VILLAGERS are celebrating victory in a two year long campaign to get recognition as a fair trade community.

Embsay with Eastby has been awarded Fairtrade status joining Ingleton as the second in Craven.

The community has pledged to actively promote a number of promises including agreeing to sell at least four Fairtrade products in local shops, to promote Fairtrade to businesses and community organisations, to promote the movement in the Press and to serve Fairtrade tea and coffee at meetings and in canteens.

Steering it through the process to win approval has been a dedicated team of four residents - Emma Colley, Barbara Kipling, Parish Councillor Stella Kirkbride and Liz Roodhouse,

They have organised Fairtrade breakfasts and pop-up shops and taken a Fairtrade stall to community events.

A ‘Swishing in One World Week’ event in October last year promoted Fairtrade alongside sustainable living. A similar event is being planned for this autumn.

The campaign began in earnest in July 2016 when the parish council agreed to support the initiative to actively promote Fairtrade to consumers, businesses and community groups in the two villages.

Embsay CE Primary School, a Fairtrade school for the past three years, and St Mary’s Church, Embsay, a Fairtrade church, have supported the campaign and helped to embed Fairtrade into the identity of the village.

The community library and village hall management committee have also given support.

In the feedback report a spokesperson for the Fairtrade Foundation said: “It is wonderful to see that Fairtrade is really becoming part of the Embsay with Eastby community through the active support shown by the groups and organisations.”

Liz Roodhouse, a Fairtrade village campaigner said: “We’ve been officially recognised by the Fairtrade Foundation as having a sense of community that extends beyond the boundaries of our village because a significant number of people and organisations use some of their everyday choices to increase sales of Fairtrade products.”

“Selling products on Fairtrade terms provides a stable income and the chance to trade a way out of poverty.”

Towns, cities, boroughs, villages, islands, counties and zones can apply for the Fairtrade Town status and join the movement towards a fairer world trade system. An area that apply for Fairtrade status must meet five criteria: