PROGRESS has been made with a campaign to secure Fairtrade status for Great Yarmouth, with the formation of a steering committee to oversee the project.

PROGRESS has been made with a campaign to secure Fairtrade status for Great Yarmouth, with the formation of a steering committee to oversee the project.

Community organisations, charities and churches forums will have representation on the committee, which will be chaired by community development worker Mark Llewellyn, of social inclusion organisation Community Connections.

The committee's task will be to ensure the borough meets the five criteria for securing Fairtrade status which included that councils, retail outlets and local workplaces either sell or use Fairtrade products.

Another role is to create a directory of businesses selling the products, including handicrafts, sugar and cocoa, at fair prices to help Third World farmers and producers out of poverty.

Yarmouth MP Tony Wright is supporting the initiative because he believes Fairtrade status would help promote Yarmouth as a borough. The steering committee was established at a meeting last Thursday.

To publicise the campaign, a Fairtrade wine tasting event was held at the Priory Centre in on Monday, which attracted 40 guests.

The event, organised by the Co-op, provided visitors with the chance to sample Fairtrade wines, threw whites, two reds and one rose. This was followed by a quiz testing guests' knowledge of wines.

Jenny Livingstone, Mr Wright's constituency assistant, said: “It really was good and it was a lovely setting holding it in the Buttery at the Priory Centre.”