At a Public Meeting held on 27th April 2000 the people of Garstang voted to make their town the world’s first Fair Trade Town. Shortly after Garstang’s declaration George Foulkes MP (then the Under Secretary of State for the Department for International Development) visited Garstang to congratulate the move and said, “The beacon that has started in Garstang can spread like wildfire through the whole country and beyond”. His prediction has now been realised. When Garstang celebrates its 10th anniversary on 24th April 2010 there will be almost 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK and 800 Fair Trade Towns in 19 countries worldwide, which includes the cities of London, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Copenhagen, Wellington and San Francisco.

The campaigning work in Garstang has been recognised at the highest possible level, with inclusion of the now famous ‘Garstang Story’ in the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s book entitled ‘Britain’s Everyday Heroes’. The Prime minister has already sent a personal letter of congratulations to this small market town in the North West of England. Garstang has also inspired others to follow their good example. Fair Trade supporters in Media, Pennsylvania were so inspired by the pioneering work they had seen in Garstang, that in 2006 they decided to fulfil the UK criteria to become a Fairtrade Town and declare themselves the first Fair Trade Town in the USA. So it is appropriate that people in Media and Garstang’s linked community of New Koforidua in Ghana will join in the anniversary celebrations in April and hear Harriet Lamb CBE, Chief Executive of the Fairtrade Foundation speak via a live video link.

From the very beginning Fair Trade Towns have always surpassed the expectations of even the most idealistic visionary. I used to say that when we had 400 Fairtrade Towns in UK it would be the biggest campaign network the UK had ever seen, but now I realise the Fair Trade Towns on their own are not enough. There is a need to develop networks both nationally and internationally to possibly create the biggest, single campaign network that the world has ever seen. The potential for Fairtrade Towns to change the world is then huge. This network could and should be used to campaign on trade justice issues and I believe to help finally put an end to world poverty itself. Idealistic perhaps, but I remember thinking when Fairtrade Towns first started out, that one day even cities as big as Edinburgh in Scotland would become Fairtrade cities. People thought I was wrong, but not even I dreamt that Fair Trade Towns would spread across the world in the way they have done. I once also believed that one day Apartheid in South Africa would come to an end, but added that it would not be in my lifetime. Now I am sure that one day we will see an end to extreme poverty in the world, but I confess it will perhaps not be in my lifetime?

For details on Garstang’s 10th anniversary celebrations and to buy tickets, the Garstang Fairtrade campaign and its link with New Koforidua see: www.garstangfairtrade.org.uk

Bruce Crowther
UK Fairtrade Towns Advisor and founder of Fair Trade Towns
March 2010