Western Left Feet Forward Exhibition Launches On Friday the 28th of October Artefact, a workers coop art gallery and performance space, supported by Central Co-op, launched their new exhibition “Left Feet Forward.” This new exhibition celebrates Co-op History and examines how local Birmingham Co-ops exist in 2022. The Birmingham Co-op History Group have kindly provided specially
Western Bike Events prove popular for our communities Recently the Western MCC held two bike events in Birmingham and Stafford during the Autumn half term break. The events in Wildwood, Stafford and Northfield, Birmingham proved a popular choice and many members of our community came along and had their bikes checked with some minor repairs take place. In
Community Co-op Gardening Club Learns About Urban Willow Richard Bickle, MCC Member in Birmingham tells his account of the latest Co-op Gardening Club visit below. On Wednesday evening, member of the Co-op Gardening Club in Birmingham spent an enjoyable evening with Marcus Belben, community activist and local Woodcraft Folk leader, learning about the growing and uses for willow
Community Birmingham Co-operatives present 'Left Feet Forward' Exhibition On 28 October "Left Feet Forward; Birmingham Co-operative Art Exhibition launches at Artefact. The Exhibition celebrates both the history of the Co-operative movement and examines the current Co-op scene in Birmingham. Artefact is a workers Coop art gallery and performance space in Stirchley, a vibrant area of South Birmingham
Community Great Barr Musical Theatre Co-operative perform Cinderella On Friday 4 & Saturday 5 November our very own musical theatre member group perform their pantomime production of Cinderella! The group are made up of dedicated musical theatre members from the community who come together to perform, socialise and have fun. you can find out more on the group
Community Free Bike Maintenance Events During half term two bike maintenance events are taking place in Stafford and Birmingham. The events are free for members and customers to get their bike checked and basic repairs completed free of charge. On Thursday 27 October the team from local bike repair and community bike shop 'Back
Community 'Men's Voices' returns for 2022 Our annual Men's Voices returns on Wednesday 16 November and is once again taking place at Burton Albion Football Club. This years theme is around wellbeing and mindfulness! We have two great key note speakers coming along; Lord Roy Kennedy, member of the House of Lords and Charlie
Western The Woodland Games On 3 September our Central England Co-op MCC member Shaz attend the Woodland Games in South Birmingham. Hear his account of the day below Central England Co-op Western MCC supported the Woodland Games in south Birmingham. The Woodland Games an art adventure that helped the participants learn about ecology and
Community Colleagues celebrate Birmingham Pride Colleagues from Central England Co-op Retail, Funeral and Support Centre businesses came together on Saturday to celebrate Pride. This Year's Pride was celebrating 25 years in Birmingham! Over 30 colleagues took part in either the parade or the community stand in Pride's Community Village. The parade
A Summer of Health for Young People in the West Midlands During the Summer holidays over 1,500 young people were introduced to healthy choices activity from members of the Western MCC and myself at local Holidays and Food clubs. We worked with Progressive Sports in Staffordshire, Sporting Spirit in Birmingham, and Central Co-op Learning Trust in Burton by providing activity
Birmingham Co-operative History Group Visits Chipping Norton Shaz Rahman, MCC member joined the Birmingham Co-op History Member Group on a visit to Chipping Norton. His account of the day is below. On Saturday the 13th of August the Birmingham Co-operative History Group went on a Co-operative Tour of Chipping Norton. Well known Co-operator and Chipping Norton resident
Summer of Sport comes to Birmingham The Western MCC teamed up with Sporting Spirit and Sport for Life International to host a Summer of Sport event in Birmingham for colleagues, members and the community inspired by Birmingham's hosting of the 2022 Commonwealth Games. During the day there were 8 sports on offer to try
Community Great Barr celebrates new look store and Birmingham's Summer of Sport Last week our Store at Great Barr in Birmingham celebrated their new look store in time for Birmingham's Summer of Sport. The store is located just up the road from Alexander Stadium, the venue for this year's Commonwealth Games. The official opening of of the store
Community Co-op Film Festival takes place during Co-ops Fortnight During Co-ops Fortnight this year the Co-op Film Club in Birmingham held their second Film Festival. Kate Palser of the Film Co-op writes about what took place during the two weeks. Reflection on an undertaking like Just Film Festival is an important part of the whole process. Although the features
Community Co-op Songwriting sessions come to Stirchley Shaz Rahman, Western MCC member writes how he attends and is part of a song writing co-op that meets at the Artefact Cafe in Stirchley. These sessions have been enabled by the funding of the Western MCC. On Friday July the 1st the Co-op Songwriting Group met for the third
Community Fairtrade sessions with local Beavers' Group Recently MCC member Amanda and myself went along to see a local Beaver Group in Kings Heath to talk to them about all things Fairtrade. During the Sessions Amanda and myself spoke about the importance of Fairtrade and how buying these products help farmers and workers of developing countries lead
Western Great Barr Community Day On Thursday 28 July come Join us at Walsall Road Great Barr for some fun community activity. There we be a tombola, raffle, prizes, food tastings, refreshments and lots more with all money raised going to our Colleague elected charity Dementia UK. Colleagues from our Food, Funeral, floral and membership
Community Summer of Sport Event comes to Birmingham Central England Co-op have teamed up with Sporting Spirit, a Birmingham based youth sports provider to hold a fun sporting event on Saturday 6 August between 11am - 3.00pm at the Co-op Sports Ground in Yardley Birmingham to celebrate Birmingham's Summer of Sport. Teams of 6 (Don&
Community Robin Hood Comes to Lichfield Recently the cast of Robin Hood came to our Lichfield Boley Park store to promote the community musical supported by Central England Co-op. During the day the cast spoke to members of the public about the musical and sang songs outside our store to shoppers. As part of our ongoing
Bournville Beekeepers visit the Co-op Gardening Group Cath from our Co-op Gardening club writes about a recent visit from local beekeepers to the group. Wednesday 27th April saw the Bournville Beekeepers visit the Co-op Gardening Club. The Bournville Bee keepers were set up by Colin, who wanted to pay something back to his community after having been
Entries invited for Just Film Festival on the theme "Working Together" Building on the success of the inaugural "Just Film Festival" in 2021, entries have opened for this year's short films competition which is being organised as part of Co-operatives Fortnight. Last year Central England Co-op supported the festival and it happy to do so again in
Central England Co-op celebrates all things Fairtrade During Fairtrade Fortnight (21 February - 6 March) The Western Membership and community Council (MCC) celebrated the event by delivering events to members of our community through School and Community Group workshops and assemblies, talking to our members and customers, and through technology with an online seminar. During the fortnight
Western Introduction to Geocaching Central England Co-operative has been helping the Geocaching Association of Great Britain (GAGB) to host a series of “Intro to Geocaching” events across our Western region - you may have seen them in our regular blog post? What are they? Why come along? What’s going on? Ant Reid from
Community Member Activity in the West Midlands Are you a member of Central England Co-op? If so there is much more to membership than using your card in our shops! If you're not a member and want to take part, please visit https://membership.centralengland.coop/ to join. Across our trading region we have groups
Community Co-op Gardening Club Promotes Upcycling and Repurposing Items For Use in the Garden On Wednesday 26 January I joined our Member Gardening Club for their first meeting of the year. The group meet monthly at Cotteridge Church and selected venues in South Birmingham. Their program throughout the year helps promote small gardening to CEC members attending the group. 2022 Event ProgramThe first meeting
