Divine Chocolate comes to Croydon

Martin writes: I was pleased to be at the Fairtrade event at Croydon College this week with two farmer-members of the Kuapa Kokoo co-op in Ghana. James and Anane (left) spoke to activists and students about their lives in Ghana, growing chocolate and the difference Fairtrade has made to their communities. It was clear that they are so proud of being part-owners of Divine Chocolate here in the UK.

Matt Hale from the Co-op joined staff from Divine, Croydon Council and Croydon Fairtrade Network in organising the day. Seeing how young people responded to James asking them to chant Kuapa Kokoo's slogan "Pa pa paa!" was great fun, and of course there was a chance to try fantastic Divine chocolate.

You can follow James and Anane's trip round the UK for Fairtrade Fortnight here - with a great review of their day in South London.

Fairtrade event in Brixton

Martin writes: Following on from yesterday's news that the Co-op is stocking Fairtrade olive oil from Palestine, there will be an event this evening in Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton at 6pm with Taysir Arabasi, director of Zaytoun which imports the oil. He will talk about the importance on livelihoods of the olive oil sector in Palestine.

For further info, contact jcurrie@lambeth.gov.uk

South London area committee election results

Timothy writes: In brief, the following members were elected to represent the South London trading area:

Elected for a three year term
Kathryn Smith
Mandy Brinkhurst
Steve Healey
Tom Searle
Timothy Godfrey

Elected for a two year term
Peter Willsman
Janet Gillman
Jean Petherbridge
Munir Malik
Tina Thomas

Elected for a one year term
Faith Smith
Martin Tiedemann
Phil Bale
Marilynne Burbage
Clive Fraser

The unsuccessful candidates were Peter Cooper & Tony Thorpe

Full results in PDF format
Candidate statements in PDF format

Fairtrade Fortnight begins

Martin writes: Yesterday I attended the launch of Fairtrade Fortnight on the South Bank. It was great to taste all the Fairtrade products, hear from producers from developing countries on why Fairtrade matters to them, and watch young people, local residents and tourists alike learn about Fairtrade. The Co-op had a big presence, as the leading high street supporter of Fairtrade, with our hard-working staff handing out smoothies and signing up new members. Brad Hill, the Co-operative Group's Fairtrade Manager, spoke about the Co-op's ongoing commitment to the movement and some exciting new product launches.

Today one of those product launches took place in North London, with Mike Foster MP, an International Development minister, on hand to promote the first-ever Fairtrade olive oil, made in Palestine. As the Mirror reported today, the Co-op is the only major supermarket that will be stocking the olive oil - we even got praise from the Prime Minister!

South London Area Committee election results now in

The Co-operative Group elections results are in; candidates have all been telephoned with their result with details of how long they will serve on the committee. 5 will serve for 3 years, 5 will serve for 2 years, 5 will serve for 1 year.

New elections take place every year, so plenty of opportunities for members to have their say.

We will post the full results on this blog when formally published by the Co-operative Group.