Esprit Our Year 2009web

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www.lincolnshire.coop Issue 16 Winter 2009

For members o Lincolnshire Co-operative

our year

REACHING HIGHERmore members

more local products

more support or local communities

more inside…

2008/09



Welcome to our latest edition o esprit,

the magazine or members o Lincolnshire Co-operative.

It’s packed ull o stories about what your Society has been up to during the past

year. We hope you’ll nd reading about our achievements and the challenges

we’ve aced interesting.

There are plenty o ways in which you can nd out more about your Society’s

year. We’ve produced an inormative DVD and also a statutory report and

accounts. To get hold o a copy o either, please contact Membership and

Community on 01522 544632.

In this copy o esprit, you’ll nd a members’ voucher. Just take it into your local

store to claim your packet o delicious locally-sourced Pipers Crisps. We know

supporting producers rom our trading area is important to you so we’re pleased

to say that Pipers are made in Brigg using the nest Lincolnshire potatoes.

They are part o our Local Choice range which includes many other delicious

products; rom cheese to chine and rom bread to beer.

Thank you or all your support and please enjoy!

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resultssales

prots

membership

2009

2009

2009

2007

2007

2007

2008

2008

2008

2006

2006

2006

2005

2005

2005

There were 53

trading weeks in

last year – so we

had an extra week

o sales. It wastough to match,

but we did!£225m £200m £215m £236m £239m

173,900 161,100 149,200 145,700 149,100

These prots belong

to our members soyou’ll be glad to see

that your Society

has had another

good year.

We’ve welcomed

21,277 new people

as members o the

Society – that’s

more than twice the

capacity o Lincoln

City’s Sincil Bank

stadium!

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£13.5m £14.7m £17.4m £17.8m £19.5m



4

membership

The dividend bonus at the end of the

year is good and it comes at the right time. I also like Lincolnshire Co-operative

because the stores aren’t huge great big

supermarkets; they are just the right size.

They employ local people and the staff are

always really friendly.

Kate Annibal, Lincoln

“

”



Your local Society

We’re your local co-operative – we’re owned by you,

our members, who mainly come rom Lincolnshire

and Newark. Thanks to your support, all the prots

Lincolnshire Co-operative makes are returned to you

and your local communities.

One o the ways we do that is through dividend.

In 2008/9, the total paid out against purchases

was £2,158,000. Also, your Board o Directors isrecommending a dividend bonus or each £1 o

points you collected during the year. This is subject

to the approval o members at our AGMs.

You’ve told us that certain issues are important to

you, so we oer 5x dividend on Fairtrade and locally

sourced products, resh ruit and vegetables and

non-prescription items rom our pharmacies.

This year, we’ve introduced a way o supporting

members through a dicult time with 5x dividend on

unerals arranged through our Funeral Services.

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51 per cent o our sales are with our members.



6

I was asked i I was nervous beore

meeting the Princess, I simply said no

as we had only a ew seconds notice!

She made us eel very comortable and

seemed interested in what we had to say.

Wayne Dennett, Travel Area Manager

“

”

We come to a lot of the children’s events

because I have a child who is a member of

Kool Kidz and another who is a member of

Activate. Now I’m interested in going to the

events the Co-op organises for adults, they sound really interesting.

Joanne Longstaff, Gainsborough

“

”



Getting involved

There are now over 173,000 members across our

trading area. Our Membership and Community teamlove talking to people and getting them interested

in becoming part o the Society. You’ll see our trailer

out and about at many local shows.

This year, the team visited seven shows including

Heckington, Newark and Revesby. More than 1,200

people took part in competitions we ran so you can

see how many people ound out more about us.

There was one very special moment this summer

when HRH Princess Anne visited our new marquee

at the Lincolnshire Show. She seemed to know quite

a bit about us and even asked what made us so

successul as a co-operative!

We run events or our members and it’s certainly

been a varied programme this year – rom a

presentation on the ghosts o old Gainsborough,to walks around nature reserves at Whisby and

Besthorpe and screenings o The End o the Line, a

lm about the impact o overshing in our oceans.

Youngsters are also welcome in your Society and we

run two clubs or them: Kool Kidz and Activate. There

are more than 2,960 members o both clubs and

this year there’s been loads o un activities to get

them involved – outward bound days, dressing up

as Tudors and even meeting Maverick, a peregrine

alcon that can fy up to 250 miles an hour...the listgoes on!

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I like Kool Kidz because we go out to good

places and there is no homework to do. I

also like Kool Kat because he’s great.

Harry Spencer, Gainsborough

“

”



our services

8

I’ve been a member for many years. My new store looks brilliant and I can only

say good things about it. You can get what

you want and I won’t have to go and shop

anywhere else anymore. It looks so much

better – it’s really light and bright and

there is so much more space.

Milly Munton, Branston Foodstore

“

”



Investing in the services you use

Providing services close to where you live and work

is really important to us as a co-operative.

We always want to make sure we’re providing you

with the best services we can and this means one o

the ways your Society returns prot to members is

by investing in new and improved acilities.

This year, we’ve opened a new oodstore and Post

Oce in Old Leake, near Boston. We took over an

existing business, introduced the Lincolnshire

Co-operative brand and welcomed the 18 sta to

the Society.

We’ve given nine other stores a resh new look. In

some cases, we’ve expanded them so we can oer

you more products to choose rom. For example,

during our major ret at Branston we almost doubledthe shop foor space.

Saxilby September 2008

Waltham October 2008

Brant Road, Lincoln. October 2008

Woodhall Spa November 2008

Woodville Road, Boston. January 2009

Morton March 2009

Skellingthorpe April 2009

Branston June 2009

Old Leake July 2009

Bracebridge Heath July 2009

More than 85 per cent o you are satisfed with our range o products according to our members’

survey. We’re always looking to improve by expanding our stores to oer more choice.

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10

I’m really chuffed to see the garden centre back, it’s wonderful. The pansies they had

in went down a storm with me and I think

it’s very reasonably priced. The Moorland

Centre is really convenient for me too –

I can walk or cycle here if I want.

Rita Shelbourn, Lincoln

“

”



Our amily o businesses

A big hit with members and customers this year has

been the Moorland Centre’s new Home and Garden

Courtyard, in Lincoln. The sta have been delighted

to get so much positive eedback.

At our home store in Gainsborough we’ve

undertaken a major maintenance project. Such work

always causes disruption but our sta made the

eort to minimise that. When the work has nished,

we’ll be introducing new uniorms and signs to give

the centre a more modern eel.

More people are choosing our Funeral Services

because they trust us to support them at a dicult

time. We want our uneral homes to refect that

proessional and caring approach so we’re rollingout a dignied new look. Ater starting in Horncastle,

we’ve reurbished the Newark home and our new

premises in Spilsby.

In the current economic climate, we’re pleased

to say our Travel Division has had a really good

year. People have been coming in to get honest,

independent advice about making their money

go urther. We’ve also seen lots o holidaymakers

booking breaks in Britain, and taking advantage oCruise and Ski Club oers.

Our travel branch relocated rom Newark to the

Lakeside Centre at Balderton to give customers

improved surroundings, disabled access and

ree parking.

Customers are enjoying new decor alongside a

relaxing cuppa at our coee shops at the Moorland,

Lindsey and City Square Centres. The sta rolled up

their sleeves to help redecorate and it was a greatteam-building exercise.

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The biggest reason I like Lincolnshire

Co-op is because there are so many local

stores around the community, it means

that it is really convenient for everyone.

Leony North-Bavin, Lincoln

“

”



ethical trading

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I support Lincolnshire Co-operative because it is a good ethical organisation.

There is a wide selection of Fairtrade

goods which is great and also, the Co-op

makes donations to all sorts of community

groups.

Alan Dovey, Sudbrooke

“

”



We’re bananas about Fairtrade!

During Fairtrade Fortnight our sta took part in

a historic event – the world’s biggest banana

eating attempt! 1,100 o us munched on a banana

alongside 470,000 other people nationwide,

including the pupils at Branston School.

It was a lot o un but the message was a serious

one which your Society elt it was important

to promote.

According to the Fairtrade Foundation, which

organised the unusual event, the majority o banana

plantation workers earn less than £1 a day. Fairtrade

is making a dierence to growers across the world

by giving them a air price or their crops and a

Fairtrade premium to spend on community services.

We were honoured to hear what Fairtrade means

to ordinary people when we welcomed two cocoa

armers rom the Kuapa Kokoo Co-operative in

Ghana to a series o member events.

Anane Mensah and James Adiyiah are recorders

at Kuapa Kokoo, which produces the cocoa or our

Fairtrade chocolate and Divine Chocolate.

Fairtrade premiums have paid or projects in their

communities including mobile health clinics, clean

water supplies and even a school. One o the men

was prescribed glasses by his local health clinic.

They’ve improved his sight and made his job easier -

he calls them his ‘Fairtrade spectacles.’

It was humbling to hear James and Anane’s stories

which illustrate what a dierence simply choosing

Fairtrade can make.

We gave £20 vouchers to 73 community groups and schools to help them organise their own

events to promote Fairtrade values.

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ethical trading

14

The dividend means that you get good

value for money from Lincolnshire

Co-operative, it’s nice to get something back. I also like the selection of

local produce.

Sally Davies, Lincoln

“

”



Why not make a Local Choice?

We’ve added more items to our Local Choice range,

sourced rom our trading area.

New additions this year include spicy chilli chutneys,

homemade relishes, tea loa, coee, cordial, beer

and lemon curd.

The Lincolnshire Bee, Lamb and Pork scheme

sources meat rom county armers – just look or

the Hungry Stockman logo. We’re delighted that

the scheme was recognised again this year with a

prestigious award, a Business in the Community Big

Tick. It’s given to the company that’s judged to do

most to sustain rural communities.

Our customers can make an ethical choice in our six

coee shops. The homemade ood on oer makesthe most o local ingredients, the tea is Fairtrade 99

and you could also tuck into a cake rom Gadsby’s,

our bakers in Southwell.

Local produce is about more than just ood!

Our home stores also support local rms. We oer

Tony Ward Furniture made in East Torrington and

bulbs rom Taylor’s o Spalding at the Home and

Garden Courtyard. Inside home stores in Lincoln

and Gainsborough, you’ll nd Fogarty pillows and

duvets sourced rom Boston. Lebus Furniture, made

in Scunthorpe, is available at all our sites including

Newark and Spalding.

With such quality available locally, it’s no surprise

that we’re one o the groups that promote

Lincolnshire Day on October 1st. It’s a chance to

shout about what makes our trading area great!

Sales o locally sourced products have gone up by over 100 per cent this year.

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Working together

One element o a successul community is local

rms contributing to a healthy economy.

As a local business, your Society supports other

local companies whenever we can – or example,

when we undertake redevelopment projects, we

try to use contractors rom the area. The ongoing

scheme to revamp the entire Birchwood Centre is a

great example o this in action.

In a year, we used 480 dierent local businessesand spent £30m with them.

supporting the

local community

Our companies Gadsby’s, Holland Brothers Jaguar

and Lincoln Shop Equipment supply many localbusinesses with their services – whether it’s cakes,

cars, CCTV or tills!

We’re great believers in working together with

other rms to bring positive change. That’s why

we’re active in the Lincoln and Boston Business

Improvement Districts. We’re also one o the patrons

o the Lincolnshire Chamber o Commerce and we’re

on the Gainsborough Chamber Council.

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Many businesses are tenants o ours, including

those in the Cornhill Market in Lincoln. We’replanning to spend £30,000 replacing the heating

system inside the building and we’re also looking

to expand in the near uture. Markets are a great

place or start-ups to get a oot on the ladder and or

shoppers to pick up a bargain so we’re keen

to support traders in the Cornhill.

Work continues on the Lindongate project, which

will transorm Lincoln city centre. Our strength asa Society and continued interest in the scheme on

the part o major retailers gives us the condence

to carry on our work with Lincoln City Council to

bring orward the application or outline planning

permission, despite the diculties encountered by

our original development partner.

Currently there are 21 traders operating rom Lincoln’s Cornhill Market. There are

opportunities or more stallholders to join them - get in touch to fnd out more.

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community

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Lincolnshire Co-operative is community

based and they do a lot of good locally.

I volunteer for a small local charity and I know the Co-op has been very helpful

to us.

Sharon Birch, Lincoln

“

”



Collingham Rural Advice and Resource Centre

helped 1,691 people this year with issues like

benets, debt and housing. We’ve given the group

a £6,000 package o aid including a £2,000 grant

this year.

The Lincoln Foodbank, which supplies parcels o

groceries to those in need, has seen more demand

or its services during these tough times. We

teamed up with Lincoln Minster Round Table to

donate £1,000 worth o groceries to the charity – it

included 1,676 items including 60 cans o ruit and

41 boxes o teabags.

We contributed £1,500 to the new play area at

Sutton St James School. It was or Superclimberequipment to get the kids active.

This year, we’ve given £352,000 to 1,145 good causes.

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Grants, donations

and sponsorships

Returning prots to the communities we trade

in means supporting many good causes throughCommunity Dividend. We give donations, larger

grants o up to £2,000 and even long-term

sponsorship.

This year, we’ve again pledged our help to the Mid

Lincs County Youth Football League. The £17,000

we will give the organisation over the next ve years

means it can continue to oer around 6,000 young

people the chance to enjoy ootball.

Lincoln Pentaqua Swimming Club gives opportunitiesto youngsters who want to swim competitively or

just or un. Your Society is sponsoring the club with

£6,000 over three years.



Making a dierence...

As part o your Society’s mission to support the

communities we trade in, we make an eort to

sustain services and projects which are important to

our members.

Lincoln Cathedral is a county icon and beore

Christmas we joined orces with the undraising

team to launch a new type o local product – Lincoln

Cathedral git packs.

community

Each pack contained a beautiul book o pictures, a

bag-or-lie and an application or an annual pass to

the cathedral. We sold them through our oodstores

and it is estimated the project raised about £5,000

or cathedral unds.

1,100 people signed up to redeem their annual

passes rom the packs. The undraising team believe

three quarters o those people are new to the

cathedral.

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People continue to benet rom the Lincoln Area

Dial-a-Ride service. We give the charity a rebate on

the petrol they buy rom us to run the shopper bus,

which calls at locations like our Moorland Centre. We

also give the group a £16,000 a year grant.

Across our trading area we run 40 Post Oces. We

continue to subsidise them because o the vital role

they have to play in our communities.

We like to support community events which give

people the opportunity to get out and have some un!

For example, this year, we’re one o the sponsors

o the Lincoln Comedy Festival, the Newark Brass

Festival and the Spires and Steeples trail around

North Kesteven.

We were delighted this year to win the Post Ofce National Partner o the Year award and a big

thank you goes to all our sta, and our loyal customers, or making this possible.

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Boosting education

Education is important to Lincolnshire Co-operative

and has been since we were ounded almost

150 years ago – we even used to have a reading

room so people could access books beore public

libraries were invented!

We’re part o unique partnerships with Branston

Community College, a specialist Business and

Enterprise school, and the South Holland Post 16

Centre in Spalding.

At Branston we employ a member o sta to build

links between your Society and the school. The Post

16 Centre oers vocational courses to teenagers.

We’ve sponsored our o the centre’s classrooms –

two travel and tourism rooms, and two retail rooms.

Many o our sta help children practically withlearning and there’s a huge variety in what they do.

They could be leading workshops, taking part in

classroom lessons or accompanying the kids on an

outing to their local store.

education

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Learning about how co-operatives work is really good. The idea is that they are

owned by their members and the dividend

is shared out between them. Being owned

by the customers is good because it

makes it like a family really.

Hannah Phizacklea (15)

“

”



Looking orward, we’re employing a member o

sta to go into secondary schools and talk to young

people about responsible drinking. We’re hoping

the teenagers will take a nationally recognised

qualication in alcohol awareness.

Primary school pupils will turn our stores into

classrooms or a day with the Maths Challenge pack

we’re developing. They’ll be set tasks like nding

dierent shapes and weighing items.

Most oten, we’re asked to talk to youngsters about

why co-operatives are dierent, and also some o

our responsible trading eorts like Fairtrade.

A group o colleagues also take part in a Reading

Partners scheme every year. They go into local

schools or an hour a week and read with the

children, helping them develop important skills.

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Working with Lincolnshire Co-op is really

important to the school. It helps us break

down the boundaries and opens the school

up to the real world; it makes it all seem more real.

Alex Kent (14)

“

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environment

We work with other co-operatives to buy our green

energy in a large group. It means we not only get the

best prices but it also allows us to enter long term

agreements with the power companies. This in turn

gives them the condence to invest in more green

energy technologies.

A greener uture

As we develop our outlets, we’re always looking or

ways o doing things that will save energy.

At our new store in Old Leake, we put motion sensor

lighting in the warehouse areas so the lights are

never ully on unless they need to be.

At Bracebridge Heath, we’ve used extra layers o

insulation to make the building more

energy ecient.

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For more than a year now, our oodstore in Sleaord

has been rewarding members or reusing bags with

dividend, and charging 3p per standard plastic bag.

We’re now considering how to take this orward.

We recycled 1,202 tonnes o rubbish this year which

would’ve otherwise gone to landll. 168 pieces o IT

equipment and 70 mobile phones have been

donated to charities which reuse or recycle them.

We trialled special ridges which recycle energy

at the stores we opened last year in Roman Bank,

Skegness and Barnbygate, in Newark. We’ve had

some issues with the equipment which we’ve

worked to resolve but we’ve been really pleased with

the energy saving potential.

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Our sites are powered by wind and water because we buy our green

energy rom small scale hydro-electric plants and wind arms.



health

These rooms enable our highly trained pharmaciststo provide the privacy needed or consultations like

medicine use reviews or those involving sensitivity,

like sexual health services.

We’ve got these acilities at almost all our

pharmacies now. New ones this year include Brant

Road, St Catherine’s and St Boltoph’s in Lincoln,

Skellingthorpe and Crossroads in North Hykeham,

which had a ull ret.

Helping healthy liestyles

The range o services which our pharmacies

oer keeps on growing and we’re investing in the

premises so we can keep up with demand.

This year, our pharmacy at Bracebridge Heath moved

into a new community hub alongside our oodstore

and Post Oce. As well as being more spacious and

oering more room or storage, it means patients

can benet rom a private consultation room.

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We’ve carried out 60 days o ree

health checks this year, which meant our

pharmacists saw 1,200 members.



Our Healthcare Fund also makes grants to supportgood causes with health at their heart, such as NHS

organisations wanting to buy new equipment. We’ve

had 80 applications this year.

We also won the contract to supply medicines and

advice to local prisons.

We’re not allowed to give dividend on prescriptions,so we share this with you in other ways. Last

autumn, our pharmacists carried out ree member

health checks which can identiy serious conditions

like diabetes. There was a lot o demand or the

scheme and we’re looking to run it again this

coming year.

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health checks



sta

Our outlets are part o the communities where

our members live and work and our sta take that

responsibility seriously.

Members o the team at our home store in

Gainsborough certainly do – they are trained on lie-

saving debrillation equipment and could be called

out to help a heart attack victim in the town centre

at any time.

Our sta make a dierence

Don’t be surprised i you ever wander into one o

our stores to be conronted by sta in ancy dress

– they’re probably raising money or our Charity o

the Year!

The record-breaking total we’ve given to Marie Curie

this year is all down to our colleagues’ amazing

eorts and the generous support o members.

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We also get involved in community events. Sta

at Wygate Park dressed up in Dutch costume and

made decorations rom tulips or the Spalding

Flower Parade this year and colleagues at Sutton

on Trent made a scarecrow which went on display

with around 50 others as part o the village estival

celebrations.

We oten give our sta’s expertise as a community

donation. For example, this year our Memorial

Masons team cleaned and renovated memorials in

Metheringham, Aubourn and Billinghay.

Our sta also give up their own time. At our Awards

Evening, we gave £200 donations to local groups

which 46 sta volunteer or.

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Our colleagues raised £51,100 or Marie Curie Cancer Care this year.

Picture courtesy of the Lincolnshire Free Press/Spalding Guardian



sta We provided over 24,000 hours o

training to our sta this year.

We now employ 2,548 people, 68 more than last

year. We believe we give our sta plenty o benets

including a bonus twice a year, a pension scheme

and the chance to join the Employees’ Association,

which organises lots o events.

Training is really important when it comes to helping

our sta make the best o their skills. This year,

colleagues achieved 1,128 qualications in subjects

like rst aid and ood saety.

Looking ater our colleagues

A team o healthy, well-trained and motivated sta is

a key actor in your Society’s success.

We have a sta wellbeing programme and we’ve

recently introduced a Cycle 2 Work scheme, where

colleagues can get a discount when they buy a bike.

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directors & democracy

Ater a busy year, Stuart Parker handed over to

President Margaret Tranter. We were delighted to see

6,150 members vote in this year’s election, so thank

you to everyone who took part.

Remember, you can always have your say at

member group meetings or our AGMs, and any

member can stand or election to our Board o

Directors. Why not get in touch i you’d like to nd

out more?

Co-operative democracy in action

One o the many things that sets us apart rom other

businesses is the act we’re owned and run by you,

the members.

Our Board o Directors, including the President, are

members elected by you.

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Esprit Our Year 2009web

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