I had the good fortune to visit Bruce Crowther, MBE during November 2016 and spent a morning learning how to produce fairly traded bean to bar chocolate.
The cocoa grown by Fredrick in Ghana.
Fredrick is a member of the Kuapa Kukoo Farmers Cooperative Ghana, and it was wonderful feeling knowing he had grown the cocoa for our chocolate.
We began our chocolate making at the crack of dawn and I was nervous not to make any mistakes and spoil Bruce's batch of chocolate.
I have posted all the photographs chronologically as we produced the chocolate.
Interview with
Bruce Crowther MBE
Fredrick's fair trade cocoa beans roasted shells intact
Grinding the cocoa beans into a thick chocolate liquor
Refining the cocoa until it was smooth and flowed easily
Measuring the temperature
Fine sugar
Bruce adding and mixing sugar to the chocolate liquor
Bruce measuring cocoa butter
Final produce fair trade chocolate read to eat
Delicious fair trade Fig Tree chocolate
The Fig Tree Chocolate
The Fig Tree Chocolate
Bruce Crowther MBE and me!
Bruce Crowther MBE writing in The Little Fair Trade Shop Guest Book, Garstang, UK - November 2017
Bruce's words of support
''So good to have you back in Garstang Sabeena and have the joy
of making bean to bar chocolate with you.
Now 5 years on we are struggling to continue with The FIG Tree but we are STILL HERE and the chocolate smells good.
Let's continue the struggle together acrosse the globe that sees
1853 Fair Trade Towns in 29 countries.''
Bruce Crowther
Guest book comments
I presented Nadiya Hussain with the chocolate I had produced
with Bruce Crowther MBE
I also presented Jo Malone with fair trade chocolate produced
by Bruce Crowther MBE and me!
It was a tiring morning but well worth it!
I purchased lots of Fig Tree chocolate and shared it with like minded individuals in Dubai.
I hope to go back to Garstang in the near future and hope to make more fair trade chocolate with Bruce if he'll have me.
INTRODUCTION
Bruce Crowther MBE – Founder, Fair Trade Town Movement and Fair Trade Activist
Bruce Crowther a vet by profession was awarded the MBE for services to Fairtrade and Oxfam.
He was included in the former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown's book 'Everyday Heroes.'
He now serves as Executive Director for the FIG Tree and was the International Fair Trade Towns Ambassador for the International Fair Trade Towns Steering Committee for many years.
A vet by profession, Bruce Crowther is an experienced activist who began campaigning for Oxfam in 1984. A fervent and vocal Fairtrade campaigner that he managed to persuade his fellow residents in the small market town of Garstang in Lancashire where he lived with his family and practised as a vet, to declare itself the world’s first Fairtrade Town in 2000.
Bruce went from shop to shop and visited all the local businesses, asking them to make a commitment to Fairtrade. Enthusiasm gathered and the local council signed a pledge to use or sell Fairtrade products where possible, and most of the town’s traders started selling or using Fairtrade products.
Following his efforts, Garstang, with its population of just 5,000, inspired the Fairtrade Foundation to develop the Fairtrade Towns campaign and 560 towns and cities to date all over the world have since received Fairtrade status.
The honour recognises his work supporting developing countries through Fairtrade Towns, Oxfam and the twinning link between his home town of Garstang in Lancashire and New Koforidua in Ghana.
Receiving the award, Crowther said, “I’m just one of millions of people who care about the poverty and inequality that underlies most, if not all that is wrong in our unjust world. I hope by accepting this award on behalf of this mass movement of people it will help to promote even greater awareness of poverty and the part we all play in it.”
Crowther now works full-time as the Director of The FIG Tree producing delicious fair trade chocolate and works from home in Garstang.
Bruce Crowthers other honours include being made a sub-chief in New Koforidua in the Ashanti region of Ghana, where he received the Beacon prize for creative giving in 2004.
In 2007, he was included in Gordon Brown’s book Britain’s Everyday Heroes, which is a collection of real life stories about ordinary people whose enthusiastic commitment has made a great difference to their communities through the “power of personal relationships.”
In 1992, Crowther formed the Garstang Oxfam Group and was Chair until 2002. The Oxfam Group was instrumental in making Garstang the worlds’ first Fairtrade Town in April 2000 (officially recognised in November 2001).
Bruce now Chairs the Garstang Fairtrade Group and the Garstang And New Koforidua Linking Association.
Bruce lives in Garstang with his wife and three children.
The FIG Tree is the world's first international Fair Trade Visitor Centre. Originally opened in 2011 in Garstang (the worlds first far trade town).
The people of Garstang voted for their unique status at a public meeting in April 2000 and since then over 1,500 Fair Trade Towns in 25 countries worldwide, including London, Paris, Rome, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo, Chicago, San Francisco, Boston, Vancouver and Wellington in New Zealand have all followed in Garstang's footsteps.
Information taken from the Green Solutions Magazine and The FIG Tree website.
Further Reading and Links
My right shoulder is still very painful and inflamed again and I have struggled to type this blog.
Despite my pain I managed to attend a webinar and record videos about PIE Community members expressing an interest to join.
I celebrated World Cancer Day 2024 by creating a poster in Urdu and English.
I participated in a School for Social Entrepreneur webinar with Chris Hines MBE.
Translation in Urdu
My sister sent me links to webinars about Great Mental Health Day which took place 26th January 2024.
I am grateful to all the guest speakers and trainers who took time out of their busy schedules to talk about Suicide Prevention, Bereavement and Write to Speak Your Poetry.
Translation in Urdu
میری بہن نے مجھے عظیم دماغی صحت کے دن کے بارے میں ویبینرز کے لنکس بھیجے جو 26 جنوری 2024 کو ہوا تھا۔
میں ان تمام مہمان مقررین اور ٹرینرز کا مشکور ہوں جنہوں نے اپنے مصروف شیڈول میں سے وقت نکال کر خودکشی کی روک تھام، سوگ اور اپنی شاعری لکھنے کے بارے میں بات کی۔
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year to all my fair trade friends and family around the world.
My right shoulder is still very painful and inflamed again and I have struggled to type this blog.
Despite my pain I managed to attend a webinar and record videos about PIE Community members expressing an interest to join.
I joined a couple of sessions about Mental Health and Suicide Training.
These sessions were organised by THRIVE LDN.
Translation in Urdu
نیا سال مبارک ہو!
دنیا بھر میں میرے تمام منصفانہ تجارتی دوستوں اور اہل خانہ کو نیا سال مبارک ہو۔
میرا دایاں کندھا اب بھی بہت تکلیف دہ ہے اور دوبارہ سوجن ہے اور میں نے اس بلاگ کو ٹائپ کرنے کے لیے جدوجہد کی ہے۔
اپنی تکلیف کے باوجود میں ایک ویبنار میں شرکت کرنے اور کمیونٹی کے ممبران کے بارے میں ویڈیوز ریکارڈ کرنے میں کامیاب ہو گی جو اس میں شامل ہونے میں دلچسپی کا اظہار کرتے ہیں۔
میں دماغی صحت اور خودکشی کی تربیت کے بارے میں کچھ سیشنز میں شامل ہوے۔
ان سیشنز کا اہتمام THRIVE LDN نے کیا تھا۔
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I'm Sabeena Ahmed owner and creator of The Little Fair Trade Shop. I've been an individual associate member of the World Fair Trade Organization since 2011 and together with my artisans I bring you a bespoke collection of ethically sourced fashion & gifts.
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