TOWN centre visitors recently sampled a selection of fairly traded goods at the annual Fairtrade stall.

The stall was set up by Fairtrade in Bolton right next to the town hall and offered a range of food including bananas and chocolate as well as tea and coffee.

Visitors to the temporary base, set up for a day during Fairtrade Fortnight, included Cllr Linda Byrne, the mayor of Bolton, who stressed the importance of the campaign.

She said: “We need to know that people are getting a fair wage for the work that they do. People in all parts of the world are benefitting because people are becoming aware of it just from buying Fairtrade goods.”

Cllr Byrne was accompanied by her consort and husband Cllr John Byrne, who is on the Fairtrade steering committee.

He said: “It’s a tad more expensive sometimes but you know it’s helping growers and farm workers in some of the poorest countries in the world to have a decent standard of living, better than they normally have.

“A lot of them are exploited so this is a way of knowing the money we spend on Fairtrade food goes to a worthy cause.”

For more information about Fairtrade in Bolton, go to boltonjusticiashop.co.uk