Fordhall Farm

From the ever-excellent Co-op News comes details of a small sort-of-organic farm in Shropshire that has been setup as an Industrial and Provident Society. When the landowners of Fordhall Farm wanted to sell the land, the tenants couldn't stump up the cash to buy it themselves. So a co-op was founded (with the help of Co-operatives UK) to purchase the farm, and lease it to them on a long-term basis.

£50 shareholdings were sold to more than 8000 members from around the world, and a combination of this money and some loans was sufficient to buy the farm. The place is now an educational centre as well as a traditional farm complete with farm shop. New members are welcome in order to reduce the remaining liabilities - click here to join! (pdf, 765k).

2007 Regional Annual General Meeting

Included with the mailing containing the Network magazine is an invitation to the regional annual general meeting in Kettering on Saturday 12th May. There will (subject to demand) be a free Co-op bus travelling from Cambridge train station to the venue - an ideal opportunity to get a captive audience of Co-op Area Committee members for an hour or so!

Even if you haven't received an invitation (due to not being on the "active members network"), as long as you are a member of the Co-operative Group in the Central and Eastern region, you have a right to attend. Get in touch with the regional office on 01908 843207 to get yourself on the door list.

The meeting will start at 11am, and include trading reports, question and answer sessions and presentations on the Society's work. There will also be a buffet lunch provided, which on past form will be rather nice! Last year's trial of smaller meetings in the afternoon to discuss differenct issues of interest from across our businesses will continue.

Network Magazine

All members on the active members' network in the region should be receiving their copies of the Central and Eastern Network magazine soon. This is the magazine that lets members know whats going on in their society - and so this edition includes features about the proposed merger with United Co-ops, the work done to make the Society more environmentally friendly, and a section on what will be going on in the forthcoming Fairtrade Fortnight (28th Feb - 11th March 2007). There is also an interview with Guy McCracken, our head of food retail, about the challenges and future of that part of our Co-operative.

Of particular relevance to our area is the section on the Coldham estate windfarm, just up the road from Cambridge, which examines how the development progressed from the early plans to final implementation.

Eagle-eyed readers might spot a picture of me on page 19 showing an unhealthy interest in energy-saving lightbulbs, along with Rowland Thomas and the guests at our recent Environment Members' Meeting!

Then there is an interview with our very own operations manager in this region - Jenny Alleyne. Jenny is a regular at our area committee meetings, and always impresses me with her enthusiasm for the society and knowledge of her work. However, the magazine seems to confuse matters by describing the interview as revealing the "typical day in the life of a member" - when she is far from being a typical member, being first and foremost a senior member of staff. Other parts of the feature could lead to members confusing Jenny's role with that of an elected member - which is very different! I hope that the next edition clears matters up - and perhaps includes a description of the role of Area Committee members, so that members may be inspired to contact their representatives - or even stand for election themselves.

All in all, though, this is another excellent publication that the regional membership team of the Co-op have produced. However, you will only receive it if you are on the members network. If you wish to join, and play a full part in the running of your society, phone the helpline on 0845 090 1456.

The Pub with No Beer

The landlord of the White Horse Inn in Downton (near Salisbury) has been forced to stop selling alcohol after his license was removed when he was made bankrupt. However, he is continuing to sell food to his regulars in this 500 year old pub. What has this got to do with the Co-op? Well, the customers still seem thirsty, so they pop to the Co-op next door to pick up a couple of cans for an pleasant evening in the inn.

I'd like to take this opportunity to recommend the Bumble Bee Honey Ale , which contains Fairtrade honey from Chile, and tastes superb. Alternatively, the Gold Miner (which, like the Honey Ale is brewed by the Freeminer brewery in the Forest of Dean) is a good tipple.

Pharmacy Update

I have been reliably informed that of the 21 stores we are in the process of purchasing from Alliance Boots, 6 are in the Cambridge and East Anglia area: these are in Cambridge, King's Lynn, North Walsham, Saffron Walden, Swaffham and Wymondham.

There are currently (I think) 4 Alliance pharmacies in Cambridge and Cherry Hinton: I will be interested to see which one is the subject of our purchase.

The Darkness

Recently, a member said to me that she found the outside of Newnham Co-op rather dark at night, and that she felt unsafe while entering and leaving the store. I paid a visit on Sunday night, and I agree that it is fairly dark outside, as there are no large windows to let the light out of the store, and the street lighting is at quite a low level.

Unfortunately, however, given the highly residential nature of the neighbourhood, I think that it might be quite difficult to improve the situation. Nevertheless, I have passed on the comments made to those who may be able to help, and await the response with interest....

P.S. The photo above is not of Newnham Co-op. It is Justin Hawkins, lead singer of the Darkness. Newnham Co-op looks like this:

New Co-op Pharmacies in East Anglia?

The Co-operative Group have bought a number of pharmacies from Alliance Boots - the new company that was formed recently from a merger. Alliance Boots was forced by the competition authorities to sell off a number of units, and I am very pleased to hear that the Co-op have bought 21 of them. The Manchester Evening News reckon that some of them are in East Anglia - I look forward to being informed how many are in the Cambridge and East Anglia area, and where they are located. Customers of these pharmacies should join the Co-op Group as soon as possible (if they have not already done so), so that they can receive their share of the profits, and in order to influence the operation of the Society.

The Pharmacy side of the Co-op has been slowly but surely acquiring new sites over the recent past - such as this acquistion I mentioned in July - long may this continue!

January's Area Committee Meeting

Unfortunately, I was only able to arrive rather late in the day for our committee meeting last Thursday. As my bad luck would have it, the meeting finished on time for once, meaning that I had missed the majority of the business.

The trading reports for each of the businesses in our area, as always, were received and discussed in the presence of an Operations Manager who covers our patch. In addition, we received a report on the work of Farmcare, the farming arm of the Co-operative Group. Farmcare both owns land, and farms on behalf of the client owners in different parts of the country. Our area has four estates under Farmcare management, of which we own one: Coldham Estate near March (where some wind turbines have been erected as part of the Society's energy policy).

We also did some more work on planning this year's membership events - more information on these in due course.

There was also an important discussion on the Community Dividend scheme, and how we feel the system could be improved. In short, the committee would like measures in place to ensure higher quality applications, and where possible with some form of Co-operative bent. We have passed our opinions up the chain to more senior democratic structures, and hoopefully they will help guide policy in the future.

A verbal report was given on the latest regional board meeting by our representatives. Topics included the Society's plans to meet cost pressures in the near future.

Past Area Committee meetings:
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006 (absent)
August 2006 (no meeting)
July 2006
June 2006

Christmas Sales Up at the Co-op Group

According to the Guardian, the Co-operative Group's food sales were up by 7.2% over Christmas compared to last year - welcome news! I think that a lot of the increase is due to better products on the shelves, including a lot of what I think of as the "posh" lines. People are inclined to treat themselves over Christmas, so the Truly Irresistable range will have been flying off the shelves. More sales will hopefully mean more profit, which means higher dividends for individual members, community projects and further investment in the business.

On a slightly negative point, I do wonder how we can rush sales figures out to news agencies so quickly, when the accounts that the Area Committee gets to see are typically two or months out of date. However, a new distribution system for our management accounts is being put in place, and the timescale should be tightened as a result of this.

Histon Co-op

My good lady and I went for a bit of a walk around Histon and Oakington yesterday, and I insisted (sorry Kate!) that we take a look at Histon Co-op while we were there. The Co-op foodstore shares its spot with a Co-op Pharmacy, but this was closed when we visited. We were both impressed with the range of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, and with the general fullness of the store. There were some membership leaflets, but no membership board - hopefully the new batch of these boards will be delivered soon.

There were lots of Fairtrade products in stock - we bought some of the FT bananas, and the new "Co-operative" brand was in evidence on some of the healthier options, such as skimmed milk, and low-fat bacon. All in all, a good store, and one that is managing to withstand the competition from a Tesco Express just down the road.

Dividend

Well, this post is a little late, but I hope that all Co-op Group members got their dividend payout before Christmas. They are normally sent out in Co-op vouchers, but if you would prefer a cheque or bank transfer, then you can phone the helpline on 0845 090 1456 in order to switch.

All in all, £13 million of the Co-op profits was distributed to 1.4 million customer members, at a rate of 1.39p per point (you receive, broadly speaking, 1 point per pound that you spend with the Co-op). Those of you who are kind enough to donate your odd pence (or even a larger fraction of your dividend) to the Community Dividend fund have raised £450,000 for projects in your communities. The only problem with this is that choosing between different applicants for the money will be a daunting prospect for your Area Committee in the year ahead!

Merger with United to delay Constitutional Review

Elected members have been informed that the Constitutional Review of the Co-op Group that is currently proceeding is going to be delayed until after the possible merger with United Co-op is dealt with one way or another. This was an inevitable step, as a merged Society would be considerably different in terms of size, geograpical distribution, and the relationship with the remaining independent Co-ops. I assume that the merger would result in increased represenation from individual members (rather than from the independents) on the Group Board, which I think on balance is a *good thing*.

Co-op Goup's Charity of the Year Named

The Charity of the Year for the Co-operative Group has been the subject of a members vote over the last few weeks, and the winner has recently been announced as The Children's Society after a vote of over 90,000 members and staff. Well done to all at the charity, and here's hoping that we can raise a truly magnificent amount of money to help support their work in giving aid to children at risk or in need, and in campaigning for "A good childhood".