all that you have got."
|
Send mail to
Web Master with questions or comments
about this web site
|
