A Cambridge Co-operator

Test post

2010-05-11T20:18:00.002+01:00

this is a quick check to see if i can post here from my posh new mobile. apart from not being able to use capital letters its not too bad! the reason is that i don't seem to be able to use hive.coop, which is something of a pity.

hive.coop

2010-02-11T20:33:00.006Z

Sorry about the general lack of posts on here. It turns out that getting *involved* with Co-operative Societies - as well as other organisations, my job and a part-time PhD - takes away the time necessary to *write* about them. And with me and the missus becoming parents in May, it isn't a situation that I can realistically see changing.

And that's a shame, because I genuinely feel that over the coming years use of web technology to provide communication and engagement between elected members of large co-operatives and the wider membership will become increasingly important. In fact I'd say that in a wee while those elected members who fail to provide even a cursory description of their activites and opinions will be seen as distinctly old fashioned and needlessly remote.

Which is why I'm really glad that hive.coop has been launched. Hive is a social networking site in the same vein as Facebook and Myspace, but it is designed specifically for the co-operative movement. On it you can start your own blog, start or join discussions, create your own special interest group and of course engage in the devisive accepting and declining (and unfriending!) of "friends".

It's only been going a few days, but its already lively enough. With wider publicity and some more members it could get really useful and interesting.

So I'm going to semi-retire this blog (well, it's been semi-demi-retired for a little while now, lets face it). I'm not sure if I'm going to start a new, less intensive blog on Hive, or if I'm just going to keep active in the forums and groups, but I will try to stay available and open to all members of the Co-operative Group, and especially those I represent in Cambridge and East Anglia and the Central and Eastern region. And I'll try not to take it all *too* seriously, *all* of the time.

Auf Wiedersehen!

Yours in Co-operation,

Sam

And for the last post, you finally get a head-and-shoulders shot of my ugly mug! I'm sure you can see why I kept it well hidden until now.

Castle Website

2009-11-27T08:00:00.000Z

The fantastic Knucklas Community Land Project that I blogged about a bit earlier in the year now has a website to provide a bit more information and to act as a point of contact. I'm a proud member of the Project, set up as a a type of co-operative to benefit the community, which in turn means that I am a joint tenant of a medieval Welsh castle!

The aim is to complete the purchase from the locals who stumped up the cash when the castle was first for sale, so if you are interested in archeology, community orchards, allotments, or just want to support a very worthwhile community project, go and buy some shares and be part of it!

Logo from Project Website

Co-operative Review 2009

2009-11-24T08:00:00.000Z

Every year the great guys and gals at Co-operatives UK publish a review of the previous year's Co-operative performance and the 2009 review was published a few weeks ago. It acts as a thorough and comprehensive look at all parts of the wider movement, including the consumer co-op movement, worker co-ops, agricultural co-operatives, credit unions, housing co-ops, fishing co-ops and community co-ops such as supporters trusts and renewable energy co-operatives.

However, it's the bit on the traditional consumer co-operative movement that I would like to consider here. I've looked at this before, in 2006 and 2007 - I must have been distracted by my wedding in 2008 - and it's interesting to see how things have changed. On both those previous occasions I pointed out that we were witnessing the slow but pernicious decline of the consumer co-operative movement. Turnover had been decreasing year on year.

Somewhat brilliantly, this has changed for the better. The total turnover in 2008 across all 20 consumer societies is now £12.9bn, up 2.3% on 2007, and up 3.5% on the low point in 2006. Bear in mind that this results reflect a period of time before the acquisition of Somerfield by the Co-operative Group - the largest of the consumer co-operative societies - in March of this year. Coupled with our merger with Britannia, next year's look at 2009 figures should make very interesting reading indeed

We are fighting back, and now see like-for-like sales growth that is ahead of the other major retailers. Because of the large size of the Co-op Group, its results do kind of dominate figures, but there have been some good growth - in fact better than the Group's - at the largest independent Co-ops - Midlands and Midcounties. The 4th largest society, East of England saw a sales decrease. Not sure what is going on there!

In short, there is a lot more to be positive about regarding the Co-operative Movement than there was four years ago. We have a new brand that people seem to like, we are selling some great products, our ethical credentials are better known in the public at large, and we are expanding and facing the future with optimisim rather than settling for that slow decline. Well done to the boards and management of the consumer co-operative movement!

The image is of Blencathra, and therefore nothing to do with the comparative performance of the UK consumer co-operative movement. However, Kate and I went up it in May and its a nice enough photo we took.

Farewell to PR!

2009-11-22T08:00:00.001Z

Just a very quick message to say farewell to the Co-operative Group's chief food retail officer in the region. Peter Rowley has left us to take up the more convenient (for him!) equivalent post in the North-West. Those of you who have come to members' meetings in the past few years will no doubt have been as impressed as I was with his almost encyclopedic knowledge of the food stores under his responsibility.

I know that the whole Central and Eastern Regional Board will give him a fond farewell, and I would like to echo that here. We look forward to having as good a relationship with his successor.

City Supporters Trusts United Against Teen Cancer

2009-11-20T08:00:00.002Z

Regular readers of this blog will know that I am a big fan of Supporters Trusts. Supporters Trusts are co-operative of fans of a particular team (usually football, although rugby supporters trusts are coming into being as well), who aim to increase their voice at their supported club. Large football clubs in particular are notorious for exploiting their fans' loyalty but giving them little in return. Supporters Trusts aim to redress the balance, and can even end up controlling the club like at AFC Wimbledon, Exeter and our very own Cambridge City.

Supporters Trusts are great because they have a real co-operative frontier feel about them. They appeal to a largely different bunch than the consumer or worker co-operative movements, and are run by and for a group of ordinary sports fans in their spare time, trying to make their club and their community better.

The two Supporters trusts in the City of Cambridge; CCST and CFU support Cambridge City FC and Cambridge United FC respectively, and relations between them are always warm. Exhibiting the sixth and seventh Principles of Co-operation, they have come together to raise money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, a good cause if ever there was one. In best Supporters' Trust traditions, the event will take the shape of a football match between the two sets of fans at City's Milton Road ground.

The match takes place on Friday 4th December, and entrance will be free, but please do contribute to the bucket collection for the TCT!

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Soccer_goalkeeper.jpg

Co-op Boss "Leader of the Year"

2009-11-18T08:00:00.000Z

Warm congratulations to Peter Marks, Co-op Group Chief Executive, for having been named Leader of the Year at the National Business Awards. The award was given to Peter for the period in which he successfully steered through two mergers while managing to hold on to the high standards already in place for the core of the business.

Peter is a strong character, and can be a little ascerbic when questions from elected members aren't to his taste! But nobody can deny that his record since taking over the Co-operative Group has been superb, with the society advancing both in financial terms and in pursuit of its social goals. Well done Peter.

New for Norfolk

2009-11-17T12:03:00.004Z

Exciting goings on in Norfolk. The Co-operative Group is opening a brand-spanking-new, lovely fully branded Co-operative Food store in the delightful market town of Wymondham (for those of you who aren't "from these parts", it's pronounced something like "Windham") later this week. This is in the premises that until recently was a Woolworths - if you know the town you will be aware that this means in a rather prestigious location on Market Street.

As an area committee member of the Cambridge and East Anglia area that covers this patch I'll be along this Saturday morning to try to encourage the good people of Wymondham to become members of the Co-operative Group. This way, they will receive the very worthwhile twice-yearly dividend and can play their part in the democracy of the Society if they wish.

Image of Wymondham's Market Cross taken from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wymondham.jpg. They used to nail live rats to it apparently.

Cambridge + East Anglia Meeting Report

2009-11-04T11:08:00.006Z

The half-yearly meeting for members of the Co-operative Group in the Cambridge and East Anglia region went really well. This is one of the two more formal meetings during the year when the wider membership - the "ordinary members" if you will (although there is no such thing as an ordinary Co-op member!) receive presentations from their representatives about how their Co-operative Society has performed. And because we are a Co-op, we place just as much emphasis on our community work, our charitable giving, and our campaigns as we do on the financial side of things.

I am aware that I haven't posted anything yet on the interim results of the Group that were released in September. I'll just briefly summarise them here

Things are looking OK!

For those who like a bit more detail, our green food shops are doing great - and the Somerfield acquisition is looking good in these early days. So food retail is selling more and making more profit than this time last year. We are still doing well with our pharmacies, with a slight increase on last year's profits. Travel and Motor dealerships (we have inherited some car showrooms from our merger with United Co-ops) are obviously operating in markets that are very prone to the credit crunch, but are holding on in there. Travel made a reduced profit on an increased market share, while motors managed to break even. Funeralcare is doing well, boosted by acquisitions and improved marketing. Our other businesses such as farms, legal services etc. are generally doing as well, if not better, than 2008

That's the national picture - but this being a local meeting we were also told of the performance of just our region. In the Central and Eastern patch, food sales, funeral care and pharmacy all increased sales and profit, while our travel businesses saw slight declines. In food I believe we slightly outperform the national average.

So on a financial footing things are going well. But what about membership activity? I must admit that when Ranjit, our Co-operative Affairs Officer for our area, gave a list of the membership events, campaigns and community functions that we have put on or contributed to over the last twelve months, I was amazed by its length. As a committee member you often lose count of the number of events that our officers organise on our behalf, so a serious well done to Ranjit and the rest of the regional membership team.

The list included:

Cambridge screening of Plan Bee

Watch Your Waste event

Share Your Profits scheme - Cambridge City FC

Loads of Community Fund awards

Fairtrade Fortnight

Walking Buses

Green Energy 4 Schools (including the first school based windfarm funded by the Co-op in Ely)

Farm - to - Fork

2009 Strawberry Fair

ICA day at Milton Keynes

Title Sponsors of Cambridge Folk Festival

Screening of Burma VJ

Young Film Makers

Ripple Effect member education

And still to come is Sugar Secrets (an expose of the sugar industry) and "The Wave" a march against climate change.

Of course, these members meetings are not just passive reception of presentations from the Co-op. They are also your chance to ask questions of officers and elected members. These can be regarding just about anything, such as trading performance, customer service, constitutional matters, or about our community involvement.

I thought that this year's questions were particularly good, and I include a brief, paraphrased Q+A report of a selection of them:

Trading performace / customer service
Q. Is the Co-op looking into self-service tills?
A. There is a trial going on at the moment at a number of sites in other areas. The jury is still out on self-service - we want to give as good a service as possible. We won't be rusing into this.

Q. Our Co-op in Dunmow has got a nearby Tesco's, as other stores do in the area. Can store managers with nearby aggressive competition form a mutual support group to swap ideas?
A. These issues are already discussed at regular managers meetings. Strategies to compete effectively are discussed and implemented.

Q. How is the Mill Road store doing in the face of competition?
A. We are performing even better than expected, and are finding that a small initial drop in sales is gradually building back. The pro-Co-op nature of the local community has been fantastic.

Q. Do we track the percentage of transactions made by members?
A. This is tracked in food stores and discussed by management. It is important to increase this value as members typically spend more per visit.

Q. Can we use Brittania branches to pay in cheques?
A. Not at the moment. The computer systems are incompatible. Hopefully this will change in the near future.

Membership Matters
Q. Thank you for the screening of the excellent "Vanishing of the Bees" film. Can we do something similar on the Tar Sands issue (extraction of oil from tar sands contributes even more carbon to the atomsphere than normal oil)?
A. Opposition to Tar Sands extraction is a major project of our Social Goals team. We are looking at the possibility of showing a film.

Q. Are there membership campaigns planned on local food sourcing?
A. Not at the moment - next year's action plan will be being considered by your area committee members very soon.

Q. How many young people are members?
A. The Co-op membership has been slightly older than the wider population for a long time. However, our new campaigns and the brand launch this year has meant that our new members are considerably younger. We want to have a good age mix representative of wider society.

I think that a very informative and enjoyable evening was had by all. It was good to see members attending for the first time, as well as of course our regular active members. Attendence was up on last year - whether this was due to the more central location or the advertising campaign and brand relaunch is hard to say.

Image is of the Cambridge Wickerman sourced from the website of the Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival.

Half-Yearly Members Meeting

2009-10-14T12:03:00.002+01:00

A reminder that as previously advertised, the half-yearly members meeting in the Cambridge and East Anglia area of the Co-operative Group will take place on Thursday 22nd October at the Gonville Hotel in Cambridge. Start time is 7pm.

On the agenda will be receiving reports on both the financial and membership activity in the area since the last meeting. There will also be the opportunity to vote for a member delegate to attend and observe the national Group AGM. This is a new departure for us as a Society, and has come about through the constitutional review process in recent years.

The meeting is open to all members of the Co-operative Group who live in Cambridge and East Anglia. Ideally however, you would let our lovely membership team know that you will be coming by emailing them on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop. Alternatively, you can now register online at the fantastic events diary: https://www.co-operativememberevents.coop/. This diary also covers all the other area meetings in the country, so be sure you select the right one!

Upcoming Events

2009-09-19T15:52:00.002+01:00

Well, first of all my apologies at the lack of regular updates on this blog. Sadly, I think that this situation is likely to continue. I seem to be gaining additional responsibilities with various bodies, and my election to the Co-operative Group Central and Eastern Regional Board takes its toll as well. So this blog is going to be a little bit stuttering, but I hope to be able to use it as a noticeboard for upcoming events and as a way for Co-op members to get in touch with me.

Of the upcoming Co-operative events in this area, the most important is surely the Cambridge and East Anglia Area Half-Yealy Meeting on Thursday 22nd October. This meeting, open to all Co-operative Group members in the area, starts at 7pm in the Gonville Hotel (by Parkers' Piece), and is your chance to hold your area committee to account. You get to find out about the financial and membership performance of the Co-op in the area. All the elected members on the Area Committee are likely to be there, so come along and have a word!

A Watch Your Waste event will be held in the daytime on Tuesday 29th September at the University Arms Hotel in the centre of Cambridge. This will have lots of tips on how to make your food go further, and help to reduce waste in the kitchen.

Finally, we are planing a Sugar Secrets Event in Cambridge at some point in the near future to expose the dreadful conditions that some sugar farm workers have to endure, and the role that Fairtrade has to remedy the situation.

I hope to see you at one of the above events!

That Was the Weekend That Was

2009-08-07T20:30:00.004+01:00

I, like everyone else I would imagine, had a great time at the Cambridge Folk Festival last weekend. Although this was the first time that the Co-operative Group was the headline sponsor of this most prestigious of folk festivals, I was there as a paying punter rather than as a Co-op membership operative!

But the Co-op stand was more impressive than ever, with the bubble machine adding to the atmosphere. The ever-delightful Co-operative Ethical Quizes were so popular that we were running out of question forms. The answers were to be found around the interactive Co-op stall, which showcased our community credentials, our windfarms, our committment to Fairtrade - in fact our all round ethical nature!

And as for the Folk Festival itself? Pretty much top draw in my opinion. I'm more of a fan of English folk than Americana, and I'm not sure if it was my imangination, but there seemed to be a little bit more of the home-grown stuff than usual. Compliments go to Jim Moray, reggae-folk crossover act Edward II, Lau, Calan, Spiro with their trance-folk and Ruairidh MacMillan and friends. You were my pick of the festival, and thanks to the Proper Folk store most of you are also very very slightly richer as a result of my purchases! Wild Willy Barrett's end of festival show was great but sadly about 40 minutes too short...

I can't tell you how glad I am that the Co-operative were so closely involved with a festival of such brilliance, and with values and principles so well aligned with our own. I hope that this relationship is a long and happy one!

Folk Festival Starts Tomorrow!

2009-07-29T14:07:00.003+01:00

The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival starts tomorrow, and as you might have noticed from the new suffix in that title, the Co-operative Group are, for the first time, headline sponsors of the event! In past years, we have been sponsors of the (rather good by all accounts) creche, but this year we are going further and will have a massive presence at the event, including two shops which will no doubt provide most of the hungry and thirsty festival-goers and campers with fuel for their weekend.

In addition to the Co-op shops on site, the membership team will be there in their special festival-mobile complete with quizes, interactive displays and all sorts of fun. It promises to be a great few days.

Wickerman image from main festival website.

Burma VJ

2009-07-03T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Co-operative Group has some success in organising screenings of films for its members. climate change, the coffee trade, slavery, and of course the bee crisis have all been subject of these movie nights. The latest in this proud tradition is Burma VJ, a dramatic documentary following video journalists who put their lives on the line to record the Burmese uprisings in 2007. Unlike the other films, the Co-operative Group actually aided the production of Burma VJ, representing another action aimed to stop the Burmese repressive regime. Given its almost uniquely pervasive and unacceptable level of oppresion, Burma is blacklisted by the Co-op:

"The Co-operative does not trade with Burma, The Co-operative Travel has delisted the country as a tourist destination, and The Co-operative Bank will not finance any commercial organisation with a significant presence in Burma."

The free film nights are being held at cinemas all over the country - and in Dublin - on 14th July. To get a free ticket, simply go here and select your chosen venue. Some, including Cambridge Picturehouse, is already sold out. Sadly I will be unable to make the 14th July screening, but I will be sure to see it at some point near in the future. Events like this manage to combine genuine consciousness raising on big issues like this with an opportunity to convey the fact that the Co-operative Group has a moral dimension and ethical policy.

ICA day, Milton Keynes

2009-07-01T12:34:00.002+01:00

I've left this far too late - but for the record, on 3rd July the Co-operative Group in the Central and Eastern region of the country is holding a day celebrating International Co-operation - as part of the yearly celebration co-ordinated by the ICA.

The line-up is going to be really impressive, and features a representative from the ICA, Professor Ian MacPherson, and Dick Parkhouse of the Co-operative Bank. Our very own Paul Cranfield will be representing the Co-operative Group on the stage. There will also be a variety of world music. The event takes place in the MK Stadium, and to go along please email our fantastic membership team on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop.

Co-op Job in Cambridge

2009-07-01T12:31:00.003+01:00

The Argyle Street Housing Co-op, who I've talked about on here in the past, are looking for a part-time Housing Co-ordinator. You can find out more on their website. Sounds like a great opportunity for the right person.

Area Committee Meeting - June 2009

2009-06-17T16:47:00.003+01:00

This month's meeting of the Cambridge and East Anglia Area Committee of the Co-operative Group was honoured by the presence of newly re-elected regional chair, Herbert Daybell. Herbert's visit was to meet the newly elected members of the committee, and generally to encourage a good level of communication between regional board and area committee, with each fully aware of its area of responsibility. Alternatively, as Herbert joked, it was to "be myself again after having to be nice during the election period"!

The food shop figures were gone through with a local Ops Manager, raising issues where there were any on a store-by-store basis. Some food shops are breaking records with sales and profitability at the moment. One or two aren't doing so well, and these will be kept under close watch by the committee. The management accounts for Travel, Funeral and Pharmacy premises in our area were similarly received by the committee.

The Community Fund has changed slightly recently - we now consider applications of up to £2000 rather than £5000 as previously. This is to encourage smaller, more focussed applications and help us to spread our members' money more widely within the area. At this area committee meeting, four applicants were awarded sums totalling over £5000. More details on this in the near future.

The committee received reports from regional bodies. In my report from the regional board meeting a few days previously, I mentioned details of a pilot leadership programme for store managers, the first CFS quarterly report that the regional board had received, and the agenda for the imminent AGM.

The results of the Group Board elections were announced. The Group Board is the board of directors that are, well, in charge of everything! Purely made up of non-executives, there are 15 regional representatives, and 5 representatives of independent co-ops. They appoint and hold accountable the Executive - including Peter Marks, our Chief Executive. So you can see that this is an extremely important position to hold! The two representatives from our Central and Eastern region, voted for by all the area committee members within the region, are the aforementioned Herbert Daybell and Cambridge's very own Steve Watts. Congratulations to both, and good luck!

AGM over!

2009-06-07T18:13:00.000+01:00

Phew!

Just got back from three days of inductions, workshops, general meetings and the regional board conference up at the Co-operative Group's Manchester head office. I haven't got time to give a full run-down of the activity, but just to say a big well done to all of the members and officers of the Group who contributed to such a successful weekend. The membership department managed to get all of us delegates to the right places at the right time - which is no mean feat I can promise! And the management representatives who presented to and engaged with delegates should be congratulated for the frank, in-depth and highly informative way in which they did so.

The image is recycled from my report on the 2006 Group AGM. The circumferal inscription reads "Co-operative Wholesale Society Limited" while "Labour and Wait" decorates the Wheatsheaf, symbol of Co-operation.

Online AGM

2009-06-04T08:00:00.001+01:00

Oops, I almost forgot about this!

Although I was correct in saying yesterday that attendence at the Co-operative Group's AGM is open to delegates only, this year sees a trial of an online broadcast of the AGM to all members. Simply go to http://www.co-operative.coop/groupagm on the morning of Saturday 6th June, and watch the webcast. The information that is currently on that page states that a check will be done on the "compatibility" of your computer - I have a terrible feeling that this might suggest that MJR will not be happy with the format of the webcast.... But at least there will be a feedback form to inform next year's webcast.

You can also view the webcast of the recent Central and Eastern Regional AGM here. This is also available for most other regions.

Recent Goings On

2009-06-03T11:19:00.004+01:00

Apologies for not posting or a little while. I've been quite busy! As well as being on the regional board and area committee of the Co-operative Group, I am now also the secretary of Cambridge City Supporters Trust, on the committee at Arbury Community Centre, and have a very busy work life as well!

One very enjoyable week in the last month was spent in the Lake District - indeed, in the Co-operative hotbed that is Hesket Newmarket. I hasten to add that my committed and continual patronage of the pub and the brewery were only for Co-operative research purposes..... We (me and Kate, my wife) also made a start on the Wainwrights - we're now seven down, and just 207 to go! We also found time to visit the Woolclip, a co-op based in nearby Caldbeck which spins, dyes and knits a variety of wool products to sell from their gorgeous little shop near the river. To be honest, wool has never been one of my retail priorities, but I did buy some rainbow-dyed walking socks, and Kate has purchased wool to knit me a hat in Cambridge City colours. What a woman!

Next weekend sees the national AGM of the Co-operative Group. Unlike the regional AGMs which are open to all members, this national meeting has representatives appointed by the regions of the Co-op Group and by other indpendent Societies. I went to this in 2006, and really enjoyed the experience. As a member of the regional board, I get to go again, and I'm really looking forward to it.

The Co-operative Group annual report has now been fully published, and I'm making my way through it! As I said in my post last month though, reports from each of the divisions are almost unanimous in looking really positive, even in areas which might have been expected to suffer disproportionately from the credit crunch. Justification, if this were needed, that the Co-operative business model has much to offer the 21st Century. Capital is going to be tight for the next few years, as we pay off the loans that we took on to purchase Somerfield. But after that I hope that the Group can continue to expand and innovate, both in current business areas and in new ventures (Co-operative estate agents anyone?)

Ripple Effect

2009-05-08T08:00:00.000+01:00

I'm in a bit of a rush, so this is just a quick message to say how much I enjoyed the Ripple Effect event held last week. It was great to see so many new faces as Ranjit and Lisa talked us through the history of the Co-operative Group, and what makes co-operatives different to PLCs.

Co-operative Group 2008 results

2009-05-06T09:31:00.002+01:00

The 2008 results of the Co-operative Group were announced today - I don't have very much time at the moment to go through them all, but they can be seen in summary here (pdf) or even more briefly here. There is no sign yet of the full annual report either online or through my door!

Certainly seems like a positive set of results, especially considering the prevailing economic climate. The food business saw turnover growth of 23% (like-for-like growth of 5%), with a profit before significant items growing by 38%. It is also reported that Fairtrade sales grew by 40% over the year. I recently heard the statistic that the Co-op still sells more Fairtrade stuff than all the other supermarkets combined! I can't vouch for its veracity, but this increase in FT sales is certainly an indication that we have lost none of our commitment to ethical trading.

Sales and profits were also up for our pharmacies, despite the "claw-back" of money by the government over the year with regard to NHS prescriptions. A similar success story was seen with Funeralcare - and (slightly surprisingly given the downturn) our Travel businesses. In 2007 our travel agents made a loss of £2m, which has been turned round into a profit of £5m. The new website (launched in December, so with limited impact on these 2008 figures) is said to be driving increased sales as well.

My favourite business, the Co-operative Farms, made a record profit of over £5m, which is great news. Based on a quick scan through the results, none of our businesses is showing real cause for concern, although Clothing did make a small loss of £200k.

The results for CFS (the Co-op Bank, Co-operative Insurance and Co-operative Investments) were published (warning: large pdf file) a couple of weeks ago, and were generally positive. The Bank made an increased profit of £86m (before FSCS levy and significant items), which is pretty amazing given the circumstances, while our insurance arm did less well due to declining asset values, but remained profitable. The net result is that the total profit for CFS before levy and significant items has decreased slightly to £147m from £155m. Steady as she goes! That levy, by the way, is the money paid by CFS towards the compensation programme for customers of failed banks, insurance firms etc..

I look forward to reading these results in a bit more detail in the near future, but in the meantime I think that some congratulation for the board and management of the Co-operative Group is in order. Well done!

Keep Reading

2009-05-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

Readers of Martin Tiedemann's excellent Politics for People blog may have noticed a post about Kucklas Castle a few months ago. This castle mound (just on the right side of the Welsh border!), with ruins still visible from the 13th century construction - and some more land at its base - was bought in November by a number of local residents who wished to set up the Knucklas Castle Community Land Project - a community land trust in the same vein as Fordhall Farm. The project now plans allotments, a community orchard and archeological exploration while the land remains open as a new "village green".

Previous attempts to improve access to the castle were challenging since the land was in private hands. But in 2008 the land came up for sale, and the worth of placing it into the community's hands was clear. A representative from Land For People (an organisation that promotes affordable housing and community-owned land in Mid-Wales) came to address a public meeting about the concept of community land trusts, and the founder members of the Project stumped up the cash at auction.

Since then, allotments have been marked out and let, the first tree in the orchard has been planted, and the trust has been legally set up and is accepting investments and donations. If you wish to play your part - be this by offering practical help, buying shares in the project or donating money - get in touch with the organisation's secretary on knucklascastleclt@googlemail.com.

What a fantastic example of people coming together to create a real community asset in their local area! I hope to be able to drop in on Knucklas next time I'm nearby - my family comes from Newtown, twenty miles up the road so hopefully this won't be long.

The People's Castle is now open!

We're Merged!

2009-05-02T10:15:00.003+01:00

So it's official! Brittania members voted 6 to 1 in favour of merging with the Co-operative Financial Services. This is fantastic news for the Co-op, as it provides a ready-made network of branches to sell our products through - perfect to capitalise on the prevailing feeling against conventional banks. Britannia members are now part of the most diversified customer-owned enterprise in the UK, and will continue to share profits and have a say in the running of their business.

The new CFS has £70bn in assets, 9m customers, and over 300 branches - and a lot of expectation on its shoulders. We will formally come together on the First of August - subject to clearence from the FSA.

Welcome to the Co-op!

Re:act magazine

2009-04-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

The latest edition of Re:act magazine was sent out over the last few weeks and it has to be said that I am once again extremely impressed with it.

Re:act is the Co-operative Group's magazine for active members. Now, it is very possible indeed that you consider yourself to be an active members (or would like to become one), but are not fortunate enough to receive Re:act through the post. To remedy this, simply email our regional membership team on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop if you are a member in this region. If you live outside the Central and Eastern region, I would suggest going through the national membership@co-operative.co.uk email address.

Anyway, while the main Co-operative magazine includes features on special offers, member benefits, health tips and competitions etc., Re:act (which doesn't have a website presence as far as I am aware) is very much focussed on ethics and the Co-operative movement. This month's news includes our merger with Britannia, our opposition to Heathrow's third runway, our fantastic Palestinian Olive Oil and the Toxic Fuel campaign. Re:act has a letters page which includes critical as well as congratulatory offerings, while main articles this issue are on the banking crisis, our ethical priorities, bees, marine sustainability, what we can learn from Obama, wasted food, the morality of charitable giving, living off the land, criticisms of Fairtrade, our Charity of the Year (RNID), and the need to avoid the commercialisation of childhood. Wow! Well worth a read.

Re:act also comes with a local supplement (Re:action) which details regional news of the same kind. The front cover of this quality publication features a picture of my own fair self signing up the Chair of Cambridge City Supporters' Trust, Andy Dunn, to be a member of the Co-operative Group!

Its brilliant that the Co-operative Group is providing quality, grown-up publications of this kind that really engages with the issues that matter to our membership. Well done to the Re:act team!

Co-operative TV

2009-04-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

I've talked before about the excellent Co-opVidVod service that's been going for a while. Well, in the same vein, the Co-operative Group have launched their own collection of videos - or "online TV channel" as these things tend to get called. Take a look at it at Co-operative TV.

Its a case of so far so good really, with a mix of Fairtrade, campagining and more corporate-style videos. There's some really good stuff there, and hopefully as more content is added over time it will build into a great resource for people trying to find out more about the Co-operative Group and related subjects.

My favourite video is this one that was shown at the recent area committee conference. A short history of the 17 years of the Co-operative Bank's ethical policy, its worth watching just for the bit where a very youthful Jeremy Paxman asks our man what we have got against ferrets! The answer is that they were falling foul of our policy against lending money to bloodsports - presumably these cuddly cylindrical rodents were being used to catch rabbits.

The image is of a German-built 1950's TV. Fantastic! Image sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Braun_HF_1.jpg

Area Committee Conference

2009-04-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

As your elected representatives, your area committee members spend a lot of their time sitting in meetings receiving reports, making decisions and recommendations, and generally doing their bit to help the Society succeed. To help them achieve this, the Co-operative Group is actually pretty good at providing the specialist education and training that they need for their role. Some of this is through formal accredited courses while other learning is provided specifically for certain roles (like our part in awarding Community Fund grants), or simply happens naturally as part of our engagement with the Society.

This year's area committee conference, open to all elected members in the Central and Eastern region, was an important opportunity for all of us - newly elected or old-hand - to learn a bit more about the businesses that we are responsible for, and their strategy for the future. We had fantastic presentations from Food Retail, our Travel business, Funeralcare, Healthcare (pharmacies) and even from Co-operative Financial Services (the Co-op Bank, Co-op Insurance and allied businesses). While the areas and regions of the Co-operative Group are not directly responsible for goings on in CFS, this is obviously a major part of the Group - and one that is, shall we say, very interesting at the moment.

But the area committee conference is more than simply a training session, Equally vital is the opportunity to chat to elected members from other areas. As this was the first conference since those all-out elections, it was really nice to see some new faces. And I must be getting old, because I'm sure there were quite a few younger faces than mine in attendance.....

As always with these sorts of occasions, I came away feeling pretty uplifted by the whole thing. I suppose that's due to a combination of hearing about the contribution of the Co-operative Group businesses to our Social aims and of seeing the range and talent and commitment of our elected representatives.

Yes, I know it's got very little to do with the area committee conference, and I have used it before on the blog, but this is a picture of one of our Coldham Farm wind turbines. And I don't have to credit the image because I took it!

Co-op and Countryfile

2009-04-19T20:39:00.003+01:00

Some good publicity for our stance on the bee crisis tonight on Countryfile. John Craven (for it is he) went to a group of beehives on Co-operative Farms land and talked to a Co-op Group representative about our banning of those neonicotinoids.

JC also went to France to talk to a scientist there who has been collecting evidence that neonicotinoids are indeed a problem for our six-footed nectar-collecting friends. Meanwhile, there's no sign yet of solitary bee species making their home in my bee-box, but I live in hope.

Meanwhile, there's been some new content added to the Co-operative Plan Bee pages, so take another look around.

Area Committee Meeting - April 2009

2009-04-18T08:00:00.000+01:00

As the March meeting of the new area committee was largely taken up with elections of officers and representatives, our meeting early in April was a return to normality for the Cambridge and East Anglia area committee of the Co-operative Group.

We had, as usual, an operations manager from the local food business. I think its fair to say that the committee is always extremely grateful for the insights into the business that our visiting managers are able to give us. The format is generally a short presentation from the manager on the local food business in general and his/her responsibilities in particular, followed by questions from the commitee. These questions either arise from the management accounts that we have seen, from our own experience or from other members' experieneces that they have raised with us.

We also examined the accounts from the other three businesses that are directly responsible to the area and region: Funeralcare, Co-operative Travel and Co-operative Healthcare (i.e. our pharmacy division). We receive visits from representatives of these businesses on a less frequent basis. As part of the trading report we additionally received some information on the ongoing brand and membership campaign. Following on from that iconic (and lengthy!) TV advert, the Society is keeping Co-operation in the public eye with press adverts - the latest of which proclaims that:

We're different, we don't answer to stock markets and speculators. As a co-operative we answer to our members

Obviously a strong message in today's climate. And absolutely true. One of the strengths of the Co-operative Bank in recent months has been that it has no share price* to speculate in, no incentive for short-sellers to contrive a crisis. That's in addition to the fact that the Co-op Bank practised old-fashioned, boring banking that turns out to be the right way to do things....

In any case, as well as those press adverts, we are also door-dropping quality leaflets that promote our member-owned status, our commitment to ethical business and our community initiatives. From a personal point of view, its great to see leaflets that focus on our ethical positives rather than more mundane missives on special offers - its always seemed that Co-operation has been one of life's best kept secrets, so its good to see this start to change.

An important part of the Area Committee's work is to visit stores in person. Now of course we all have two or three Co-op shops that we visit regularly as a consumer and naturally keep a close eye on. But our area covers 41 food stores (and plenty of funeral premises, travel agents and pharmacies as well), so we need to make special arrangements to make sure that we keep in touch with all of the premises that we are responsible for to our local members. A couple of tours of Co-op shop "hot-spots" were arranged at the committee meeting to help us achieve this.

The committee received reports of the two recent membership events - Plan Bee and Meet The Producers. From my perspective they both went very well indeed, really capturing the attention and interests of our members. In particular, the healthy turnout at the Plan Bee event was all the more impressive given that Cambridgeshire was blanketted in a thick layer of snow!

We had no report from our Regional Board representatives as no meeting had been held since the last area commitee.

Last thing on the agenda was to appoint our representatives/delegates to the Regional Values and Principles Committee, Co-operative Congress and the national AGM of the Co-operative Group and the Cambridge Co-operative Party Council. And that was that for another month!

*Not entirely true. Some preference shares have been issued to raise capital, and these are tradable. But these shares have effectively no voting rights and limited dividend, so have more in common with loan finance than an equity stake.

Regional AGM

2009-04-16T08:00:00.001+01:00

Although there are lots of chances during the year to get in touch with your elected representatives, there are two meetings in particular that let you hold your elected representatives to account. One is the half-yearly meeting, held on an area basis - the last one of these was in October at the Moller Centre, Cambridge. The other is the regional AGM. This covers a large area - from the Black Country to Great Yarmouth and from Lincolnshire to north Essex, so its a really big event that attracts a large number of members.

Regional AGM is open to all individual members from the region, so please do attend! It is on Saurday 11th May at Kettering Conference Centre from 11am to 3pm. A special bus service is laid on from Cambridge train station to allow as many members from around these parts to attend as possible. There is normally a good mix of workshops and presentations, and I would really recommend it to all Co-op members. As you might expect given the start and stop times, lunch is provided assuming that you book beforehand. To do so, get in touch with our fantastic regional membership team on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop.

If you are unable to attend (as is the case for myself, I am sorry to say), there will be a facility to participate online. Contact the membership team at the above address in advance to sort this out.

Its A Co-operative World!

2009-04-14T08:00:00.001+01:00

The Cambridge and East Anglia area of the Co-operative Group has held a number of Co-operative education events in the past. Indeed, it was attending a "Know your Co-op" event a few years ago that sparked my interest in being an active member of the Society. Since then, the "Know your Co-op" has evolved into "The Ripple Effect" - a two hour introduction to the world of Co-operatives - with a particular focus on how the Co-operative Group works.

I'm pleased to announce that the latest Ripple Effect will be taking place on the 30th April at the Crowne Plaza hotel in the centre of Cambridge. Starting at 6.30 for 7pm, it will not only enable attendees to learn more about the Co-operative Movement, it will also provide an excellent chance to talk to your elected representatives - including me.

The Ripple Effect is open to all Co-operative members - and I do encourage you to come along. However, as these events are normally pretty popular, booking is essential. Telephone our regional membership team on 01908 361500 or email them on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop for more information or to book your place.

See you then!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T11:46:00.003+01:00

A very happy Easter to all my readers! Easter always symbolises new life and new beginnings and since the Co-operative Group seems to be in a continuous state of new beginning, this seems like an appropriate date for one of my momentarily irregular blog posts!

Continuing from my gushing praise for the Fairtrade peppermint cremes, I just thought I'd mention the fantastic "Co-operative Truly Irresistible Fairtrade Belgian milk choclate Easter egg with chocolate truffles". (Does George Elliot name our products? Never name a product with a couple of words where a dozen will do.....).

The days of Fairtrade Chocolate only containing Fairtrade Cocoa are gone! This easter egg (and allied truffles) contains Fairtrade Sugar, Fairtrade Cocoa Butter, Fairtrade Cocoa Mass, Fairtrade Invert Sugar Syrup, and Fairtrade Coffee. Our Fairtrade chocolate bars contain Fairtrade vanilla, but this flavouring seems to have no place in Easter confectionary....

Image from http://www.freefoto.com/preview/09-41-61?ffid=09-41-61&k=Egg.

Ethical Eatables

2009-03-29T18:52:00.004+01:00

Co-op shops were the first supermarket supporter of Fairtrade goods - right from when it was just Maya Gold, Cafedirect and Clipper tea. Since then, all the major supermarkets have embraced the Fairtrade concept to some extent. Now from a trading perspective, this might be thought to irritate a Co-op fan like myself. But because Co-operative socieities are about ethics as well as the bottom line, I think that its safe to assume that everyone at the Co-op are really pleased that the Fairtrade movement has taken off to the degree that it has.

And while you can search out Fairtrade coffee and tea at most supermarkets these days, there's still much for the Co-op to be proud of in this area. In particular, we have a much bigger Fairtrade range than others, especially when you take account of the small size of most of our shops. Where we really excel is coming up with innovative Fairtrade products that extend far beyond the norm. As just one example, I have been lucky enough today to buy, taste and enjoy The Co-operative Truly Irresistable Fairtrade Dary Chocolate Peppermint Cremes which are 50% Fairtrade sugar and 31% Fairtrade chocolate. And as the label proudly boasts, "All ingrediants that can be Fairtrade are Fairtrade" - there not being any Fairtrade mint plantations.

And the cremes? Delicious - with just enough dark chocolate bitterness to balance out the sweet centre. Truly, I am the Jilly Goolden of the mint world.

Picture from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mint-leaves-2007.jpg.

Multi-Mergers

2009-03-24T21:25:00.002Z

As we continue waiting for the members of the Britannia Building Society to vote on the plan to merge with the Co-operative Group, there's news of more merger magic on the south coast. The Board of the Plymouth and South West Co-operative Society have announced plans to merge with the Group, subject again to members' approval. In the case of PSWCS, the members' meetings to consider the merger will take place on the 19th and 21st May. I note from the 2008 accounts (pdf file) that the Plymouth society had a pension deficit of £17m, which may or may not have been a driver for the merger talks.

More Election Analysis

2009-03-16T08:00:00.000Z

A little more than a month ago, I published an analysis of our candidates for the area committee elections that were taking place. The results of the elections have been online for a week or two now, and I was interested to see a breakdown of the successful candidates. This is mainly just for general interest, although there has been anecdotal evidence in the past that a candidate's ethnicity might influence their chances of election, and I'm keen to see if this is in fact the case.

Just to remind you, of the 636 candidates who stood in the area committee elections, 31.8% were female, 4.1% were under 30, 3.1% were over 70 and 5.5% gave their ethnicity as something other than "White British". 44.7% were current elected members of the Co-operative Group.

The election resulted in 513 successful candidates. Of these, 34.9% are female, 4.5% are under 30, 2.7% are over 70, 4.3% gave their ethnicity as something other than "White British", and 48.1% were already an incumbent.

If we were entirely representative of the population at large, the figures (calculated from the 2001 census) would be Female: 51.4%, U30: 22.0%, O70: 14.4%, non-White (note: I couln't find information relating to White British, so this is not exactly comparable with the above figures): 7.9%.

So it looks as though the election process slightly favours white, female and young candidates, although I haven't checked if these differences are statistically significant. In fact, in each of these under-represented categories (female, under 30, over 70, ethnic minority), it looks as though the problem is most easily solved by encouraging people to stand for election, as these categories are broadly speaking elected in the proportions in which they stand.

Image taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Crystal_Clear_app_ksirtet.png

Community Fund February 2009

2009-03-11T08:00:00.000Z

At the February meeting of the Co-operative Group Cambridge and East Anglia area committee, we were pleased to make two Community Fund grants to local community groups.

We gave £450 to the Welshwood District Guides - the money will be spent on various crafts activities and some consumables for a party to celebrate the centenary of girlguiding.

£450 was also the amount of money donated to the Friends of Fordham School Association, in order to buy ingrediants for their cookery club.

Area Committee Meeting - March 2009

2009-03-08T18:03:00.003Z

Well, this was the first meeting of the new Co-operative Group Cambridge and East Anglia Area Committee, and it was a pleasure to meet Louise Walker, Paul Schroder and Ken Nolan, and to welcome back to the committee Jeremy Symes. This first meeting was advertised as being less formal than usual, but in truth wasn't much different. However, it did begin with an election for chair and vice chair of the committee. The last chair (Rowland) had been unsuccesful in the area committee elections, and the last vice chair (me!) was not standing, so it was all change in this pair of contested elections. John Evans was elected chair with Clive Woodman his deputy.

We had Mark Walker - a local Ops manager - present to talk us through the final results for the 2008-09 year, and to discuss some of the issues relating to his food stores. Some of the more up-to-date results again showed the spike in sales that corresponded to the snowy weather earlier in the year.

The committee was sorry to hear that Ranjit - our Co-operative and Membership Officer - couldn't make the meeting due to poor health. Get well soon Ranjit.

Then it was time for the election of our representatives on the Central and Eastern Regional Board. The area committee now has three places on the regional board, compared with two in the recent past and there were five candidates (including me!) who had put themselves forward for this role. Each candidate had previously circulated a short statement about themselves, and were now permitted to make a supplementary presentation to the rest of the committee. Voting was by the STV system, which is great in theory but always seems to throw up problems in practice! This time there was a tie between Joe and me which had to resolved with the toss of a coin - which went in my favour. This meant that the three local representatives on the regional board are now:

3 years Steve Watts
2 years Sam Tudor
1 year Joe Gluza

I was very honoured to have been supported by the area committee for this post, and will try to fulfil the responsibilities of regional board member to the best of my ability. Commisserations to the unsuccessful candidates, who I know would have done a great job in the role.

We then received reports from recent regional board meetings, which particularly focussed on the integration of Somerfield stores into our existing structures, an expansion of one of our funeral businesses in Norfolk, and a new national partnership for our travel business.

And that wrapped up the first meeting of the new committee. Things will get back to normal in April!

P.S. Just a quick note on my membership of the regional board and this blog. I already have a difficult job trying to give enough information about the workings of the area committee to be interesting and informative, while not accidentally releasing sensitive and confidential information. The regional board meetings pose two problems - the fact that they contain a larger proportion of confidential matters than area committee meetings - and the fact that it would be unprofessional to publish anything on here before it had been reported to the area committee. So to make sure I don't get in trouble(!), I will not be reporting directly here on any regional board meeting. Rather, I will continue what I do know, which is, in essence, to publish a precis of the report made to the area committee by our representatives. The only difference is that one of those representatives will be me!

Shared Interest

2009-03-04T08:00:00.000Z

Do you remember Co-operative and Community Finance, the financial co-operative that I blogged about 10 months ago? C&CF gets its money from its members (and also manages some other funds such as the Phone Co-op Social and Co-operative Development Fund) and then lends it to co-operatives and other community-based social enterprises. These sorts of enterprises often struggle to get credit from conventional sources, but with the right attitude and guidance, Co-operative and Community Finance can give loans with very low levels of resulting bad debts.

Well, this post is just to mention that there is a similar sort of financial co-operative operating solely in the Fairtrade sector - Shared Interest. These guys lend to Fairtrade producers in the third world either directly or through Fairtrade buyers in developed countries. By this method, they allow Fairtrade enterprises to get of the ground which would otherwise fail for the want of finance. They have £22 million pounds invested in them by their 8,500 members - people like you and me who are prepared to cope with a lower rate of interest on their savings in return for knowing that the money is going to be lent to a worthwhile project. Well, OK, when I said lower interest rates, I meant 0% currently - but to be fair this is only a bit lower than saving accounts these days....

Fruity Blog

2009-03-01T08:00:00.000Z

I see that the Trumpington Community Orchard (which, in my opinion, exemplifies various Co-operative values and principles to a very high degree) now has a new blog. It's been added to the link bar on the right.

I keep meaning to go to one of their monthly sessions doing maintenance on the orchard, but have failed to find the time so far. I have had a look around the embryonic orchard (it's only a mile or so from my place of work) however, and it seems like a great community and wildlife resource. What I'd really like is an Arbury Community Orchard up my end of town! Someday perhaps....

Jose's the Star

2009-02-26T08:00:00.002Z

A good evening was had by all on Tuesday night when about 50 Co-operative Group and Cambridge University Fairtrade Society members attended a celebration of Fairtrade Fortnight. As previously advertised here, this was our opportunity to meet a real Fairtrade coffee smallholder, Jose Manuel, from Columbia, who very kindly answered all our questions about Fairtrade. It was fantastic because, although we are all very used to the arguments in favour of ethical purchasing, hearing about the benefits first hand is humbling nonetheless. The premium paid to Jose by his producer's co-operative thanks to the Fairtrade system has meant that he can afford technological improvements that in turn make his life much easier.

Keen readers of the Co-operative website will have already been introduced to Jose by Brad Hill's blogging about his fact-finding trip to Columbia.
And to cap it off, there was Fairtrade coffee, tea, beer, wine and chocolate available for the hungry and thirsty attendees on a stall very kindly manned by CUFTS members. Good stuff.

Image from www.freefoto.com . See original at http://www.freefoto.com/preview/9908-07-1612?ffid=9908-07-1612&k=Cappuccino+Italian+coffee. Sorry, I didn't have my camera with me on the night, so you'll have to put up with this generic coffee picture!

Sustainability Report - 2007/8

2009-02-24T08:00:00.000Z

Now I know that I've said all this before, but its worth saying again. Most companies idolise profit for shareholders above all else (as indeed, they legally have to do), so it makes sense that their annual report focuses on the bottom line - turnover, profit, a few other ratios and financial quantities are far and away the most important things on capitalist companies' return each year.

And now, as I'm sure you are expecting, I'm going to say that the Co-operative Group is different. Not completely different, as financial figures are still extremely important to ensure that we are a viable, profitable business with a sustainable future, as I have said in the past. But just as we have other, more socially minded, aims and objectives along with making profit, it follows that we should make an annual return telling our members and others about our progress against these aims.

Unfortunately, social and environmental accounting is a bit more difficult than financial accounting. Financial reports all deal in the same quantity - the dollar or the pound or whatever. Social and environmental accounting deals with varied and disparate goals which sometimes conflict, and which are rarely as easy to measure as the increase or decrease in the balance of a financial accounting unit. This, no doubt, is why we seem to lag behind a fair old bit - this report, although titled 2007-2008 really only formally covers 2007 and was published a few months after the mostly financially-oriented 2007 annual report.

So is the 2007-8 Co-operative Group Sustainability Report worth the wait? Yep. Each year I am astounded by the level of detail that goes into this document, and this time is no exception. It has three main sections: social responsibility, ecological sustainability and delivering value. So the first section covers international development, human rights, animal welfare, consumer health, ethical finance, social inclusion, diversity and community investment. Everyone knows that the Co-operative Bank has a great record on ethical matters, but it might surprise people to know the infiltration of ethical concerns into the other businesses in the group (not people who have read all the ethical policies, obviously. I mean other people.)

Climate change obviously looms large in the ecological sustainability section, but we also focus on biodiversity and persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals, as well as the classic concern of waste and packaging. Did you know that the Co-operative Group operates its own in-house recycling centre in Manchester that doubles as an educational resource? Well I didn't until I read page 84 of the sustainability report....

The delivering value section does include information on our trading turnover and profitability, but focuses more on the size of our membership, the level of dividend that we return to our member-owners, ensuring that we treat our employees properly, and ascertaining how good a service our customers think that we give them.

In fact, the only problem with the sustainability report is that it is so broad and detailed that it is rather difficult for me to pick out highlights. I'm afraid that you will just have to take a look at it yourself!

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dandelion_clock_detail.jpg#file .

New Bank Ethical Policy

2009-02-22T08:00:00.000Z

After the consultation with members and customers, the Co-operative Bank has released its new ethical policy. There are nine new statements that ensure that we're keeping our ethical positions up to date. They are set out in detail on this page, but briefly, they state that the Bank will not finance organisations:

- that advocate discrimination
- that manufacture or trade indiscriminate weapons such as cluster bombs
- that fail to implement basic labour rights
- that take an irresponsible approach to paying tax in developing countries
- that impede access to basic human needs such as safe drinking water or vital medicines.
- whose core activity contributes to climate change via extraction of fossil fuels or distribution of unconventional fossil fuels such as tar sands
- whose core activity contributes to the development of nanotechnology in circumstances that risk damaging the environment or human heath
- involved in the exploitation of great apes

To read the full, updated ethical policy, click here (pdf file, 100k).

And to look at the four ethical policies that now operate in our food, travel, bank and insurance arms, this web page is the best place to start.

Election Results

2009-02-20T21:05:00.002Z

The election results for the Cambridge and East Anglia area committee of the Co-operative Group were announced today - as follows:

"The election was conducted using the single transferable vote electoral system.

Louise Walker
Clive Woodman
Maggie Bending
Joe Gluza
Stephen Watts
Philip Richards
Ken Nolan
Paul Schroder
Sam Tudor
Brian Walker
Jeremy Symes
John Evans

The remaining (unsuccessful) candidates finished in the following order:
Rowland Thomas
Norman Rides
Stephen Conrad"

The top four are elected for three years, then the next four are elected for two years, and the next four are elected for just the one year. The eagle-eyed amongst you will notice that I finished ninth - which means that I will have to go up for election in just 12 months.....

Congratulations to the other 11 successful candidates, and commiserations to the three candidates who failed in their attempt - especially Rowland who has served the committee well over the last few years - and indeed was the area's chair for the last two.

Over 30,000 ballots were sent out, with about 3,300 ballots returned. I'm trying to work out if the turnout of just over 10% was decent or not.....

Hopefully we will get to see some results from other areas on the Group's website in the near future, as I am dying to continue my electoral analysis!

Phone Co-op Annual Report

2009-02-19T08:00:00.000Z

The Phone Co-op released their 2007-2008 annual report and accounts last week. As a customer-member, and therefore joint-owner, of the society, I thought I'd take my yearly look at the figures.

First things first, the turnover is up a healthy 10%, which together with increased margins has led to the gross profit being up 17% on the year. However, the operating profit only climbed 3%, due to general cost inflation, increase in employees (full time staff up from 29 to 32, part-time staff up from 12 to 17), and the writing-down of IT systems that are now less useful than the Society thought that they would be...

The dividend to members has been increased to 2% of their purchases. Don’t forget that membership of the Phone Co-op costs just £1 – so if you are a customer then you should definitely be a member.

More analysis will follow on the same lines as this stuff I posted last May.

The size of the membership of the Phone Co-op continues its steady, if unspectacular, rise, with an increase of 6% to 7160.

The non-financial information provided is always a good read, and gives you loads of titbits that tell you about the wider impact that the Phone Co-op has on society and the environment. You could say that the absence of this sort of information in the reports and priorities of most other businesses is symptomatic of the failures of the capitalist system. Well, to be honest, I think that I have, in my post last year about the Co-operative Group’s sustainability report – which fills the same sort of role.

So, we are able to reflect on the following random facts gleaned from this section of the annucal report:

74% of business journeys were by rail, bus, bicycle or foot, down slightly from 2007
100% of paper waste is recycled or reused.

The number of sheets of A4 paper used for letter, bills and publicity material per year per £1000 turnover is down strongly from 133 to 96, no doubt helped by the increased use of paperless billing.

Carbon dioxide emissions were reduced from 9068 kg to 8125 kg. (It is assumed that there is no carbon dioxide emitted from electricity use, as the Phone Co-op buy their leccy from renewable sources – I’m not sure what to think about this....)

The Phone Co-op has invested £20k in a wind farm co-operative, and £5k in a small hydro-electric project.

The society offer a mileage payment for walking and cycling on business journeys.

I’ve noticed that MJR has a good report from the AGM – some interesting points there especially regarding the change of managagement of the social and co-operative development fund .

Did You See The Advert?

2009-02-17T19:30:00.005Z

What did you think?

Image from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dandelion_clock_detail.jpg#file .

Community Fund Allocations - January 2009

2009-02-17T08:00:00.000Z

The January meeting of the Cambridge and East Anglia area of the Co-operative Group was tasked with the allocation of the latest batch of Community Fund money to deserving causes in the area. All of this cash comes from donations from members' dividends, so thank you to everyone who donates their "odd pence", and serious kudos to those who donate a higher fraction. This month there were six successful applicants who were awarded a total of over £5,000.

Longstanton and Willingham C.F.R Group were awarded £375 that will go towards equipment and training. First responder groups are an excellent way to encourage community involvement with healthcare, and increase the chance of suvival from cardiac arrests and other emergencies.

£475.15 was given to First Steps Toddler Group in Norwich for the purchase of various play equipment and comfy seats for the play area.

Norfolk Lupus received £500 to help them publish a regular newsletter. This support group helps those suffering from the eponymous incurable disease of the immune system.

Moorlands, a day centre for elderly folk in Melbourn, were awarded £500 for a wide array of activity equipment.

£1,261.06 went to the Under Fives Roundabout in Cambridge which runs a Pre-School group, Playgroup and a Toddler Group. Our money will go to buy a playhouse for the toddler group, and also purchase play resources that will raise awareness of different cultures.

Finally, £2,376 has been awarded to the Little Paxton Playground Group to enhance the existing play park. In particular, the money will go towards a youth shelter to give the young people of the village a meeting place.

Previous Community Fund / Community Dividend allocations:

June - December 2008 - unblogged
May 2008
March 2008
January 2008
November 2007
September 2007
July 2007
May 2007
March 2007
February 2007
November 2006
June 2006

Image sourced, with thanks, from www.freefoto.com. It's a Sycamore tree in the early morning. It's not really relevant to the Community Fund. Just a great image. View the original at http://www.freefoto.com/preview/15-19-1?ffid=15-19-1

Area Committee Meeting - February 2009

2009-02-15T08:00:00.001Z

The February meeting of the Cambridge and East Anglia area of the Co-operative Group was special in one important respect - it was the last one before the results of the all-out elections are announced. It was also the last meeting of the current composition of the committee, so there were a few farewells made at the end. None of us can be sure that we will be re-elected to the new commitee, so the meeting did have a slight end-of-term feel about it.

As usual, we received the trading accounts for the food shops, pharmacies, funeral homes and travel agents in our area. We were accompanied for this part of the meeting by one of the area's ops manager, and as well as answering a number of questions about the performance of certain stores in his area, he was able to give us some interesting information about food sales since the start of the new year. Apparently they have been very healthy - and positively glowing over the past few days. The reason, apparently, is the snow. When the roads are iced up and driving seems like a bad idea, it seems that there is nothing that the good people of Cambridge and East Anglia enjoy more than a trip to their local Co-op to spend their ready cash. So much so, in fact, that I am in two minds whether to hope for a speedy switch to more normal weather (advantages: buses run, football matches on, fewer snow-related injuries), or a prolonged return to the ice age (advantages: snowmen, white landscape, snowball fights and the Co-op takes over the world).

The membership and community section of the meeting concentrated on two forthcoming events - the Plan Bee night, which I have already reported on more than enough, and a special Fairtrade evening featuring a Colombian Fairtrade coffee producer who will be answering the audience's questions on all aspects of his work. This is on the 24th February - more details on this post.

We made one award under the Community Fund scheme - more information on this shortly.

We then had feedback from our representatives on the regional Values and Principles committee and the regional board. A new batch of schools are being chosen for installation of solar panels, but no locations have currently been released.

And with that, our terms of office came to an end.

Why Didn't.....

2009-02-13T08:00:00.000Z

...the Co-op resurgence happen in the 1990s, when these three adverts were on telly? I haven't seen them before, and the first one in particular is absolute class.

Three cheers for the genius behind the CoOpVidVod site, Lorenzo, who appears to be a good guy considering he's a MUFC fan.....

Arbury Community Centre

2009-02-12T08:00:00.000Z

Just like 209 Radio, the subject of this post isn't strictly speaking a Co-operative, but is a fantastic, community-oriented social enterprise instead. Arbury Community centre, unlike other community centres in Cambridge is not run by the local council but by Arbury Community Association - a charity with a board of trustees made up of local residents.

Arbury Community Centre, which is located on Campkin Road in the North of the city, has a range of rooms and facilities for hire, so if you are looking for a committee room or party venue in the Arbury area look no further! Charges are modest, and are even lower if you are a charitable or voluntary organisation.

Meet The Producers

2009-02-11T08:00:00.001Z

The Co-operative's relationship with the Fairtrade movement goes back a long way. We were the first supermarket stockist of Fairtrade back in 1994, and we've been the market leaders ever since, with about 50 branded Fairtrade products in our stores, and about 150 own-brand products, many of them innovative, such as Fairtrade honey, beer, wine, peanuts and even mulling spice! (That sounds like a good evening, thinking about it...)

Fairtrade Fortnight is the yearly celebration of all that is Fairtrade, and this year the Co-op is really pulling out all the stops. We're bringing over some genuine Columbian Fairtrade coffee producers, who will share their experiences with Co-op members at a series of meetings up and down the country.

In Cambridge, we are putting on this event with the fantastic Cambridge University Fairtrade Society, who set up fairtrade stalls in colleges and university departments. It all happens on the evening on the 24th February - that's a Tuesday - starting at 7pm and lasting for about two hours. Its at a central Cambridge location - more details are available when you book your place. But hurry - its expected to book out, and you must have expressed your interest by 20th February at the latest.

To get hold of your place, email our fabulous membership team on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop. After much internal debate, I'm missing out on an enticing football match between Halesowen and the community-owned Cambridge City to go to the Fairtrade event - so I hope to see you there.

UPDATE (14/2/09): We're playing Halesowen, not Yate on the evening in question. I can be a muppet sometimes.

Election Analysis

2009-02-09T08:00:00.005Z

In a recent post, I was proud that the Cambridge and East Anglia area had received more nominations than vacancies, and so were having a contested election. But this got me thinking - how many other areas have contested elections - and which one has the most candidates to choose from? And while I'm looking through the areas, which have the most young people, the most over 70s, and which are doing best at attracting women and ethnic minorities - both groups which tend to be under-represented on Co-op committees at present.

So I trawled through the election papers of all 45 area committees and one members' council. Now while I appreciate the special nature of the members' council in Northern Ireland, for the purpose of this analysis I'll lump it in with the area committees, as they all represent the first tier of member democracy. Although most area committees have 12 places, some have 15, and the Northern Ireland members' council has 20, so I'll take account of this in the stats.

So, here come the awards (drum roll)................

Most Choice
Simple one this - which area has the most candidates per vacancy? The winner is..... the South East Scotland area with a fantastic 27 candidates for 12 places. That's what you call democratic choice! In fact, Scotland is pretty well served with candidates across the board, with the Scotland and Northern Ireland region having an average of 1.34 candidates per vacancy.

Joint wooden spoon winners for this category are the Cheshire area and the North Lancashire and South Cumbria area, both of which have just 5 candidates for the 12 places. No prizes for guessing who's going to get elected! The North West and North Midlands is the worst region, with only 0.81 of a candidate for each vacancy.

Most Young People
The prize for having the most under thirties is shared between Manchester area and...... Cambridge and East Anglia! I knew that I would come in handy one day. Both areas have 20% of the candidates in their twenties or teens. 29 of the 46 areas have no candidates under thirty. NOTE - see update below.

In terms of regions, our own Central and Eastern region seems to be making the running, with 9.4% of candidates being under 30, compared with just 1.1% in the South West region.

Please note that as many candidates have declined to state their age, only candidates who have stated that they are under 30 are counted. The same applies to the data for over-seventies and the ethnic origin data below.

Most Over-Seventies
Until recently, over-seventies were banned from standing for area committees due to the controversial age-rule, so I thought that it would be interesting to see in which areas people are taking advantage of their new ability to stand into their seventies and eighties (and older, of course, although I couldn't find any candidates over the age of 90). The highest proportion of candidates who are over 70 is in the West Midlands area, where 2 of the 11 candidates fall into that category. 30 areas (including Cambridge and East Anglia) have no candidates who are over 70.

Regionally, the South West has the most over-seventies as a proportion of candidates, with 5.7%, and the Central and Eastern region has the least with 1.6%.

Most Gender-Balanced Slate
One area has equal numbers of men and women - there are 4 of each on the North Wales election papers. The highest proportion of female candidates is in Cornwall and West Devon, where 8 of the 12 candidates are women. This contrasts strongly with the Cheshire area and the Stockport and Macclesfield area, neither of which have any female candidates at all.

Regionally, the highest proportion of women are in the South West region (39.8%), while I'm ashamed to say that our own Central and Eastern region has just 20.3% female candidates.

Most Ethnically Diverse Slate
OK, so this is a difficult one! Many people, myself included, feel awkward about asking people their ethnic origin and publishing it on the candidate's statements. In an ideal world, we would act in an entirely colour-blind fashion, and pay about as much attention to a person's ethnicity as we would to their mole-count.

However, when you look around the room at Co-op events and committee meetings, and so rarely find a non-white face, it does make us realise that perhaps we are not as representative of the public as we should be. And so seeing a healthy balance of ethnicity on a ballot paper is evidence (flawed evidence - but evidence nonetheless) that we are reaching a wider group of people than in the past. I have therefore calculated the proportion of candidates in each area who have declared their ethnicity to be something other than "White British" - the most common ethnic origin declared.

This is complicated even further by the fact that many refuse to give their ethnicity. Obviously I can only count those who declare their ethnic origin. It is also complicated by the fact that - for obvious reasons - the candidates in Northern Ireland are only permitted to disclose that they are "White" - there is no distinction made here between "White British", "White Irish" and "White Other".

So, bearing all that in mind, I can announce that the most ethnically diverse ballot paper can be found in North London where 5 of the 15 candidates declared an ethnicity other than White British. There are 27 areas with no candidates who so declared.

Regionally, the South East are the most diverse with 16.9% of candidates declaring an ethnicity other than White British. The lowest figure was for the Wales region, with just 2.2%.

Most New Blood
A fair proportion of candidates are current elected members who are seeking reelection. In terms of the number of candidates who are not currently elected, the highest number is found in Kennet and Avon, with 18 of the 26 candidates being newbies. The lowest figure is in South Yorkshire and Chesterfield, where just two of the eight candidates are not currently elected.

Regionally, the freshest batch of candidates can be found in Scotland and Northern Ireland, where 62% of candidates are not currently representatives, while Wales has the lowest percentage of new blood, with 46%.

Seemingly Random Numbers That Nevertheless Mean Stuff
One - the number of candidates statements that are in more than one language. A candidate in North Wales included both English and Welsh versions.
Two - the number of candidates from the same Co-operative Travel branch putting themselves forward in Inverness.
One Third - the fraction of committee members who are allowed to be employees of the Co-operative Group, under the rules of the Society. In the North Midlands area, four out of the nine candidates are employees, which means that only the highest scoring pair of them will be allowed to take their seats, even though this means that there will be just seven members of the committee in total.
1,220,000 - the number of ballot papers sent out to members.

Society-Wide Statistics
There are 636 candidates for 566 vacancies, of which 32% are women, 3% are over 70, 4% are under 30, and 6% have declared an ethnicity other than White British. 26 of the 46 areas are having genuinely contested elections (i.e. there are more candidates than vacancies). The remaining areas are holding ballots to determine term-length only.

Phew! If you want to take a look at any of the candidate's statements yourself, you can do so here on the Co-operative Group website.

UPDATE: (14/2/09) The proportion of the candidates, nationally, who are under 30 years old is 4% - not 3%.

UPDATE: (11/3/09) Oops, the proportion of under thirties in Manchester is 26.7%, so they beat Cambridge and East Anglia into second place!

Bee Night

2009-02-07T15:31:00.002Z

Thursday night was a pretty successful one for the Cambridge and East Anglia Area of the Co-operative Group. Our eagerly awaited film night was very well attended and indeed well-served by a number of wildlife experts from the RSPB and the Cambridgeshire Beekeepers Association. There were two sections to the evening - our new advert campaign and Plan Bee:

That Advert
Before Thursday evening, all I knew about the advert was that it featured Bob Dylan's classic "Blowin' in the Wind", that it was a bum-numbing two and a half minutes long, and that it is premiering during the commercial break of Coronation Street later in the month. Having now seen a preparatory introduction to the advert, the advert itself and then a short "The Making Of...." documentary about the advert, I am a little better informed!

First things first, its a good watch. Full of beautiful images and iconic scenes filmed from a moving helicopter, and with an instantly-recognisable soundtrack, it has high production values. Each scene corresponds to an area in which the Co-op is active either commercially, for social reasons or as part of a campaign. I won't spoil things too much by going into any more detail! It sounds like the strapline of the campaign is "Good for Everyone", a slogan that is currently used a bit, but considerably less well known than the Co-operative Bank's "Good with Money". I think that this will change in the near future!

Now I must admit, for a fairly non-touchy feely person such as me, the advert didn't really *say* very much - there is only a few seconds of voiceover at the end. However, my wife reckons that's because I'm an emotionally stunted blackcountryman who values only verbal communication. And lets face it, she's probably right. On further reflection, I think that the campaign will be fantastic if other messages in addition to the main advert actually provide some more concrete information about the Co-op's great work.

The Bees
The documentary film about the plight of the bee was good value. I hadn't realised that it was primarily an American film, but this makes sense since Colony Collapse Disorder has been so prevalent over there. I hadn't realised that when CCD strikes the bees can literally leave the hive over night, never to be seen again, leaving their brood and honey supplies behind - which interestingly remain unusually unplundered by other hives and foragers. After the film came a short talk by the RSPB man, who highlighted some of the actions that every Co-op member could do to ensure that their garden or window box becomes a more bee-friendly place. He said that the bees need hundreds of thousands of people taking small steps - a very Co-operative philosophy!

The Co-operative Group is taking ten key steps to help the bee population, and is encouraging its members (that's us!) to take steps themselves, such as plant nectar-rich flowers, allow the garden to have other bee-friendly features such as a bee-bath (really!) and shelter from long grass. The Co-op have also arranged a discount on bee-boxes (think bird-boxes with smaller holes) for its members, which I have just availed myself of. It costs £8.27 plus about £3 post and packaging if I remember correctly.

Sadly, I was unable to get a conversation with the local beekeepers in attendance, as I wanted to ask about the health of bees in this area. However, they seemed busy talking to the public at their stall, as did the RSPB, who signed up quite a few members on the night.

The lot of a Co-op committee member is not always a happy one, and as you can see above Phillip Richards was a great sport when he agreed to dress up in a bee costume for the inevitable publicity photographs. How he survived the heat in an already warm room I will never know....

UPDATE (18:13, 7/2/09): Oops, I forgot all about the forthcoming online discussion about bees for Co-operative Group members. Log-in with your membership card and postcode, and then navigate to the online discussion page. Officially, the discussion is on 12 February from 4pm to 7pm, but you can post questions in advance for our resident bee expert to answer later.

Farm to Fork

2009-02-05T08:00:00.000Z

I have mentioned the Co-operative Group's Farm To Fork project a couple of times in the past, but I thought that it would be a good idea to take another look and see how its developed.

And how its developed! It started pretty low-key, with just one farm - our Oadby Lodge farm in Leicestershire - putting together a programme to help schoolkids understand where our food comes from. With a bit of support from the regional board (made up of ordinary (well, ordinary in a kind of extraordinary way!) Co-op members who have been elected to positions of responsibility by other members) and I am sure a lot of hard work by all concerned, it proved to be such a magnificent success that its been rolled out across 7 of the 21 Co-operative Group Farms.

It now also comes with its own educational website, which provides schoolkids with activities and information both before and after their visit, helping to make the most of their time on the farm. I've just spent a pleasant 20 minutes looking around it, and am pleased that next time someone on The Archers mentions winter wheat, I'll remember that it can be sown between September and February, and harvested in August and September.

A lot of people are surprised to hear that the Co-operative is the nation's biggest farmer, but how fantastic is it that it takes its responsibility to the future of farming and the education of the next generation seriously. I would have loved to have been on a farm trip like this when I was at school. And by the looks of the Thank the Farmer page, the current batch of school children feel much the same.

Image is sourced from http://www.co-operative.coop/farms/farmingfun/countrysidedesktops/ and is of the famous Co-operative Pumpkin field on Coldham's Farm. Taken by Mr Russell Armstrong, I believe.

Election Fever!

2009-02-03T08:00:00.000Z

The materials and ballot paper for this year's Co-operative Group area committee elections dropped through my door last week. The fantastic news is that here in the Cambridge and East Anglia area we have 15 candidates for the 12 positions, resulting in a genuine contested election. I know that certain other areas in our region haven't been so lucky, so well done to the active Co-operators of East Anglia for putting themselves forward to serve!

I know most of the names on the list personally, and I now know a little about the others from their election statements. All 15 look to me like they would do an excellent job on the committee if elected, so hopefully the area will be in safe hands over the next couple of years or so.

Whoever you vote for, make sure that you remember to! The Co-operative Group is a democratically controlled organisation and while local members are always encouraged to get in touch with committee members to voice their concerns or ideas about the Society, you only get the chance to formally vote us in or out of office once a year - so make the most of it!

Let's hope for a really high turnout so that the lucky winners of the election feel that they have a real mandate from the members.

All the ballot papers should have been sent out last week, so if you haven't received one then get in touch with your regional office and request it. If you are in the Central and Eastern Region (which includes Cambridge and East Anglia), then the contact details are as follows: membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop or telephone (01908) 361500.

Bee-utiful Response

2009-02-02T20:42:00.002Z

Apparently, we have now had our 100th person booking into our Plan Bee film night and advert launch on Thursday, which means that we will be at capacity. Well done if you were one of the lucky ones to get a ticket, and I will see you there!

Wool you credit it!

2009-02-02T08:00:00.001Z

They know how to co-operate in Cumbria! Only a few miles from Co-op hotspot Hesket Newmarket is Wool Clip – a wool producers co-operative based in Caldbeck and founded in 2001. They make a lovely range of rugs, socks and bags, as well as yarn for you to make your own stuff with. The reason for this post is that they’ve got into the news by winning the Northwest women in business social enterprise award. Warm congratulations to all at the co-operative, and I hope to be able to pop by when I’m in the area again in May.

The Time for Credit Unions

2009-01-31T08:00:00.000Z

With the global economy on the slide, might this be the time when Credit Unions in the UK really start to shine? People with a small or irregular income can often need bridging loans of a few hundred pounds, and the need for this sort of credit is sure to rise along with unemployment. Credit Unions are the ideal solution for people in this sort of situation. They will lend modest amounts at reasonable interest rates, and you can be sure that the people that you deal with will be local, friendly and have your best interests at heart. And demand for their services is already reported to be increasing.

For those not in the know, credit unions are financial co-operative organisations designed to service their members' needs for credit and savings facilities. By law, all members need to share a common bond. This bond is often a geographical area - such as the Cambridge City Credit Union - but it can be just about anything. In the case of the Rainbow Savers Anglia Credit Union, the common bond is membership of a retail Co-operative in East Anglia, while you need to be an employee or pensioner of the Co-operative Group to be a member of The Co-operative Credit Union. The UK association of credit unions, ABCUL provide both a good description of how credit unions work together with a search facility to find the Credit Union that can serve you.

For those who are used to securing their borrowing against an asset such as their house, the interest rates (e.g. 12.8% APR for the Cambridge City Credit Union, and a maximum set by law of 26.6% APR) might seem a little high. But when compared against unsecured lending such as Provident (189.2% APR) and LoansAtHome4u.com (281.5% APR), or the eyewatering 1845.0% APR charged by the delightful folks at Payday UK, the Credit Union rates are obviously advantageous.

Credit Unions try to encourage responsible saving and lending, and will generally have a minimum number of weeks saving before they allow borrowing. So you should join a Credit Union and save in the good times before you need to borrow when you are in difficulties. I'm off to join the Cambridge City Credit Union now!

New Email Address

2009-01-29T08:00:00.000Z

Hi all,

You might remember that in May I reluctantly terminated the email account that I had published on here due to evil spammers. Well, I've been convinced that this wasn't a very good idea so I'm giving it another go. The new email address is:

cambridgeco-operation@hotmail.co.uk

You can use this to get in touch with me about any Co-op matter and I'll try to reply as soon as possible.

Cheers,

Sam

Hive a Nice Day

2009-01-28T16:00:00.004Z

The Co-operative Group launched their Plan Bee campaign to save the honeybee this morning, and it was great to hear Paul Monaghan, Head of Ethics and Sustainability at the Co-op, giving an interview on the Today programme on Radio 4 (listen again to Wednesday's programme - the Co-op and the bees turn up at 2:46:30) . It turns out that the campaign is even more well-researched, funded and thought-through than I had first thought. The Co-op is calling for the precautionary banning of a group of pesticides known as neonicitinoinds, which collectively represent one of the possible causes of the mysterious illness affecting hives. All the detail that you could need is online at http://www.co-operative.coop/ethicsinaction/takeaction/planbee/.

Paul pointed out that the Co-operative has a unique interest in this subject both as a major food retailer and Britain's biggest farmer. He didn't mention the symbolic nature of bees in the Co-operative Movement, but interestingly that is mentioned on the Plan Bee webpages. To me, the most salient reason for campaigning on this subject is that the members of the Co-operative would want us to - the members that I have spoken to about it are unanimous in their support for the Co-op campagin. Hopefully, a healthy number of them wil be able to make it to our special Plan Bee film night on the 5th February.

The image is another fantastic bee close up from the brilliant http://pdphoto.org site . Visit the original image at http://pdphoto.org/PictureDetail.php?mat=pdef&pg=7989

Supporters Direct + Co-op Group = Support for Fans

2009-01-27T08:00:00.001Z

Regular readers of my blog will know that as well as being an elected member of the Co-operative Group, I am a big fan of supporters' trusts. This means that I am delighted by the news that the Co-op Group, Supporters Direct and the Rugby Football League have come together to appoint a Rugby League Supporters' Trust Development Officer, who will help create the structures necessary for fans of rubgy league to have a real say in how their teams and their sport operate.

Well done to all concerned. And respect to the RFL for realising that supporter influence and ownership is something to be encouraged in rugby league.

December and January's Area Committee Meetings

2009-01-25T08:00:00.001Z

OK, so Christmas got in the way of a timely report of the Co-operative Group December area committee meeting. This being the case, I will combine the December and January reports into one easy-to-read package.

Its become slightly surreal how, when the rest of the economy seems to be in dire straights, the monthly figures that the area committee receives for each of the locally-accountable businesses seem to be largely unaffected. As worrying as the wider situation is, it appears that it has yet to really impact on our businesses. Let's hope that the national enconomy improves before it does so....

As usual, we had a representative from the food retail business to talk us through some of the issues with local shops. However, we were delighted that this was supplemented by other represenatatives of the businesses; in December we received a very interesting presentation from local Loss Prevention officers regarding their processes for reducing leakage from stores, and their new methods of spotting systematic theft. In January, a regional manager of Co-operative Travel was present, enabling us to ask questions about the state of local Travel shops and about the Travel Agents market generally. Apparently the recent collapse of various travel providers has led to a resurgance in usage of traditional travel agents - customers enjoy the security of knowing that they won't lose their money before they get to enjoy their holiday.

The Mill Road Winter Fair was attended in December - the committee members who attended it enjoyed the opportunity to talk to Co-op members (and potential members!) about their store and other things such as the BUAV cruelty-free cleaning campagin.

2009 will be a busy year for the membership side of the Co-op, as there will be newly elected committees in place from March, which will coincide with a "hard-launch" of membership and the new brand. We are promised lots of promotional activity and events to make membership relevant, worthy but fun.

We cross-examined our Regional Board representatives as usual to keep them on their toes! Its a busy time at the moment with elections and the Somerfield acquisition progressing, so there was plenty to talk about.

The January meeting saw the distribution of a lay-persons guide to the credit crunch and financial services companies. This explained what had happened in the financial markets to cause such problems, as well as the reasons why the Co-operative Bank is suffering much less acutely than other banks. We only lend out what we have received from savers, and so we have much less need to borrow from the wholesale markets which is where the problems are. We also have a really good record on repossessions, due to both a responsible attitude to cases where people do get in difficulty and our tendency not to have lent to people who couldn't afford the repayments.

The January meeting also saw distribution of Community Fund grants. More info on this soon.

Bee Aware

2009-01-23T08:00:00.002Z

If you are a Co-operative Group member in the Cambridge and East Anglia area, then why not come along to a cinema evening on the 5th February? The event, which is completely free, is going to be used to launch two campaigns:

Plan Bee is a Co-op campaign to galvanise people, business and government into action over the plight of the honeybee. We rely so much on the activity of this insect, yet hives are collapsing at an alarming rate. A professionally produced documentary on the plight of the bee will be screened, and wildlife experts will be on hand to tell you what you can do to help.

There will also be an exclusive sneak peak at the new "epic" - don't worry its only two-and-a-half minutes long! - Co-operative Group TV advert. While watching adverts isn't normally one of my chosen leisure activities, we are promised an uplifting introduction to the world of co-operation that will make a real impact.

And of course, as with all of our member events, this evening will provide members with a great opportunity to pounce on their elected area committee members (including me) with their points of view, comments and complaints on all elements of the Co-operative Group

So it promises to be a great evening. Its on 5th Feb at the Moller Centre (within Churchill College), and starts at 7pm, lasting for two hours. If you want to come, email membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop or phone 01908 361 500 and speak to our fantastic membership team. Tickets may be in short supply, so apply for yours earlier rather than later!

The beautiful mage (scaled down a lot - why not visit the original?) is courtesy of the magnificent http://pdphoto.org/ site.

Supermutual!

2009-01-21T18:52:00.005Z

Blimey! So it seems as though those early, exploratory talks in October have become rather more advanced in the intervening months. One of the biggest financial news stories of the day, when other such news was almost uniformally bad, was the proposed merger between Britannia and CFS (Co-operative Financial Services, a subsidiary of the Co-operative Group that comprises the Co-op Bank and Co-op Insurance or CIS) to create a so-called "super mutual". It sounds as though Britannia members would become members of the Co-operative Group, and so through that mechanism will continue to own Britannia - as well as the other businesses in the Group. This means that no windfall will be paid as they continue to be the mutual owners of their financial services provider.

The signing and sealing of the merger will have to wait until relevant legislation - the "Butterfill Bill" is activated. I believe this may be as early as March, with the Britannia members' vote apparently being penciled in for April. The Telegraph reckon that the merged CFS will be headed by the current Britannia Chief Executive; what role that leaves for the well-respected current head of CFS, David Anderson, I don't know.

We are assured that no member of staff will be made compulsorily redundant, which is great news in the current climate, and hopefully means that the relevant trade unions will be supportive of the deal. Although neither organisation is in financial trouble, it is obviously useful in the current economic climate to be a bigger player - and even better to be a well-run, prudent bigger player, which (I have no doubt) the new CFS will prove to be.

Since the biggest weakness in the Co-operative Bank has been its relative lack of branches relative to other banks, the merger should be welcomed by co-operators as dramatically widening the reach of CFS, increasing the magnitude of co-operative finance in this country, and swelling the membership. Members of Britannia will get all the benefits of membership of the Co-operative Group, including dividend on their mortgages and savings accounts - at least in the longer term. They will also be reassured that their mutual status remains as part of a large, ethical and co-operative organisation.

UPDATE (21:36): Via Politics for People, a link to the Britannia statement on the merger. Clear, concise information that tells you exactly what has happened today. And yes, David Anderson will be leaving the business after the merger. Thanks for all the fish, David!

Share Your Profits

2009-01-20T08:00:00.000Z

If you are a member of the Co-operative, you will be used to getting a share of the profits that the Co-operative Group businsesses make. If you are a generous type, you may be donating a proportion of your dividend to the Community Fund - which is then distributed by your Co-op Area Committee to charitable and voluntary organisations in your area.

The Co-op have now launched the "Share Your Profits" scheme. The idea is that you donate a proportion of your dividend to a specified cause of your choice. For the member and for the benefitting organisation, this is an easy way to set up a regular donation with the minimum of pain and expense! I mentioned in a previous post about Cambridge City Supporters' Trust setting up the scheme, but it would be good if more organisations in the area registered. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be much information on the official website about this. The easiest way to go about things is probably to email customer.relations@co-operative.coop and to ask for a "Share Your Profits" form. The form provides all the information that you need to decide if it is a good idea for your organisation.

Image from http://www.freedigitalphotos.net

Save our Soles

2009-01-18T16:35:00.004Z

The Co-operative Group is a successful business, but it is much more than that. As a Co-operative organisation its role is to make the lives of its members - and by extension the wider community - better. Periodically it does this by joining with NGOs to lobby government on behalf of its members - such as when we took part in the "Big Ask" campaign. Well, we're at it again, supporting the Marine Conservation Society's campaign to strengthen the Marine Bill before the Houses of Parliament.

UK waters have been progressively overfished in the past, and whether your interest is securing biodiversity or safeguarding your favourite fish supper in the future, we need to act now to keep our seas healthy. Members are urged to use the form on the Co-op website to send a message to their MP to support a strengthening of the bill.

And of course the Co-operative's position is more than just talk: it already guarantees that all Co-operative-branded fish comes from sustainable sources.

Membership of the Co-op costs just £1, and means that you are joint owner of the Co-operative Group with over two million others. You can claim a share of their profits, and vote in elections to control the society.

Image sourced from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Haddock,_Boston_Aquarium.JPG

Area Committee Meeting - November 2008

2008-12-06T08:00:00.001Z

November's meeting received financial reports, as usual, from each of the locally-controlled businesses (food retail, pharmacy, funeralcare and travel). In addition, the committee received detailed information with regards to elements of the pharmacy and funeralcare reports that we raised questions about at the October meeting. In general, our food business seems to be holding up despite the economic climate at the minute. We received a detailed verbal report on current trends in the food retail business from a local ops manager and his colleague. I raised a point about the Melbourn store that had been brought to my attention through this blog. I will not go into details here, but we were told that the current situation is temporary, and awaiting planning permission for the relocation of plant.

We had an update from our Co-operative Affairs officer on recent events. We sponsored a recent fairtrade event at Cambridge University in November, and held a "Food for Thought" event on food ethics in September. I can certainly vouch for the fact that the latter event was a success, with the expert panel talking about all elements of food ethics, from the growing of crops on Co-op farms, through Fairtrade issues, and finishing with a look at how much food is thrown away. The amount of edible food that is disposed of by households is phenomenal, and we were given tips to help us do our bit in this respect.

Forthcoming events included a Ripple Effect (an introduction to the world of Co-operatives and the Co-operative Group in particular), the Mill Road Winter Fair, where we will be having a bigger presence than ever before, and our sponsorship of Cambridge City Football Club on the 20th December. We are sponsoring the match to support the provision of the "Matchday Experience" to families who would otherwise be unable to afford it. Our sponsorship will also support the Cambridge City Supporters' Trust through the launch of the "Share of the Profits" scheme. This scheme allows members of a group to pool their Co-op dividend in support of a community project. As a football fan, I'm really keen on Supporters' Trusts and their potential to really change the focus of the game from money-making to the interests of supporters. I'll be contacting Cambridge Fans United (the Supporter's Trust for The Other Team In Cambridge) to let them know about the scheme as well.

After previous sucessful film nights, we are planning more use of cinema in the new year. More details soon!

We democratically decided which community projects deserved funding as part of the Community Fund. More information about these soon.

Finally, under the ever daunting "Constitutional Matters" agenda heading, we learnt that the Regional board had decided that, for the time being, our area was to remain the same size. This means that we are the smallest area within the Central & Eastern region, but this pragmatic decision was probably sensible given the changes that will result if and when Somerfield becomes part of the Co-operative.

And that, more or less, was that for another month......

Drawing a line

2008-12-03T20:29:00.002Z

OK, so as you might have noticed, I haven't been very good at keeping the blog up to date since I got married in July. In particular, I have not made a report on the area committee meetings over Summer and Autumn. Well, these meetings are starting to become ancient history, and so I've decided to draw a line and not plan to write a report from them. Sorry about that folks, but hopefully I will be able to keep up with events from now on. I do feel that this blog is really important in making communication possible with a much larger section of the membership than would otherwise be the case.

Cheers all,

Sam

Stand for Election!

2008-11-07T06:59:00.003Z

OK, I know I keep saying this, but it would be fantastic if we got a large number of candidates for the forthcoming "all-out" area committee elections. Just to recap....

The area committee makes up the bottom rung of the Co-operative Group democratic structure. They are directly elected by the members, and have both trading (we examine the trading results of local businesses, and hold management to account) and membership (we help organise Co-operative events, and make charitable grants from the Community Fund) responsibilities. Meetings are about 2 hours once a month, and are conducted in a businesslike but friendly manner. You will be made to feel welcome! Committee members also help out at various events, such as the Folk Festival, Strawberry Fair etc., although here it is recognised that committee members have to fit such events around other parts of their lives.

I said that Area Committees are the lowest rung of the Society's structure, but this doesn't mean that they are not important. To the contrary, they are a vital link between the vast membership of the Co-operative Group and the higher elected levels, and we act as the Society's eyes and ears on the ground. In my mind we are there to Keep It Real! Committee members will now receive £2000 pa as recompense for their time spent on Society business.

All areas around the country are up for election over the next few months, and if you want to stand then you need to do so quickly. The closing date is 1 December, and your first action should be to ask regional office for an application form and candidate's pack. The contact details for regional office are as follows:

The Co-operative Group Central and Eastern Region
Suite 28 and 29
Challenge House
Sherwood Drive
Bletchley
Milton Keynes
MK3 6DP

Phone: 01908 361 500
Email: membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop

I, like most of the others on the committee, will be restanding, and of course I will be hoping that I get in. But frankly I would rather lose in a contested election than be re-elected by default. Democratic accountability only works when there are contested elections, so please go ahead and put your name forward.

Trumpington Closure

2008-10-24T08:00:00.000+01:00

A significant occurrence over the summer was the decision to close our Trumpington shop. Any store closure results in controversy, but the nub of the matter is that however socially aware, and sensitive we strive for the Co-op to be, consistent poor performance cannot be tolerated - we would soon end up with no Society at all.

There are, as I see it, several contributory factors to the Trumpington Co-op's poor financial performance. First amongst these are its size and sector. The Trumpington Co-op is really a newsagents. This leaves little room in the shop for the sort of range that people expect from a Co-op, and so we end up trying to sell more that your average newsagents, but less than people would expect from a convenience store.

Possibly as a result of the above, the store is generally not supported by the local area. I think that perhaps the nearby Waitrose store appeals to Trumpington residents to a greater extent than any small local shop. And finally, I believe that the council lease on the shop restricts the sales of certain items, further decreasing its viability. All together there have proved to be too many obstacles to developing a sustainable Co-op at the site. Hopefully the lease will be taken over somebody by somebody who can make a go of a newsagents business.

As previously reported, further information on the closure was communicated to the October half-yearly members' meeting in response to a question from the floor.

209 Radio Need You!

2008-10-21T08:00:00.000+01:00

The terrific people at 209 Radio who I mentioned a little while ago have run into some difficulties. Because of a restrictive broadcasting licence, they have been unable to raise commercial income for their station, which has left them rather short of cash. The license has now been changed, but they still need to raise money to tide them over. If you want to help enable this great community asset to stay going then visit their website and donate.

Co-op Bank Ethical Vote

2008-10-19T08:00:00.001+01:00

Its that time again! If you're a customer of The Co-operative Bank then you can vote on the 2008 Ethical Policy vote. It's your chance to approve (or otherwise....) the Bank's position on areas from human rights and international development to environmental concerns and animal rights. If you think that the Bank should broaden the scope of its policy, then there is space for you to include suggestions for next time.

2008 Cambridge and East Anglia Members' Half-Yearly Meeting

2008-10-17T08:00:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately I had to miss Tuesday's Co-operative Group members meeting due to a rather unpleasent stomach bug. However, you will no doubt be pleased to hear that I had my very own spy at the proceedings - step forwards Mrs Tudor!

By the sound of it, the meeting was a reasonable success, with the number of members attending perhaps a little down on last year. We will have to give some thought on how we can encourage more members to attend. The meeting followed the normal procedure, including the reception of both the national and the area financial results for the first half of the year. I will be talking more about the national picture in the near future, but I think that it is fair to say that the local result s are broadly in line with the country as a whole; food sales and profit up strongly and pharmacy doing reasonably in terms of sales, but suffering lots from a "claw-back" of money from central government relating to NHS prescription charges. In our region and area we saw an increase in funeral sales but a decrease in profitability, while travel agents are still having a tough time of it locally, while nationally the picture is becoming brighter.

Questions on the trading side of things included a question about the impending closure of the Trumpington Co-op and the user-friendliness (or lack of.....) the Travelcare website.

A report was also delivered to the meeting regarding the Constitutional Review, which is aproaching the end of its mammoth task. The main points (reduction in the number of regions, the possibility of delegates to AGM from the wider membership, the continuation of the current three-tier model) were presented, and the timetable for new elections outlined. Nominations for the new local committee will open in November, with the first meeting held in March.

As part of the resport on membership and community matters, the Community Fund Annual Report 2007 was handed out. This is a great document, with details about every award granted in the Central and Eastern region of the Co-op. We approve a few applications every couple of months on the committee, but it is only when you put them all together that you realise the true magnitude of the Co-ops involvement in the community life of the region. Thanks should go to every member who donates part of his or her dividend to enable this to happen. In total, 2007 saw over £175,000 distributed to homeless projects, playgroups, friendship societies, arts projects, community radio stations and even guerilla gardeners!

I'm really sorry that I missed the meeting, as it is one of the two "set-piece" members meetings each year, when the wider membership get the chance to formally hold their elected representatives to account. However, there are plenty of less formal opportunities at many other meetings, debates, stalls etc. over the year - and of course you can always contact me by leaving a comment on a recent post here.

Merger with Britannia?

2008-10-15T08:00:00.004+01:00

This is all very odd!

The Britainia Building Society have confirmed that they are in merger talks with "Co-operative Financial Services", and that between them they would have six million members. But CFS doesn't really have *any* members - it is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Co-operative Group (which of course does have members - lots of them!). In fact the Co-operative Bank itself is famously not a Co-operative itself due to some financial technical reasons. So presumably the merger would really be with the Group as a whole - in which case why not mention it? Also, when major news like this is announced, elected members on area committees tend to get a heads-up letter just before the press release as a courtesy. This time - nothing. As I said, very odd.

Having said that, this does seem to be the very earliest of days - the merger would only even be legal after an expected change in the law in a few months time. Once the details have been sorted, this does have real potential to solidify the Co-operative Bank's position in the market. And their customers would still be part of a mutual organisation that they can democratically control. Just as most of the other banks seem to be coming apart at the seams, our lot are not only treading water but looking at mergers from a position of strength.

UPDATE - 17/10/08

Like Michael (see comments) I have now received an email with further information from the Co-operative Group. Judging by this, it is extremely early days indeed - it doesn't look like there will be a need for a merged rulebook in the immediate future.....

Members' Meeting Tomorrow

2008-10-13T18:56:00.002+01:00

Just a quick note to say that the Cambridge and East Anglia area half yearly meeting is tomorrow night (Tuesday 14th October). This meeting, which is open to all members in the area, is your chance to find out about what the co-op has been getting up to and to hold your elected representatives to account.
The meeting itself starts at 7pm at the Moller Centre but you can register any time from 6:15 onwards.
If you are interested in standing for election to the area committee, which I definitely recommend, there will be an election briefing at 6pm at the same venue.
For more information contact the Central and Eastern membership office on membership.central&eastern@co-operative.coop

What's been going on?

2008-10-04T08:00:00.000+01:00

So, what's been going on in the Co-operative Group in the last couple of months?

Quite a bit. Plastic bags seem to have been all but banned from most Co-operative shops, with customers now getting the choice between a compostable carrier bag (made from corn starch, I believe) which costs 6p, a heavy duty plastic bag-for-life that costs 10p, and a Fairtrade cotton carrier bag for 99p. Personally I try to use the cotton ones, but if I've left it at home, I do find that the compostable ones can easily last for a few trips, and then then be used to consign compostable waste to our green bin.

The society is gearing up for elections! Any members who could spare some time each month for the Co-operative Group are asked to consider standing for election. There's lots more details on The Co-operative Website. If you are in any doubt as to stand or not, I would definitely recommend that you do. I was in two minds about it, decided to stand at the last minute, and have thoroughly enjoyed it over the last three or four years. I quite often walk home from a committee meeting feeling quite elated at some of the good stuff that the Co-op does - and that the local committee can help bring about.

Ranjit and the Cambridge and East Anglia committee have been busy putting on various events - the last one that I attended was the food ethics evening at the Moller Centre in Cambridge. A really great night that benefited from having a very knowledgeable panel including the manager of our very own Co-operative Farm at Coldham.

Always a key date in the Co-op year in Cambridge is the Folk Festival. The Co-operative were once again sponsor of the creche, but this year also had two very well patronised retail units selling everything that a festival goer needs. Our membership stand this year was drumming up support for our Cruelty-Free Cleaning campaign. I must admit that, being on honeymoon, I played absolutely no role in this whatsoever! Talking to those who did, though, it seems that the Co-operative presence was as successful as ever.

And of course, the exciting takeover of Somerfield is progressing behind the scenes. If this goes to plan and it is completed, we will be the fifth largest retailer in the country, with 8% of the market share. Exciting times......

Image from http://cambridgefolkfestival2008.blogspot.com/

Re-establishing Contact

2008-10-02T20:50:00.004+01:00

Blimey. Have you ever got married, find that two months pass in the blink of an eye, and then realise that you haven't blogged about Co-operation for ages? Yeah, well me too. Sorry about that. I will try to ensure that normal service is resumed shortly.

The wedding went well - thanks to all my friends in the Co-operative movement who wished us luck - and we embarked on a honeymoon that had a bit of Co-operation in there. You see we spent a week in Hesket Newmarket, the fantastic little village in the North of Lakeside with three (count em! Three!) Co-operatives. The first one to be created was Hesket Newmarket Brewery when there was concern that it might be sold off to some impersonal national or multinational business. After that, the Old Crown was turned into a Co-op when the future of that was uncertain. And just recently the post office was also taken over by a Co-operative of locals who were keen to see its services retained. I was lucky enough one night in the pub to bump into Julian - the chairman of the Old Crown pub co-operative, and had a very informative chat. As I thought, once the model of Co-operative ownership had been proved to work in the brewery, the community were quicker to be convinced for the other businesses.

We had gone to Hesket Newmarket expecting to see the pub and brewery playing their part at the centre of the community - and they were obviously going to get a good review from me just from being community owned! However, both pub and brewery are - to put it mildy - staggeringly good. The brewery beers are fantastic, they have a distinctive brand - being for the most part named after Lakeside fells - with a wide range of styles. I think that drinking such well crafted beers just yards from where they were made is the closest I've come to beery perfection. The pub too is an absolute gem - the sort that any discerning drinker would give his or her drinking arm to have at the end of their road. It steers a successful steady course between having a great food range but still remaining a traditional beer-led pub.

You can get a real flavour for what the brewery and pub are about through the videos on the pub's website.

Image from http://www.theoldcrownpub.co.uk/

Catch-Up

2008-07-20T19:58:00.002+01:00

Hi all, and sorry for not updating my blog for a while. I am unbelieveably busy with preperations for my wedding (next weekend - lets hope for good weather as I'm getting our guests to punt around Cambridge!), and I am afraid that I have let my blogging duties go by the wayside somewhat.

However, I could let the exchange of contracts for the Co-op purchase of Somerfield go without being marked. This is a major event for the co-operative movement, which will see our market share go above 8% - we might not have broken into the "top four", but if there were a Top Five then we'd be in it! Of course, the increase in trade has to be paid for - all £1.6bn of it, and our borrowings will increase considerably as a result of this deal. This means that when the inevitiable enforced sales of certain stores occur courtesy of the competition commission come about we might be pleased of the cash!

The deal means that we will take the idea of retail consumer co-operation to a much larger proportion of the country than we have had a chance to do before. It will also stretch area committees when Somerield stores start rebranding as The Co-operative - think of all those openings to attend! But what a nice position to be in.

Another thing that I have meant to mention for quite a while is the People's Rail Campaign. This campaign of the Co-operative Party is to call for a mutualisation of Network Rail - the public body that grew out of the ashes of the disastourously run private company that was Railtrack. Although it is now supposed to be run in the public interest, it has serious governance issues, and is not reflecting the needs and views of rail passengers. This is where Co-operation comes in! The campaign aims to create what is, in effect, a consumer co-op open to all citizens which would run Network rail. This is a fantastic idea from the Co-op Party, and helps me remind why I joined! If succesful, the People's Rail Campaign would mean that the railways would be better run, and that the idea of Co-operation was introduced to many more people.

I'm going to be being married or on honeymoon for most of the next three weeks, and not even I am obsessed enough about the Co-operative Movement to blog during that time. However, I will be spending a week in the Cumbrian village of Hesket Newmarket - named by this blog as the epicentre of the forthcoming Co-operative Commonwealth! Wish Kate luck.........

P.S. I can't think about the Somerfield takeover without a slight feeling of pleasure due to this little episode.

2007 Dividend

2008-06-24T08:00:00.002+01:00

Dividend for the year January-December 2007 should now be popping through the letterboxes of members of the Co-operative Group. Members who keep a track of these things will note that the increasing profitability of the society has meant that the dividend per point has almost doubled - from 1.46p per point in 2006 to 2.63p per point now. You get 1 point per pound spent at most of our businesses (for most goods), and extra points from the Co-op Bank and CIS based on the number of products you hold with them, and how much you've saved or borrowed.

By the way, you will have received an interim dividend in December for the first part of the year - this final June payment tops this up to the required 2.63p per point level.

I can tell you now that if you've got a mortgage and car insurance with the Co-op, you are really in the money; my fiancee and I got over £50 from our trade with CFS alone - watch out, Fairtrade wine aisle!

In total, a record £44.9m has been paid out to our customer-members (of which £550k was kindly donated by them to the Community Fund). In addition, we've paid a dividend of £24.9m to our corporate members (like the East of England Co-op, or the Midcounties Co-op), and £19.9m as a special bonus to employees who are members.

This is one of the two big differences between consumer co-operatives and conventional, investor-owned, retailers like Asda and Tesco - not only do we try to earn our profit in a democratically controlled, ethically sound way, but when we do earn it we reward our members in proportion to their trade.

Edited 1/7/08: Some inaccuracies in the statistics at the end, now corrected.

Two-Oh!-Nine

2008-06-18T08:00:00.003+01:00

I have mentioned the brilliant 209 Radio a brief couple of times in passing, but I've never given it the post that it deserves. I am, you see, under the impression that 209 radio - which broadcasts on 105FM in the Cambridge area - is a co-operative. However, now that I've come to look at the website a bit more closely, I think that I might be wrong - there's no mention of Co-operatives on their website. However, they have members, they're all about self-help, self-responsibility and building a sense of community. Regardless of their actual situation, I'm willing to award them honorary Co-op status for the duration of this post!

For those who have not yet had the pleasure of listening to 209, how can I best describe it? It's a bit like you've invited the entire population of Cambridge into your house, but for just half an hour at a time, and allowed them to show you what interests them. Quite a lot of them have brought their record collection, but a lot just talk about interesting things (not always in English). Now don't get me wrong, not every programme will be exactly to your taste - but that's half the fun of it. This Saturday, for example, there's a fitness and exercise programme, followed by ones about cinema, food and drink, girlguiding, the environment, an eclectic music show, and then the 209 Jukebox.

The 209 Jukebox represents, IMHO, one of the wonders of the modern world. A massive collection of all genres of music is open to listeners to choose from, with the result being bizarre, fantastic, and possibly an experiment in anarcho-democracy. A hardcore dance track followed by Captain Sensible and then by The Smiths is a perfectly possible line-up, and it's that sense of randomness that makes the programme so addictive.

The community aspect of the station is not limited to what is broadcast. The work involved in running a radio station, including journalism, editing, audio engineering, etc. etc. is all done by the active members, who are keen to get involved, learn new skills and have fun.

If you want to help out on the station - be it behind the scenes or fronting your own show, get in touch with the station for details on joining. Otherwise sit back, relax, and listen to the sound of Cambridge!

Pictured is the Catholic Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs on Hills Road, the location of 209 Radio's transmitter. Picture courtesy of the Cambridge 2000 website (copyright info).

Turbine Tours

2008-06-14T08:00:00.000+01:00

The Co-operative Group's Coldham Farm was the setting for a fantastic educational day about wind power, agriculture and conservation last Sunday. The Coldham estate wind farm (a joint project between the Co-op Group and Scottish Power) already provides the setting for the "Energy Works" project, in which local schoolkids come to learn about power generation - both by renewable and conventional methods. Sunday was the chance for all-comers to come and visit the turbines and learn a bit about renewable energy, recycling, composting, and how our Co-operative Farms produce the foods that we eat. I didn't advertise the day on here beacuse it was primarily for residents of the Fenland area - the local council are heavily involved with delivering the Energy Works programme.
I must say that my expectations were exceeded. Visitors were presented with a stall selling (at very advantageous prices(!), and with proceeds donated to charisty) a hog roast, fairtrade tea and coffee, Co-op-grown strawberries, and the new Co-op Apple Crush - which of course is made from our own apples. From there we entered the Energy Works classroom to see what sort of activities await the lucky visitors there. Also present was a representative from the Oadby Lodge Farm-To-Fork project - an equally impressive setup that lets schoolchildren see how arable crops are produced. I embarassed myself somewhat when I confused oats and rye in the seed-identification game, but what do you expect from somebody who grew up in the Black Country!

A marquee provided some shade from the sweltering sun, and a location for stands from various groups, including the county council, Scottish Power, Co-operative membership and much more. A bus trip took visitors the mile or two to the turbines themselves. Although the Co-op currently has eight turbines, there are more about because of a neighbouring farm. Planning permission has just been granted for seven more turbines. I talked to a guy from the Co-op's Property division, and he was proud that very few objections were submitted to the planning inquiry; a fact that he puts down to both a well-designed project, and the work that the Co-op did to get the local community onside.

I enjoyed looking around at the rest of the farm as well (I love the idea of the Co-operative growing its own produce); most of what I saw was wheat and rape, but the estate also produces sugar beet, potatoes, onions, shallots, broccoli and even pumpkins! A significant and growing proportion of what they grow now ends up under the "Grown By Us" label in Co-op stores.

Yet another great day that left everyone who visited feeling a bit more positive. More please Co-op!

Strawberry Success

2008-06-11T08:00:00.000+01:00

Our membership trailer at Strawberry Fair - staffed by two Co-operative Affairs Officers and various members of the Co-op Group area committee during the day - saw a steady stream of interested fair-goers on Saturday.

Many were attracted by our "ethical quiz" in which members of the public had to find answers to five fiendish questions to do with our new Food Retail ethical policy, with the answers were scattered on noticeboards around the Co-op's pitch. Others knew exactly what they wanted to do - they wanted to join the Co-operative Group so that they can support our aims, help shape the Society's future, and share in profits when they trade with our businesses (in cases like these, the committee members' role is simple - you hand the already-converted the membership form and let them get on with it!). Yet more just wanted to know more about Co-operatives and Co-operation in general. This being Cambridge, questions were often beyond my intelligence to answer - "Is the Co-operative syndicalist in nature?" being a case in point!

The day was really enjoyable for the simple reason that so many of the visitors were really impressed with what we do - be that our ethical stances, our community involvement or our democratic structure. A good day, I reckon.

Slack Ma Girdle

2008-06-09T08:00:00.001+01:00

Trumpington Community Orchard is not the only place that apple genes are being conserved; it's being reported that the Co-operative Group has bought 1000 trees from an auction of rare and historic apple trees. The idea is to boost the acreage of the Co-ops orchards near Tillington in order to meet demand. These varieties will enable the release of a "heritage" apple juice in the future.

The Co-operative Farms have already been involved with apple variety conservation, with their decision to continue growing Tillington Ladies Fingers and Nottingham Colonel when a contract to supply them ended a few years ago (scroll down the linked page a bit!). Instead of grubbing up the orchards, a brave decision was taken to incorporate them into own-brand products - such as the fantastic Tillington Hills Cider. It must have been considered a success, as we're now witnessing an expansion of our orchards. This is in stark contrast to the recent past; 67% of the nation's orchards were lost from 1970 to 1997.

So the Co-operative Group's farming division are keeping up their recent exciting innovative ways. Great stuff.

Community Fund Allocations: May 2008

2008-06-06T08:00:00.000+01:00

There were six successful Community Fund applications resulting from the May meeting of the Cambridge and East Anglia area committee of the Co-operative Group:

£250 was given to Brandon Friendship group (again!) to enable their monthly meetings providing a social focus for the over 55s in this rural part of Suffolk.

£300 was awarded to the East Barnwell Friendship club, an organisation with similar aims to the Brandon Group. This grant is going to fund a day trip for their members.

We had two applications from youth football clubs - and were pleased to be able to support them both. £500 went to Chatteris Town and £400 went to the Brampton Spartans. You might see some Co-operative logos on shirts of young football players soon!

The Burwell Family Project is a seven week event for Year Six children designed to smooth the progress between schools. We awarded them £500 to cover various costs.

Finally, £1,200 is on its way to Lifecraft , a self-help organisationbased in Cambridge for users of mental health services. The money is to cover production costs of their quarterly newsletter for a year, which contains poetry, articles about mental health, news and events.

(Warning!: Repeat blurb follows!)...
Once again, a big thank you to every Co-operative Group member in Cambridge and East Anglia who chooses to donate the odd-pence - or even more - to the Community Fund scheme. Your generousity is appreciated, and does make a real difference in our communities. You can change your donation options by logging in to your account on the Co-operative Group website.

If you would like to apply for Community Fund support for a project with charitable aims (note: the organisation itself does not need to be registered as a charity), then either pick up a leaflet at a Co-op store, or visit the Fund Webpages. Applications are particularly welcome from projects that reflect our Co-operative Values and Principles and active citizenship.

Previous Community Fund / Community Dividend allocations:
March 2008
January 2008
November 2007
September 2007
July 2007
May 2007
March 2007
February 2007
November 2006
June 2006

Co-operative Student Journalist of the Year

2008-06-03T08:53:00.002+01:00

Congratulations to Sara Pepper, the winner of the Co-operative Student Journalist of the Year Award for her article concerning the social issues surrounding ASBOs. The award, which is organised in partnership with The Independent, is designed to showcase the best of student journalism with articles related to the Co-operative Group's social goals. You can read the articles of the winner and runner up on The Independent's website.

Trumpington Community Orchard

2008-05-31T08:00:00.001+01:00

On Thursday I took a quick look at the new Trumpington Community Orchard. This was inspired by the fantastic Common Ground campaign for community-owned orchards designed to provide areas of recreation, nature and, of course, fruit - a real asset for the locality. The local area committee of the Co-operative Group were pleased to support the Trumpington orchard with a small grant towards the costs of a leaflet that was used to raise support for the scheme in July 2007, and I'm over the moon that the Co-op played even a minor part in what is a terrific project.

The orchard includes a representative from each of the nineteen native apple varieties of Cambridgeshire. From looking at the trees' current size, they won't fruit for three or four years yet, but the project represents a fantastic investment in the future. I look forward to lazing on a hot summer day under a heavily laden Haggerstone Pippin in a few years time!

The Phone Co-op: a Financial Analysis

2008-05-29T08:00:00.002+01:00

**Warning! The following post contains attempt at financial analysis by a rank amateur. You may wish to look away now to avoid reading schoolboy errors of judgement and/or arithmetic!**

I was taking a look at the accounts of The Phone Co-op recently, and thought that somebody (somewhere!) might be interested in my rather uninformed thoughts about what they show. I've already mentioned on the blog that, to general relief, profit was back up from last year's disappointing performance, and turnover was also continuing to increase. But what about the other sorts of things that financial accounts can suggest?

Profits are all very well, but when it comes to staying in business nothing beats money in the bank. In this respect the Phone Co-op has nothing to worry about. A combination of strong cash flows from normal activity and continuing streams of share deposits means that cash is bountiful - the current ratio (broadly speaking a ratio of how much money you are owed over the next year to the amount of money you will have to pay over the same period) is quite high at 2.6 and has been for a few years. This is good in terms of security, but could also be thought of as slightly inefficient use of capital. After all, they are paying us members 5.5% interest on our share deposits, and then they go and lend most of it to the Co-operative Group or put it in the bank - at what one would assume would be a lower rate of interest than 5.5%, although it's difficult to know for sure. The normal way of working out from the published accounts what sort of interest rate a business makes on its deposits is to divide the interest received (£73,131) by the mean of the sums deposited at the beginning (£1,280,173) and end of the year (£2,169,871). This works out at about 4.2%, but given the huge increase in free cash over the year, this value could change quite a lot depending upon timing.

If we take a look at a graph of the current ratio over the last eight years, we can see a continual increase from tight (1.2 - 1.5) through comfortable (1.5-2.5) through to the embarrassment of riches that we are now in. The slight drop in current ratio in 2005-2006 was, I think, due to a combination of the loss for the year and the investments made in fixed assets and acquisitions. I assume that the directors are preparing for a further dip into cash reserves for further acquisition or capital investment, otherwise it seems odd that they keep the share interest rate at the current level, encouraging further deposits that aren't being used.

The turnover graph shows remarkably steady growth over the last few years, but companies have been known to "buy" turnover by acquiring competitors at inflated prices. This doesn't seem to be the case here, as profitability (profit as a percentage of turnover) has remained buoyant, with the exception of 2005-2006.

The final thing I thought I'd take a look at is Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). ROCE is, in short, a measure of how well the business is doing at providing a return on the capital that has been invested in the business. It can be calculated in various different ways. The method used here is to divide the profit (after tax, but before distributions and share interest) by the sum of share capital and revenue reserve. You can see that despite us members wanting to sink seemingly endless quantities of capital into the Phone Co-op through our share accounts, the society has managed to keep the percentage return admirably steady over the past few years (again, with the exception of 2005-2006).

So the figures seem to paint a rosy picture. But will that "spare" cash be used for further growth soon?

UPDATE (14/2/09): Hmm, yes indeed I think that at least one schoolboy error was made - the ROCE isn't calculated quite how I expected - I have incorrectly allocated income between financial years. These will be redone with the 2008 accounts shortly. Soz. Sam

Green Energy For Schools

2008-05-27T08:00:00.000+01:00

There's been a fantastic Co-operative Group initiative on the go in recent months which I have been very amiss in ignoring - the Green Energy for Schools project.

The Co-op Group put together a £1m fund that, together with matched funding from Her Majesty's Government, is buying and installing solar panels on the roofs of 100 schools. The panels will come with a display unit showing how many units have been generated - the idea is that they will be as much an educational tool as a producer of renewable energy.

You can cast an eye over the list of schools that have already had them installed - Mayfield Primary School and Castle School in Cambridge are amongst that number, and more panels are being installed all the time. Please note though that no new nominations for the scheme are being accepted - the full quota of one hundred installations has already been snapped up by schools.

Customers Who Care

2008-05-25T08:00:00.002+01:00

The Co-operative Bank have released their annual press release revealing how much business they have lost over the last year by sticking to their ethical policy. I would imagine that the true loss of business is much larger - I mean if you were a factory-farming arms trader with links to oppressive regimes, would you even entertain the idea of applying to the Co-op for a bank loan?

Another strand to the Co-operative Bank's ethical bow is the Customers Who Care campaign. This is designed to harness the terrific ethical energy of the Bank's customer base to make a real change. The focus of the next 12 months is the subject of Human Rights - in particular the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Customers of the Co-op Bank are invited to pledge to uphold the declaration, and to take action to help promote human rights around the globe. The Bank will be working with Amnesty International and other human rights charities to really try to make a difference. The campaign fund receives 1.25p per £100 spent on all Co-op Bank credit and debit cards. OK, that's a small percentage, but overall it adds up to a big fighting fund to be spent on the ethical issue of the moment.

May 2008 Area Committee Meeting

2008-05-23T08:00:00.002+01:00

Perhaps the most important duty of the Co-operative Group Cambridge and East Anglia Area Committee for the May meeting was to comment on the recommendations of the Group Board concerning the constitutional review. I have already covered this is some depth, so I will very briefly summarise this part of the meeting as being broadly supportive of the proposals, with some concern expressed regarding the mix of lay and professional directors on the CFS board (and to a lesser extent the other subordinate boards). You can watch the presentation of the recommendations to the national Group AGM here.

We also discussed the recent regional AGM held in Kettering. I think that the prevailing view was that it had gone well, with the workshops in the morning being particularly useful.

Our discussion of trading matters concentrated on our food shops in the area, with a local Operations Manager talking to us about overall financial performance so far in 2008, plans to rebrand shops, and a discussion about those shops that are felt to be currently underperforming. The Ops Manager also talked about plastic bags. These have now been banned at our Girton store as part of a village campaign. Our other stores will gradually become a bit more responsible about plastic bags. The idea is that after roll-out, plastic bags will be kept behind the counter rather than in piles out front, and there will be lots of publicity about alternatives (including our Fairtrade unbleached cotton bag of course)!

We then had our update from Ranjit, our Co-operative Affairs Officer, concerning all the membership activities that had gone on. Our "What's in a Name" event had had very god feedback from our members - but sadly it wasn't booked to capacity. The part of the day that had seen a visit to the Daily Bread worker Co-op was particularly well received. Forthcoming events include Strawberry Fair, the Royal Norfolk Show and the Folk Festival.

We then allocated our Community Fund cash to local charities and community projects. We had a huge number of applicants, and we were able to support six of them to a total amount of £3,150. More details on these soon.

Finally, we had reports from the Regional Board and the regional Values and Principles committee. In the minutes of the Board, I noticed that the question that I had suggested for the AGM regarding the Mosquito child deterrent devices had been withdrawn - an answer had been found informally through the membership team (we are assured that the Co-operative Group does *not* have any. Any previous devices that existed have been replaced with our speakers that play classical music. Making an area uncool to loiter in by playing Mozart is, IMHO, fair enough. Using a brain-curdling high pitched noise is not!

Strawberry Fair

2008-05-21T08:00:00.002+01:00

The Co-operative Group membership team will once again be present at Strawberry Fair in Cambridge on the 6th of June. We will have our membership trailer in attendance with a range of activities still to be announced.

Strawberry Fair is the biggest free and volunteer-run festival in Britain. I'd always sort of assumed that the Fair had a long, medieval history, so I was surprised to find out that it started in the 1970's by Cambridge University students who didn't like May balls!

I'm actually a Strawberry Fair virgin, so I'm looking forward to helping out on the Co-op's stall. Give me a wave if you see me!

Book Review #4: The Fight for Fordhall Farm

2008-05-19T08:00:00.009+01:00

So far in my (very irregular) series of book reviews, all the titles so far have started with the letters co-op.... . This time, the word only appears once or twice in the whole text, but the book overflows with what Co-operation means regardless.

The Fight for Fordhall Farm concerns the trials and tribulations faced by tenant farmers of the eponymous smallholding over the last five years. They've had a fair amount of publicity during this period - I failed to notice the story until last year when I posted about them on this blog - and now that their tenancy with the community as a landlord is secured, they've written a book to tell their story

Ben and Charlotte Hollins grew up on Fordhall farm, a place made famous in the embryonic organic movement by their enlightened, if eccentric, father Arthur. The family was as much a part of the farm as the meadows and the woodland - the land had been tended by Hollins's for generations and the walls echoed to parties of years past when the farm had been a fashionable place for friends of the family to come for entertainment. Unfortunately, they were tenants not owners, and all it would take for their parents and them to be removed from their farm for ever was a mistimed rent payment and an interest in their land by the giant Muller dairy product manufacturer.

With their parents unable to fight for their farm, Ben and Charlotte took up the struggle themselves, managing to change the council's local plan to remove most of their farm from development status. This, combined with months of negotiation with the landlords led to the two of them obtaining a tenancy for themselves, but this was short-term and didn't provide the security that they required to make the sort of investment that the run-down farm needed.

Meanwhile, a fortuitous series of events led to an awareness of their plight amongst a variety of people - and slowly the idea of a community solution of their problem presented itself. The Fordhall Community Land Initiative was launched, and set about starting to raise money to buy the farm. The reason why this blog is concerned with the story, is that the Initiative was set up as an Industrial and Provident Soceity - and so this was, in effect, a Co-operative solution.

It is to the credit of Ben and Charlotte that they impressed their landlords to such a degree that they agreed a sale should they be able to raise £800,000 in a few months. Money was raised by selling shares - at £50 a pop - in the initiative; by receiving donations and asking for loans from individuals and organisations alike. Although the Tridos Bank came up with a £200,000 loan, the most of the rest came from individuals buying one or two shares, or loaning a few pounds interest free for five years - a true example of what can happen when people act in unison for a common cause. The fact that they reached their target is a testament to the farm's inspirational cause, and to the selflessness of the contributors. It was fantastic reading about this very personal story of the writers that had a happy ending thanks to thousands of others.

I actually feel very guilty that, during those last few nerve-wracking weeks in 2006 before the purchase deadline when every £50 counted, I was blisfully unaware of the drama unfurling in Shropshire! The Co-op News pointed my attention towards Fordhall in 2007, and I have now become the proud owner of a few shares. Fordhall continue to welcome new shareholders as further capital is required to help pay off that bank loan, as well as investing in the Farm to help realise its potential as an educational centre.

So Ben and Charlotte are still tenant farmers - but their landlords are a co-operative with interests pretty much coincident with theirs. Everyone concerned wants to give the plucky twosome a chance in the job that they love, and wants to turn Fordhall into an educational centre dedicated to the organic principles pioneered by Arthur Hollins. Ben and Charlotte have a secure 100 year tenancy - and it is no less than they deserve, given their dedication.

I'm not sure how the authors would take to my classification of this book as a must-read for Co-operators. Co-operation is not the star of this book - that status belongs to Arthur Hollins, his farm and its land, and his children who never knew when to give up. But regardless, this book describes co-operation as it should be like - a vehicle to let people band together in a common aim and let dreams come true.

If you want to buy The Fight for Fordhall Farm you can do so on the farm's online shop - which also sells non-intensively produced meat from the farm.

Previous Book Reviews:

1. Co-op - The People's Business
2. Co-operative Principles - Today and Tomorrow
3. Co-operation's Prophet

That Constitutional Review Again

2008-05-17T16:13:00.003+01:00

I've found the bit of the Co-op Group website where you can download a copy of the Review document and comment on it. I think that you will need to log in with your membership number and postcode first, but after that, copy and paste this address:

http://www.co-operativemembership.coop/ce/members/yourdemocraticnetwork/constitutionalreview/

The comment board is empty at the moment - so hurry up and you could be the first comment that frames the discussion....

Phone Co-op is Ten Years Old

2008-05-17T13:40:00.000+01:00

I was interested to see a flyer in my phone bill this morning for The Phone Co-op's tenth anniversery party. To celebrate ten years of co-operatively provided telecom services (first to charities and social enterprises - then to individuals as well), they're holding a do at Chipping Norton Lido (a community-owned social enterprise) for their members with swimming, food and music. Sadly, I'm unable to go - bizarrely because of an international croquet commitment - which is a real shame.

You know, my parents have been customers of BT since 1981, and NOT ONCE have they been invited to a party of any kind! Just goes to show how special Co-operatives are...

Constitutional Review - the Board's Recommendations

2008-05-14T07:00:00.003+01:00

The constitutional review of the Co-operative Group has moved into its final stages with the publication of the Board's recommendations for the new structures that will govern the Society. They've also published an indicative timetable showing how quick we will be able to get these structures up and running should the recommendations meet with the approval of two Special General Meetings. These are more or less the final offerings, with previous consultations with regional boards, area committees and corporate members (i.e. other, more locally based, co-ops) already taken into account. The likelihood is that these recommendations will therefore be accepted - although if they aren't to the membership's liking, then things will obviously have to be rethought.

Unfortunately, things have to move rather quickly if we are to get the new rules in place anytime soon, and this has led to the Cambridge and East Anglia area committee receiving their copies of the recommendations four days before they needed to give their response to the regional board - so there hasn't been any time for the wider membership to have their say on these specific ideas. That said,there was a wide consultation open to individual members earlier in the process.

In brief, my view of the recommendations is that not much will change between the current Co-oerative Group structure and the new one (although I'm sure that there are those that will disagree with that analysis). The three tiers of formal member democracy will continue, with area committees electing regional boards and the group board. This means that, with some slight changes, the Group's representative democracy will continue, and ideas such as direct election of the Group Board have not been implemented.

The regions will change - the new Group will have 7 regions. The flak from Wales and the South West about being combined was too much, which means that the South West have been partnered with parts of the (marginally preferable for them) West Midlands, with Wales standing alone as a region in its own right. The Central and Eastern region, which contains Cambridge and East Anglia, has got marginally larger taking in more to the North. Regional boards will be given an "enhanced role with delegated powers from the Group Board".

General meetings of the whole Society will continue to be attended by regional delegations - rather than by any interested member - but provision has been made for individual member delegates elected by the members in an area or region. This is a great idea, and contributes towards my aim of having steps for members to get involved that lie between the wider membership and elected office. There may also be multiple members meetings in each region prior to the national General meeting that individual members could use to raise local or national matters, which if supported could be considered at the General meeting.

Underneath the regions, there would be around 50-60 area committees, which is slightly higher than pre-merger (when there was around 45 I think). There will be consideration given to informal member networks that operate at a lower level than area committees - perhaps even at the level of the store, as I talked about quite a while ago.
After a bit of hoo-hah - quite rightly in my opinion - about the proposal to remove the responsibility of the area to keep an eye on the trading performance of stores in its area this has been reinstated. In fact, the roles and responsibilities of the new "local committees" (they might not end up with that exact name) are almost identical to those of the current "area committees" - just in a different order! We used to have a rule that area committee members should have at least £25 in their share account to stand for election - but the days when the size of your share account was a good indication of your commitment to the Society are long gone, so there'll be a purchase qualification instead. There is a commitment that this will not be so high that it discriminates against those on low incomes, and purchases with any of the Group's businesses will apply.

Thank goodness, all "economically active" members (i.e. those that use their cards when they go shopping, or who do banking or buy insurance from us etc.) will automatically get ballot papers for area committee members - so we will hopefully see a much higher turnout than when only self-selected members of the "members' network" were sent them. Hooray!

Northern Ireland will be given a different structure to other parts of the UK - this is because they are too small to be a region on their own, but just having an area committee wouldn't do justice to their identity, nor would it be politic with respect to interaction with the devolved administration in the province.

The Group board will be reduced in size from its pre-merger size of 28 (and its entirely unmanageable size of something like 33) to a comparatively petite 20 - this is made up of 15 elected from Group regions and 5 from Corporate members (this reflects the approximate 75%-25% split in trade between them). However, the idea is then to have three subordinate boards - one for Food Retail, one for CFS (Co-op Bank, CIS and Smile) and one for everything else. Each of these would have members from the Group Board, Executives (i.e. the management of the Co-op), and Independent Professional Non-Executive directors to provide a bit of independent, experienced thought. I think that this is quite a neat solution, but was worried that the CFS board didn't have enough democratically elected members on it - we'll have to see if this is altered before the SGMs.

I've been quite clear about my opposition to the age rule in the past. I'm pleased to see that it won't play any part in the new constitution of the Society. The traditional alternative to the age rule is some sort of term limit in order to ensure some sort of turnover on the body concerned. However, contrary to my expectations, this hasn't been imposed on local committees or regional boards - only Group Board members will be subject to a term limit.

Finally, and very importantly, the need to protect the Society's status as a Co-operative was discussed - in other words, how to stop the carpet-baggers coming in and nicking our assets like they did to the Building Societies in the 1990s. The conclusion that the review board reached was that demutualisation basically doesn't happen unless the executive and/or the board are keen on the idea - so the rules will be drafted with the intention of keeping these sorts of characters out of the corridors of power.

Email Disabled

2008-05-13T00:05:00.000+01:00

Hi, just a quick note to say that the cambridgeco-operator@hotmail.co.uk address has been removed from the sidebar, and I will no longer be receiving emails sent to it. In actual fact, I have been unable to access email there for a little while, primarily because spammers seem to be using it as the replyto address for their dubious communications. Communication with me is now solely through the comments boxes, I'm afraid. However, if you don't want your message to be public just say so and I can oblige - I have to pre-moderate all comments anyway.

Cheers all,

Sam

Which Came First?

2008-05-12T00:05:00.000+01:00

Controversy is being stoked by the Manchester Evening News blog about the birth of the Co-operative Movement. Despite the popular conciousness settling on the Rochdale Pioneers (or was it Robert Owen?) as the first Co-op, the Scots are pointing out that the Fenwick Weavers' Society predated all other examples.

Well, let me first say that no-one with much knowledge of the Co-operative Movement claims Rochdale in 1844 as the first Co-op. There was a whole movement in the 1830s inspired by William King for a start, although it collapsed almost as quickly as it begun. What is special about Rochdale is that they came up with a recipe of doing business and of operating the Society that was not only successful, but spectacularly so. The Co-operative Group of today is the direct descendent of the Rochdale Pioneers, and is rightfully proud of that history.

However, I do wonder if the Fenwick Weavers were really a "Co-op" in the same way as people came to understand that term by the 19th Century. They were a sort of trade association that did a bit of collective buying on the side. What we can be sure of is that they form one strand of the history of the wider mutual movement - a history of which even the Rochdale Pioneers, as well-known and well-celebrated as they are - are equally just one part of.

UPDATE: Oops, I've just noticed that Martin over at Politics for People has already covered this topic - and rather more thourougly than myself. Ho Hum.

Only 12 Weeks Until the Folk Festival!

2008-05-11T19:44:00.007+01:00

Tickets went on sale this morning for the 2008 Cambridge Folk Festival. The Co-operative Group has sponsored the Creche for the last few years, and had a large presence from our membership team to try to raise awareness of Co-operative values and principles amongst the festival goers (although a large proportion are already very aware of what we stand for). This year promises to be more Co-operative than ever, with a couple of food retail units providing hungry and thirsty campers with ethical Co-op fare.

Each year we have a theme to our membership activity. Last year we were raising awareness of what we can do - both as individuals and as Co-operators - to help prevent catastrophic climate change with our Show Some Love campaign. This year we will be focusing on our BUAV approved cosmetic and houshold product ranges, and encouraging festival-goers to bear animal welfare in mind when purchasing these sorts of items.

Although I'm not going to be part of the Co-op team at the festival, I will be a paying customer instead due to a lengthy bit of queuing this morning. If you haven't got your tickets yet, your only hope is the phone lines, as the online and in-person tickets are sold out.

As ever, I'm looking forward greatly to the festival - it's a fantastic celebration of great music, good beer and nice people. If you want to say hello, mine will be the tent with "Just Married" written on it - Kate and I will be in the middle of our honeymoon at the time.

Picture above is of the 2006 Folk Festival during the balmy weather that we were treated to. I'm the one with the accordion....

Central and Eastern Members' Regional AGM

2008-05-08T22:58:00.000+01:00

Members of the Co-operative Group get two opportunities a year to attend meetings, make their views known, talk to their representatives, and enjoy a light meal. Saturday was one of those occasions - the AGM of the Central and Eastern Region in Kettering.

A bus was laid on from Cambridge train station for those of us from the East of the region. After a quick cup of coffee and chinwag with other members, we split into small groups devoted to two of four choices - Food Retail, Finance, Travel and Pharmacy. After talking to my long-suffering fiancee, she agreed to cover the latter two while I attended the former.

The Food Retail session consisted of a presentation on the ever-growing Truly Irresistable range (which also mentioned the Grown By Us project), followed by the familiar question and answer endurance test for Peter Rowley - our Regional Chief Officer. The idea was to have this session before the formal business in the afternoon so that everyone could exhaust their comments on availability of piccalilli at particular Co-ops by the time that the main meeting was reached, and this seemed to work pretty well. Peter was as impressive as ever in his local knowledge of his store estate, and his ability to field a remarkable array of questions and requests in quick succession.

The finance session focused on a new initiative that is to be trialled in Nottingham in the coming months, in which a selection of food shops will contain resources for shoppers to do banking while at their local Co-op. The degree of provision will vary - some stores will have an ATM, an automated deposit machine and a leaflet rack, while some will actually have a member of the Co-op Bank's staff present throughout the day. The success of the different strands of the trial will then be examined, and if possible rolled out to a much larger proportion of food shops around the country. At the end of the presentation there were plenty of questions about this scheme in particular, and the wider topics of CFS in general.

The formal business in the afternoon followed soon enough, and this was the portion of the day that was webcast live to the whole of the worldwide interwebnet. As if to prove that this webcast was a success, a couple of the questions asked at the meeting came from over the ether in cyberspace - although maybe it was just somebody on the platform pretending to read from a laptop..... Outside of the meeting I did mention to our regional chair the comments made by MJR concerning the limiting format of the webcast which made using open-source software impossible. Hopefully we can raise a bit of awareness about the problem with the people who can do something about it.

The first part of the afternoon was given over to a presentation by the head of The Co-operative Estates about the proposed Eco-Town on Co-operative Group owned land near Leicester. I know that the whole thing is very controversial indeed, but I must say that a heck of a lot of thought has gone into it, and it has the potential to be something very impressive indeed. Having said that, only the broad outline of plans have so far been finalised - it will be interesting to see what emerges to be the final proposal.

Next we had Steve Watts (a member of both the local Area Committee and the main Group Board) giving us the National Overview of the Co-op's financial performance in 2007. I've already gone over this subject in some depth, so I'll say no more, except to note that the Somerfield deal was briefly mentioned. As you might expect, there was no concrete news of real significance, but it was still noteworthy that the topic was mentioned in some detail. In response to a question from the floor, Steve indicated that he thought that should the deal go through, there would be something of a time-lag between acquisition of Somerfield stores and their conversion to the Co-op brand. Having just spent a small fortune for the company, the last thing that the Society should do is change them immediately and radically - with the potential for substantial customer perturbation!

Next up was the report of our regional performance in our Food Retail business, given by the aforementioned Peter Rowley. Once again Peter was able to show off a bit, pointing out that like-for-like sales in the region are up 5.7% compared to 4.8% for the Co-op Group nationally and 3.6% for other retailers. This is a great result, and is a testament to the hard work of all our employees in the region.

I daresay that not many large businesses have a Values and Principles report as part of their AGM - one of the great things about the Co-op is that we do! This focused on the progress that we have made over the past year with regard to our social goals - and when that's presented in front of you, it does add up to a huge effort. A lot of attention was paid to the newly instigated Food Retail Ethical Policy, and the move to make all Co-op own-brand hot beverages (including tea, coffee, hot chocolate - the lot!) Fairtrade. But also announced was the intention to hold member consultation on our community and campaign priorities from 2009 onwards.

Finally, we had a short presentation on the outcome of the Constitutional Review Board on the subject of our governance structures. This was also the subject of a booklet sent out to elected members at the weekend - and which will be covered here soon.

And with that our regional chairman, Herbert Daybell, sent us back onto the coaches. The meeting - a fascinating combination of formal AGM, gossip session, workshop and a free lunch - was over for another year.

Pictured is the auditorium for the formal business part of the meeting where Steve Watts is going over the current situation with regards to the possible Somerfield Purchase

Mikron Theatre Company

2008-05-07T20:16:00.000+01:00

I stumbled on this webpage via a rather positive review on a local newspaper's website. I'm not sure that a play based on the history of the Co-operative Movement is necessarily a shortcut to commercial success, but its intriguing enough to be worth a visit. I'll try to get to one of the shows down south to check it out.

April 2008 Area Committee Meeting

2008-05-06T19:24:00.007+01:00

The 3rd April meeting of the Co-operative Group Cambridge and East Anglia Area Committee represented something of a first for me. With our chairman otherwise engaged, it fell to me, as Vice-Chair, to steer the meeting - chair Rowland's excellent attendence record over the last two years has ensured that I have remained untested in all this time.

Fortunately, the agenda gods decided to ease me in gently with a rather sparse set of items to fill the allocated two hours. We had our usual look at the trading reports of our different businesses, including our equally usual continuation of the matter of ladmags, and their place in our stores. The Food Retail operations manager who attended the meeting went through the policy on ladmag stocking, and he pointed out that policy is for the display of magazines to obscure most of the front covers of explicit magazines. It was also noted that the Co-operative Group as a whole receives about 20 complaints a month (which is seen as a fairly low figure) regarding these sort of publications - 2 are about the presence of the magazines, while the remainder concern their display. The committee asked that shop managers are reminded about the sensitivities of some of our customers, and requested that their visibility be kept subtle.

Plans are continuing for the Co-op's presence at the 2008 Cambridge Folk Festival. We're not the main sponsor - after some consideration, the Co-op (nationally) declined to take over from BBC Radio 2 in that role - but we are expanding our presence compared with previous years, with retail presence in addition to the usual membership activities. Our interaction with the Festival is controlled regionally - not by the area committee, but the committee expressed our support of our continuing involvement - there are few events in which the vibe is quite such a good fit with our values and principles.

Our regional board members reported back from recent meetings of that body, including the all-inportant regional response to the Constitutional Review. Since the meeting, the board's final recommendations have been published, and make for interesting reading. I'll cover this in a post soon.

The committee was required to send a delegate to the 2008 Co-operative Congress. Members decided that a strict egalitarian principle should apply, and reckoned that the delegate should be chosen from those who wish to go on the basis of the time passed since their last Congress trip. I have never been, although sadly I am unable to make the relevant weekend this year. I'll get there sometime!

And that was it. I told you it was a short agenda!

Past Area Committee meetings:
2008: Jan Feb Mar
2007: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
2006: Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec