The region’s most ethical organisations will be celebrated next month when the South West Fair Trade Business Awards are staged for the seventh year.
Tickets are selling fast for the ceremony on March 8, which will be hosted by Countdown presenter Nick Hewer and takes place in Bristol’s magnificent Arnos Vale cemetery heritage site. 
The awards – which are free to enter – champion organisations from national chains to small independent businesses that use or sell Fairtrade products, or engage staff and customers with Fairtrade campaigns.
They also raise awareness of ethical trade issues among their staff, customers and peers while the awards ceremony and lunch are a great opportunity to network with ethically-minded professionals.
Nick Hewer, who was also Sir Alan Sugar’s former right-hand man on The Apprentice, is a long-running supporter of ethical business and a patron of The Fairtrade Foundation.
Joining him at the awards ceremony will be The Fairtrade Foundation’s head of supply chain management LJ Loftus and Nicaraguan Fairtrade coffee producer Junieth Lieva, visiting the South West for Fairtrade Fortnight.
Bristol Fair Trade Network, which stages the awards, traditionally invites a Fairtrade producer to tour the region to speak to a wide range of organisations – from schools and church groups to businesses – about Fairtrade and how it benefits farming communities.
Tickets for the awards ceremony, which takes place between 11.15am and 2pm, are £15 each, including a Fair Trade buffet lunch. For more information visit: https://fair_trade_awards_2019.eventbrite.co.uk
Tickets go off sale next Wednesday. Photo by Jon Craig @JonCraig_Photos
