St Andrews: Fair Trade town status for St Andrews as campaigners are honoured

Two of the winners at the 2022 Scottish Fair Trade Forum (SFTF) awards are Mary Popple and Hannah Bowey, both members of the St Andrews Fairtrade Town Campaign group, and the town has been officially recognised as a Fairtrade Community once again.

Mary earned her outstanding achievement award for her unstinting work for Just Trading Scotland (JTS), as a board member for nine years and chair for three.

Many readers will be familiar with Kilombero rice from Malawi, but this is just one of the fairly traded foods produced by smallholder farmers in Africa and Sri Lanka which JTS import and distribute for sale in the UK.

Despite problems for farming related to climate change, and most recently to changes in the cost of transport due to the war in Ukraine, JTS continues to support the smallholder farmers and their communities.

Mary has been an enthusiastic member of the town Fairtrade group for 14 years, helping in particular secure Fairtrade event status for the Open Championships held here and elsewhere since 2015.

Hannah Bowey won a special recognition award for her work as sustainability co-ordinator at the University of St Andrews 2021-2022.

During that period the University was awarded the Fairtrade University and College award in recognition of its dedication to issues of ethical and sustainable consumption.

Encouraging partnerships between the institution and students’ association, Hannah worked to raise awareness of ethical consumption, and to increase the use of Fairtrade products throughout the University.

During the period she was an active member of the town Fairtrade group, who are delighted that she will be able to continue lending her support - Hannah’s expertise with IT and social media are particularly appreciated.

St Andrews is also officially a Fairtrade Community, following application for renewal of the town’s Fairtrade status.

The title is awarded by the Fairtrade Foundation based in London, and has to be re-applied for periodically.

Fairtrade outlets continue to thrive in St Andrews, thanks to the continuing demand for fairly-traded products in shops and cafes. For a directory of outlets, see www.fairtrade-standrews.org.uk