I spent the day at Eston Park School, over in Redcar & Cleveland council area. The school was running a Fairtrade Enterprise Day for year 8, with a view to starting on the track towards Fairtrade school status. I was asked as a Traidcraft speaker to go along and talk about Fairtrade. Actually I had to talk 6 times on much the same subject to six different groups of students, all with varying degrees of interest. It was a fascinating day. They spent time with Starbucks, hearing about the coffee producers and the processes from bean to cup, with me hearing about the ethics of Fairtrade, and with staff doing some work on the costs of schools in developing countries and joining in the campaign to ensure that the new government keep up the commitment of the previou government to help ensure that African children get the opportunity for education.
Then off to a meeting of governors at Durham Lane School. Very different but no less interesting. Lengthy discussions about the best ways of doing certain things, about how to ensure that evidence is recorded and readily available, about how to involve people without over burdening them - all topics that will be discussed in public services across the country as belts are tightened and the economic cutbacks take their toll.