Divine Poetry Competition for all

Christian Aid and Divine, a Fairtrade Chocolate Company, are once again running the Divine Poetry Competition for children of all ages.

Why not have a go? Meg Rossoff is judging this year and the theme is from Bean to Bar.

Further details click here. Deadline December 17th 2010.

Cystadleuaeth Barddoniaeth Divine

Mae Cymorth Cristnogol a Divine, cwmni siocled Masnach Deg, unwaith eto yn rhedeg cystadleuaeth barddoniaeth yn Saesneg i blant o bob oedran.

Beth am roi cynnig arni? Meg Rossoff sy’n barnu a’r thema yw from Bean to Bar.

Manylion pellach cliciwch yma. Dyddiad cau Rhagfyr 17eg, 2010.

LLANELLI FAIRTRADE GROUP

Llanelli Fairtrade Group now has a blog and Twitter account. We have included Ammanford Fairtrade Group's blog in our links and would be grateful if Ammanford would do similar for Llanelli.

Ammanford is such an inspiration for us here in Llanelli, having achieved Fair Trade Town status many times. You may be aware that our campaign is ongoing, and that we are hoping to achieve FT Town status before the end of 2010.

Incidentally, we are hosting a Fairtrade Awareness Evening on Thursday at The Colliers, Pwll, Llanelli (SA15 4BD). The evening will start at 7.00PM, and will include a selection of Fairtrade products available for tasting and the showing of a selection of short films on Fair Trade.Although it's very short notice, it would be lovely if members of the Ammanford Group could attend. We would love some advice and inspiration from you!
http://www.fairtradellanelli.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you soon,

Kind regards,
Natasha

The Hay Christmas Fairtrade Market

FAIR TRADE CHRISTMAS FAYRE

Llansadwrn Reading Rooms

Saturday 27th November 2010

11.00am to 4.00pm

Hats, Bags, Scarves, Christmas Cards, Diaries, Incense, Gifts, Jewellery, Kids Stuff and Much More

Beautiful Inexpensive Fair Trade Gifts From Nepal, Tibet, India, Bali, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia,

El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala

Refreshments Available

All proceeds from refreshments will be donated to

Medecins Sans Frontieres

(Doctors and nurses who volunteer to provide urgent medical care to victims of war and disaster across the world, regardless of race, religion, or politics)

Further Details from Mandy at The Dragons Garden on 01550 – 777995

http://www.dragons-garden.com/

FFAIR NADOLIG MASNACH DEG

Ystafelloedd Darllen Llansadwrn

Sadwrn 27 Tachwedd 2010

11.00am to 4.00pm

Hetiau, Bagiau, Sgarffiau, Cardiau Nadolig, Dyddiaduron, Incense, Anrhegion, Gemwaith, Pethau Plant a Llawer Mwy

Anrhegion Masnach Deg Hyfryd sydd ddim yn ddrud o Nepal, Tibet, India, Bali, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia,

El Salvador, Ecuador, Guatemala

Lluniaeth ar gael

Bydd holl elw’r lluniaeth yn mynd tuag at

Medecins Sans Frontieres

(Doctoriaid a nyrsus sy’n gwirfoddoli i gyflwyno cymorth meddygol brys i dioddefwyr rhyfel neu trychineb ar draws y byd)

Am fwy o wybodaeth cysylltwch a Mandy at “The Dragons Garden” ar 01550 – 777995

http://www.dragons-garden.com/

FROM AMMANFORD TO CARDIFF - THE BIKE RIDE

All went well with Sunday’s event hosted by Amman Valley School, although it lived up to its “Fairtrade Fun Day” title better than its subtitle of “Welcome Event for the Fairtrade Bike Ride” as most people had gone home by the time the epic cyclists from Hay arrived, having taken the longest and hardest route possible just to leave us mere mortals feeling more in awe than ever!

While they’d been cycling 60 hilly miles, we’d been having fun with CIRCUS ERUPTION getting everyone juggling and unicycling (well; trying to!) and ONE PEOPLE PRODUCTIONS leading film making workshops, getting footage for a film we’re planning to show in Fairtrade Fortnight.
Children with cameras and crazy first-time unicyclists zig-zagged across the hall… but we all got out alive!
We didn’t get as many people coming as we would have if it wasn’t Halloween, but the stalls did well as peoples’ attention turned to Christmas, with DRAGON’S GARDEN’s fair trade hats and gloves and OXFAM’s fair trade crackers and cards all selling well.

Organising an event on Halloween was bad timing for us, but on the other hand the date was good because Henry Olonga was in town that day. Speaking at Ammanford Evangelical Church (One of the most active local Fairtrade churches) in the morning, he stayed on to attend our event. Test cricketer, social justice campaigner, singer, painter, photographer and writer. He could juggle too! But even he couldn’t unicycle! (He probably could really, but didn’t want to make us feel too jealous!!)
The riders arrived 10 minutes before the caretaker was due to lock up, so they didn’t even get a cup of tea until we all got to my house!
They did get a well deserved reception from the loyal legion who’d stayed on though, including town mayor Ray Spencer who was determined to stay until she’d congratulated and thanked them.

At our house we enjoyed re-living the ride and the event, with frequent interruptions from trick and treaters who were fed Co-Op chocolate eye balls and Traidcraft Geo Bars!
The good thing about the Hay riders arriving later than planned was that they got to meet Toby and John from the Fairtrade Foundation who were staying over, ready to get up early to ride the next leg.

The next morning was chaos. Four kids to get to school. Four adults to get to a bike ride. And all by half past 8! But we did it… and had a lovely breakfast made by my lovely daughter Rosa. (I should cover myself at this point by stating that my other 3 daughters are lovely too! But it was Rosa cooking the muffins, teacakes and veggie bacon butties, so she was everyone’s favourite that morning!)
We thought we had a challenge to get to the i-SMOOTH community café by 8.30, but Mike was up before 6am to ride the 26 miles from his home just to get to the start of the ride!
Also there to ride were Ian and Phil from Carmarthenshire Council, and Alan Cram, fairtrade supporter and all round nice guy, and friend of Ammanford Fairtrade Town Group pioneers Annette and Dewi. Among those coming to support were MP Jonathan Edwards, AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas and Town Councillor Jane Potter, showing the widespread political support we’re lucky to have in Ammanford for Fairtrade.
After posing for a bit of a bizarre photo which makes us look like we’re trying to communicate some kind of semaphore message (“Buy Fairtrade”, I presume!) (See attached photo), the riders rode off, and me and Clare jumped in the car to follow. Supposedly a support car, we actually just seemed to be on a bit of a café crawl, meeting up with the riders at each stop. At least Clare was working hard, driving and filming. I was just being chauffered and being fed cake. I felt relieved when I got a call from the Evening Post as we were driving into Cardiff so I could at least say I’d done some media work on the way!

First stop, after a lovely autumn ride along golden leaved lanes out of Ammanford, was at Bikeability at Dunvant Rugby Club. The organisation was set up to enable people of all abilities to enjoy the pleasures of cycling on specially designed bikes, including hand cycles, trikes, go karts, quad cycles, tandems and wheelchair transporters.
David, Colin and Rob joined up with the ride here, but first tried out the Bikeability bikes, which resulted in Rob falling off a bike before he’d even started the ride!
This was meant to be a rest stop for the cyclists, but they couldn’t resist trying out the various bikes on offer. Clare filmed (Sorry, Rob – She did catch you falling off!). I ate cake.

Then on down the cycle way to the beautiful Swansea Bay. A week before, me and Clare were at her sister’s wedding at the Registry Office which the cycle path goes by, enjoying the lovely clear blue skies. To have it so nice for the bike ride as well as the wedding photos seemed too much to ask, but despite the laws of probability and the reputation of Swansea weather, there really were two consecutive nice dry Mondays in Swansea at the end of October and start of November!

We met up with the riders again for more tea and cake and more photo opportunities at the Environment Centre in Swansea, base of many good things, including Swansea Fairtrade Forum.
Phil and Ian dropped off here to get back to Ammanford by train and Alan dropped off to go on a trip to visit family in England which he’d delayed to join in the ride. Joining in here was Brian, to complete the full list of magnificent riders!

It would have been nice to have stopped in one of Swansea’s fairtrade cafes for lunch, but it seemed psychologically important to at least be in Port Talbot before lunch. So we decided to opt for lunch at TESCO in Port Talbot; not for its culinary reputation, but so we could complain about the lack of fairtrade drinks in the café.
I’d used up my supply of Fairtrade Foundation cards saying “Dear Store Manager, Please Stock More Fairtrade Products” at the school event on Sunday, so instead we filled in a customer feedback form and sent a free text to 80072 : “We are part of the 500 mile Fairtrade Bike Ride. Stopped at your Port Talbot store for lunch BUT no Fairtrade drinks in café .” (You can do it too in your local TESCO!)

What a glorious contrast the next stop was : The Living Café in Cowbridge. A dream of a Fairtrade café! Lots of cafes now have the basics of fairtrade tea and coffee. But this café goes much further, with a mouth-watering selection of fairtrade cakes and snacks. Looking back now, I can’t believe all I chose was one of those really thin Cadbury’s bars! Maybe I just felt like I deserved less as the cyclists’ mileages went up! John definitely deserved his two pieces of carrot cake!
Sadly it seems that The Living Café is on a site that WAITROSE want to build on, so they may be pushed out. WAITROSE really had better make sure they’ve got better fairtrade cafes than TESCO if they’re going to force out one as good as The Living Café! (The fight’s not over yet, so hopefully The Living Café will stay alive… but just incase : Go visit now! And tell them if they do get knocked down by WAITROSE they’ve got to open up somewhere else quick!)
It was while we were in The Living Café that John got a call from someone working with sugar producers in Belize. “Tell them about the bike ride” he told him, and the fairtrade link from campaigners to producers and raw product to sales was all perfectly illustrated in one long distance call.

Inspired by that call and that cake in that cafe, on they rode to the lovely welcome at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre.

(At this point I need to mention David Naylor and David Judd who worked out routes, mileages and timings for us; timings which proved correct almost to the minute!)

As Cardiff’s Welcome Event continued, the riders got the pats on the back they deserved… and posed for lots more photos. Clare carried on filming. And I had a fairtrade chocolate brownie!

(For more details of the welcome, and the whole 500 miles of the full ride, go to thefairtradefoundation.blogspot.com)

Phil Broadhurst
Ammanford Fairtrade Group
http://www.ammanfordfairtrade.blogspot.com/

P.S. The next day Environment Minister Jane Davidson, who was at the Millennium Centre, talked about the ride at a Walking and Cycling conference she attended. The legacy of the ride continues!

O RHYDAMAN I GAERDYDD - Y DAITH FEICIO

Aeth popeth yn dda gyda digwyddiad Dydd Sul yn ysgol Dyffryn Aman, er roedd y disgrifiad “Diwrnod Hwyl Masnach Deg” yn well disgrifiad na “Croeso i’r Daith Feicio Masnach Deg” oherwydd roedd y rhan fwyaf o bobl wedi mynd adref cyn i’r beicwyr gyrraedd o’r Gelli. Roeddynt wedi teithio’r ffordd anoddaf a hiraf i gyrraedd Rhydaman.

Tra eu bod nhw wedi beicio 60 milltir o fryniau, roeddem ni wedi bod yn cael hwyl gyda CIRCUS ERUPTION yn cael pawb i jyglo a reidio beic un olwyn(neu trio o leiaf) ac roedd ONE PEOPLE PRODUCTIONS yn arwain gweithdai creu ffilm, a ffilmio ar gyfer ffilm rydym yn gobeithio ei dangos yn ystod Pythefnos Masnach Deg.

Roedd plant gyda camerau a pobl yn reidio beic un olwyn yn hyrddio ar draws y neuadd.. ond daethom i gyd allan yn fyw!!

Yn anffodus ni chawsom cymaint o bobl ac y buasem wedi ei gael petai hi ddim yn Noson Calan Gaeaf, ond roedd y stondinau wedi gwneud yn dda wrth i bobl feddwl am y Nadolig ac roedd hetiau a menyg masnach deg DRAGON’S GARDEN’s a cracyrs masnach deg a cardiau OXFAM yn gwerthu’n dda.

Roedd trefnu digwyddiad ar Noson Calan gaeaf yn amseru gwael i ni ond ar y llaw arall roedd yn golygu bod Henry Olonga yn y dref ar y diwrnod, yn siarad yn Eglwys Efengylaidd Rhydaman yn y bore ( un o’r eglwysi Masnach Deg mwyaf gweithgar). Arosodd ymlaen i ddod i’n digwyddiad ni. Chwaraewr criced gemau prawf, ymgyrchydd hawliau cymdeithasol, canwr, arlunydd, ffotograffydd ac ysgrifenwr. Yn ogystal roedd yn gallu jyglo, er roedd hyd yn oed Henry yn methu reidio’r beic un owyn, neu o leiaf roedd ddim eisiau i ni fod yn genfigenus .

Cyrraeddodd y beicwyr 10 munud cyn bod y gofalwr i fod i gloi lan, ac felly ni chawson nhw hyd yn oed cwpanaid o de cyn cyrraedd fy nhy i.

Cawson nhw groeso twymgalon gan y pobl oedd yn bresennol, gan gynnwys Maer y dref, Ray Spencer a oedd yn benderfynol o aros tan roedd wedi cael y cyfle o’u croesawu a'u  llongyfarch.

Yn ein ty ni cawsom gyfle i glywed am y reid feicio, gyda ambell gnoc ar y drws gan “ysbrydion a zombies” a gafodd llygaid siocled CO-OP neu Geo bars traidcraft.

Cafodd y beicwyr y cyfle i gwrdd a Toby a John o’r Fairtrade Foundation a oedd yn aros y nos yn barod ar gyfer codi’n gynnar i feicio’r cymal nesaf o’r daith.

Y bore wedyn roedd pethau fel ffair drwy geisio cael 4 plentyn yn barod i’r ysgol, 4 oedolyn yn barod ar gyfer y daith feicio, a hynny i gyd erbyn 8.30 y bore! Ond fe lwyddon ni a cael brecwast gwerth chweil hefyd wedi ei baratoi gan fy merch arbennig Rosa. (Dylwn ddweud yn y fan hyn fy 3 merch arall yn arbennig hefyd). Ond Rosa oedd wedi coginio’r muffins, teacakes a brechdannau cig moch veggie, felly ar y diwrnod hwn hi oedd ffefryn pawb wrth fwyta.

Roedden ni’n meddwl bod gennym sialens i gyrraedd caffi cymunedol i-SMOOTH erbyn 8.30. ond roedd, Mike wedi codi cyn 6.00am i reidio 26 milltir o’i gartref jyst i gyrraedd dechrau’r reid feicio!

Hefyd yno i reidio oedd Ian a Phil o Gyngor Sir Caerfyrddin, ac Alan Cram, cefnogwr Masnach Deg a boi da, a ffrind dau o sefydlwyr Grwp Masnach Deg tref Rhydaman Annette a Dewi. Ymysg y rhai oedd yno yn cefnogi oedd Yr Aelod Seneddol Jonathan Edwards, Aelod Cynulliad Rhodri Glyn Thomas a’r Cynghorydd Tref Jane Potter, sy’n dangos y gefnogaeth wleidyddol eang mae Masnach Deg yn lwcus o’i dderbyn yn Rhydaman.

Ar ol sefyll i dynu llun roedd y beicwyr ar eu taith a neidodd Clare a minnau i mewn i’r car i ddilyn. Roedden ni i fod yn gefnogaeth iddynt ond y gwir yw mai teithio o gaff i gaffi oedd ein gwaith a cwrdd a’r beicwyr ar pob stop. O leiaf roedd Clare yn gweithio’n galed yn gyrru a ffilmio. Roeddwn i yn cael fy nghludo o fan i fan ac yn bwyta cacennau. Roeddwn yn teimlo’n falch pan ges i alwad gan yr Evening Post ar y ffordd i Gaerydd, o leiaf roeddwn wedyn yn gallu dweud fy mod wedi gwneud peth gwaith ar y cyfryngau ar y ffordd!

Y stop cyntaf wedi Rhydaman oedd Bikeability yng Nglwb Rygbi Dunvant. Mae’r sefydliad wedi ei greu ar gyfer pobl o pob gallu i fwynhau beicio ar feiciau arbennig, gan gynnwys rhai llaw, tair olwyn, go karts, quads, tandem a cludwyr cadair olwyn.
Ymunodd David, Colin and Rob yma ar ol trio beiciau Bikeability yn gyntaf, oedd yn golygu bod Rob wedi disgyn oddi ar un beic cyn cychwyn y daith!

Stop i orffwys oedd hwn i fod i’r beicwyr ond roedd yn rhaid iddynt hwythau hefyd drio’r amrywiaeth o feiciau oedd ar gael. Roedd Clare yn ffilmio ( a sori Rob ond mae hi wedi dy ddal yn cwympo) Roeddwn i yn brysur yn bwyta cacen.

Yna ymlaen i lawr y llwybr beicio i Bae Abertawe. Wythnos cyn hyn roeddwn i a Clare yn y Swyddfa Gofrestru, ger y llwybr beicio, ym mhriodas chwaer Clare yn mwynhau awyr las di gwmwl. Roedd yn ormod i obeithio cael tywydd cystal ar gyfer y daith feicio a’r briodas, ond er y siawns o hyn ddigwydd a hanes Abertawe am dywydd digon gwael, cawsom ddau ddydd Llun bendigedig, un ar ddiwedd Hydref a’r llall ar ddechrau Tachwedd.

Ymunodd pawb gydai gilydd eto am fwy o de a chacen a cyfle tynnu lluniau yn y Ganolfan Amgylcheddol yn Abertawe, lleoliad llawer o bethau da, gan gynnwys Fforwm Masnach Deg Abertawe.

Aeth Phil ac Ian yn ol o fan hyn i Rhydaman ar y tren ac aeth Alan i ffwrdd er mwyn mynd i weld ei deulu yn Lloegr. Yn ymuno oedd Brian, i orffen y rhestr arbennig o reidwyr!

Byddai wedi bod yn dda aros yn un o gaffis masnach deg Abertawe am ginio ond roedd yn bwysig cyrraedd Port Talbot erbyn amser cinio. Felly dyma benderfynu galw yn TESCO Port Talbot, nid am ei ddewis o’r fwydlen ond er mwyn cwyno am y diffyg diodydd masnach deg yn y caffi. Roeddwn wedi defnyddio fy cardiau post Fairtrade Foundation yn dweud “Annwyl Rheolwr, A fyddech mor garedig a chyflenwi mwy o nwyddau Masnach Deg” yn y digwyddiad yn yr ysgol ar ddydd Sul, felly dyma lenwi holiadur yn lle ac anfon tects rhad ac am ddim i 80072 yn dweud “Rydym yn rhan o’r daith feicio Masnach Deg 500 milltir. Wedi stopio yn Port Talbot am ginio OND roedd dim diodydd MASNACH Deg ar gael yn y caffi!.” (Gallech chi wneud hyn hefyd yn eich siop TESCO leol!)

Am wahaniaeth oedd y stop nesaf sef y Living Café yn y Bontfaen. Caffi Masnach Deg hyfryd. Mae llawer o gaffis yn cynnig te a choffi masnach deg ond roedd hwn yn mynd llawer yn bellach gyda danteithion melys masnach deg o bob math. Gallaf ddim credu o edrych yn ol mai dim ond bar tenau Cadbury’s fwytais i! Efallai wrth i filltiroedd y beicwyr gynyddu roeddwn yn teimlo’n fwy euog! Roedd John yn wir haeddu y ddau ddarn o gacen moron a gafodd yntau.

Yn drist mae’n ymddangos bod safle y Living Café ar dir mae WAITROSE eisiau adeiladu arno, ac efallai y cawn nhw eu gyrru allan. Gwell i WAITROSE wneud yn siwr fod ganddyn nhw well gaffis masnach deg na TESCO os ydynt am wthio caffi cystal a’r Living Café. (Nid yw’r frwydr drosodd eto a gobeithio bydd y Living Café yn aros …. Ond rhag ofn – ewch yno a dweud wrthynt os mae nhw’n cael eu dymchwel bydd yn rhaid iddynt agor yn rhwyle arall yn gloi).

Yn y Living Café cafodd John alwad gan rhywun yn gweithio gyda cynhrychwyr siwgr o Belize. “Dywedodd wrthyn nhw am y reid feicio” ac roedd y cyswllt masnach deg rhwng yr ymgyrchwyr i’r cynhyrchwyr i’r nwyddau crai i’r cynnyrch gorffenedig a’r gwerthiant wedi ei ddangos yn berffaith mewn un galwad ffôn.

Wedi eu ysbrydoli gan yr alwad ffôn ymlaen a nhw wedyn i’r croeso yng Nghanolfan y Mileniwm.

(Rhaid nodi yma bod y daith, sef y milltiroedd a’r amseriad a wnaeth David Naylor a David Judd yn gywir bron i’r funud!)

Yng Nghaerdydd cafodd y beicwyr longyfarchiadau haeddiannol a rhagor o luniau. Roedd Clare yn dal i ffilmio ac reoddwn i yn dal i fwyta browni masnach deg!

(am fwy o wybodaeth am y daith gyfan ewch i http://www.thefairtradefoundation.blogspot.com/  )

Phil Broadhurst

Grwp Masnach Deg Rhydaman

http://www.ammanfordfairtrade.blogspot.com/

O.N Y diwrnod canlynol wnaeth y Gweinidog yr Amgylchedd Jane Davidson, a oedd yng Nghanolfan y Mileniwm siarad am y daith feicio mewn cynhadledd cerdded a beicio. Mae gwerth y daith yn parhau.