6th February 2007

I take the Jet Airways flight to London at 02:00, collapse into the plane and try to sleep.

Just my luck, I am sitting next to the Guinness books of records’ world’s loudest snorer who is clearly in practice for a new world record attempt. The stewardesses even come over and wake him several times but after the 5th attempt they give up and head as far away as possible. I put my headphones on, turn up the volume and try to watch a film.

They do get some revenge when they wake him abruptly to ask him if he wants breakfast forgetting that he had already said no he wanted to sleep as long as possible. So we get 45 mins peace and quiet.

We land on time at Heathrow and I dash to terminal 1 to catch my plane to Manchester. Home! I arrive back home at 11:00.

Postscript

In keeping with our household’s policy of being carbon neutral have offset the carbon created by this trip.

Before going to India I set myself 3 objectives:

1: To conclude an agreement with Hadoti to fund a program of work aimed at the migrant quarry workers.

2: To visit different areas of the region to assess the issues. This includes spot checks on Stoneshippers India sites, process and practices, and spending a lot more time in the Budhpura area.

3: To begin discussions on how to address the environmental impact of the quarrying activities.

The first objective has been fully met – we have an excellent programme of activities with Hadoti and payment for the first stage of the work will be transferred into their account on the 9th February.

The programme includes regular reports and reviews and I will publish these on the Marshalls sustainability web pages.

My second objective has been met: the investigation into the supply chain of Sandstone Setts shows a terrible abuse of children’s rights – the only way to prevent child labour in the production of Sandstone Setts is to produce them in-house using Stoneshippers India’s closed and controlled manufacturing and supply chain.

A simple web search of UK suppliers will find many, many companies offering these products. All I ask is that these companies ask themselves if they really know how these products are produced and if they are happy about what they find. It is then up to their own consciences. Just as long as they are truthful and don’t make blind ‘no child labour’ statements without checking.

My third objective was only partially achieved – I have a better understanding of the scale of the problem but we now really do need expert advice and this will be one of my tasks when I get back to the office tomorrow.

Chris Harrop 7th February 2007