Tonight was an evening of pampering, yoga, advice and Fair Trade goodies.
The lovely ladies at Cumnock Academy, along with pupils participating in the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, organised a lovely evening of pampering and relaxation for all the local ladies.
I had a pleasant evening chatting about various ethical issues and amazing youngsters with the brain teaser puzzles.
They are hoping to plan a couple more events throughout the year, I’ll let you know the dates if they do.
Best Seller: Jewellery, all of it.
Most Coveted Item: Pandanas Handbag
I spent this morning at a a Fairtrade Coffee Morning in a lovely little school in Crawford which is south of Biggar. For those of you who don’t know your Scottish geography it’s 59 and a half miles from Saltcoats – just off the A74(M). The invite to the event came from a lady on the parent council who visited my stall at Strathaven Balloon Festival last August.
My lovely brother was my chauffeur for the day and we got to Crawford with only one tiny 25mile detour after I assumed Crawford would be on the way into Biggar, not really the kind of assumption that makes a driver happy.
Consequently setting up was a little bit rushed, with parents standing watching with bemused smiles as I pulled more and more colourful products out of my boxes. It really was a great day though. All the children, there’s about 33 of them on the school roll, were polite and enthusiastic with lots of knowledge of Fairtrade and eager to learn about all my products and where they came from; the staff and parents and grandparents were surprised to learn of the huge variety of non-food Fairtrade items available; and we helped towards the Fairtrade Foundations Go Bananas campaign by each eating a FT banana at noon. After a lovely, nonstop morning I was invited back to two events in June. I think they liked my stock.
Best Sellers: mindbender puzzles.
Nicest Moment: a lady buying a much coveted coconut maracas
This morning I visited the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow to see this years Fair Trade Experience – some of you may recall Betty’s visit last year, read her thoughts here.
Initial impressions were less than promising – if I hadn’t known it was happening then I probably wouldn’t have noticed there was anything on. True there was a banner but as there is always some form of advertising on the building it did not make a huge impression. There was also a band of djembe drummers but, as they were at the very top of the stairs, they were only visible and audible once you reached the same level.
Inside told a different story. Three aisles of stalls sold a variety of weird, wonderful and whimsical items, the stage had a full programme of entertainment and the wee coffee room off to the back served the most delicious coffee.
Although in a fairly small conference room I happily spent three hours visiting each stall several times, chatting to anyone who looked my way and buying quite a few gifts for upcoming birthdays.
The atmosphere was definitely upbeat with most participants reporting steady crowds throughout the morning – the advertising outwith the immediate vicinity must have been more successful and it was heartening to see such a variety of different Fair Trade products and services coming together under one roof. There is definitely room for us all in this world and together we can make a difference. I’m off to plan Neema’s stall for next year.
Tonight I received a little reminder that just because it’s there in black and white doesn’t mean it’s true.
Background info: Evening Times – Fashion on the Street
On Tuesday, in Glasgow, my friend Bethany was stopped by the Evening Times Street Fashion team, asked some questions about her style and had her photograph taken for Thursdays issue, incidentally she ended up on the front cover as well as the style page – my friend is famous??! The team then took pity on me and included my image too, sadly the photo and my name is about all they got right.
To clear some things up for those of you who read it and got mildly confused.
I don’t live in Ayr.
I don’t have an eBay store – www.neema.org.uk/shop or in person are still the only way to purchase any of Neema’s handcrafts.
I don’t make any of the products – I leave that up to the multitude of talented artisans around the world.
I don’t design any of my pieces – again I leave that up to the talented artisans and their talented design teams.
I do however like that my Style Icon is Audrey Hepburn. The photographer suggested her for me.
And I apologise profusely to People Tree for making their stunning Cornflower embroidered Lily Top look so wrinkly.
Today I found myself in Hillhead P.S selling to the staff of Youth Strategy, and a few extras. This made me smile as it put several of Neema’s biggest supporters in the same venue.
The YS staff were receiving training on Nurture Groups. An initiative that aims to “provide a safe and nurturing learning environment where each child is valued, understood and has their emotional needs met appropriately”. It was fascinating stuff to listen in on.
As always I and my lovely products were warmly received and it was great catching up with everyone.
Best Sellers: the new bracelet range.
Nicest surprise: the amount of interest in the new Baggara Tribe resin figures.
I have declared 2009 the year of joy, hope and change.
For me, for Neema and for the wider world.
I hope you will join in me in celebrating the multitude of possibilities that this new year offers.
Instead of letting news articles like Tea workers still waiting to reap Fairtrade benefits from this weeks The Times disillusion me I am taking the Fairtrade Foundations response seriously and continuing to promote the Fairtrade habit as the sensible way forward.
Instead of using the financial crisis as an excuse to continue binging on throwaway fashion and “bargain bargain bargains!” I am asking people to reconsider their spending habits and to start saving for quality items that look after the planet and workers needs.
And I am hoping that people will look into their own communities for solutions, supporting farmers markets and local businesses, before giving their money to anonymous strangers.
Speaking of which my good friend who donates her time and skills to Neema for free, mostly taking photos of stock for the online store, has launched her own website www.digitalsoul.me. When you find a spare moment in your new years rejoicing maybe you’ll pop round to have a gander at her amazing art, maybe even commission her to take on that project you put off all of last year.
It’s December and suddenly people are finding themselves flying around shops in every spare 10mins they can squeeze out of their unusually hectic day in the hopes of finding something anything for Great Aunt Maud and Cousin Ivor. Frankly, it’s depressing just thinking about it and I consider myself lucky to be able to say I’ve already completed the majority of my shopping – mostly from the comfort of my own livingroom; there are some definite perks to running a retail business.
My remaining bits and bobs will hopefully be purchased from lovely Crafters at my next few events. My friends and family are going to be excited by the wealth of talented artisans to be found on home turf as well as in far flung exotic lands.
You may be wondering why I am telling you all this. Well, it’s because over the past few weeks friends of mine have been popping in for a cup of tea and a wee rummage through Neema’s drawers and I’d like to offer you the chance to do the same. If the thought of fighting your way through shops just isn’t appealing and if you’d rather pick items in person rather than through an online store then send me a note through the Contact page and I’ll arrange a time to either visit you in your home or for you to pop round mine.
Happy Shopping.
Today the impossible was achieved. Over the last few weeks I’ve found it impossible to turn down requests for my Fair Trade presence at Christmas Fayres. Unfortunately this resulted in me being triple booked for today; could I be in three places at once? Well… no but amazingly Neema managed.
While Betty and I sold simultaneously in different counties my very first sale or return box found it’s path in the wide world.
A huge thank you to Mrs Yorston at Auchinleck P.S. for her continued support of Neema and bravery in taking on a sale or return box and all the responsibility that entailed. I wont know it’s success ’til Monday but I trust it went well.
Betty took some products to NetherRobertland’s Christmas Fayre while I set up shop at the Glengarnock and Kilbirnie Christmas Festival.
Betty reports a really hectic morning, with hardly a second to breathe but a good day with much interest from children and parents alike.
I had a slower steadier sort of day. With long periods of calm and a few storm like moments.
The people of the valley were lovely and the other stallholders provided some good banter and thought provoking discussions in the quieter moments.
Best sellers: unsurprisingly Christmas Ornaments.
Today I had the pleasure of taking over the Auxiliaries room in Hillhead P.S. . The ladies were lovely company and incredibly forgiving of me disrupting their day. I hope I didn’t cause too much of a backlog of work for them to finish tomorrow.
The morning started shakily with initial disappointment over the lack of jewellery though, thankfully, that was short lived and entirely forgotten once everyone adjusted from jewellery thoughts to bazaar style shopping (minus the bargaining as there is a healthy respect for the Fair Trade pricing ethos practiced at Neema).
Best seller: definitely Indian cotton square scarves.
Most coveted item: elephant candle lamp.
Nicest surprise: the sale of many musical instruments.
Thanks again ladies, see you at the Christmas Fayre.
Today was wild.
And stormy.
And wet.
Very wet.
Did I mention it was wet yet?
Despite the typical Scottish weather a really good day was had by all today as the fairtrade town of Strathaven celebrated it’s fifth anniversary of acheiving FT status.
There was a good turn out despite the weather with lots of interesting stalls and activities to keep the crowd busy. The children eagerly participated in the African drumming workshop.
I was overjoyed at the wealth of goods on order with five stalls selling a huge variety of fairtrade handicrafts with the majority of the world represented on the tables and no stock overlap at all.
As always the ladies of the Strathaven Fairtrade group were warm and hospitable and the people of Strathaven town were enthusiastic and positive about the message and purpose behind Fairtrade.
A really encouraging day of celebration was had by all.
