SHOPS and businesses in Newcastle Emlyn showed off their Fairtrade credentials throughout the town on Saturday.

Fairtrade Fortnight ran from Monday, February 26 on the theme ‘Come on in’, with the idea being for people to see what the town can offer in terms of Fairtrade goods and services.

And traders certainly got into the spirit of things, with everyone from florists to butchers displaying their balloons with pride, while lots of Fairtrade chocolate was tasted and handed out to visitors and shoppers.

And to mark the renewal of the town’s Fairtrade status for the next two years, a certificate on the wall of the Cawdor Hall was officially unveiled by town mayor, Cllr Peter Lewis.

Cllr Lewis said: “With everyone doing their little bit, it helps to get the whole scheme up and running and puts the town on the map.

“I would like to thank the steering committee for all their efforts and hopefully the message will get out there to the suppliers that the consumer wants to use Fairtrade products.”

Jill Sutton, chairman of Newcastle Emlyn Traders, said: “It’s an on-going process to achieve Fairtrade status and we have come a long way since we started out back in 2011 and achieved recognition in August 2014.

“We could not have done it without the support of the traders, town council and so many other organisations such as the church, scouts, girl guiding, schools and even the theatre which is now on board.

“A survey shows that 64 per cent of the town’s businesses are now selling or using Fairtrade products, which is just fantastic and brings the town together as a community.”

As well as the unveiling of the certificate, two stalwart embers of the Fairtrade steering committee who are stepping down – Geoff Brawn and Katherine Rich – were given special presentations.