We are proud to be a part of the global Fairtrade movement.
We were the first organisation to use Fairtrade gold on a public building when in 2011 the golden cockerel on top of the 90m spire was coated in Fairtrade gold-leaf. Cred, the ethical jewellers based in Chichester, sourced the gold from the Sotrami Mine in Peru in liaison with Fairtrade and Fairmined. These certification systems guarantee that the gold has been responsibly mined as well as ensuring that small scale miners receive a fair price for their work which in turn promotes the stability of their communities.
The then Dean of Chichester, the Very Revd Nicholas Frayling explained the project’s importance: “Fairtrade and Fairmined gold provides a lifeline for thousands of impoverished and exploited miners in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. If every jeweller and indeed every customer, were to insist on only gold sourced in this way then thousands of small-scale miners and their communities, would be guaranteed a better future. The cost of this project has been borne by a private donor to whom we are very grateful, but the wider ambitions of Fairtrade and Fairmined Gold are priceless.”
The hospitality and catering at the Cathedral is as Fairtrade as possible.
Fairtrade as a certification is much more than merely an environmental certification, it is the only and best ethical and social certification that really ensures social and environmental, ethical and economic impact, and therefore human impact
Enrique Calderon, Coffee Farmer, Coopeagri
On 12th October 2023, St Wilfrid’s Feast Day, a group of staff, volunteers, congregation and our acting Dean, The Revd Canon Simon Holland, took a bus from the Cathedral to Selsey Beach to litter pick along our beautiful coastline. With the upcoming anniversary of the founding of the original Cathedral in Selsey 950 years ago it was an excellent way to connect care of creation and the sea, a core signal of climate change, with our Cathedral’s origins.
The Cathedral’s connection and proximity to the sea also led in 2022 to the display of Nellie the Final Fat Fish on the Cathedral Green in collaboration with the Final Straw Foundation. Nellie was a large metal sculpture made from recycled boat trailers to collect single use plastic as a simple way to illustrate the number of single use bottles we consume, bringing home the message that we are filling our oceans and sea life with plastic.