Celebrate Fairtrade 25, Fairphone 3 & Half Yearly Meetings

I have returned to the office this week following a late summer break and I would like to thank our Chief HR Officer, Clare Moore, for stepping in as my guest blogger last Friday.

It was great to hear about Clare’s experiences at Head Office and also in our stores since she joined the Society a few weeks ago. None more so than seeing first-hand how our colleagues have banded together to give support to our Travel group, since the recent collapse of the world’s oldest travel agent, Thomas Cook.

It is also humbling to learn how our Travel colleagues have been going above and beyond the call of duty, ensuring that holidaymakers are being supported through this challenging time. It is no mean feat to be able to navigate and alleviate the stresses that thousands of customers will be feeling but I am proud that our Travel Group has done it with such resourcefulness and positivity. It really does underpin our Co-operative values which are so important to us all.

So a big thank you to everyone in the Travel Group for their continuous hard work and dedication.

 

Fairtrade 25

This month we are celebrating the 25^th anniversary of the Fairtrade Mark with a big party this weekend. There will be a number of events going in our stores/branches including:

• Friday 4th October: Bourton-on-the-water Food Store: 11.00am to 4.00pm – in-store chef cooking live and offering a taste of delicious meals made entirely from Fairtrade products.

• Monday 7th October: Brewery Street, Highworth: 10.00am to 2.00pm – event in our coffee shop to celebrate 25 years of Fairtrade with members and customers - cake, recipes and cooking!

Any further events will be announced on our twitter account and website.

We are asking everyone to get involved in the campaign by swapping one product from their weekly shop for a Fairtrade one and tweeting about it using the hashtag #1Swap.

There are over 6,000 Fairtrade products from coffee and tea to flowers and wine, so when you shop, look out for the Fairtrade Mark. To see the range of Fairtrade products available click on this link from the Fairtrade Foundation.

If you also tag in @midcountiescoop we will retweet you from our main account.

So when you go shopping this week why not #1Swap for Fairtrade 25?

 

Celebrity Charity Football Match

Last weekend we held our Celebrity Charity Football Match at Rushall Olympic Football Club in Walsall, raising an incredible £10,000 for charities. I was told it was again a bit of a washout weather-wise but we still had a great turnout and were able to raise much-needed funds for our local charity partners in the West Midlands.

Sadly, the fantastic results off the field were not replicated on it. In the first match the Rushall/Coop Veterans lost 3-1 to a Wolves Veterans team, many of whom were still match fit. In the main match despite Kevin Brown’s best efforts Midcounties got a drubbing and lost 6-0 to the Jet2 Allstars team.

Despite the results and a few injuries, the day was a success, so I want to say thank you to all those who helped organise the match, supported our team and came along on the day – these charity events exemplify our Co-operative Difference.

 

Fairphone 3

Some of you may have already read or seen in the news that the worlds first ethical smartphone, ‘The Fairphone 3’ has been launched in Berlin, with The Phone Co-op being a proud partner.

The Fairphone 3 has all the features you’d expect to see from a high-quality handset and it is built as ethically as possible. That means it uses conflict-free metals and is the first phone to use Fairtrade gold, making it a real sustainable alternative. In addition, it is designed for long-lasting change, its modular design means you can replace many parts yourself by using just the screwdriver that comes with the phone.

The Guardian recently listed it in its review of ‘Five of the best mobile phones – whatever your budget’ concluding, ‘Fairphone 3 isn’t just another smartphone: it’s an entirely different way of thinking about how a phone and its creation fits into the world.’ You can read the Guardian review by clicking here.

For more information on the phone click here.

 

Half Yearly Meetings

Our Half Yearly Meetings start next Tuesday 7 October in Swindon. For the chance to have your say and to help shape the future of your Society please come along to one of our events:

• Swindon - 8th October - Swindon Academy 6:00pm - 9:00pm

• Gloucester - 9th October - Cheltenham Chase Hotel 6:00pm - 9:00pm

• Shropshire - 10th October - Shrewsbury College 6:00pm - 9:00pm

• Live Webinar Meeting - 14th October 6:00pm - 8:00pm

• Kidderminster - 15th October - Hogarth Stone Manor Hotel 6:00pm -9:00pm

• West Midlands - 16th October - Walsall Academy 6:00pm - 9:00pm

• Oxford - 17th October - Jurys Inn Hotel 6:00pm - 9:00pm

More details on the events can be found by clicking here.

These will be important meetings given the significant changes we have announced on Energy. I will be in attendance at each of the meetings, so if you want to come and say hello, then please feel free to do so.

That's all for this week, please feel free to leave me a comment below by letting me know your thoughts.