IT IS almost the start of Fairtrade Fortnight – but one Cumbrian town is starting early in order to spread the fairtrade message.

Officially beginning on Monday, the Brampton Fairtrade Town Group is instead starting the fortnight tomorrow with a coffee morning at the Moot Hall.

Eileen Norman from the Brampton group explained what was planned for tomorrow.

“We’re doing it this Saturday which is also farmers’ market day in Brampton, so it’s quite a lively time to do it,” she said.

“Inside the Moot Hall we’ll have coffee, cakes for sale and a raffle too.

“Also we’ll have trade craft stall set up.”

In addition to the coffee morning, the Moot Hall will be decorated with the fruits of an imaginative project carried out by local school children.

“The theme for this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight is cocoa,” Eileen explained.

“We thought they could have some fun with that, so we’ve give them the challenge of designing a wrapper for a fictional Brampton Chocolate Company.

“We wanted them to make it as bright as possible, and make sure the Fairtrade logo was on there.

Also on offer to entertain youngsters in the town will be a treasure trail activity around Brampton, all in aid of helping to explain where cocoa comes from.

A range of posters explaining the origins of chocolate’s vital ingredient will be dotted around shops in the town.

Eileen is heartened by how enthusiastically children in the area have taken to the message that the Brampton Fairtrade Town Group seeks to promote.

“The children really get it”, she said. “They really understand the importance of it a lot better than a lot of adults do.

“Passing on the Fairtrade message to our young people is definitely important.

“We need the idea to develop a lot further than it has. Fairtrade shouldn’t be unusual, it should be the norm.”