Two council officers got on their bikes as part of a 500 mile cycle relay to celebrate 500 Fairtrade towns in the UK.
Ian Jones and Phil Snaith cycled from Ammanford – Wales’s first Fairtrade town – to Swansea where they handed over the baton for the final leg of the journey to Cardiff – the first city to gain Fairtrade status.
The cyclists had set off from the first Fairtrade town, Aberfeldy in Scotland, passing other Fairtrade towns en route.
Ian Jones is the council’s head of leisure and Phil Snaith works as a strategic development officer in regeneration.
Ian said: “What better way to acknowledge Ammanford’s Fairtrade status than to join this leg of the celebratory cycle event, whilst keeping fit and healthy at the same time.”
Phil added: “Ammanford was Wales’s first Fairtrade town and Carmarthenshire one of the first counties to embrace the new millennium’s increasing interest in cycling by building some of the best bits of the national cycle network. To celebrate the Fairtrade movement’s 500th town by a bike ride was a brilliant idea fuelled by much Fairtrade tea and cake!”
Ammanford was granted Fairtrade town status in 2002 and Carmarthenshire was made a Fairtrade county last year.
The council’s executive board member for sustainability Councillor Pam Palmer said: “I am delighted that there are now 500 Fairtrade towns in the UK. As a county we are constantly improving the availability and awareness of Fairtrade.
“A child dies of poverty every three seconds, and many of those living in poverty produce the food and clothes that we take for granted. Fairtrade can help to change that. It’s an opportunity for people to improve their lives and the lives of their families, and it is as simple as the choices you make on your weekly shop.”
