YOUNGSTERS have been looking at the effects of buying unfairly traded chocolate. A group of seven to 13-year-olds who attend LaunchPad, a children s club set up in partnership with St Hugh and St John Church in Chells, Stevenage and Bridge Builders Christ

YOUNGSTERS have been looking at the effects of buying unfairly traded chocolate.

A group of seven to 13-year-olds who attend LaunchPad, a children's club set up in partnership with St Hugh and St John Church in Chells, Stevenage and Bridge Builders Christian Trust, were shocked to find the devastating effects unfairly traded chocolate can have on families in Africa and as a result they have formed their own Fairtrade Club.

Group leader Tracy Plumpton said: "We learnt that children are taken away from their families to harvest cocoa beans to send out to our country to make chocolate. Not only do the farmers not get a fair wage but the children are kept in awful conditions that lead to death on occasions.

"We are trying to make the children more aware of life outside Stevenage and we focused on chocolate because it was attainable to them.

"It had an amazing affect on them and showed them that by eating fairtrade chocolate they can make a difference."

*The club which has between 40 and 60 members meets at St Hugh and St John Church on Thursdays from 6.30pm until 8pm.