New initiative: The sewing group from Walahanduwa in Sri Lanka with bags that will be on display at a Bridge 2 Sri Lanka trade show to be held at the OGH next month.

Charity Bridge 2 Sri Lanka is showing it’s got bags of appeal.
On 7 and 8 July, between 10am and 7pm, it is holding a trade show at the OGH Hotel to show the range of bags it produces.
Founder of Bridge 2 Sri Lanka Sarah Griffith is encouraging Guernsey businesses to get involved with the charity’s latest initiative.
‘We want to get the word out that these bags can be tailor-made.
‘I challenge any business to not need a bag for anything,’ said Ms Griffith.
Bridge 2 Sri Lanka was set up in July 2005 to give humanitarian aid to the tsunami-affected people of Sri Lanka.
Earlier this year a sewing workshop was set up in the village of Walahanduwa, 10kms inland from the coastal town of Galle, south-west Sri Lanka, from where the charity operates.
A community consisting of 79 families was relocated to the village after its coastal town was destroyed by the tsunami.
‘There are lots of different ways to use these bags. Some businesses are giving them as corporate gifts or instead of carrier bags.
‘Others to staff members as bags for life and some schools are adopting
them as homework bags,’ said Ms Griffith.
A computer will be set up at the show which will display a number of different styles of calico bag.
‘All people have to do is bring their company logo on a CD and they can play about with it on screen to see what their bag would look like,’ she said.
Twenty-five Channel Island businesses have so far signed up to the scheme and have ordered between 50 and 1,000 bags each.
‘We would like as many people as possible to pop in  just for half-an-hour to see if there is a way in which they could use the bags in their business,’ she said.
‘All the money goes back into the project, with any left over being put towards fixing the drainage
problems in the relocated village.
‘I want people to buy into the concept and we really want businesses to enter into the spirit of things,’ said Ms Griffith.
Depending on the size of an order, they will take approximately two months to deliver.
Orders may be processed in as little as two weeks, but costs would be higher.