AS part of their Fairtrade Fortnight campaign, Melrose and District organized their Big Breakfast at the Ormiston Rooms in Melrose last Saturday.

The breakfast theme this year is designed to remind people as they sit down to eat the first meal of the day that many of the products they choose, such as tea, coffee, sugar, honey and fruit juice, will have been produced by farmers in developing countries.

Many of those producers and their families will have a very poor existence unless they are part of the Fairtrade movement that guarantees them a fair price for their goods.

Dave Potts from Melrose Fairtrade said: "It was encouraging that so many local people and visitors were attracted to support the Fairtrade Big Breakfast with over 50 people sitting down inside to sampling a wide variety of Fairtrade products.

"The high attendance may have been due, not only to good local publicity and media coverage, but also to the presence in Melrose Market Square of Goldilocks and the three bears, who as we know, all enjoy a good breakfast.

"The bears were able to hand samples of Fairtrade bananas to passersby, explain a little about Fairtrade as well as directing some into the Ormiston Rooms for Fairtrade tea, coffee and muffins.

"There was not only a great response from local individuals and families but also from intrigued visitors to Melrose, some from as far afield as Newfoundland where there is also a strong interest in Fairtrade."

This year Melrose has been more integrated than ever in supporting Fairtrade Fortnight with growing involvement from local businesses and retailers. Generous raffle prizes were provided by the CO-OP supermarket and the Country Kitchen Deli in addition to a contribution from Traidcraft from their extensive range of Fairtrade products.

All three local churches have run special Fairtrade events for their congregation and visitors and Melrose Primary School held its own Big Breakfast on Thursday.

Support has also come from local business and professional groups as well as the local Rotary Club.

Dave Potts added: "It is very encouraging to see and experience such a great local response to the Fairtrade initiative through the work of our dedicated band of volunteers and supporters.

"We hope that we can enable this to grow further over time and thereby ensure that we keep our Fairtrade Town status.

"Additionally, working with colleagues in other Borders towns and Scottish Borders Council, we hope to extend the Fairtrade initiative to a wider Borders audience.”