Cardiff celebrates 500 Towns for 500 Miles by Barbara Crowther

It’s 6.15 and already dark at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff, the UK’s first Fairtrade capital city, when we get the call to say the 500 miles for 500 Fairtrade Towns cyclists have reached the city outskirts, and a local cyclists’ group with beautiful fairy lit bikes head off to reach them. Children grab African drums, the Wales flag and a huge Fairtrade banner and we all head out into the cold dark evening to greet the intrepid riders who have ridden the 104km leg today from Ammanford, Wales’ first Fairtrade Town back in July 2002.

It’s appropriate that Wales should host the final stage of our 500 mile odyssey. Despite having just 5% of the UK’s population, the Fair Trade Wales campaign boasts 12.5% of the UK’s Fairtrade towns, villages and cities, and almost one quarter of the UK’s Fairtrade schools. In the last week alone, two more towns have gained Fairtrade status – Prestatyn/Meliden and Blaenau Ffestiniog, who peaked just a little too soon to gain the 499th Fairtrade Town position! As well as local councils, faith groups, NGOs, schools, colleges and businesses, the campaign has been backed by the Welsh Assembly, who have partnered with the NGO TWIN to support the Gumutindo coffee growing community in Mbale, Uganda on a ground-breaking project linking both Fairtrade and action to combat climate change.



The cyclists, including Fairtrade Foundation’s John Arnold and Toby Quantrill (both with inexplicably scraped and bloody knees), arrive to African drumbeats and cheers of Croeso (welcome)! They’ve come along country roads, met Fairtrade campaigners in Swansea, and even done a Fairtrade product storecheck in the Port Talbot branch of Tesco - handing in feedback to the store manager that there were simply not enough Fairtrade products in store! NB Giving shop managers feedback is even easier if you use one of our special postcards

The moment arrives for us to connect by Skype to the 500th Town – everyone claps as on a large screen on the wall, Fairtrade Town campaign founder Bruce Crowther appears. But where is he?….. drumroll ….. Bicester! One of the UK’s fastest growing towns, this Oxfordshire community has run an amazing Fairtrade campaign over four years, even persuading Chiltern Railways to serve Fairtrade coffee and hot chocolate.

We watch as Bruce Crowther presents the Fairtrade Town award to the mayor of Bicester and talks about all the achievements of our amazing grassroots movement.

The Welsh Assembly’s Environment Minister,

Jane Davidson AM, gives a rousing speech before presenting awards and banners to children from 10 Cardiff schools who have recently achieved Fairtrade status.

A keen cyclist herself, she pays tribute to all the cyclists and organisers who have been part of the 500 mile bike ride, and says that Fairtrade is a journey, and she wants every village and town, school, faith group, university and business in Wales to join that journey.

This 500 mile journey may now have finished, but our Fairtrade journey towards a better future for growers around the world still has a long way to go!

500 miles for 500 towns - Final summary by Phil Broadhurst

As we approach 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK, Fairtrade supporters are taking to their saddles for a 500 mile cycle relay from Aberfeldy to Cardiff. We're blogging about their journey that will conclude in Cardiff on Monday 1 November. Learn more about their route at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/500fairtradetowns

All went well with Sunday’s event hosted by Amman Valley School, although it lived up to its “Fairtrade Fun Day” title better than its subtitle of “Welcome Event for the Fairtrade Bike Ride” as most people had gone home by the time the epic cyclists from Hay arrived, having taken the longest and hardest route possible just to leave us mere mortals feeling more in awe than ever!

While they’d been cycling 60 hilly miles, we’d been having fun with CIRCUS ERUPTION getting everyone juggling and unicycling (well; trying to!) and ONE PEOPLE PRODUCTIONS leading film making workshops, getting footage for a film we’re planning to show in Fairtrade Fortnight.

Children with cameras and crazy first-time unicyclists zig-zagged across the hall… but we all got out alive!
We didn’t get as many people coming as we would have if it wasn’t Halloween, but the stalls did well as peoples’ attention turned to Christmas, with DRAGON’S GARDEN’s fair trade hats and gloves and OXFAM’s fair trade crackers and cards all selling well.

Organising an event on Halloween was bad timing for us, but on the other hand the date was good because Henry Olonga was in town that day. Speaking at Ammanford Evangelical Church (One of the most active local Fairtrade churches) in the morning, he stayed on to attend our event. Test cricketer, social justice campaigner, singer, painter, photographer and writer. He could juggle too! But even he couldn’t unicycle! (He probably could really, but didn’t want to make us feel too jealous!!)

The riders arrived 10 minutes before the caretaker was due to lock up, so they didn’t even get a cup of tea until we all got to my house!

They did get a well deserved reception from the loyal legion who’d stayed on though, including town mayor Ray Spencer who was determined to stay until she’d congratulated and thanked them.

At our house we enjoyed re-living the ride and the event, with frequent interruptions from trick and treaters who were fed Co-Op chocolate eye balls and Traidcraft Geo Bars!

The good thing about the Hay riders arriving later than planned was that they got to meet Toby and John from the Fairtrade Foundation who were staying over, ready to get up early to ride the next leg.

The next morning was chaos. Four kids to get to school. Four adults to get to a bike ride. And all by half past 8! But we did it… and had a lovely breakfast made by my lovely daughter Rosa. (I should cover myself at this point by stating that my other 3 daughters are lovely too! But it was Rosa cooking the muffins, teacakes and veggie bacon butties, so she was everyone’s favourite that morning!)

We thought we had a challenge to get to the i-SMOOTH community café by 8.30, but Mike was up before 6am to ride the 26 miles from his home just to get to the start of the ride!

Also there to ride were Ian and Phil from Carmarthenshire Council, and Alan Cram, fairtrade supporter and all round nice guy, and friend of Ammanford Fairtrade Town Group pioneers Annette and Dewi. Among those coming to support were MP Jonathan Edwards, AM Rhodri Glyn Thomas and Town Councillor Jane Potter, showing the widespread political support we’re lucky to have in Ammanford for Fairtrade.
After posing for a bit of a bizarre photo which makes us look like we’re trying to communicate some kind of semaphore message (“Buy Fairtrade”, I presume!) (See attached photo), the riders rode off, and me and Clare jumped in the car to follow. Supposedly a support car, we actually just seemed to be on a bit of a café crawl, meeting up with the riders at each stop. At least Clare was working hard, driving and filming. I was just being chauffered and being fed cake. I felt relieved when I got a call from the Evening Post as we were driving into Cardiff so I could at least say I’d done some media work on the way!

First stop, after a lovely autumn ride along golden leaved lanes out of Ammanford, was at Bikeability at Dunvant Rugby Club. The organisation was set up to enable people of all abilities to enjoy the pleasures of cycling on specially designed bikes, including hand cycles, trikes, go karts, quad cycles, tandems and wheelchair transporters.

David, Colin and Rob joined up with the ride here, but first tried out the Bikeability bikes, which resulted in Rob falling off a bike before he’d even started the ride!

This was meant to be a rest stop for the cyclists, but they couldn’t resist trying out the various bikes on offer. Clare filmed (Sorry, Rob – She did catch you falling off!). I ate cake.

Then on down the cycle way to the beautiful Swansea Bay. A week before, me and Clare were at her sister’s wedding at the Registry Office which the cycle path goes by, enjoying the lovely clear blue skies. To have it so nice for the bike ride as well as the wedding photos seemed too much to ask, but despite the laws of probability and the reputation of Swansea weather, there really were two consecutive nice dry Mondays in Swansea at the end of October and start of November!

We met up with the riders again for more tea and cake and more photo opportunities at the Environment Centre in Swansea, base of many good things, including Swansea Fairtrade Forum.

Phil and Ian dropped off here to get back to Ammanford by train and Alan dropped off to go on a trip to visit family in England which he’d delayed to join in the ride. Joining in here was Brian, to complete the full list of magnificent riders!

It would have been nice to have stopped in one of Swansea’s fairtrade cafes for lunch, but it seemed psychologically important to at least be in Port Talbot before lunch. So we decided to opt for lunch at TESCO in Port Talbot; not for its culinary reputation, but so we could complain about the lack of fairtrade drinks in the café.

I’d used up my supply of Fairtrade Foundation cards saying  “Dear Store Manager, Please Stock More Fairtrade Products” at the school event on Sunday, so instead we filled in a customer feedback form and sent a free text to 80072 : “We are part of the 500 mile Fairtrade Bike Ride. Stopped at your Port Talbot store for lunch BUT no Fairtrade drinks in café.”  (You can do it too in your local TESCO!)

What a glorious contrast the next stop was : The Living Café in Cowbridge. A dream of a Fairtrade café! Lots of cafes now have the basics of fairtrade tea and coffee. But this café goes much further, with a mouth-watering selection of fairtrade cakes and snacks. Looking back now, I can’t believe all I chose was one of those really thin Cadbury’s bars! Maybe I just felt like I deserved less as the cyclists’ mileages went up! John definitely deserved his two pieces of carrot cake!

Sadly it seems that The Living Café is on a site that WAITROSE want to build on, so they may be pushed out. WAITROSE really had better make sure they’ve got better fairtrade cafes than TESCO if they’re going to force out one as good as The Living Café! (The fight’s not over yet, so hopefully The Living Café will stay alive… but just incase : Go visit now! And tell them if they do get knocked down by WAITROSE they’ve got to open up somewhere else quick!)

It was while we were in The Living Café that John got a call from someone working with sugar producers in Belize.  “Tell them about the bike ride” he told him, and the fairtrade link from campaigners to producers and raw product to sales was all perfectly illustrated in one long distance call.

Inspired by that call and that cake in that cafe, on they rode to the lovely welcome at Cardiff’s Millennium Centre.

(At this point I need to mention David Naylor and David Judd who worked out routes, mileages and timings for us; timings which proved correct almost to the minute!)

As Cardiff’s Welcome Event continued, the riders got the pats on the back they deserved… and posed for lots more photos. Clare carried on filming. And I had a fairtrade chocolate brownie!

Phil Broadhurst
Ammanford Fairtrade Group
ammanfordfairtrade.blogspot.com

P.S. The next day Environment Minister Jane Davidson, who was at the Millennium Centre, talked about the ride at a Walking and Cycling conference she attended. The legacy of the ride continues!

500 miles for 500 towns - Hay to Ammanford by Anna Haywood

As we approach 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK, Fairtrade supporters are taking to their saddles for a 500 mile cycle relay from Aberfeldy to Cardiff. We're blogging about their journey that will conclude in Cardiff on Monday 1 November. Learn more about their route at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/500fairtradetowns

The balloons were out in force and the enthusiastic Hay on Wye send-off party even included a dog on wheels!  By 9.30am our team of five riders (Anna, Lindsey, Luke, Neil and Nia - all colleagues from Drover Cycles in Hay on Wye) was heading west towards Brecon into a foggy autumn morning.  Several hills and an encounter with a mini-herd of Shetland ponies later we arrived in Brecon and paused at the Co-op to buy provisions and fix the first puncture of the day.

Laden with bread and bananas, we rode on up to Mynydd Illtud - a test for the lungs and legs as well as the imagination.  Sadly the potentially glorious views of Pen y Fan, South Wales’ highest peak, were scuppered by a thick shroud of cloud!  Nonetheless these quiet lanes through the Brecon Beacons made for lovely riding and we met a couple of other cyclists out for a Sunday spin.  The sheep and some French tourists, cosy in their 4x4, looked on in bemusement/pity as we tackled a particularly evil climb complete with Alpine-style hairpins.  A good training ground for would-be Tour de France riders but definitely a worthwhile climb as we were rewarded by a long downhill swoop to Blaen Llia, a very fine Fairtrade picnic and, just as we set off, some gleams of sunshine to light up the autumn colours! 

Anna, tandem stoker and chief navigator, promptly put an end to the positive vibe by taking a wrong turn and dragging everyone up an unnecessary and very steep hill beyond Ystradfellte!  Thankfully “Team Drover” is a good-natured bunch and everyone was still smiling as we descended back down to re-join the route.  We pressed on through Coed y Rhaiadr Forest (a bit of off-road riding to spice up the ride!) and joined the Sarn Helen Roman road.  The bright lights of Ystradgynlais were just coming into view when we succumbed to our second puncture of the day and so it was nearing dusk as we pedalled past Gurnos and ground our way up another hill to reach a fabulous, airy moorland road.

It was a little eery in the gathering gloom and we elected not to take the high road but instead put our heads down for the final 10 miles along the main road.  Even an argument Lindsey’s bike had with a kerb which sent her flying didn’t stop us and we finally pulled into Ammanford just before 7pm, where a warm welcome awaited.  Special thanks to the Mayoress of Ammanford for patiently waiting and to Phil Broadhurst for the pre-ride help, directions and a much-needed mug of tea on arrival. 

All in all we had a brilliant day – a 65 mile ride is a small achievement compared with the huge impact that the Fairtrade movement has had on the lives of producers around the globe.  However, what the ride did prove was that with determination and a positive attitude, it’s possible to reach your destination even if you take a couple of wrong turns along the way!  And that’s more or less the story of Fairtrade.

Visit www.facebook.com/drovercycles to view photos from the event and the Drover Cycles website for more information.

500 miles for 500 towns - The penultimate day by Phil Broadhurst

As we approach 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK, Fairtrade supporters are taking to their saddles for a 500 mile cycle relay from Aberfeldy to Cardiff. We're blogging about their journey that will conclude in Cardiff on Monday 1 November. Learn more about their route at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/500fairtradetowns

Hay riders arrived safe and sound but sadly just too late to join in the unicycling at the fairtrade fun day hosted by amman valley school. good thing about being late is they met up with toby and john who are riding today.
all enjoyed a fairtrade brew at my house, with interruptions from scary trick and treaters who were greeted with chocolate eyeballs and geo bars!

Ammanford riders set off this morning watched by the town's AM and MP, who -let's put this on record! - invited toby for a chat in The House Of Commons sometime!

Special mention too for the lovely mayor of ammanford who refused to go last night before the hay riders arrived.

Now at the environment centre swansea, enjoying more cake, after an earlier stop at bikeability, where riders, who were meant to be resting, instead had fun on the various amazing shapes and sizes of bikes that bikeabilility use to ensure that more people can enjoy swansea's lovely cycle ways.

The sun did shine as they passed the registry office too. And the forecast and optimism is good for the rest of the day. Next stop tesco for lunch, and to ask why they've not got fairtrade drinks in their cafe, then the lovely Living Cafe in Cowbridge, then .... the end!!!

500 miles for 500 towns - Day Eight

As we approach 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK, Fairtrade supporters are taking to their saddles for a 500 mile cycle relay from Aberfeldy to Cardiff. We're blogging about their journey that will conclude in Cardiff on Monday 1 November. Learn more about their route at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/500fairtradetowns

Luke and Anna left Hay at 9.00 on Sunday morning, heading off over the Brecon Beacons on their tandem! Jo from the Fairtrade Group arrived festooned with Fairtrade balloons to go a little way with them and Marcher TV were there to record the event for posterity. Accompanying them is a Drover Holiday cars, with an all important cycle rack on the roof, so weary cyclists will have a lift back to Hay on Sunday evening, having handed on the scroll to the cyclists of Ammanford for the final run down to Cardiff.

500 miles for 500 towns - Day Seven

As we approach 500 Fairtrade Towns in the UK, Fairtrade supporters are taking to their saddles for a 500 mile cycle relay from Aberfeldy to Cardiff. We're blogging about their journey that will conclude in Cardiff on Monday 1 November. Learn more about their route at http://www.fairtrade.org.uk/500fairtradetowns


Today was the day that the 500 Mile Fairtrade Bike Ride came through Hay-on-Wye.



Three cyclists did the 60 miles from Bridgnorth (or perhaps a bit more than 60 miles when they got lost/went the pretty way in the small lanes). Ray Gill Chair of Bridgnorth Fairtrade Town group completed the full, epic 60 miles, with his two willing cyclists each doing 30 miles and sharing the driving of the support vehicle. They were met in Hay by an official welcome from George the Town Cryer and an event in the Council Chambers. On hand to greet them were Roger Williams MP; Mary Fellowes the Mayor; Fiona Howard the headmistress of  Hay  Primary School -  the first Fairtrade primary school in Wales); local councillors; Jo Eliot of the Fairtrade group and Lady Matilda de Breos (who built Hay Castle in the 12th Century).

Joined by the contingent from Drover Holidays led by Anna Heywood and her husband, who are picking up where the Bridgnorth cyclists left off and doing the 60 miles from Hay to Ammanford tomorrow, guests enjoyed Fairtrade wine and snacks kindly supplied by the Co-op, while being serenaded by three well known local buskers and the 500 Fairtrade Towns version of the proclaimers hit 500 Miles! The official scroll was signed by the Bridgnorth cyclists and handed over ceremonially to the Hay-on-Wye group who will sign it along with all the other cyclists when they reach Ammanford tomorrow evening, and pass it on to their cyclists for the next stage - down to Cardiff and the finishing line!