Anglia Regional Co-operative Society

Here are a few of the recent store activities:
	Peterborough Adapted Cycle Scheme (PACS) With the help of the staff at the Head Office in Saville Road, Trudi Frankum of the Members Department raised a total of £157.00 by raffling a bottle of Moet champagne and a variety of other prizes which were generously donated by colleagues. Trudi is a Volunteer for the Peterborough Adapted Cycle Scheme (PACS) and following her successful Match Fund application to the ACCF she was presented with a cheque on behalf of PACS for £314. As a volunteer Trudi teaches disabled children and adults with a variety of disabilities to ride adapted cycles (mostly hand powered cycles) at the Peterborough Athletics track on a Wednesday evening. There are also a number of visually impaired and blind riders attending the sessions and the money raised will help towards the cost of purchasing much needed adapted cycles for their riders. Pictured is Douglas Boyall, Chairman of the ACCF (second right) presenting the cheque to Trudi (right) and one of the junior PACS riders on the evening of 18th April. He was also joined by Jo Colwell, Members Team Leader (left). PACS were celebrating the 100 day countdown to the Olympics and to mark this event the riders attempted to complete 2012 laps of the track. Trudi told us that "Dougie and Jo didn't disgrace themselves, they each completed a very respectable five laps each!!
	The Mayors Charity Fund Following the success of the 'Star 4 a Star' initiative during Christmas 2010, the Anglia Co-op Funeral branch in St Neots yet again raised more money for charity during Christmas 2011 by selling Stars for the Christmas Tree. Darren Barker, Funeral Director at the St Neots branch, told us that in 2010 they wrote to bereaved families inviting them to pay special tribute to their loved ones by writing a message on a cardboard star and place it on their Christmas Tree in the Funeral Home. However, having noticed how plain the Town Christmas Tree in the Market Square looked, Darren thought it would be a good idea to continue with the same theme in Christmas 2011 but this time sell wooden stars for £3.00 each. The Mayor and the Council loved the idea. People wrote their messages on the wooden stars, some even took them home to paint and decorate them, and they were hung on the Christmas Tree in the Market Square. A total of £842.50 was raised from the sale of the wooden stars and this was successfully matched by the ACCF. Darren presented a cheque for £1,685 to The Mayors Charity Fund which this year is supporting CRUSE Bereavement Centre, Acorn Cancer Support, Headway, Burn Camps and groups providing activities for the disabled. Darren told us that "the support from the public has been fantastic and I have already been asked if we are going to do the same again this Christmas as it is such a wonderful idea". He added that "the Funeral branch is now well known for this fund raising activity at Christmas time and we hope the idea will continue to grow and raise funds for the local community".
	Hinchingbrooke HCT Charity Dennis Easton Funeral Service held a Memorial Carol Concert in the grounds of their St Ives branch on the evening of 21st December 2011. All the local clergy and the families of deceased who had passed during 2011 were invited to the event. Most of the clergy attended and the local Anglican Minister (Fr. Mark Amey) said a few words to open the Concert. Rev. Catherine Ball, the local United Reformed Minister, also read a Christmas themed poem during a break from the singing. Chris Clarke, a Funeral Assistant at the St Ives branch, is a part-time DJ and he provided the music. Shaun French, Funeral Director at the St Ives branch said that the Concert was well attended and a good night was had by all, despite the threat of rain! Refreshments were available, serving tea, coffee and squash and of course the festive mince pies and chocolate biscuits. A local Garden Centre donated a Christmas Tree and ribbons were available for everyone to place on the tree in memory of their loved ones. Shaun added that no charge was made for the refreshments or ribbons but generous donations were made. This amount was successfully matched by the ACCF and Shaun was able to present a cheque for £160 to Jo Shaw of Hinchingbrooke Hospital which will contribute towards the cost of their memorial garden project.
	East Anglia's Children's Hospices (EACH) Brendan Smith of Hunts Funerals has yet again been raising money for East Anglia's Children's Hospices. Brendan, along with Tamara Fulcher from the March Funeral Branch, embarked on a charity cycle ride which started at the Huntingdon Co-operative Funeral Home and finished at the Hunstanton Co-operative Funeral Home, covering a total distance of 63 miles. The event took place on the 26th August 2011 and they endured persistent rain for most of the journey which took a total of five and a half hours. Brendan said that he "hasn't trained much for the cycle ride which he did on a borrowed bike" but added that the generous donations from sponsors which amounted to £137.50 made it all worthwhile. This amount was successfully matched by the ACCF and Brendan was able to present a cheque for £275.00 to Beccy Turner, Cambridgeshire Fundraiser for EACH. East Anglia's Children's Hospices need to raise £4.8 million to deliver their services this year which is why they rely heavily on the generosity of the public and other organisations for donations to enable them to continue with the care and support they provide to families. They gave a big 'Thank You' to Brendan for his continued efforts in raising money for the East Anglia's Children's Hospice.
	Breast Cancer Care Activities on the day included customers having their windscreens washed for a £1 and a Raffle with prizes donated by local businesses, friends and family. "Ozzy Osbourne" (alias Mark Punchard, a CSA in the Halesworth Filling Station) also entertained staff and customers by playing the drums. All the activities raised £2112.00 and with the generous Match Fund donation by the ACCF this brought the grand total to an amazing £4112.00. Linda Arnold of Breast Cancer Care (pictured left) accepted the cheque from Linda Runnacles, Team Leader at the Halesworth Filling Station (left) who with the help of friends and colleagues made this event possible. Mrs Arnold said that the money raised is vital and enables the charity to help men and women affected by Breast Cancer. Linda Runnacles who was affected by Breast Cancer herself 16 years ago started raising money as a thank you for the support she received from Breast Cancer Care and over the years has raised in the region of £54,000.00!
	Staff of H E Bull & Son Funerals in Whittlesey, Peterborough, were proud to present the East Anglian Children’s Hospice (E.A.C.H.) Shop in Whittlesey, with a cheque for £328 which was raised at a local charity event and also included a donation from the ACCF. In addition the staff also donated a selection of goodies to the store that will be sold to help boost the charity's funds even more. Branch Manager, Mark Green, said" We are pleased to raise the funds for such a worthwhile charity and to know that the money will be used to support ill children and their families. We believe that it is important to support the local community. H E Bull & Son have been in Whittlesey for over 100 years, helping local people, and through other people’s generosity we are able to raise funds and keep the community spirit going." Mark added that he and a colleague took part in the EACH Santa Run before Christmas and raised a further £170 which will be passed on to the charity. H E Bull & Son staff will be looking to raise more funds in 2012 and they hope that the people of Whittlesey will support their efforts and help them to beat last year's donations.
	East Anglian Children's Hospice Ringshill Care Home Hunters Down Care Home Pictured left: Brendan Smith of Huntingdon Funerals presenting the cheque to Beccy Turner of E.A.C.H (second left). Also in attendance is Vee Wheler of Ringshill Care Home (left), Lisa Dennis of Hunters Down Care Home (far right) and Alan Mackender-Lawrence, the Mayor of Huntingdon.
Hinchingbrooke Country Park in Huntingdon was the place to be on the 12th June 2011 where Brendan Smith of Huntingdon Funerals arranged a Fun Run to help raise funds for East Anglian Children's Hospice, Ringshill Care Home and Hunters Down Care Home. Fun Runners were required to complete a one mile course and received sponsor money for their efforts. A massive £691 was raised and this was generously matched by the ACCF making a total of £1,382. A cheque was presented to E.A.C.H. for half of the total amount and Ringshill Care Home and Hunters Down Care Home each received a cheque for £345.50 on the 13th December. Brendan said "the Fun Run was a great success and a good time was had by all. The Care Homes and EACH are all worthy recipients of the money donated to them for the excellent work they do. The Fun Run was a big success thanks to the huge effort made by all the staff at Huntingdon Co-operative Funerals, Ringshill Care Home and Hunters Down Care, and the great Support on the day by The Huntingdon Mayor and Jonathan Djanogly MP. Such a success that we are seriously thinking of holding another Fun Run next year!!
	Scunthorpe Foodbank Pictured left: Diane Clark of Anglia Co-operative (Westgate Scunthorpe) presents Iain Drysdale and Angie Davies of Scunthorpe Foodbank with the cheque for £1,105
In order to raise funds to support Scunthorpe Foodbank, Diane Clarke a Clerk at our Westgate Store in Scunthorpe and her husband hosted a dinner party at their home in May 2011. All the food, drink and labour was supplied by them. Eighteen guests were invited including Members of the Steering Group who had helped set up Scunthorpe Foodbank. Each guest was asked beforehand, to select their starter and main course from a menu we supplied. After the dinner, each person donated an amount of money as they felt appropriate. The total donated came to £705. Anglia Co-operative Community Fund (ACCF) raised that amount to £1105.00. Scunthorpe Foodbank was launched in July 2010 and up to September 1st 2011 has distributed 11.3 tonnes of food, fed 863 adults and 586 children. A total of 40 volunteers are involved with Scunthorpe Foodbank and each one really appreciates the contribution made by Anglia Co operative Community Fund (ACCF). The ACCF was thanked with the comment "It means so much, Thank you".
	Macmillan Cancer Support Pictured left: Shaun Rowlings of Anglia Co-operative presenting the cheque to the Macmillan Cancer Support Charity
£2,760 was raised by Shaun Rowlings a Computer Analyst and Programmer at Anglia Co-operative’s HQ and his Brother-in-Law David Spencer, both of whom have now been saluted as being amongst the top fundraisers this year for a national cancer charity. The duo completed a 270-mile cycle ride from London to Paris in three days, netting £2,760 for Macmillan Cancer Support, and were described as ‘stars’ by Macmillan Cancer Support Area Fundraising Manager Michelle Pullen. Michelle received a cheque from Shaun, which had been boosted by a £300 donation from the ACCF at the Society and Michelle told him: “It really is amazing that the two of you have raised £2,760 for Macmillan”. “You are the second highest individual fundraiser this year in Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. “You can be extremely proud of this achievement and know that your funds really do make a huge difference to the lives of people affected by cancer.” Michelle revealed that it costs £184 per day to fund a Macmillan nurse and every £100 spent through the charity’s financial support services can lead to £2,600 in benefits for patients. “What stars Shaun and David are, we’re extremely grateful to them”, she added. Shaun was inspired to organise and complete the ride after losing three Grandparents and his Mother-in-Law to cancer. He said: “Macmillan nurses were there for each of them. They are such a good cause and next year we’re looking to cycle from London to Paris and back in five days to raise more money for them”.