Schools awarded official fair trade status 

THE FIRST official fair trade schools will be named at a special award ceremony in Liverpool yesterday (Friday 24). Children throughout the city have been tucking into Fairtrade food, teaching fair trade in lessons and holding special assemblies dedicated to helping people in the developing world. And now, 13 schools dedicated to spreading the fair trade message are to receive a unique certificate confirming they are all fair trade kids.

Councillor Paula Keaveney, responsible for fair trade at the city council, said:- "It's fantastic that so many children enjoy Fairtrade products and are aware of the need to offer a fair deal to the developing world. The youngsters are a driving force in spreading the important fair trade message, and credit has to be given to the teachers who inspire the children. These 13 schools are setting a wonderful example for young people throughout Liverpool and hopefully even more schools will be awarded the official status in the next few months."

Fair trade tuck shops in the schools give children the chance to sample terrific Fairtrade delights such as bananas, cereal bars, chocolate and orange juice, all produced by poorer countries.

The awards are taking place at Our Lady's Bishop Eaton Primary School and 16 other schools have been invited along to see how they can make their schools fair trade friendly.

The schools will be exhibiting all of their fair trade work to raise awareness of trade justice. At Friday's ceremony, vibrant posters, leaflets, collages and drawings will all be on display. 

Fairtrade makes a real difference to people in developing countries by helping them earn a realistic living and get a fair price for their goods.

It is based on people in richer countries buying goods from suppliers who have agreed to trade fairly with producers in developing countries.

Liverpool was awarded Fairtrade city status in March 2004. In March 2005 the Liverpool City Council urged the city's schools to become fair trade friendly.

The city council has now pledged to make Liverpool the leading fair trade city in the UK.

LARA LEWINGTON PUTS HER TRAINERS ON FOR HELP THE AGED

Lara continued:- "If anyone would like to take part in the event and join me in raising money for Help the Aged, they can visit the Help the Aged website at www.helptheaged.org.uk or contact the events team direct on 0207 239 1922."

Merseyside Tourism Businesses are country's most environmentally friendly

12 Merseyside tourism businesses have been singled out as the country's most environmentally friendly in a unique pilot scheme. The 12 have received accreditation through the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS), which examines the overall performance of a business against more than 100 criteria. Issues looked at include Waste, Transport, Wildlife, Energy, Culture, Communication and Marketing. The organisations received their official certificates this week, Tuesday, 21 June, at The Mersey Partnership Tourism Members meeting.

'Green tourism' is a term used to describe good environmental practice within the tourism sector, which includes providing a welcome environment for visitors and minimising any negative impact on surrounding areas. The scheme has successfully operated in Scotland for the last five years and has now been piloted on Merseyside, as well as in 3 other regions in England (Blackpool, Brecks and South Hams). 

The accredited attractions are:-

Aachen Hotel, Liverpool 
At Peel Hey Guest House, Wirral
De Vere Daresbury Park, Warrington
Gladstone Hotel, Liverpool
Goose Meadow B&B, Liverpool
Holiday Inn, Liverpool city centre
International Inn, Liverpool
National Wildflower Centre, Knowsley
Radisson SAS, Liverpool
Regent Maritime Hotel, Liverpool
Speke Hall, Liverpool
Tate, Liverpool

Martin King, Director of Tourism at The Mersey Partnership, said:- "We are committed to providing tourists with a visitor experience of the highest quality and encouraging local tourism businesses to be aware of their environmental impact on our destination. As one of only four regions in England pioneering this scheme we hope others will sit up and take notice for the good of the industry UK-wide."

The National Wildflower Centre was the only venue to attain a 'Gold' grading, which GTBS describe as providing "excellence in environmental practice." Grant Luscombe, Chief Executive of the National Wildflower Centre said:- "We are delighted to be the first recipient on Merseyside of a gold award under the scheme. This reflects both the hard work and dedication of our staff and the ethos at NWC as a whole in seeking to minimise our environmental impact. The award gives us a great platform to build from in the future and has energised staff to seek further ways of improving our performance."

John Proctor, Technical Director of the Green Tourism Business Scheme, said:- "We are delighted that Merseyside's tourism industry is addressing its environmental performance through the Green Tourism Business Scheme and the significant benefits that this can have, not only for the businesses themselves but for the destination as a whole. I look forward to working with Merseyside and building on our success so far as the city-region builds towards Liverpool's 2008 Capital of Culture showcase. As a destination the number and range of businesses involved in the scheme is a good foundation particularly as many have achieved the SILVER award."

The Green Tourism scheme is being developed on Merseyside as part of The Mersey Partnership's wider commitment to the promotion of sustainable development in all of its activities and within all of its partnerships. For more information on Merseyside's 'green' attractions see www.visitliverpool.com/green 

Pupils rise to the challenge

PUPILS at St Monica's Primary School have been celebrating scooping the top prize in the Yellow Woods Challenge. During the last 10 weeks 11,762 pupils at 40 schools across the borough took part in the challenge, which is an educational campaign run in partnership between Warrington Borough Council, Yellow Pages and the Woodland Trust and supported by UPM, the major paper supplier for Yellow Pages, and have been collecting old Yellow Pages for recycling.

Pupils at St Monica's celebrated winning the top prize, the 'Gold Oak' title and received prize money of £300 for collecting the most directories per pupil and Kirk, the recycling bug and mascot for the Yellow Woods Challenge, also popped in to congratulate the school.

Miss Angela Williams, Headteacher, said:- "Our pupils enjoyed this competition and worked very hard to collect Yellow Pages directories. We also appealed to the wider community to help us with this challenge and all the pupils and staff would like to say a big thank you to everyone who supported us."

St Andrews CE Primary School won second prize and Park Road Community Primary School came third and all participating schools will be entered into the UK final where they will have the chance to win £2,000.

Thanks to all the schools' efforts a total of 10.1 tonnes of directories will be recycled into corrugated cardboard.

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