Continued Investments
This article will take approximately 2 minutes to read
Published 16 Apr 2021 in Phil's blog
Firstly, a thank you to my Guest Blogger last week, Sara Dunham, Chief Officer for Travel & Leisure. It was great to hear how you have been so warmly welcomed. I know there was a lot of time and effort put in to get us ready and to “bring the sunshine back” and would like to thank everyone involved and welcome back our Travel colleagues who returned to branch.
[Left to right, colleagues from Derby Travel along with Warminster & Evesham Travel branches]
In a week that has seen the reopening of businesses and the opportunity for many people to see family and friends or simply enjoy that first pint in a pub, this week has been about optimism and looking to the future, and as we look to the future I believe that we are well placed to grow in 2021 and beyond.
We continue to invest in our core businesses for the long term whether that be to improve current sites or open new branches across our estate. Ultimately helping to bring more services to more members through new site openings. Just like the newly opened Evesham travel branch that Sara mentioned last week or the first of our store investments in Food which includes the new Your Co-op Food store in Bishops Cleve that opened yesterday.
Based in Gloucestershire, The Bishop’s Cleeve Food store opened creating 15 new roles in the local community and is just one of the six new Food Retail stores spread across Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, Northamptonshire and the West Midlands that will open in April, May and June, with a significant investment of almost £3 million.
Your Co-op Food - Bishop’s Cleeve
In our Childcare business, we are looking to expand our nursery sites and following an £800k investment, in September we will open a brand-new, purpose-built Little Pioneers Nursery and Pre-school in Cheltenham.
Artist impression of new Little Pioneers in Cheltenham
With over 45 nurseries already available to parents across the UK, this latest addition, which is currently being developed will further strengthen our Childcare offering. The nursery will feature two outdoor gardens, for lots of fresh air to play in, along with a designated parent’s room, buggy store and onsite parking.
A couple of final points from me this week. Firstly, you might be aware that this week was the start of Ramadan and across the UK, thousands of Muslims will be fasting during daytimes for the next four weeks to mark Ramadan or Ramazan.
I’m conscious that this can be quite a challenging time for some of our colleagues who take part as at this time of year in the UK, the fasting day is long. The morning meal will be before dawn, and another after sunset, which is an extremely long day without food or drink (no water too). Don’t be shy about asking Muslim colleagues if they will be observing Ramadan. Some people may choose not to take part - perhaps for medical reasons – as fasting is a personal choice.
Finally, following the sad news of the passing of HRH Prince Philip last week and his funeral this Saturday I can advise that as a Society will be taking part in tomorrow’s national silence with all our sites that are open taking part in the one-minute silence at 3pm. This is particularly poignant for me as I was named after HRH Prince Philip having been born on his birthday on 10th June.
If you enjoyed this week's blog, why not give it a ‘Heart’ above or leave a comment below.