THE Rotary Club of Horncastle’s Fair Hampers scheme is gearing up for its third Christmas bringing festive cheer while helping to fight poverty through trade.

From small beginnings around the immediate area of Horncastle in the heart of Lincolnshire, thanks to its website at www.fairhampers.co.uk the scheme has gone nationwide with orders going as far afield as the Channel Islands. With the help of a local courier, they can be delivered anywhere in the UK.

Organiser Rtn Margaret Sergeant explained: “Fair Hampers has really caught people’s imagination because everybody benefits. Hampers are the perfect gift and because both baskets and contents are fairly traded craft workers and farmers in developing countries are receiving a fair deal.”

As well as making great presents for family and friends, hampers can also be tailor-made to the requirements of businesses seeking corporate gifts and are available all year round.

The sale of hampers and baskets filled with fairly traded goods has raised more than £1000 for national and international charities supported by Rotary in the first two years of operation.

At least £5 from the sale of every hamper goes to charity and this year more than £280 has been raised from the sale of baskets alone.

The FAIRTRADE Mark is an independent consumer label which appears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged producers in the developing world are getting a better deal.

Hampers and baskets will be on sale at the Great Green Market at Louth, Lincs, on Sunday 26 October, 2008.

Hornsea Rotary Club - The good causes supported by Horncastle Rotary Club include: St Barnabas Hospice, Lincoln, Hope and Homes for Children, Wateraid, Wish Upon a Star, South East Asia Appeal, Salvation Army, Nomad Trust, Lincoln, Lincs with India, Mercy Ships, Horncastle Brownies, Cheshire Homes, Horncastle and Spilsby Gateway Club, the Louth Hospice appeal, Woodland Trust, Disability Lincs, Horncastle Flood Appeal and the Rotary Wheelchair Foundation as well as providing children’s toys for Horncastle Library, sponsoring young people in the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) and Horncastle Queen Elizabeth’s Grammar School’s expeditions to Venezuela and Mongolia.