Find us on Facebook and twitter via the buttons below for a list of short notifications on Fairtrade issues and on Rainbow Turtle:
| February 2012 - | Take a Step for Fairtrade |
| January 2012 - | Hampers Everywhere! |
| 23rd July 2010 - | World Cup 2010 |
| 7th July 2010 - | Rainbow Turtle chosen for launch of paisley.org.uk Community Champions |
| June 2010 - | Clerical Stoles are selling like hot cakes |
| 5th June 2010 - | Website Makeover |
| March 2010 - | We've got that fantastic Fairtrade Fortnight Friday feeling! |
| July 2009 - | Rainbow turtle Completes The 90kg Kilombero Rice Challenge |
| June 2009 - | Provost's Community Awards |
February '12
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Fairtrade Fortnight runs from the 27th of February until the 11th of March this year. The Fairtrade Foundation are asking everyone to take a step this Fairtrade fortnight. "It can be a simple step, Like swapping your tea to Fairtrade, or a bigger step, like asking everyone in your office to do it too." We have a few ideas for some of the bigger steps, such as holding a sale, taking on a Malawi rice challenge, hosting a Big Brew, joining a Fair Trade Trail (for some literal steps) or even creating your own fair trade trail in your local area. Of course, we can also help with the little steps too; the Rainbow Turtle shop in Paisley is well stocked with Fairtrade and ethically sourced goods, and we are always on hand to help. |
You can download our leaflet for promoting the upcoming Fairtrade Fortnight here: Fairtrade Fortnight with Rainbow Turtle 2012.pdf While you wait, why not visit the Fairtrade foundation website and register to receive the latest campaign news from the Fairtrade foundation.  |
January '12
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Christmas time is always a blast, and that blast nearly knocks us off our feet as we have to work extra hard and make every sale count. The Rainbow Turtle shop is always at its busiest each Christmas, and many Christmas Fayre sales and hampers leave the warehouse during this time.  |
A special note to thank all our volunteers for their hard work, particularly during the recent busy time of the year. After returning from the seasonal break, we could be forgiven for assuming that things would be quiet, as frosty January usually is, however, we had an incredible order for a whole heap of hampers to work on! An order was made for 23 corporate ethical hampers just towards the end of the year, for shipping in January. The hampers were a unique value and size, and so we had to quickly source hamper baskets and shipping boxes to make the order. We sourced the baskets from Craft Romania And Fair Trade who Import willow and wooden products from Romanian villages on ethical and fair trade terms. Many thanks to Craft Romania And Fair Trade, to Oxfam for requesting the order, and to all the producers who working hard all year round; something that reminds us that we all need to work a little harder to help make everything fair. |
Simon Ruane
23rd July '10
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This World Cup will be remembered for two things that happened for the first time; it was the first time the World Cup was played on African soil and it was the first time Spain lifted the trophy. However, the 2010 World Cup will also be remembered for the Rainbow Turtle World Cup Prize Draw!!! The 'Rainbow Nation' of South Africa did not disappoint. There was joy in the streets and in the stands and who will ever forget the magical sound of the 'vuvuselas' - still ringing in my ears. To celebrate the first World Cup in Africa Rainbow Turtle held a prize draw. The competition was open to anyone who purchased an African product or a product sourced, in part, from Africa. The entrants simply chose the team they thought would win, put their entry slip into the pot and watched to see if their team would make it through. The tournament was not without its usual share of upset and controversy. At the group stages we lost two of the world's most household names - France and Italy -holders and runners-up from the 2006 tournament in Germany. Ghana were the only African side to make it through to the knock-out stage, perhaps unsurprisingly as they are powered by Divine Chocolate!  A fairtrade football - These were on promotion during in the Rainbow Turtle shop during the world cup. |
The most popular choice for Rainbow Turtle competition entrants was England so there were disappointments north of the border too as the England side bowed out after a display of poor defending against some spectacular German football. As more favourites faltered and the entry slips left in the pot became fewer and fewer we were impressed by Uruguay, possibly the surprise side of the tournament. For a country with a population of less than 5million to reach the semi-final was a great achievement, but the Netherlands were too much for them and after Spain dispatched of Germany in the other semi-final, there were only two teams left in it. The final itself was disappointing, scoreless after full-time, but Iniesta's extra-time goal eventually won Spain the World Cup. Dutch hearts broke across the globe as did those of a few supporters of fair trade who had selected the Netherlands in the Rainbow Turtle Prize Draw and had their eye on the £10 gift voucher prize. When all was said and done there were four names left in the pot. The winner was John Alexander of Paisley. John said "It's always nice to win. Football's never been my game but Fair Trade is." Thanks to all who supported African producers at Rainbow Turtle during the World Cup. In this small but significant way we have all helped in the struggle against poverty in Africa and helped to make the first African World Cup work for the people of Africa. |
7th July '10
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Renfrewshire Council for Voluntary Services (RCVS) and paisley.org.uk are working together to highlight community champions; charities, voluntary groups and social enterprises that are working to make paisley a better place.
From paisley.org.uk; 
Paisley Town Hall - View from St Mirren Street, across the White Cart Water. |
 paisley.org.uk is a popular community-driven website for locally-based people to stay connected to the events of the town, and is a great place to launch articles promoting local champions, to further the promotion of the town. Rainbow Turtle were chosen to be the first entry for the Community Champions section of paisley.org.uk, and we are as proud as ever to be a part of the local community. However, the local community is also a part of us as we rely heavily on a dedicated team of local volunteers; we all work together to continue ethical trading and to raise awareness of ethical approaches to shopping, and their effect on the wider world. We wish good luck to paisley.org.uk and RCVS in their partnership to promote Community Champions, and would like to thank them for asking Rainbow Turtle to be the subject of the first article in the Community Champions blog. Links: |
June 2010
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With the launch of the new online store and Liz hosting a stall at the Methodist Conference in Portsmouth, the Clerical Stoles been selling fast and we are overjoyed. In Mozambique The Women's Limanyano of the Methodist church work together to sew the Stoles into form. Pedro Langa, an artist based in Maputo, Mozambique, hand paints them with beautiful iconic symbols.  Batik Clerical Stole artwork of an African woman carrying a jug of water. Women have to walk for many miles for water in Mozambique. |
There are stoles in various Liturgical colours with wonderful batik patterns and symbols; some of the stoles are decorated with symbols of cultural significance. Symbols such as the Mackerel - a food of necessity - and the ceremonious African drums, describe various aspects of the challenging life faced by people in Mozambique, and are truly a work of art. The result is an item of clergy-wear which is not only made with fair trade principles, but which also expresses a powerful symbol of culture, strength, and support to those that witness its use in celebration. Each Story stole comes complete with a description of the paintings and their meanings, so that stole owners can discuss the hardships of life in Mozambique, and how a helping hand can be given through trading fairly. Having an online store gives us the opportunity to make this exciting clergy-wear available to a wider audience; Searching Fairtrade Clerical Stoles brings people to our online store, and people from all over the world can browse, though the delivery system is currently organised for UK sales. With only half the original stock remaining, we are making preparations to have more stoles made. I for one cannot wait to see more of Pedro's colourful work arrive at Rainbow Turtle's doorstep. |
5th June 2010
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The Internet - a global network of computers - allows many people to communicate, access information, learn, buy and sell from around the world, one home, workplace or cafe to another. Businesses and organisations across the UK develop Website's everyday to provide services and information for their clients and the public. A new Rainbow Turtle website has been in production for the past 2 months, which involved a gathering of information, ideas and prospective designs. Tony, with his experience in computing technology and digital art, began working on designs and content structure; however, as the required information and content began to grow, the designs were remodelled to accommodate new photographs, products and in particular usability for expected website visitors. This was no easy task, as organising all the information and content to be accessible from different people's perspectives required deep thinking and discussion among Rainbow Turtle colleagues; many ideas had the potential to make one aspect of usability better while conflicting with another, and understanding and accepting the balance between different ideas was found to be the most successful route. 
One of the website concept designs. Click image for a full-sized view. |
A similar approach was adopted when considering the look and feel of the website; we needed something that provided an accurate presentation of Rainbow Turtle, balancing boldness in colours with a clean, professional and minimal look. Various designs were considered for their strengths and weaknesses between staff and the management committee. At fist, there seemed to be no balance between different feelings towards the contrasting designs; however everyone's ideas began to coalesce into form when Sam, a prominent volunteer at the warehouse, brought fourth a beautiful collection of photographs of the Rainbow Turtle Shop in Paisley (gallery available here). Tony was able to use the photographs to create potential backgrounds, and designed a clean and readable white page to sit inside shop photographs. With a simple Black, grey and white colour scheme, pages were made very readable and pliable to a large variety of background pictures. A touch of colour through a rainbow strip under the title completed the theme, and the new Rainbow Turtle website was born! The new website has been developed for ecommerce - the online selling market - a perfect way of selling Pedro's Clerical Stoles, and a new avenue for Rainbow Turtle to take in promoting trading fairly through fair trade business practices. However, like all web-technology we remain vigilant in case anything goes wrong, and are still making little updates here and there to further improve the website and keep it in fashion! Please contact us if you have any comments regarding the website, or if you spot anything that needs tweaking ;) |
March 2010
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In 1997 the Fairtrade Foundation pioneered an event known as Fairtrade Fortnight, in our very own Scotland. This was an event to promote ethical trading values and raise awareness of trading fairly; the campaign was successful, and was celebrated to the rest of the United Kingdom in 1998. Fairtrade Fortnight has since grown to be celebrated in many other countries worldwide, and provides an exciting time of year in which many Fairs, Fashion Shows, Fetes and food tastings are made in encouragement of Fairtrade products. This year, Fairtrade fortnight was termed "The Big Swap" and was celebrated February 22nd to March 7th, creating an opportunity for all involved to enhance the profile of Fairtrade in the local community and further afield. Schools throughout the country work on projects to generate interest and raise concern for the younger generation and their families. During this time of the year, Rainbow Turtle took on an exciting (and slightly terrifying) challenge of providing service above and beyond normal duties; sales and orders increased, and sale or return orders skyrocketed. We worked hard each day to manage order information, safely keep on top of stock, host stalls at local events, arrange and pack stall after stall for local schools and churches, and accept incoming requests. Throughout this time, the Rainbow Turtle shop remained open for sale, promoting Fairtrade in Paisley (with some giant inflatable Cups, I might add). |
Teamwork was an essential part of success, and we couldn't have made it through without the generous help of our volunteers, both in the shop and in the warehouse. The busy fortnight also became a time for new staff Tony and Simon to learn a great deal about Rainbow Turtle's products and administration, as well as an opportunity to meet the clients and volunteers who all work hard to promote Fairtrade. This year 30 million people knew about Fairtrade Fortnight, making 10 million people more than last; with Fairtrade Fortnight over, we can rejoice in the success of spreading the word of Fairtrade, as well as making it through and out to the other side. We can also begin to think about next years Fairtrade Fortnight, and hope that it is even more successful than this year's! Links: |
July 2009
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On Saturday 25th July we completed the Just Trading Scotland 90kg Kilombero Rice Challenge in the shop. The challenge, to sell 90 kilos of fairly traded Malawian Kilombero rice, represents a great way to make tangible the impact we can have on Developing World producers by buying fairly traded products.  If a Malawian rice farmer sells 90kilos of rice at a fair price he/she makes enough money to send one of their children to high school for a year. Only 1 in 3 children can currently afford to go to high school in Malawi and as education is a vital tool in overcoming poverty, any increase in this statistic is extremely valuable. |
The challenge has been taken on by many individuals and groups already but this was the first time Rainbow Turtle Shop had done it. With the 45th Anniversary of Malawian Independence being celebrated this July, we felt it was a great opportunity to promote the trade links established by Just Trading Scotland - the partnership organisation between Rainbow Turtle and The Coach House Balmore - and Malawian farmers. We created a vibrant window display, handed out flyers around the town and received valuable support from M.S.Ps, Renfrewshire Council and the Paisley Daily Express. The promotion paid off, attracting many new customers and thanks to the support and generosity of all our customers, both new and regular, we managed to sell all 90 kilos within the month. The rice is always available to buy at the shop and anyone interested in taking on the challenge and helping to eat someone out of poverty can get details from www.justtradingscotland.co.uk |
June 2009
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On Friday, 27 March , Provost Celia Cameron hosted the 2009 Renfrewshire Council Provost's Community Awards. This was a gala evening to showcase much positive action taking place in our community. The event took place at the Normandy Hotel where nominees and nominators all enjoyed a celebratory meal. For the first time there was a category among the 7 awards for Fairtrade: "The Spirit of Fairtrade Award". This was sponsored by the Piazza Shopping Centre. There were 4 groups short-listed for this award.
The Abbey Cafe, Paisley It was very exciting when Rainbow Turtle was announced as THE WINNER and Colum Scriven accepted the lovely trophy on behalf of Rainbow Turtle.  |
This award recognizes the work done by all connected with Rainbow Turtle whether working in or buying from the shop, campaigning or supporting the many and various Fairtrade Fortnight events. The real winner of the evening, however, was Fairtrade itself because for each of the shortlisted groups there was a well narrated video and every one of these sent out the same message, namely that Fairtrade is about justice and all stressed the difference that we can each make by asking for and using fair trade products whenever possible. Please do come along to the shop and see the lovely trophies for yourself which are on display in the shop window; the large trophy we have for the year when perhaps we shall win it again! and the smaller one we keep. Remember the "we" is you! This award truly is for all who have been involved in any way during the life of Rainbow Turtle. Well done! |
