AN Oxford shop which has helped plant olive trees for Palestinian farmers, build schools in Nepal and refurbish a boys’ hostel in Swaziland has celebrated its 15th birthday.

Fairtrade at St Michaels, which was founded in 2003, threw a party to celebrate its landmark anniversary this weekend at Tap Social brewery in Botley.

As well as live entertainment from Oxford’s own Young Women’s Music Project and Backroom Poets, there was vegetarian food, a birthday cake cut by Lord Mayor of Oxford Colin Cook and even a Fairtrade photo both.

Joining the party were some of the shop’s current team: six directors, four part-time staff and numerous volunteers who have helped it turn over £2.25m in the past 15 years.

Long-serving member of staff Feng Ho said: “As we looked forward to celebrating our birthday, it was with a sense of astonishment that we could possibly be that old, a sense of triumph that the shop has flourished, and a sense of challenge that the campaign for fairer systems of world trade still has such a long way to run.

"When we opened the shop in 2003 we had no real idea whether it would last 15 months, let alone 15 years, or what the Fairtrade scene would look like all these years down the line."

The Fairtrade Certification Mark which is now found on most of the goods at the Cornmarket Street shop was launched in 2002 by Fairtrade International.

The very next year, a Peruvian woman living in Oxford called Judith Candor-Vidal had the idea to open a Fairtrade shop in the city and asked her friend Gilli Robbins for her help.

They then asked the rector of St Michael’s at the Northgate if he knew of a space they could use and he suggested the basement under his church.

Ms Ho said: "Fifteen years later, and despite all the upheavals in the retail sector, our Aladdin’s Cave of a shop is still thriving and has achieved a total turnover in excess of £2.25m – representing a real boost to the livelihood of farmers and craftspeople around the world."

Over its 15 years, Fairtrade at St Michaels has donated more than £60,000 to Fairtrade-related projects.

In the past five years alone it has donated £35,000 to projects including olive trees for Palestinian farmers and rebuilding schools in Nepal after the earthquake.