New Brand Cashpoint

Over the next couple of years, all Co-op Group shops will be rebranded to a new signage, common between all our businesses. That includes food stores, travel agents, banks, pharmacies etc. etc.. As of yet, though, the only bit of rebranding in the Cambridge area is at the Hills Road Cashpoint. We're starting small in Cambridge!

Note the Halloween decorations in the window. I've never seen so many spuriously-Halloween connected products in my life as I have in the last few days.

CIS get Tough with Rogue Companies

It was reported yesterday that the Co-operative Insurance Society (CIS), part of the Co-op Group, is running out of patience with companies who are unethical or have poor corporate governance records. Normally, the idea is to maintain shareholdings in these dodgy companies, and then use the voting power of our shareholdings at Annual General Meetings to try to change behaviour for the better. However, the CIS have been getting such poor responses from a few companies recently, that they are preparing to withdraw their entire holdings, hoping to provoke a rethink.

I'm not sure what to think about this, as I am a confirmed fan of the voting power that our shareholdings can bring - such as when we voted against the reappointment of the Chief Executive of ExxonMobil "on the basis of the company’s failure to adequately address its contribution to global climate change". However, given the poor corporate governence of these particular companies, perhaps total withdrawl is the best thing from both an ethical and a financial point of view.

Melbourn Co-op

The Cambridge and East Anglia Area Co-op that I visited this week is...... Melbourn Co-op. This one is classified as a "Market Town" store, so is expected to have a more complete range than our convienience stores. It is a little on the small size though, so is slightly squashed. This store also includes a Co-op pharmacy, but this was not open on the day (Sunday) that I visited.

I was slightly disappointed with a couple of issues. There was no members' noticeboard, and it was difficult to find the membership forms as they were mixed up with other leaflets at the tills. I couldn't see any sign of Fairtrade bananas either, although Fairtrade wine and chocolate was available - including the delicious Fairtrade Belgian Chocolates that made a nice present for my girlfriend's mother's birthday celebrations. I think that since the Co-op rightly makes a big fuss of its Fairtrade credentials, it is important that we can back-up our words with good availaibility of these products. This is a matter that a lot of the area committee feel strongly on, and I'll raise it at the next opportunity.

Co-op Group's Charity of the Year

The Co-op Group are now accepting votes for their 2007 charity of the year. There are three shortlisted candidates: The Children's Society, Turning Point, and Barnardo's. In 2005 our members and staff raised over a million quid for Shelter, in support of their campaign for decent housing for children.

All members of the Co-op Group can vote: either at the tills when you present your membership card, or after you have logged in to the new website, which then also gives you a short description of each charity and their aims.

The Children's Society takes action to protect and support child runaways, those in trouble with the law, disabled children and child refugees. If chosen by the Co-op Group's members, they will work with the Co-op on their "Good Childhood campaign - to investigate what really constitutes a good childhood.

Turning point is the UKs largest social care organisation, and provide services for people with complex needs, such as those with drug or alcohol misuse problems, those with mental health problems and people with learning disabilities. If chosen by the Co-op Group they will use our support to enable more people to take control of their own lives.

Barnardo's no longer run orphan homes; these days it works in a broader sense to protect vulnerable children. If chosen by the Co-op Group, they will use our support to continue campaigning against child poverty in the UK, and to increase investment in their projects up and down the country.

Tough choice, and whichever wins the Co-op's vote will be a deserving cause.

The Old Crown

One of the first posts at Politics for People mentioned Co-operatively-run pubs. These have come about in the recent past as a result of (mainly rural) pubs coming under threat of redevelopment as housing or some other use, causing the loss of a vital village resource. The regulars and other villagers become the owners through raising the necessary capital between them, and then find tenents willing to run the pub for them.

It must be said though, that some pubs that have been described as "Co-ops" actually aren't, and are really just conventional limited companies that happen to draw their shareholders from the locality. One, though, that is very much a genuine Co-op, and is registered as an Industrial and Provident Society, is the Old Crown in Cumbria. Its 125 members managed to buy the pub (and adjacent brewery!) when it was at risk of being bought by a major chain and losing its character.

The Old Crown Co-op is now a feature of a Co-operatives UK Case Study, enabling other communities in a similar position to save their beloved local.

The Co-operative pub's story is also featured in the 2005 edition of CAMRA's Good Beer Guide.

Histon Road Co-op

I popped into Histon Road Co-op on Saturday in order to have a quick look around (and get my lunch!) This store is classified as one of our "Welcome" convienience stores, but is one of the larger examples of this type, so has a much wider range than most others.

I know that this store has had some problems in the past, but I understand from other members who live in the area that the store has improved considerably recently. It certainly looked OK when I went in. It has a free cashpoint, which is important given its location, and the store as a whole looked tidy and well stocked. There didn't seem to be any membership forms available, but as there were leaflets about both Community Dividend and Fairtrade I'll let them off!

The till arrangement is a little difficult to navigate due to pillars, but I doubt that there is anything that can be done about this until the next refit. When this is next planned, I will try to remember my observation!

Politics For People

I've talked a few times here about the local Co-op Party. The Co-operative party was set up originally (in 1917 I believe) as a way of getting Co-operators into positions of power, so that they could defend the consumer societies from the blatantly unfair treatment they were receiving at the time from government. It gradually worked out an electoral pact with the Labour Party so that candidates now run on a joint Labour/Co-op ticket. The party campaigns primarily on mutual solutions in all parts of the economy, international equality and environmentalism.

Well, a couple of Co-op Party activists have now set up a blog, entitled "Politics for People", which I am pleased to link to. Recent topics have included mutual ownership of public utilities, Barcelona football club (its a Co-op!), and Co-operative solutions for the provision of vices

Each for All and All for Each / Ipswich Travelcare

Last weekend I was in Ipswich to watch a rather pleasing football game, and took time to have a look at some of the historic buildings of the Ipswich Co-op (now part of the East of England Co-operative:

While I was in the town, I also popped into a branch of Travelcare that the Cambridge and East Anglia Area Committee is responsible for. Unlike a food retail shop, I found it difficult to know exactly what I was looking for. However, there was certainly nothing negative to report. The shop was well-laid out, with friendly but not pushy staff. I was particularly pleased that the premises had a membership poster and membership forms, as historically our non-food premises have not been strong in this area.

Book Review #2: Co-operative Principles - Today and Tomorrow

This book, by W. P. Watkins, has been described as a major contribution to the philosophy of Co-operation, and concerns itself with an examination of the principles of Co-operation. The book is all the more interesting for the fact that the statement of Co-operative Principles that the book comprises does not tally with either the internationally agreed values and principles in place at the time of writing (1986), nor of course with those agreed later in 1995.

However, that is not to say that he does not describe essentially the same system of Co-operation as the ICA description. Rewrites of these statements represent changes in emphasis rather than profound schisms with the past, and in the words contained within the book "the more Co-operation changes, the more it must remain the same". In Watkins opinion, the philosophy of Co-operation can be seperated into 7 interdependent "principles", alhtough in the nomenculture of the most recent statement of identity these might be termed values. They are:

• Unity or Association - the Co-operative comes about by the coming-together of people or other entites to provide solutions to common problems.
• Economy - they tend to do so in order to gain an economic advantage.
• Democracy - the Co-operative is run on strictly democratic lines, with one-member, one-vote used in primary societies, and appropriate alternaitve systems in federal structures.
• Equity - the Society and its capital belongs to the members, and any benefit from its operation should be shared fairly amongst members if not used in some other way. Co-operatives also strive for less inequity in the world at large.
• Liberty - the members of Co-operative societies should be members of their own free accord, with no compulsion from government or other agencies.
• Responsibility or Function - the members of the society have a responsibility to themselves and to other members in ensuring the successful running of the society - and the Society should have the function of improving the lives of its members.
• Education - Co-operators place a high premium on two different sorts of education. The first is the education required by its members in order to allow succesful running of the business. The second is in education of the public in the philosophy and advantages of Co-operation.

The book is a fascinating look at the worldwide Co-operative Movement through the eyes of an extremely experienced devotee. It should be read by any Co-operator wishing to more fully understand their Movement. It is available from the Co-op College online bookstore, and as with the first book that I reviewed, any local readers wishing to borrow my copy are welcome to do so.

Congratulations

Sincere congratulations to Daniel Zeichner, who has succeeded in being the next Labour parliamentary candidate for Cambridge. The Cambridge and Saffron Waldon Co-operative Party were pleased to support his nomination as somebody who shares many of the Co-operative Values and Principles.

Half-Yearly Meeting - Part 2

This post carries on, surprisingly enough, from Half-Yearly Meeting - Part 1.

After the main meeting was concluded, the new committee sat down to its first (and shortest!)committee meeting of the year. At this point, the usual business such as trading reports, membership activity etc., is avoided in favour of purely formal business regarding officers and delegates of the committee.

The previous Chair (Brian Walker) was replaced by the previous Vice-Chair (Rowland Thomas). Thanks to Brian for his sterling work over the last 12 months, and congratulations to Rowland. This left a vacancy for Vice-Chair, which as I was the only nomination, I was duly elected to. I hadn't thought that the Chairmanship module I studied would come in handy quite so soon.

Our three regional board representatives needed to be reduced down to two in line with the reduction in the size of that body. Steve Watts (group board member) and Joe Gluza (current regional board member) were elected as our two represenatives, with Brian qualifying for two "floating" seats voted on by members of all five area committees.

To round things off, our current representative on the regional values and principles committee, Paul Jenkins, was re-elected, and I replaced Rowland (who was standing down) as the committee's representative on Cambridge Party Council.

The evening was rounded off nicely by a few of us (as promised here!) in the Live and Let Live. The Autumn Porter was particularly nice.

A Plug from Polly

Polly Toynbee, whilst railing against the inequities of Global Capitalism in the Guardian, manages to make a plug on behalf of the Co-op Bank, complete with the phone number to call in order to swap your account to "The Ethical Bank".

Somebody in the comments doesn't really get it, however, accusing Polly of owning shares, and acting to ramp up their price. I'm not sure that they understand the concept of Co-operative shareholdings, which are fixed in value, and accrue only a limited rate of interest (or no interest, in the case of the Co-op Group).

Community Dividend Again

There has been a bit of newspaper publicity for our grant to Brandon Friendship Group in the Thetford and Brandon Times - not a paper I usually read, but still!

I hope the members of the group enjoy their bus trip to Springfields festival gardens.

Half-Yearly Meeting - Part 1

The 2006 Half-Yearly meeting of the Cambridge and East Anglia Area of the Co-operative Group took place last night, and was attended by around 50 people. The agenda started with a welcome to our new membership look by April Armstrong, the region's Senior Co-operative Affairs Officer.

This was followed by trading reports by Steve Watts and Herbert Daybell (both regional board members), and a representative from the food retail business in the area. Some more detailed figures for the performance of our businesses was handed out at the meeting, enabling the performance of our particular area to be studied. It was pointed out that our region's sales increases on last year are better than any other region in the Co-op Group, better than the combined co-op sector, and better than the industry average; so we must be doing something right. Hopefully.

After the presentations, questions on trading performance were invited from the floor. We had one on Fairtrade sales figures, which were unavailable at the meeting, but will be forwarded to the member concerned. We also had a question about "empty shelves", and one about the decision to leave the department store sector. However, the number of questions was much reduced on last year, and I am trying to work out if this represents a worrying lack of democratic engagement, or a positive comment on the much-improved availability in stores!

Following this was a short presentation on the Co-op Group's democratic structure by Paul Cranfield, our new regional secretary. It was at this juncture that the report of the area's elections was given. As there were four candidates for four vacancies, the results were already quite obvious, as revealed here in August! Congratulations and welcome to Maggie Bending on her new appearence on the committee.

Finally, there was a report from Ranjit (our Co-op Affairs Officer), on the membership side of the co-op, with pictures and reports from some of our events. In addition, we had superb thank-yous from two of our supported organisations: a representative from the Friends of Histon and Impington Recreation Ground spoke about how welcome our donation of crockery and other essentials to their new pavillion was - and we had a quality presentation from Phillip Richards of the Cambridge Woodcraft Folk, about their new marquee and about their Global Village - he didn't seem sure which one we had helped with, so thanked us for both just to be sure!

Don't Forget: Members Meeting on Tuesday

Just a reminder that the half-yearly meeting of the Co-op Group in the Cambridge and East Anglia area is being held on Tuesday in the Gonville Hotel. The meeting starts at 7.30pm, but there was a finger buffet beforehand last year, and I imagine this practice will continue, so arriving at about 7 may be a good move.

Present at the meeting will be your Area Committee, and some representatives from the trading side of the Society - and you can hold both to account. There is also usually a less formal presentation on the work of the Society - last year it was created by the pupils of Castle Manor School in Haverhill on the subject of fair trade.

I'll be pleased to meet some more Co-op members - if you want to look out for me I'll be the one with a beard who's under 30!

After the meeting me and my good lady are intending to retire to the Live and Let Live, just around the corner on Mawson Road, where we will be combining Co-op talk with consumption of a pint or two of excellent real ale. Feel free to join us!

Barefaced Cheek

Paul Mason, chief executive of Somerfield, has recently said:

"We are trying to create a better, simpler, faster Somerfield. We are trying to combine the operational effectiveness of a Tesco with the community credentials of what the Co-op used to be about.”

"What the Co-op used to be about"! When Somerfield is owned by, and run for the benefit of, its customers instead of shareholders, and when the concept of community is written into its very identity, then Somerfield can start lecturing the Co-op about community credentials.

And this comes from the supermarket that offered incentives to managers who can cause a local Co-op supermarket to close, and whose internal documents admit that they under-perform the Co-op in terms of range, cleanliness, store layout and checkout queues.

Last Night's Environment Meeting

I thoroughly enjoyed last night's meeting. It was great to meet so many enthusiastic Co-operators keen on exploring what can be done to halt climate change. The bulk of the meeting was taken up by Friends of the Earth. Their message was that, while there is plenty that individuals can do to reduce carbon emmisions, such as reduce energy consumption, change transport habits, etc., we also need to convince government to put climate change at the top of their agenda. Their "Big Ask" campaign is designed to put pressure on the government to introduce a climate change bill, that will commit the UK to make 3% year-on-year savings of carbon emissions up to 2050. This will hopefully hold the global temperature rise to 2 degrees.

The Energy Saving Trust were also present, with a presentation that included various ways of reducing energy consumption and using renewable generation, such as solar panels, wind turbines etc. They kindly handed out some free energy-saving lightbulbs, which will come in handy in implementing step 2 of the Co-operative Climate Challenge.

After Ranjit (the local Co-operative Affairs Officer from the Co-op Group) had finished his presentation about the Society's contribution towards climate awareness and action, we retired to a buffet meal, and got a chance to mingle. I was particularly interested in meeting some of our longer-serving members, and their opinions on the recent re-launch of the Co-op Group's membership scheme.

All in all, a top-notch evening. More events like this, please Co-op!

P.S - With respect to my recent thoughts on carbon offsetting, the Friends of the Earth line seems to be similar to mine; nice idea, won't do any harm, but is not sufficient on its own to stop climate change.

Environment Meeting Tonight

Don't forget about tonight's Co-op Group Environment Thing in the Pitt Building on Trumpington Street in Cambridge. Meeting starts at 7; refreshments served from 6.30. All members welcome.

Rebuilding Co-ops after the Tsunami

There is a fascinating short report in two sections on the Co-operative College website about the work done by the international Co-operative movement after the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami that struck Sri Lanka and Indonesia.

The first part details the work of the Co-operatives UK Tsunami Reconstruction Fund in helping to rebuild the infrastructure of what sounds remarkably like a fully-fledged local Co-operative economy on Car Nicobar - the most northenly of the Nicobar Islands. The second part considers some of the problems experienced by the region as poorly directed aid flooded in after the disaster.

Now Travelcare Goes "Green"

Following on from my recent post about carbon offsetting, the BBC are reporting that Travelcare (owned by the Co-op Group) are to offer "Green" flights whereby the carbon released due to the flight is offset by ClimateCare. However, I'm glad that the Travelcare spokesman said that:

"We are not for one minute suggesting this is the answer to [resolving] climate change."

... because the only way to reduce carbon dioxide in the atmosphere on a significant scale over a long timescale is to prevent its release. But at least this scheme offers those who do fly a chance to make some recompense.

More details can be found from the Co-op Group here.

Member Communication at Mill Road: An Update

This is just a quick post to note that the Mill Road Co-op now not only has the members' meeting poster up that it was missing before, but also a poster about Thursday's Environment Conference in Cambridge. It's good to see that things can be put right when these oversights occur.

There is still no dedicated members' noticeboard, but if posters are going up in a visible place, then this is something of a moot point!

Chairmanship

I've just got back from a one-day "Chairmanship" training module held in Manchester by the Co-operative College; part of the "Certificate of Co-operation" course that the Co-op Group sends elected members on. I went on the course for two main reasons; firstly, I am chair of the local branch of the Co-op Party, and am very aware that my performance in this role is not optimal(!), but also I felt that this course might help my participation in Area Committee meetings, as the course covered various points about the general operation and rules of formal meetings.

The course was well run, and it was good to meet up with Co-operators from around the country (including Kathy Hamilton from the Cambridge committee). Events like this help us to remember that we act as part of a national and international movement of Co-operators; all of whom are very different from each other, but all committed to a Co-operative Movement dedicated to both business success and social change.