NEWCASTLE Emlyn Fair Trade group staged a special ‘sugar rush’ event in town to mark World Fair Trade Day and to highlight the plight of those affected by flooding in Africa.

A bag of Fair Trade sugar was passed/relayed through the town and up the high street to the Fair Trade tree, where a took place to unveil a ceramic plaque which recognises Newcastle Emlyn as a Fair Trade town.

Allan Saidi, a sugar farmer from Malawi, planted the tree in 2015 to celebrate Newcastle Emlyn becoming a Fair Trade town at the end of 2014.

Malawi and Allan's co-operative in particular, the Kasinthula Cane Growers Association, has been devastated by recent flooding.

More than 30 people - aged from six weeks to 90 - met at the Riverside Café for a presentation. The cafe itself and the surrounding area were badly hit by flooding in Storm Callum.

The ‘sugar rush’ was started by Cllr Wyn Thomas, who supported the local flood survivors and he asked one of these whose home was hit by flooding, 90-year-old Peter Sutton, to make the first sugar pass to Cllr Hazel Evans

Local shop keepers and cafe owners came out to help pass the sugar along and on reaching the Fair Trade tree, Cllr Barry Evans (Barry Evans Metalwork) and his colleague Martin unveiled the ceramic plaque.

It has been designed and made by Julia and Gabrielle Dudley of Gabrielles Gallery, using ideas from the Emlyn Cub Scouts.

The plaque is positioned so that children and people in wheelchairs can see and touch it easily and also incorporates braille. It commemorates the year Newcastle Emlyn became a Fairtrade Town.

Due to network problems in Malawi, the Fair Trade group weren't able to get a video call but Allan Saidi did make a phone call where he explained although the sugar crop in his community was okay, all the farmers had lost their food crops and some had lost their houses

After sharing photos of the day’s events, Allan said: 'It's very wonderful to see the tree growing, I am very excited today.”