A record-breaking World Fair Trade Day
16 May 2011 15:06
Harriet Lamb, Executive Director, Fairtrade Foundation celebrated World Fair Trade Day, Sat.May 14th,  in style this year, with a picnic in Battersea Park to marvel at our attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the longest piece of bunting.

She said
As I cycled through the wrought-iron gates, I wondered how I was going to find the Fairtrade bunting. I didn’t need to worry: there it was – fluttering in the breeze was row on row of pennants beautifully decorated by people across the country who support Fairtrade and are calling for greater justice in the cotton trade. With 14,281 pennants totalling 3,427 metres, we had beaten the record. And we’ve only just begun – our office is still knee-deep in bunting sent in by schools, churches and local groups. It’s been a tide of support from the public. 

At the picnic, I chat to local supporters. ‘Everyone loved it’ says a woman from Hastings group. ‘When we explained how the US and EU subsidies are destroying the chances of West African cotton farmers to earn a decent living from selling their cotton, everyone was shocked and wanted to show their support for change.’ 

A woman from another Fairtrade Towns groups chips in: ‘It was such fun. It’s like a giant national art project. We had tea-parties and everyone joined in decorating the bunting’. 

Certainly many people were amazingly artistic. My favourites were the beautifully decorated pennants from the workers at the Indian factory who made them. We’ve also had support from Helen Mirren, head honchos at Waitrose and M&S through to the Archbishop of York. The challenge now is where to take the bunting next as we seek to raise awareness of how the $47 billion wall of subsidies for US and EU cotton farmers is forcing West African cotton farmers out of the market.
Thank you to everyone who sent in a bunting flag and huge thanks to all the wonderful volunteers who helped sort, log and sew our record-breaking line of bunting.

Current record was  2,696 metres

Our target :  4350 metres     (3,427 metres achieved on World Fairtrade day with 14, 281 pennants, but with over 100,000 more to add to the bunting!)

12,500 flags = one for each Fairtrade cotton farmer in Mali and Burkina Faso.