GATEWAY CELEBRATES 30 YEARS OF TRADING FAIRLY
Tucked away in the former vestry of St. Nicholas’ Church at the lower end of Durham Market Place, is a small, meticulously well-ordered shop packed to the rafters with a delightful medley of eye-catching, beautiful and sometimes out-of-the-ordinary gifts, crafts, handbags, jewellery, cards and food. This is Gateway World Shop, a member of BAFTS (The British Association for Fair Trade Shops) which has been trading for justice to alleviate poverty in developing countries for three decades now.
The shop is run by a Christian board of trustees, and a regular team of part-time assistants plus a Manageress serve the public. When annual profits allow, the Trust chooses a couple of specific suppliers who also have an educational arm, to whom to donate funds. Being a member of BAFTS means that they have to stock a minimum of 70% fairly-traded goods, and the remainder can be organic, local, or handcrafted. The present Manageress, Hazel Dobson, clarifies the subtle difference between “Fairtrade” and “fairly-traded” goods, and how customers can be assured of their authenticity:
“We stock a wide a range of goods from an array of suppliers. Many products are certified with the FAIRTRADE Mark (see left) – such as tea, coffee, chocolate, sugar, spices, cereals, OIive Oil, pasta, rice, and cotton products – but many others (primarily crafts) are classed as fairly-traded, because no internationally-agreed criteria yet exists with which to award them the FAIRTRADE Mark. In this case, the BAFTS suppliers’ register ensures adequate benchmarks exist to deliver products which genuinely bring the benefits of a fair, living wage, better work conditions, no child labour, and a chance to work with dignity to the producers.”
To celebrate their 30th Anniversary, the shop staff served cakes and bakes made with Fairtrade ingredients to the congregation of St. Nicholas’ Church yesterday after the service, and tucked into a magnificent suitably-shaped cake to mark the occasion and look forward to future successes.
L to R: Ruth Kell, Hazel Dobson – Manageress, Colin Cuthill, Anne Lamb, Kathryn Sygrove, Colin Williams
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