Thank you, Child Food Poverty & Cal Major’s Expedition

With announcements this week of an increase in COVID-19 cases and new measures on social gatherings coming into effect on Monday, it is important that we all take personal responsibility to adhere to Government guidance, which is in place to protect us all.

Midcounties colleagues have been exemplary in the way you have adhered to measures put in place and I thank you for your support, however, I would ask that we don’t relax and continue to focus on the areas of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and social distancing, ensuring that at each and every one of our sites and support areas we are following the policies and guidelines that we have all been trained on to help keep our colleagues and customers safe.

All details of the PPE, Social distancing and cleaning procedures for your group can be found under the Colleague & Customer Protection information in the coronavirus section on Colleagues Connect, which can be accessed here.

Child Food Poverty Taskforce

Following on from the successful campaign led by Professional footballer Marcus Rashford on Free school meals earlier in the year, Marcus has formed a task force to try and help reduce child food poverty.

We have signed up to be members of this nationwide task force, which includes supermarkets, businesses and charities, supporting action to expand free school meals to every child from a household on Universal Credit or equivalent, expand  holiday food and activities to support all children on free school meals and increase the value of the Healthy Start vouchers. 

Over the next six weeks, we will be joining with the task force to share stories of those affected by child food insecurity in the UK to raise awareness of the issue. 

#PaddleAgainstPlastic 

This week saw the launch of our Environmental Ambassador, Cal Major’s expedition along the River Severn. Cal is a fantastic spokesperson and such a positive role model, it’s great to have her on board helping us tackle the issue of single-use plastics and support our #1Change initiative.

I have been following her journey with interest and think it’s a great way to highlight the issue of plastic pollution.  You can track Cal’s progress with the live tracker and follow the expedition on social media here using the hashtag #paddleagainstplastic. For more information see here.

During the expedition, we are inviting you to get involved by making your own zero waste pledge, follow Cal’s daily blog and take part in the exclusive colleague competition to win Stand-Up Paddle Boarding equipment and a Stand-Up Paddle Board experience with Cal.

ACS summit 

On Wednesday I attended the Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) Summit which you won’t be surprised to hear was presented online this year. The summit gathers leaders from across the Convenience channel from multiple retailers to independent operators and from suppliers to industry experts.

The event was very much focussed on the impacts of the pandemic and how things may have changed for the longer-term. There was a general feeling that value for money would become even more important but also that communities had realised how important their local food shop is to them and that some of the newer customers were likely to stay. It was reassuring to hear that the decisions we have taken and the plans we have for the future are very much in keeping with how most across the industry see things. 

James Lowman (CEO, ACS) (left) and industry experts debating the future trends resulting from Covid-19 

Sock it to Stigma

Yesterday was World Suicide Prevention Day. In 2018, in the UK and Republic of Ireland, more than 6,800 people died of suicide [source Samaritans]. I think everyone can help to prevent this by just talking to each other that little more, asking the question, ‘How are you really?’ could make the difference. Like Mental health, socks are hidden and on the day, I took part in the ‘Sock it to Stigma’ campaign which invites people to put on a pair of brightly coloured socks to show support to those who are suffering from a mental health illness. Let’s continue with our positive messages to encourage stronger connections across our society.