Travelling books will spread fair trade word

Members of Leamington Fairtrade Steering Group a running a 'book crossing' event, where they will leave books about Fairtrade at various places around the town for people to find, read and then pass on and share their thoughts on.
Pictured: Carol Jones, John Myers, Robert Nash & Lucy Houlder. — Members of Leamington Fairtrade Steering Group a running a 'book crossing' event, where they will leave books about Fairtrade at various places around the town for people to find, read and then pass on and share their thoughts on. Pictured: Carol Jones, John Myers, Robert Nash & Lucy Houlder.

Although Fairtrade Fortnight has been and gone, promoters of the movement in Leamington are doing their bit to make sure the message continues to spread - through sharing books.

Members of the town’s Fair Trade Steering Group recently came across the bookcrossing.com website - which encourages people to leave books for others to find and then share their thoughts on their reading - and decided to adopt the concept to further raise awareness of fair trade.

The group has now released a number of books about fair and ethical trading in public spaces around Leamington - which can be spotted by their pink post-it note labelling. Books on fair trade are also available at Leamington library.

Lucy Houlder of the group said: “The ‘wild’ books will bring some producer stories to life and answer a lot of questions people may have.

“Sometimes there are shops and cafes which don’t stock any Fairtrade products, but that might be because consumers have not asked them to.

“In Leamington we are really lucky because a lot of the traders are really supportive of Fairtrade, but we would always want more to get on board to help more people in developing countries.”

To find out more, call 450906, visit leamingtonspatowncouncil.gov.uk/fairtrade or find the group on Facebook under ‘Fair Trade Leamington’.