SCHOOLCHILDREN discovered how communities in Central America are connected to High Wycombe as they met a Costa Rican coffee producer.

Year Six pupils from Ash Hill Primary School visited Peros’ Cressex HQ last week to meet Enrique Calderon Hidalgo, who gave a presentation and answered questions about his work.

The visit to the coffee firm’s HQ in Cressex was organised by Cllr Matt Knight as part of Fairtrade Fortnight, as Wycombe seeks to be formally recognised as a Fairtrade Town.

Cllr Knight said: “Becoming a Fairtrade Town is about everyone in High Wycombe working together to support Faitrade.

“This event shows how this can happen in practice – a local school, visiting a local business, using a minibus loaned by a local church with the support of a local councillor.

“By working together in High Wycombe we can have a positive influence around the world – and help develop sustainable markets which, not only benefit the producers in developing countries, but also give long term benefit to our local economy through companies like Peros.”

Cllr Knight is part of the Wycombe for Fairtrade group which is working towards gaining Fairtrade Town status for High Wycombe, in recognition of the businesses in the town that support Fairtrade products.

The campaign gained the backing of Wycombe District Council in September and the group is in the process of making a formal application to the Fairtrade Foundation.

James Roberts, founder of Peros, which is a supporter of Fairtrade, said: “It was fantastic to be able to do this for the children.

“Having Enrique speak really brought the presentation to life and the children were keen to learn more about his local community.

“We really enjoyed the visit and found it inspirational that the children were so interested in learning more about the lives of coffee growers thousands of miles away.”