Co-operatives UK

🙌 Community energy co-operatives have the power to change the world 🌍️

Our series of FREE webinars will help introduce and explore opportunities offered to through community energy – including the government's new Local Power Plan.

We have THREE fantastic webinars:
💡 1 July, 1pm: The power of community energy: An introduction. With Reading Hydro CBS Greater Manchester Community Renewables GMCR + WestmillEnergy
👷 7 July, 1pm: Generating green jobs. With RetrofitWorks Ltd + SELCE-South East London Community Energy
☀️ 13 July, 1pm: Community energy at scale. With Community Energy England Bristol Energy Cooperative + Energy4All

⚡️Join us to find out how community energy brings communities together through ownership of renewable energy assets and about the benefits this brings into the community: https://buff.ly/dbqMkZ1

The webinars are delivered by Co-operatives UK thanks to grant funding by The Co-operative Bank

🌊 Co‑operation making a big splash! 💚

Creating places where people connect 🤝 and belong is one way of changing the world – by starting close to home. 🏘️ And that’s what our member Bramley Baths does for its community. So here’s a big shout out to them!

❤️ “Older people who are on their own come here. They engage with the community and feel wanted. They’ve now created their own network to support each other and organise day trips together,” said Jennie Willets from the community owned swimming pool in . 🚌

When the city council planned to close the baths in 2011 🚨, local people came together to save it. Rather than losing a historic building, residents took ownership, creating a community benefit society. 🙌

🫶 With the support of Co‑operatives UK, they issued a community share offer 📈, raising capital that enabled them to preserve their heritage site, which has been transformed into much more than just a swimming pool. 🏊

😊 Today, it’s a thriving community hub providing swimming lessons, 💪 fitness facilities, spaces for local groups and dedicated sessions for communities that are often marginalised or overlooked.

👥 By reducing social isolation, bringing local residents together and giving them a genuine stake in their community, Bramley Baths is an inspiring example of people co‑operating to change the world! 🌍

🌍 Changing the world by revitalising the neighbourhood – this morning’s shout out goes to Nudge Community Builders 👏 – a community enterprise that’s bringing neglected buildings back into use to regenerate the Stonehouse area of . 💚

“Residents reported feeling sad to see it degenerate, they felt unsafe at night,” said Nudge co‑founder Hannah Sloggett. “Years of neglect had given a sense of permission for anti‑social behaviour and a lack of care.

“Traditional regeneration hadn’t had the intended impact on the area, so we decided to get together and find a different way.”

So Nudge was formed 🤝 – and has since brought several buildings back into community use. One is now home to a food court 🍽️ serving Ethiopian, Eritrean and West African food and Rwandan coffee ☕, as well as arts, crafts and business workshops.🎨 💼

Another is a thriving cafe and mini market area 🛍️ for local businesses that has hosted book launches, art fairs and events from local organisations. 📚. So far, Nudge’s achievements include:

📍 Making improvements and bringing new uses to some 4,000sqm of land.
🚀 Supporting 87 people to develop projects and businesses in Stonehouse.
🏗️ Hosting 107 interventions and improvements on Union Street.
🎉 Working with 286 organisations and individuals to host 1479 events, attracting 54,000 people.

🙏 So thank you Nudge for your stellar work changing the world for local people, businesses and communities. 🌟

Image: Nudge Community Builders / Hanna Collins

Our CEO Rose Marley was interviewed on Channel 4 News tonight talking about Manchesterism and Andy Burnham, alongside former leader of Manchester City Council, Sir Richard Leese: https://www.channel4.com/news/burnham-has-done-what-he-said-he-was-going-to-do-in-manchester

Well done, Rose!

🥳 It’s Co‑op Fortnight! And we’re celebrating our members who “co‑operate to change the world” by tackling some of the biggest challenges facing our communities, economy and environment. 🌳

🌾 The Ecological Land Cooperative (ELC) is doing just that. For more than 14 years, this co‑op has been making it easier for ecological farmers to access, live on and steward land – affordably, for the long term, and in community.

By bringing land into community ownership, developing ecological farming sites 🚜 – many of which are off‑grid – and supporting farm stewards to build land‑based businesses, ELC is helping to create a living, working countryside in which both people and nature can flourish. 🐝

🤝 Pablo and Emma are land stewards at Greenham Reach in Devon who gain from communal support and unity through their involvement with the Ecological Land Co‑operative:

🌱 “We’ve received so much benefit from being part of the ELC community. It’s so challenging to start a land‑based business, and being part of a co-op and community of land workers means we’re never alone in facing whatever life throws at us,” they said.

🤩 Ecological Land Co‑operative, we salute you for working to deliver lasting change by creating a greener, more inclusive world through the power of co‑operation! 👏

WATCH our AGM live - starting in a few minutes (midday today): https://www.uk.coop/about-us/OurAGM

Our AGM is one of the main ways our members can take part in our democracy. It gives our members the opportunity to hear from us, ask questions, vote on resolutions and help shape our future.