Inspirational Colleagues

Hello,  

Before I begin, thank you to everyone who got in touch to tell me what you want to see more of in my blogs and I’m pleased you are enjoying them. This week brings you challenges and awards in Coop Energy, inspiring colleagues in Coop Funeralcare, further site visits in Coop Food and new branch openings in Coop Travel.

Celebrity Football Match

Firstly, I want to congratulate all of our colleagues involved in organising the charity football match on Sunday. The rain didn’t dampen spirits nor the attendance which was fantastic. Everyone I spoke with had a really good time and enjoyed the competitive nature of the match. Our team played well with a valiant effort from all players.

This type of engagement is what team Midcounties does best. Thank you to everyone involved for all of their hard work and particularly to those of you who worked outside in the pouring rain to make it a success. I am already looking forward to the rematch next year!

Coop Energy

Since I was appointed Group CEO at the end of July, I have spent a lot of time with David and members of the team understanding our Energy business, an area I previously had little experience in. I am aware of the significant challenges we face within the Energy market, from competitor activity to government intervention.  A major challenge currently facing Coop Energy is the new price cap due for implementation at the end of this year that is yet to be announced in detail. The Energy team are working hard to identify the implications of the price cap but delayed details from Government make forecasting difficult. The team at Coop Energy have also been busy with managing the partial integration of Flow Energy which we acquired in May.

I was pleased to hear that the group has met its target of having 60 community renewable energy sites that we purchase energy from a year in advance. This is a fantastic achievement as we originally planned to reach this goal by the end of 2019. Also, great recognition in receiving the Ashden Award, an international award for our work with a local energy project in Bethesda, Wales. In summary, this award was about creating self-sufficient communities who are able to generate and use their own electricity and invest more back into the local community.

Coop Funeralcare

For any of us not directly involved in Funeralcare it can appear quite sombre but our colleagues are the opposite with bright and caring personalities that make the business the success that it is. This week I’d like to share an inspiring story about one of our Funeral Directors, Rachael Kin, who I met on a visit to our funeral home in High Wycombe back in June. Rachael’s story began whilst training for the London Marathon last year when she was rushed to hospital to have a major operation after contracting ulcerative colitis, a bowel disease. As a result of her surgery Rachael was left with a colostomy bag and has unfortunately faced discrimination and mental health challenges that left her feeling isolated. However Rachael’s positive outlook didn’t keep her down for long and a year on from her surgery she’s back to work, regularly volunteering for a food bank charity and achieving personal goals. She wants to reach out to other young women with disabilities and chose to enter Miss Divine UK with the ambition to become the “first contestant with a colostomy bag to inspire anybody struggling with body confidence issues.” She is a role model to young women, a credit to our Midcounties team and she is one of many great funeral colleagues who do great work in our local communities.

Further Site Visits

Last week I visited our most northern food store, Holywell, in Flintshire, Wales. The store opened in 1985 when Henry Hone first acquired the Holway Garage and ran a small family business. The store was later purchased by Tuffins in 2010 and acquired by Midcounties three years later.

   (Holywell store in 1961 and present day) 

The store is still able to maintain the Hone’s family ties today. Henry’s daughter, Alison, has been supplying the store with ‘Ali’s Sandwiches’ for 25 years due to their popular demand and both Henry’s grandchildren, Jordan and Isobel, are colleagues in our Holywell store. I met Jordan and Isobel who will shortly be leaving us in order to pursue their careers in other areas but it was a joy to find out the family history of this store.

(Alison with Eddie, Holywell's store manager)

Site visits also included a trip to Shawbury Food store where we have recently acquired the garage next door to expand and build a brand new community store. Shawbury is a small village in Shropshire with an RAF base and I’m pleased Food Retail are on the ball re-developing stores for the long term to meet the increasing demands of our communities. 

(above, Ruth and Emma, team leaders, at Shawbury store)

Following this I had a great visit to Highworth store with the Society’s president, Helen Wiseman, pictured above with Phil Truman, Highworth’s store manager. I also dropped by Cavendish Square store where I met Sarah (pictured below) who has just been appointed as store manager of our Groundwell store, congratulations Sarah. 

Coop Travel takes off

It has been three years since Coop Travel opened a new branch, until last week when they opened two, one in Ilkeston and the other in Nottingham. Coop Group previously owned Travel stores in these locations but following their purchase by Thomas Cook, The Co-operative Travel disappeared from both high streets. I am thrilled we have brought Coop Travel back to these communities and I look forward to their official launch on 22nd September.

That’s it from me this week, I hope all our colleagues who received exam results over the past couple of weeks got the results they wanted. As a parent of two children who were anxiously waiting, I can sympathise. Don’t forget you can get in touch with me by leaving a comment below.