All the celebrities, including the Bishop of Tewkesbury Rt Revd John Went, attended Christian Aid’s fundraising lunch to celebrate Wotton-under-Edge’s new status as a fair trade town.

Christian Aid hosted a well attended and happy lunch to raise money for, and to celebrate the fact that Wotton-under-Edge is now one of the eight (shortly to become nine with Bourton-on-the-Water) designated fair trade towns in Gloucestershire.

The event was co-ordinated by Pamela Smith, the Christian Aid Organiser for Wotton-under-Edge. Nigel Quarrell, the West of England Manger for Christian Aid who was also present and promoted his ‘Cut the Carbon’ campaign by travelling to all eight fair trade towns using only public transport, to raise awareness about global warming in the developing world.

The lunch was opened by the Reverend Rob Axford, the local Vicar, which was later followed by a welcome from the Mayor, Paul Smith. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown MP declared that he was delighted to be asked to attend the event as fair trade is an important issue in his front bench role as Shadow Minister for International Development. He said wished to see this campaign flourish throughout Gloucestershire by people making the voluntary decision to shop for fair trade goods.

Nigel Quarrell later closed the event, and happily remarked that during his travels around Gloucestershire not one bus was late!