Our Board of Directors Birmingham Film Co-op organise a Just Film Festival for Co-op Fortnight Below is a blog from Central England Co-op Western MCC Shaz about his experience during the awards ceremony of the Just Film Festival organised by the Birmingham Film Co-op. The Just Film festival concluded on Sunday the 4th of July with a hybrid awards ceremony conducted at the Warehouse Café
Western Elected members from the west midlands join regional Co-op AGM This week saw the Annual General Meeting of Co-operatives West Midlands. This Regional Co-operative Council exists to support and promote Co-op business and enterprise in the West Midlands. The meeting was held online with over 20 co-operators in attendance and used a new video conferencing platform 'Online Meeting Co-operative&
Community Elaine Dean Co-op voices women’s event Elaine Dean who is the current Vice President of Central England Co-op (amongst many other Co-op leadership roles) was interviewed by Rebecca Harvey from Co-op Press and Sarah Alldred from Co-op College about her life as a co-operator. It was great to hear from Elaine directly about her experiences in
Community Lights, Camera, Co-op for Co-operatives Fortnight! Starting on Friday 18th June, Birmingham Film Co-op are working with Central England Co-operative and Co-op News to bring you a special fortnight of films all available to watch from the comfort of your home. Films enrich our lives - they educate, entertain, delight and transport us. But the films
Western 150 years of Co-operation in Halesowen 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the Halesowen and Hasbury Industrial Co-operative Society. to mark this occasion a special commemorative display by the Birmingham Co-operative History Group has gone on display at our Spies Lane Community Store in Halesowen (1 Spies Lane, Halesowen, Birmingham B62 9SS). Below is information relating
Western Western MCC donates 80 packs of Hot Cross Buns to local neighbourhood group Over Easter the Whittington and Fisherwick Good Neighbours group gave out packs full of Easter goodies to over 75 households in the area. this group provides support for many elderly and vulnerable people in Whittington, a small village close to Lichfield. The group were donated 80 packs of our Hot
Western Western MCC donate funds to Birmingham Bike Project The western Membership and Community Council recently donated £500 to local charity 'The Bike Project' in Birmingham below is a blog about the organisation from Cath Palgrave who works for the Bike Project and is also a member of the Western MCC. The Bike Project was really pleased
Western 'King of the North' Andy Burnham joins male Co-operators on Central England Co-op's Men's Event On Wednesday 24 March Central England Co-operative held an online Men's Voices event. The event which would usually be held in November to coincide with International Men's Day was postponed due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. During this online event we had Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater
Western Birmingham Co-op History Group Fairtrade Talk with Debbie Robinson On Tuesday, 2 March the Birmingham Co-op History Group hosted a special talk with the CEO of Central England Co-op Debbie Robinson. Debbie has an extensive history with Fairtrade and the nearly 30 people attending on the Zoom call were excited to learn about it. As the meeting was held
Western Fairtrade donations to 'Hit the Spot' As we are well into the first week of Fairtrade Fortnight, the Western MCC made 2 donations to local causes with Fairtrade goodies. Below is a picture of some Fairtrade Chocolate and Co-op biscuites that have been donated to the Covid Test Team volunteers working from the site at Burton
Western Co-operatives and Fairtrade: A Shared History On the 2nd March you're invited to join member of Birmingham Co-op History Group and Central England Co-op's Chief Executive, Debbie Robinson, on-line to explore the story of how Co-operatives in the UK and around the world have supported, shaped and enabled the growth of the
Western 2020... What a Year! As we have entered 2021 the Western Membership and Community Council(MCC) wanted to look back and reflect on some highlights of 2020, and how through a global pandemic we were still able to help support our members in our community. As we entered 2020 the Western MCC had lots
Western MCC Chair Shaz reviews 2020 "As Chair of the Western MCC I can say that 2020 was a year that did not turn out the way we expected it to. We had big plans that had to be cancelled. From January to March 2020 we continued with our normal plan. We attended events and
Eastern Membership and Community Relations Christmas Newsletter This year the Member and Community Relations team have produced a newsletter for members who would normally attend our Member activity and events. Below is the newsletter, but if you would like an email version please send an email to member.community@centralengland.coop The Membership and Community Team wish
Western Western MCC support community foodbank with some frozen meal deals On Friday the Western Member and Community Council supplied £200 to help fund 50 meals for people in need this Christmas. The money was used to go towards the purchase of 50 meals for families in need. Bethany foodbank had an original plan to purchase 50 turkey crowns to give
Western Membership and Community Council helps support local Foodbank Recently the Western MCC delivered essential food to Northfield Foodbank for them to distribute to people in need during these tough times. The idea to support Northfield foodbank came from Western MCC member Laurence Braithwaite. The foodbank were very grateful for the food as this will go a long way
Western Family of businesses come together to celebrate stores' birthday Recently our family of businesses came together to celebrate the 10th birthday of our Dyas Road store in Great Barr, Birmingham. The socially distanced event was held outdoors with measures in place to keep our members and the local community safe while they were attending. The event was the brainchild
Western Film Co-op marks UN International Day of Peace with on-line screening of "We Are Many" Ten years ago, a group of Central England Co-op members set up Birmingham Film Co-op, with support from the society, to screen "Films for a Fairer World" each month in Birmingham. Since lockdown we have tried various ways to keep members engaged while we can't meet
Western Co-op Historians Celebrate Birmingham Heritage Week in Erdington Members of the Co-op History Group have put up a photographic display in Central England Co-op's Erdington Supermarket telling the story of "Co-operation" in that part of the city. The Birmingham Industrial Co-operative Society, as it was then known, was founded by Midland Railway workers in
Western Community Games Go Online This year the Lichfield Community Games, supported by Central England Co-operative will move online. The Community Games in Lichfield would have taken place at Beacon Park this weekend, but due to Covid-19 restrictions a decision was made to take the Games online for 2020. On Saturday you can visit https:
Western Our Stores have talent On day 13 of Coop Fortnight and International Co-op Day I want to tell you how stores in our West 1 group have come together during the fortnight to co-operate in some fun videos in the first ever 'West 1's got Talent'. The group of stores
Western Co-operation in Lichfield to Deliver Food Today on day 12 of Co-op Fortnight we celebrate a wonderful project that came about of the Covid-19 Pandemic. In Lichfield we teamed up with Lichfield District Council to ensure that local vulnerable people were able to access shopping and have it delivered. Today, the Community Delivery Hub in Lichfield
Western More Good Deeds from the Western MCC Its day 11 of Coop Fortnight and today I delivered food to two groups in Birmingham who are supporting local people during this Covid-19 Pandemic. The first group is a newly formed Covid-19 support group helping vulnerable in Chelmsley Wood. the group are working closely with the local authority who
Elected Members Meet Online On day 10 of Coop Fortnight, I want to tell you all about our wonderful elected Western Membership and Community Council (MCC). The members that make up this group are independently elected to to serve as a link between their community and Central England Co-operative. The MCC support our initiatives
Western Lets Co-operate to help people in need this Fortnight On day nine of Coop Fortnight, I wanted to highlight that our partners are in real need of food to help people in our community that are need it. During this lockdown our Foodbank partners have seen a decline in food being donated due to people stockpiling items as well