Meet our Young Midcounties Ambassadors!

Lilli Turner - Travel

Job Title: Trainee Travel Advisor

Location: Co-operative Travel Evesham

Time at Midcounties: 1 year

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

The main reason I wanted to become a Young Midcounties Ambassador was because I feel there are not enough young people involved and I want to encourage more of the younger generation to get involved. I also feel the older generation are more aware of the benefits of being a member and still feel the super divided card is very important, I want future generations to carry on being members and know the Midcounties Morals.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

I feel I can make a difference as I know how important being a member is and feel I can get more people my age involved.

I also have many ideas on how to promote membership to the younger generation.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?                                                     

As a business, I feel we need to be more involved with the increasing topic of social media and recently I attended a music festival where I think this would be an amazing opportunity for us and we could sign a lot of young people up to be members.

Another idea I have is to get more students involved for example in Co-operative Travel branches. We could promote Gap years and let universities know that we can do them and sign students up which gives them access to the members travel club.

Tonya Angelina – Food

Job title: Store Manager

Location: Bloxham Food Retail

Time at Midcounties: 8 ½ Years

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

I was attracted to the role of Young Ambassador in MCC because I believe that young people will be moulding the future of the business and I wanted to be a part of the exciting changes that we can bring.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

I feel as though I can make a difference with regards to recruiting young active members who care about reducing plastics and the welfare of our young members in the community. I am part of the Banbury Regional Community team and in line with the values that MCC holds, we will be changing our charity partner to work with Banbury Young Homelessness Group and I believe I will be able to have a huge positive impact within this. 

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

I feel as though, as a business we can do more for young people by engaging with them on their level - we live in an "instant" world, where instant recognition and rewards are hugely important to our young people. I would like us as MCC to be able to offer young people the desire to be a part of our Co-operative movement, values and business.

Guy Berwick - Funeralcare

Job Title: Funeral Assistant

Location: Faringdon branch

Time at Midcounties: 8 Months

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

I applied for the role as a Young Midcounties Ambassador role as it shows a huge company like the co-op are willing to listen to the younger members and workers of the group. I feel it will be very rewarding and am looking forward to what the role entails.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

Coming from a varied work background, I feel I have the qualities to make a difference within the society that will appeal to younger audiences. I feel I am very easy to talk to and will be able to engage and entice Younger members to contribute within the society.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

Incorporating the young ambassadors into the society is a great first step to showcase Midcounties intentions to reach out to young people in a time where people are leaving education with nowhere to go. It shows that people our age are valued within the society and may encourage them to seek a career with us.

Megan Cross - Childcare

Job title: Room Manager

Location: Oxford Station, Oxford

Time at Midcounties: 6 months

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

The reason I wanted to be a young ambassador was because I wanted my voice to be heard and I wanted to be able to make a difference for myself and for other young employees of Midcounties Co-operative.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

I believe I will make a difference to Midcounties Co-operative, I am very much behind charities and have been ever since I was nine and the overall idea. This is that every penny I put towards a charity can help make a difference and this opportunity and role will also help other people have a voice.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?                                                     

I do really think we need to widen the range of media’s we are using that attract to the younger audience. Make votes and hear what people want to see the Midcounties join in or participate in a certain event.

Meg Ridley – Food

Job Title: Store Manager

Location: Norton Canes Food store

Time at Midcounties: 4 years

What attracted you to the young Midcounties ambassador role?

I think this is a great opportunity for us to have a voice and find an effective way to communicate to our younger members, enabling them to be more engaged in our business. I want the younger members to have more of a say in their future.

How do you think that you can make a difference?

I believe I will be more relatable as a 22-year-old, as I will have more of an insight into what the younger members want and hopefully can contribute into finding a more effective way of communicating with them.

What do you think we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

I think instant rewards for signing up to be a member would be more appealing and having a more relatable platform on social media, such as Instagram will allow the younger generation to become more aware of what we are doing as a society.

James Eales – Support Services

Job Title: Apprentice Membership Benefit Administrator

Location: Warwick Head Office

Time at Midcounties: 10 Months

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

I was attracted to the Young Co-operator Ambassador role because my opinion will be heard. I believe that the young people will be the future of the Midcounties Co-operative and it is a good time to start making our brand more recognisable within the younger generation.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

I feel that my idea’s and strategies will help bring more young people to become members of the Midcounties Co-operative and to be actively trading and democratically active within our society. I feel like we can work together to come up with ideas on how to do this and give young people a voice to be heard.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

 I think the business can do more to focus on young peoples ideas by giving them a chance to be heard. We can set up an idea scheme so people aged 16-25 years old can put forward ideas and let senior management listen to their proposals. We can also target events where a lot of young people attend to boost our brand and how we operate as a business.

Lottie Thomas – Funeralcare

Job Title: Funeral Assistant

Location: Funeral Vehicle Logistic Centre, Willenhall

Time at Midcounties: 7 Years

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

I applied for the role as the Young Midcounties Ambassador role as I am really keen to get involved in this exciting programme.  I think it is a great opportunity for me to develop my skills and build my confidence and also to have a greater understanding of the Society.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

I would like to think that I can bring fresh new ideas to the business, giving my honest feedback thus increasing the membership and engagement of young members.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

I think we need to have a young member presence at open days, hosting team-building events and provide exciting rewards.

Courteney Hinds – Funeralcare

Job title: Personal Funeral Adviser

Location: Gloucester - Barton Street

Time at Midcounties: 1 year 4 Months

What attracted you to the Young Midcounties Ambassador Role?

Being able to widen my skills and knowledge by taking part in something within my age range in the society.

How do feel you that you can make a difference?

Learning and growing within the society and being able to use my knowledge and skills to communicate with young people and engage them within the society.

What do you think that we can do as a business to be more appealing to young people?

Sponsor clubs which include young people, engage with young people and arrange activities which include them.