Vanishing of the Bees

That Bob Dylan ad

Now on YouTube...

Funerals to Food

Timothy writes: The elected area committee for South London visited a range of The Co-operative businesses in
Bromley, Croydon and Sutton.

It was a good introduction for most of the committee who had previously not covered Croydon or Sutton.

The first two visits were within the boundary of the old 'South London Committee'. Coney Hall Food store and West Wickham Funeral Care.

We then visited the New Addington store, due for a refit soon, and then contrasted this store with the newly refurbished store at Addiscombe. It was clear the difference that a £700,000 refit had made to the Addiscombe store.

The final visit was to the store at St Helier in Sutton. Rosehill Food store was the largest store we visited (c. 15,000 sq.ft).

More thoughts on this visit from Martin and Clive soon.

Co-op introduces world's first Fairtrade BBQ

Martin writes: Summer's on its way and it looks like we may have some lovely weather this Bank Holiday weekend. Thoughts inevitably turn to barbecues, maybe the first of the year.

So it's great news that the Co-operative has teamed up with the charity Traidcraft to develop the world's first Fairtrade disposable barbecue. The charcoal comes from Namibia and is produced from bushes and trees like acacia trees which grows like a weed over farmland. So by removing these trees, the land is returned to productive agricultural use and also generates an income for the farmers.

The fairly traded charcoal will benefit around 1,000 producers and will mean they receive a guaranteed contract, payment of around three times the minimum wage and free equipment such as charcoal kilns. Also, Traidcraft will be helping them to start new community projects funded by the fair trade premium which will come from the sales of the charcoal products.

The product range consists of:

Fairly-traded Instant Barbecue with Stand £1.99 (3 for £5)
Fairly-traded Party Size Instant Barbecue with Stand £4.99
Fairly-traded Instant Lighting Charcoal 3kg £3.99

Get yours at selected Co-operative stores.

Regional Hustings for National Board Directors

Timothy writes: Being a complicated Co-operative, the Co-operative Group has tiered democracy. Every member elects area committee representatives. Area Committees elect regional boards. Area Committees elect regional board members to the national board. The national board then has two parts, the first from the above mechanism and the second from independent co-operative societies who are 'corporate' members of the Co-operative Group (from its days as the Wholesale Society).

So on Saturday almost all area committee members from across the South East came together to hear each of the candidates put their case forward for why they should be elected to the National board on behalf of the South East membership.

This morning I completed my voting paper and posted it off to the Electoral Reform Society LTD to count the votes up.

Results will be posted as soon as known.

South East AGM

The South East AGM of The Co-operative Group will take place on Saturday 9th May

9.45am - 4.15pm at Fairfield Halls, Croydon, CR9 1DG

Register and get more details or participate ONLINE and watch the web cast of the meeting

Look out for area committee members - we will all have name badges on!

A stronger national co-operative

Martin writes: Most people imagine that the Co-op is one organisation. In fact there are dozens of regional co-ops, some with just a single store, and in the past there were hundreds. In South London we have just one co-operative retailer, the Co-operative Group, which operates in almost every part of the country. But up until the 1980s there were two strong local societies covering our area, the Royal Arsenal and the South Suburban.

Some of the remaining regional societies cover quite large areas. And in the last couple of weeks, one of those - the Plymouth & South West Society - announced it was to recommend to its members that they merge with the Co-op Group.

Does that affect us? Well yes, in part. Having many co-ops with different brands confused shoppers, harmed us over the last 50 years. Some of these societies lost any real local identity, and ended up competing with each other. Plymouth is a strong society, committed to its area. But it had already recognised that ensuring that its shops looked like the main co-op brand would help it and would help the co-op cause. And now it sees benefits for its members, its customers and its staff through full merger.

But at the same time, Ursula Lidbetter, chief exec of the fiercely independent Lincolnshire Co-op, made clear to the Co-op News that her members are best served by staying separate. What we need is both diversity, and a sense of our common direction. Co-ops need to work together, to co-operate in fact. And we have to rise to the challenge of remaining true to our principles.

Because that's what these choices are really about, and something we as Area Committee members need to promote. How do we ensure that local shoppers and members have a voice in large organisations? How do we make sure that those people running the shops are working to deliver for our members? How do we serve our local communities but gain all the benefits of being part of a large, powerful, national organisation?

Lincolnshire and Plymouth have chosen different ways of meeting the challenge of strengthening their democracy and their service. We look forward to hearing your ideas for doing the same in South London.