Carlisle shows off Fairtrade City status in flowers

(Date of issue: Thursday 17 July 2008)

Carlisle as a Fairtrade city will be recognised at one of the City Centre’s key landmarks, next week (July 23, 2008).

Carlisle City Council has worked with the Carlisle Fairtrade Group to depict the nationally recognised Fairtrade logo in bedding plants, in the raised flowerbed at the Cathedral’s Castle Street entrance.

The Mayor of Carlisle, Councillor Jacquelyne Geddes, who is also the City Council’s Fairtrade Member Champion along with Alison McKee, Secretary of Carlisle’s Fairtrade Group will be making sure that the carpet bed is looking its best.

Using the Fairtrade logo as the design, the City Council’s Green Spaces’ team used computer-aided technology to provide the blueprint for this flowerbed design. Bedding plants were then matched to replicate the logo’s colours.

More than 5,000 plants were used as the plant varieties, Sedum Gold Mound, Alternantheraleh K, Ajuga chocolate chip and Echeveria glauca, are very small so approximately 400 plants were used in every square metre. Two gardeners took two and a half days to carry out the planting.

Cllr Geddes said:

"Carlisle is a thriving Fairtrade city with many of our shops, cafes, restaurants and businesses using and selling Fairtrade products. This is a very strong visual way of promoting Fairtrade but just as importantly it provides a very attractive focal point for visitors, shoppers and residents who enjoy the Cathedral grounds."

There are two carpet beds located within the district which the City Council have created designs for, one at St Aidan’s Church and the other within the Cathedral grounds. Anyone interested in making suggestions for future designs should contact the Green Spaces team on 01228 625060.

Related Links

• Fairtrade