Pensioner Richard Tanner on a mission for Fairtrade (From Basingstoke Gazette)
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Family fun day at North Waltham school
1:00pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in Local By Gazette reporter
A DETERMINED pensioner is on a mission to get more people supporting Fairtrade in the Basingstoke area.
Richard Tanner, 70, held a family fun day at North Waltham Primary School, to highlight the benefits of Fairtrade goods.
Food, drink, and clothes with the Fairtrade stamp mean they are grown and produced, to ethical standards.
On the day, guests heard talks from David Lloyd, 80 from Winchester, who with his wife Rosemary, 80, sells Fairtrade goods at their church, St Mark’s, in Oliver’s Battery, Winchester, as well as from Fairtrade supporter Kate Baylis, 52, from North Waltham, and Coop Overton’s retail business manager Bernard Steele, 32.
Speaking to The Gazette , Mr Tanner said the day was about raising awareness among both adults and youngsters.
He said: “I have lived in the Third World and I have tried to help. I have realised how much more we can do. Ten years ago, I bought undrinkable coffee and tea. Now I have learned this year that there are high quality products that help people.”
Guests included North West Hampshire MP Sir George Young, and Basingstoke and Deane councillor Diane Taylor.
Included among the Fairtrade converts was seven-year-old Olly Sanvoisin, who heard about Fairtrade at school in a talk given by North Waltham’s Trish Wyatt, 47, and Mrs Baylis.
The awareness drive was welcomed by Jill Gibson, chairman of Basingstoke and Deane Fairtrade Group, from Oakley.
She said such days were important in combating “apathy” towards Fairtrade.
She added that despite Basingstoke and Deane being declared a Fairtrade borough in 2011, there is still more to do.
