Wonderful women

Posted by Sophi:

It’s been a weird and wonderful week with women at its heart.  On Tuesday I made a presentation to the Department of Business Innovation and Skills with Kresse Wesling www.eako.co.uk  the wonder woman who specializes in using waste materials to make lovely things.  Her current products include high-end hand bags Elvis & Kresse, made from reclaimed fire brigade hoses and jute supermarket bags made from coffee sacks.

Beverley Knight

On Wednesday I received the International Business Women award from SHE magazine announced by Tara Palmer Tomkinson.  Beverly Knight was next on the platform and confessed that she to was a Divine devotee.  I’m pretty sure she said “I love Divine…. and so do my thighs!…”

On Thursday, my daughter voted for the first time and it made me think about how the opportunity for women to vote is so hard fought for around the world.  It was sad waking up on Friday morning to find we had lost some staunch supporters: Angela Smith,  Minister for the Third Sector and Social Enterprise, and Linda Gilroy Co-op MP for Plymouth, Divine’s champion in the House.

Divine MD Sophi Tranchell with Mica Paris celebrating Dubble's 10th Birthday

Over the weekend we were at the first London Fairtrade Festival by Tower Bridge which celebrated the 10th Birthday of Dubble, the Fairtrade chocolate bar with added Comic Relief.  Mica Paris drove down from Wales to cut the cake say how much she liked the fact that Fairtrade enabled everyone to support people around the world everyday.

The election result was frustrating and in 2010  the Men in Suits have gathered to negotiate our future – what happened to the women?  On Radio 4 Thursday night Shirley Williams, Margaret Beckett and Baroness Young were impressive with their experience and gravity but today there was no place for them.  If they really were committed to a new way of governing and to delivering the change they all spoke about,  it would have been refreshing to see Caroline Lucas invited and it might have made us believe they were serious about a future that was good for all of us.

The Wire and Divine at Fair Trade on the Fringe

The Wire's Clarke Peters and his family meet Tania at Fair Trade on the Fringe in Edinburgh

Hand Up Media’s Tania Pramschufer reports from Edinburgh…

Fair Trade on the Fringe 28th – 31st August was the wonderful event that took place on Grassmarket, the old town of Edinburgh last week during the International Festival. With so many highlights, this event keeps bringing a smile to my face……. it’s the work of Hand Up Media the ethical company that promotes fair & ethical trade far and wide through events, publications and our online media such as www.ethical.tv  – and we love the work we do!

Several celebrities passed through Fair Trade on the Fringe and for those of you that have seen “The Wire”  Clarke Peters who played Detective Lester Freamon, his wife Penny and son Max joined us for some Divine chocolate and left with several flavours including the new and totally yummy dark with raspberry, and big smiles and hugs in equal measure. We had much fun with the guys from Shared Interest, the lovely investment organisation that invests in fairtrade projects across the globe who gave us much to enjoy, with Ruth winning top prize for her red hot chilli costume.

Shared Interest at Fair Trade on the Fringe

We had around 30 exhibitors selling everything from delicious rice from Malawi through Just Trading Scotland (is simply the most versatile and delicious rice I have ever tasted) soaps and olive oils through Palcrafts and a wonderful range of mini kids tees through Little Green Radicals, my favourite “Give peas a chance” on the front and made with beautiful cotton from India. And then Rachel from One World Shop, Reenie from Tearcraft and Bruce and Sarah from Fairshares seemed to have a gift for every occasion.

On the Dubble stand, headed by Secret Agent Kash had at one point around a dozen young people queuing all keen to become Dubble Agents. First though, they had to follow an exhibitors trail to locate the hidden pods which then had clues to be unravelled, all the exhibitors got behind this Dubble Mission trail and had as much fun as the kids, well we’re all big kids anyway.

Fair Trade on the Fringe had four days of wonderful music provided by Scots Music – an amazing guitarist named Ray Prince from Pretoria and Laura McGhee who played a rousing acoustic solo set and then in four weeks will be playing with her band in Nashville to a crowd of 250,000

Roll on Christmas:-)

Dubble Dream Team’s big day out

Here’s the latest news from Dubble HQ (Dubble is Divine‘s sister brand)

 

The Dubble Dream Team comes to town

 

This week was memorable for Dubble HQ. Why? Because the Dubble Dream Team finally got to meet up for a day of Dubble activities with added Comic Relief! The Dream Team is a group of Dubble Agents who have been specially selected to help shape the future of Dubble and http://www.dubble.co.uk. Dubble HQ has always encouraged its young supporters to lead the way and this is just another step on that journey.

Tudor, Quincy, Jac, Hazel, Izzie and Amethyst make up our Dubble Dream Team. Tudor, Quincy, Jac, Hazel and Izzie were all contestants on BBC1s Election and Amethyst AKA Dubble Agent Girl Guide was the ‘Golden Ticket’ prize winner at www.dubble.co.uk. Sadly Izzie was unable to make it but there will be plenty more opportunities.

We started the day in the chocolatey heaven of the Divine offices! It was hot hot hot in the meeting room (well more like melting room!) so the Dream Team had to be quick with their introductions and gooey choc-tastings! Our brand new Divine Dark Chocolate & Raspberries, and Milk chocolate Butterscotch flavours got the thumbs up, but despite being tempted by these new kids on the choc-block, Dubble remained the Dream Team’s favourite – naturally!

We shared news about our morning including where we had come from and all importantly … what we had for breakfast! I gave a brief presentation about Dubble before linking live to our New Korforidua Dubble Agent Dream Team in Ghana – Dubble Agents Charles, Bighting Boy, Elijah, Little Angel, Planet, Moneisco Lady and Daddy Cash (all children of Kuapa Kokoo cocoa farmers)! The joys of modern communication meant that it wasn’t always easy to hear one another, but we definitely all enjoyed a good laugh trying to understand what each other were saying.

Dubble Dream Team go up river to Comic Relief

After lunch we took a boat up the river Thames and headed back to work. This time at the Comic Relief offices. The Dream Team were keen to join the hall of fame and stopped for pictures in the celebrity lined red corridors. Ruth and Louise were waiting to pick the campaign brains of the Dream Teamers, after which they were split in to teams and set the mission of being Comic Relief funders. It was a unanimous decision to support application number 2 by both teams!

The Dubble Dream Team arrive at Comic Relief for some serious planning meetings

The end of a great day and the beginning of a great joint-venture at Dubble HQ!

A special thanks has to go to our designated film maker, Aisha, who made a short film of the day as part of her work experience at Dubble HQ. Thanks Aisha!

Tom Palmer’s Ghana diary

Here at the Divine offices, we are really excited to be having a read of Tom Palmer’s diary.

The children’s author has been on a trip of a lifetime to Ghana researching for his new book, Off Side. Tom’s books are all about football – but his Football Detective series is also about social issues that impact on children – and his latest is no exception. Off Side will be partly about chocolate, partly about the allure of the world of football, plus a strong message about Fairtrade!

When Tom’s wife contacted Divine, we thought it sounded like a great theme and were really happy to help. Charlotte put him in touch with Kuapa Kokoo, who organised a special trip to a school and cocoa farm in Akomadan village.

His previous works include Foul Play and Football Academy, and his latest book, Dead Ball, will be launching this week – a perfect holiday read for bored teens!

This is Tom’s fantastic diary of his travels and the people he met in Accra, Kumasi and Akomadan cocoa farming village. We hope you enjoy reading about his adventures in Ghana as much as we have!

Tom Palmer’s diary

Friday 17 July, 4pm

I am above the Sahara Desert on my way to Ghana, travelling there to research a novel for children. Off Side will be about football, people trafficking and fair trade chocolate. The Sahara goes on for hours, even in a plane. Hours of sand and heat and nothingness.
In 1998 I walked through the Sahara. Some of it, anyway. I was doing a charity walk for Macmillan Cancer Support. Raising money for the charity that had helped look after my parents when they were dying. I met my wife on that walk. And my wife is behind me being out here again. On this plane.

To give you more detail about the book I’m writing… Off Side is about a Ghanaian boy who dreams of being a footballer at one of Europe’s top clubs. But he is cheated by an unscrupulous football agent and finds himself in England with no place at a football club and no way of getting home. But, because of my wife, the book is going to be about more than that.

We were sat in a cafe. The Bear, a fair trade cafe in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. My wife was reading the wrapper of a Divine bar that we were scoffing. ‘Your book is about the unfair trade in wannabe footballers,’ she said. ‘Why don’t you talk to Divine too? About fair trade chocolate? That would make the story even better.’ So she called Divine and they kindly invited me to go to see them.

Read his complete diary here .

Find out more about Tom and his work on his website.

Talking to teens at Harris Academy

Just returned from Harris Academy South Norwood – Business and Enterprise. Amazing new building only opened 2 years ago, state of the art, latest technology, white boards in every room. I did a Divine presentation to the whole of year 8 and select group of year 10  – about 250 people crammed into a hall. They were a high spirited group.  I used the introduction to the Pa pa paa – Dubble Take DVD. It really got their attention, so realise firsthand how well it must work as a teaching resource – even with easily distracted crowd. It gave them a real impression of how hard and hot it is farming cocoa in Ghana.

Got some lovely feedback “I did enjoy it, I want to go to Ghana to see what actually happens” “I learnt a lot about chocolate, and how it is made” “Sir, why don’t all businesses sell Fair Trade things?”

Here’s hoping some of them sign up as Dubble Agents at dubble.co.uk and change the world chunk by chunk.

posted by Sophi

Richard Hammond and Dubble rev-up for Ladybird’s Father’s Day Reading Dads Campaign

Reading Dads

Dubble (Divine’s little sister brand – Fairtrade chocolate just for children) has partnered up with children’s publishers Ladybird and Top Gear star Richard Hammond for a series of really lovely Father’s Day events taking place at Borders bookstores across the country.

I was really surprised to learn that only 42% of fathers read to their children – compared to 76% of mothers. (National Year of Reading, 2008)

I cherished the times I spent reading together with my father and mother when I was little so I was personally really excited we were working with Ladybird and “the hamster” on their Reading Dads campaign this Father’s Day weekend (plus I’m a bit of a Richard Hammond fan!).  Dubble and Comic Relief have worked together over the past 10 years to create some really innovative educational resources for teachers and children, so Reading Dads was something Dubble was particularly keen to support.

Click here for details on what’s lined up for dads and children at Borders stores this weekend.  And do make sure you check out Richard Hammond read his favourite fairytale, Three Billy Goats Gruff, on Ladybird’s Reading Dads microsite – it’ll give dads inspiration on reading aloud and for the rest of us it’s a nostalgic trip back to childhood!  Every father and child will be given an events pack to take home which includes a bar of Dubble.  When I was little I just adored settling in for an afternoon of reading with my father – and a yummy, chunky bar of Dubble would certainly have been a nice addition.  Dubble bars have been designed for children by children but adults seriously love it too (my father for one!  It’s his favourite of the entire Divine & Dubble range) – a chunky snack-size bar of milk chocolate (with cocoa grown by Kuapa farmers in Ghana, just like Divine) covering a caramelised crispy crunch. 

And if you can’t make it to your nearest Borders store this weekend, kids can always join in online on the Dubble website.  If you sign up to become a ‘Dubble Agent’ (a young Fairtrade supporter) you can enter a competition to win a selection of Ladybird books and Dubble chocolates!

Happy Father’s Day!

Unusual places to find Divine – part 1

Katie finds Dubble at Aviemore

Our friend Katie Williamson of Hand Up Media has just been ski-ing at Aviemore (alright for some!) and discovered Dubble and Divine are the chocolate brands of choice for your apres-ski treat at Scotland’s highest restaurant!

Katie finds Divine in Aviemore

We really like hearing about far flung and unexpected places to find Divine and Dubble. Let us know the unlikeliest place you’ve come across them!

Put People First!

I met up with Sara from Dubble Fairtrade Chocolate for the ‘Put People First’ march and rally in central London on Saturday 28th March.

Put People First is a coalition of 150 organisations, including Trading Visions, that have come together ahead of the G20 summit in London this week, calling on G20 leaders to create jobs, tackle poverty and inequality, and take urgent action on climate change. The coalition’s agenda spans the rich and the poor world: it’s about jobs and poverty in the UK as well as about global inequities.

The police estimated a pretty big turn out of 35,000 people, and while it wasn’t the largest march I’ve been on in recent years, it was one of the most diverse and colourful. The coalition is a broad alliance of trade unions, green groups, faith organisations and development NGOs. The diversity of the marchers reflected this: there were all kinds of different outfits and banners there.

I remember seeing a few students from the Plymouth Palestinian Solidarity Campaign waving a huge Palestinian flag; the big group of marchers from the global e-campaigning group Avaaz all wearing green hard hats symbolising the call for green jobs; groups from every single union, many of them marching with large beautifully embroidered banners, including really specific ones like the Bradford Casino Workers Union; the colourful Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from G20 Meltdown; a lovely group of women near Embankment tube singing Bread and Roses (“Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses!”).

We joined the fair trade contingent with the Fairtrade Foundation and Fairtrade London, all dressed in bright yellow as the ‘Bananas for Justice’! There were also lots of marchers from Traidcraft. Our marching chant? “Free trade, boo. Fairtrade, woo!”

The weather was a strange mix. After a blustery, sunny morning we were pelted with bouts of sudden heavy rain and hail as we huddled companionably together in Hyde Park for the rally. Quite ironic for a climate change demonstration! There were some great speakers: the most exciting was probably Mark Thomas who came on with an angry impassioned attack on unfettered free market capitalism.

Sara did a great job handing out flyers encouraging people to “Eggapolitician” – a rather cool little viral enabling people to send an e-postcard to the G20 leaders to keep fair trade on the agenda – or you can just have some fun with some chocolate eggs…

It was a great day overall: now I hope that it makes an impact on the G20 leaders and strengthens our collective resolve to keep campaigning for a better global economic system that works for people and the planet.

Fairtrade Banana Flashmob

Flashmob in Trafalgar Square, London.  Terrified tourists watched on helplessly as a bunch of boogie-ing bananas and a dancing Dubble bar brought London to a standstill.

OK, so there’s a wee bit of an exaggeration! View the evidence for yourself…

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From primary to tertiary – Fairtrade rules

Paul shows Year 6 children what a cocoa pod looks like

In Aberystwyth, North Wales Divine Chocolate had been invited to attend a Fairtrade conference for local schools organised by Diane Isenberg. This was a fantastic event – attended in the morning by classes and Fairtrade Groups from a large number of primary schools – hosted by Penglais Secondary School. There were Fairtrade stands, and displays and presentations from schoolchildren demonstrating the innovative ways in which they had promoted Fairtrade in their schools and communities. Kojo and Paul captured their attention with the story of life on a cocoa farm and were then able to meet all the children in smaller groups to answer questions and show them cocoa pods and beans up close. One child, whose father is a farmer, offered to trade two sacks of cocoa for two cows – and Kojo seemed to be quite tempted. We weren’t sure they would get through Heathrow on the journey back though.

In the afternoon it was the turn of the Year 8 classes at Penglais. Fairtrade posters were all over the school and a Fairtrade mural had been painted on the wall by students in one of the canteens. It was amazing to see the zeal with which young Welsh people were getting behind Fairtrade. Dubble and Divine sampling was an added bonus at the end of the event!

Wales Fairtrade Forum leader Mark Richardson then piled us into his car and we headed north again – to Bangor. There we were on the programme of a Fairtrade evening event at Bangor University. Andrew Wilson heads up the Fairtrade team at the University and had achieved amazing things since the group got together in January this year. 120 students, residents and local officials turned up which I attribute to Andrew’s brilliant marketing – but he put it down to the lure of chocolate! Always a winner. There was no doubt that the audience was interested, and engaged, asking questions about supply chains and farming technology and coming up to talk at length after the event. A high point of the evening was when Kojo and Paul presented the Mayor with his certificate announcing that Bangor had achieved Fairtrade Town status.

ITV Wales has been broadcasting reports all through Fairtrade Fortnight from Kuapa Kokoo in Ghana – featuring Paul Ayepah, the farmer on tour with Divine Chocolate.

See the films here:

Introducing Fairtrade

Empowering women

Growing cocoa

Linking schools in Ghana and Wales