Leadership Day, BITC AGM & Fairtrade Hamper Giveaway

Leadership Day & Store visit

On Tuesday I attended our leadership day at Codsall Village Hall near Wolverhampton, a change from our usual venue, to highlight the great work the Society has done in raising funds for the village hall.

During the day we held an engaging session looking at ways to improve our reward proposition to colleagues which ties in with work being led by Clare Moore and her team. Vicky Green, Codsall Regional Community member and newly appointed Board Director of the Society, also attended and spoke passionately about her journey with the Society and how her Regional Community is making a real difference in the local community.

Meeting Just Straight Talk work experience volunteer Amy

Afterwards, I visited our Codsall Food store and met with our Sedgley and Dudley Regional Community Partner, ‘Just Straight Talk’. They provide support and practical help to people who want to turn their lives around and reach life goals. I was really impressed by talking to several of our colleagues who have come to us via the charity and are gaining valuable work experience. I also helped out in-store, as we are now entering the busiest trading period in the run-up to Christmas. Look out for more information about Just Straight Talk in our ‘12 Days of Christmas’ feature coming soon to Colleagues Connect.

 

Codsall store manager Simon Woolley with his innovative Christmas store display!

UN Climate Talks

This week the 25^th United Nations Climate talks started in Spain. The ‘climate ambition’ adopted by countries at the talks will have a wide scale impact on business and as a result we are aligning ourselves with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Next year the talks will be held in the UK for the first time where the Co-operative sector will be represented by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and Co-ops UK. You can follow the outcome of the talks by clicking here.

 

BITC AGM

Mike Pickering recently attended Business in the Community’s (BITC) AGM where businesses collectively looked at how they can deliver the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Through the ICA and Co-ops worldwide we are committed to doing our part to deliver these global targets and BITC announced their aim of making the UK a world leader in responsible business.  We look forward to working with them over the next year to help achieve this important ambition.

 

Remembrance Day

Mike Valance, the Warwick representative of the Royal British Legion, popped into Co-op House this week to thank all the volunteers who counted the money from all the poppy collection tins in the area.

I am pleased to announce that as a result, the Royal British Legion raised £10,860. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Poppy Appeal and helped count the money.

 

Fairtrade Hamper Giveaway

 

In the run-up to Christmas, I have 3 delicious Fairtrade and Best of Our Counties hampers to give away. The hampers, put together by our wonderful Chipping Norton colleagues, include a bottle of Prosecco, Keepr’s British Honey, Cotswold Fudge and from our Co-op Irresistible range Salted Caramel Truffles and an 18 month matured Christmas Pudding.

To have a chance of winning this super hamper simply sign in and in the comment section answer A, B or C to the following question:

How old is the Fairtrade logo?

A: 1 year

B: 25 years

C:150 years

 

We will announce the winner in next week’s blog!