Pupils help celebrate community's £250,000 store revamp

A £250,000 revamp of the Co-operative food store in Alcombe has been marked by a ribbon-cutting ceremony carried out by pupils of Minehead Middle School.
The Alcombe store is one of the first of the Co-op Group’s 3,300 national outlets to feature the consumer-owned business’ new identity – The Co-operative, which aims to highlight improved service standards as well as the firm’s commitment to supporting local communities and ethical trading policies.
The schoolchildren were thanked for taking part in the celebrations by way of a £200 cheque for their school funds presented to them by the store manager, Paul Kingdon.
Mr Kingdon said: “As a community retailer, it is appropriate that we involve the community in our special events and we are delighted our local school is playing a central role in the relaunch of our shop.”
The Alcombe Co-op has been updated with modern décor, new flooring, shelving, and refrigeration, plus a more shopper-friendly layout.
An emphasis has been put on chilled and fresh foods with an increase in the range of products.
There is also an improved selection of chilled beers and wines, while the popular PayPoint service has been retained.
As a leading supermarket supporter of Fairtrade, the Co-op is also featuring Fairtrade products, plus the store is carrying the retailer’s own brand health and beauty range with products which are not tested on animals.
Shoppers also benefit from the Co-op’s policy on ‘honest labelling’ to give them more facts about the ingredients in food and drink products, and they can also take their shopping home in 100 per cent degradable bags.
Mr Kingdon said: “We provide a much-valued service in the area and I am confident our shoppers will be delighted with our improved store and wider selection of goods which will better meet all the community’s daily grocery needs.”

• Our photograph shows Mr Kingdon with Minehead Middle School pupils Harry Mouzouri (left), aged 13, and Brendan Husebo, aged 12. Photo by Mark the Photographer, ref M03220204. Order image reprints online at www.tcpbymtp.co.uk.

Supermarket staff going bananas for Fairtrade

CO-OP supermarket staff in Minehead, Alcombe, Watchet, and Williton will be going bananas on Monday, February 26, at the start of Fairtrade Fortnight.
They will be celebrating the consumer-owned retailer’s announcement that for the first time it is selling Fairtrade bananas in all of its 3,000 food stores.
More than 25,000 Co-op store staff across the country are taking part in the largest-ever simultaneous banana-eating bonanza in the UK as part of the celebrations, starting at 10 am on the day.
As well as taking part in the record-breaking event, local Co-op staff will be ‘monkeying around’ with giant inflatable bananas and monkey masks and costumes, to highlight the good news to shoppers.
The Co-op, which introduced the UK’s first Fairtrade banana back in 2000, currently sells around 22 million Fairtrade bananas, and this is expected to jump to more than 43 million within a year as Fairtrade bananas go on sale in its stores nationwide.
Co-operative Group chief executive of food retail, Guy McCracken, said: “The Co-op has led the way in making Fairtrade mainstream and with more people than ever looking to buy Fairtrade and help producers and their families in the developing countries, this great news means that all our shoppers, from Shetland to Penzance, in rural, island, and urban communities, and in our smallest convenience stores, can support Fairtrade by buying the UK’s favourite fruit.”
The Co-op move also signals a breakthrough in the campaign to support small, independent producers and bears testament to the relationship the Co-op has built with such producers in Ghana, Equador, Costa Rica, and the Windward Isles.
Williton Co-op manager Phil Leat said: “We don’t mind making monkeys of ourselves if it helps to promote this ‘a-peeling’ initiative and encourage many more shoppers to support Fairtrade.”

Active living in Alcombe

THE second of West Somerset’s Active Living Centres has been opened in Alcombe Methodist Church Hall by the Mayor of Minehead, Councillor Ann Foxhuntley. Another centre – the first in the whole of the county – has been running in Washford for the past few weeks. The programme locally has been led by Somerset County Council and West Somerset Council and developed through Age Concern Somerset. In Alcombe, the opening session featured a healthy cooking demonstration and free lunch for the area’s over-50s, marking the start of a journey towards developing a greater range of opportunities for active living in West Somerset. There was also an opportunity to experience a holistic massage taster session and a Tai Chi demonstration. Information about Somerset Active Living was available and attendees were able to suggest other activities they would like to see provided in the future. Fifty Active Living Centres will be established across Somerset by 2008, operating locally from suitable venues on a drop-in basis. Local communities will lead the development of the centres, with the support of Partnerships for Older People (POPP), which also includes Somerset Primary Care Trust, support services, and a range of voluntary and community organisations. The Active Living Centres aim to regularly provide activities, advice, learning opportunities, and events which will promote active living and improve well-being of members of the community aged 50 and older. Minehead’s county Councillor Ian Galloway said: “I am very supportive of this project, which will offer Alcombe’s older people a chance to really enjoy themselves and maintain an active level of fitness and relaxation.” West Somerset Council’s portfolio holder for housing, health and welfare, Councillor Mary Crowley, said: “We welcome these new centres because as well as giving older local people support and advice on health and welfare matters, they also provide an excellent social environment for local people to meet and discuss issues that affect them.” Volunteers from the local community are needed to help make the centres successful by supporting activities and events. Anybody who wants to help or would like to see a similar initiative in their community or who wants more information should contact Alison Tanton, POPP officer for West Somerset, at Age Concern, on 01398 323826 or at alison.tanton@ageconcernsomerset.org.uk.