St Richard's pupils 'Go Bananas'

BEXHILL Sainsbury's gave pupils at St Richard's School the opportunity to, ''Go Bananas', on Tuesday whilst giving them a lesson in Fairtrade.

Sainsbury's Deputy Manager Kevin Davies explained that the event was arranged to coincide with Bexhill's Fairtrade Fortnight and, in addition to providing four boxes of Fairtrade bananas for the pupils to enjoy, colleagues from the local store organised a "fun and exciting session", which gave pupils the chance to see how buying Fairtrade products can help various communities around the world.

Kevin said: "Fairtrade Fortnight is a great opportunity for us to get out in the local community and share the importance of supporting Fairtrade. At Sainsbury's we are totally committed to supporting Fairtrade as we know that it really can change lives of communities around the world."

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During the session, pupils had the chance to ask questions and sample some Fairtrade products for themselves, whilst teacher's enjoyed Fairtrade tea and coffee, which Sainsbury's donated to the staff room.

Sainsbury's is the largest UK Fairtrade retailer and was the first major retailer to convert their entire banana range to Fairtrade; they now sell seven million bananas a year, and Kevin said that this means a social premium of four million pounds a year goes straight into the pockets of the small farmers growing the bananas.

He said: "This money has been used to fund community projects including construction of water tanks for three hundred and sixty schoolchildren, installation of hospital equipment benefiting around twelve thousand people, renovation of a computer laboratory and resource centre benefiting nearly one thousand staff and children."

He added:"Fairtrade products ensure farmers and workers receive a fair wage for the work they do and Sainsbury's has supported the scheme for fifteen years."

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