LEGACY

Happiness Comes in Waves

I had the great pleasure of recently being invited to join children and teachers from Amherst Primary Summer School in Guernsey for a fun-filled day of surfing with Guernsey Surf School. Watching the happiness come in waves that sunny morning at Vazon is a memory that will stay with

STEWARDSHIP

A Garden of Memories, Planted with Love

Earlier this year, we lost one of our colleagues suddenly. Whilst he was at work. Our business is in many ways like a family, united by a common purpose. So, naturally, we grieved together. And we remembered him together. Our colleagues at De Gruchy’s Funeral Care handled the funeral

TESTIMONY

En Route to more convenience in Jersey

Our members have been keen for us to expand our Jersey fuel offering for some time, so we are very excited about the prospect of securing planning permission for a new Co-op En Route at the J.F.T.U. Town & Country site on Queens Road. For readers

STEWARDSHIP

Free Fruit for Kids

Photo credit: Jersey Evening Post As a parent of two young children, I know how challenging a visit to the supermarket can be. They marvel at the crisps and salivate at the sweets, often trying to slip treats into my basket. So, I am really excited to introduce the new

LEGACY

When superheroes meet: The End of Chapter One

Giving Eliana her new trike and meeting Joanna with Sandra and Robyn of Variety – the Children’s Charity A couple of weeks ago, the boys and I spent a wonderful afternoon with Eliana and Joanna presenting them with their new mobility aids. The afternoon felt like the end of a

LEGACY

Hammerhead and StinkyPants are true heroes for two Channel Island charities

It’s been a while since I have written about HammerHead and Captain StinkyPants. Over the past few months, these two superheroes have been very busy raising money for two local charities. For those of you unaware of these intrepid adventurers, let me bring you up to speed. I have

STEWARDSHIP

Why Dying Matters

As CEO of our Society, I’m proud to fly the flag for two exceptional funeral propositions, De Gruchy’s Funeral Care in Jersey and Argent Funeral Care in Guernsey. But how do you shout about a business that is built upon something that nobody wants to talk about? While

TESTIMONY

The Next Step for our Jersey Flagship – Welcoming Dunelm to Grand Marché

Six months ago, we announced that we were looking to improve and modernise our Grand Marché store in St. Helier, and were seeking interested partners to provide our customers with a greater choice of home furnishings and general merchandise. This week, I am pleased to reveal that market-leading UK

STEWARDSHIP

Celebrating Success

Many of you may have already read in some of my previous blogs about how proud I am to lead a Society that bets on people, not strategies. As I’ve said before, business is lives, business is real people! We are under no illusions about the importance of our

STEWARDSHIP

Promoting Healthy Habits

A few weeks ago, I discussed my #100DayChallenge. As promised, I’d now like to take a moment to talk about the positive things we’re doing across the Channel Islands Co-op to promote the wellness of our people. Our colleague’s health and wellbeing is important to us,

STEWARDSHIP

Grow Your Own Goodness Gang

Last year we introduced the Goodness Gang to the Channel Islands. These fun, cuddly fruits and veggies were hugely popular and provided a great way to educate kids on the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. To give you an idea of exactly how popular the Goodness Gang was,

STEWARDSHIP

Sweetening the Deal: Our Fairtrade Commitment

It is my pleasure to share the news that from May 2017, all the cocoa used in Co-op own brand products will be Fairtrade. This is a significant step for ethical trading and makes the Co-op the first British retailer to offer products which exclusively use Fairtrade cocoa

STEWARDSHIP

A Healthy Competition: #100DayChallenge

Before and after, left to right: Donna Abel, Mark Cox and myself. As many of you seem to have noticed, my recent photographs indicate some success with dieting! Thank you for all the positive comments. Lots of people have asked me to share the secrets of my success. So, here

TESTIMONY

What is the purpose of your business?

In a world that is changing faster than ever, how can businesses develop a sustainable competitive advantage? There are many people who treat business like a game. You place a few bets, you win some and you lose some, and then you move on. But these bets often have human

STEWARDSHIP

The Gift of Giving

While many of us are wrapped up in preparing for Christmas festivities surrounded by our family and friends, it can be easy to forget there are still many less fortunate individuals in our local communities who face the prospect of being alone on Christmas Day. Although we’re tucked away

LEGACY

The story behind the book

About a year ago I found myself in one of those rare moods. I don’t often reflect on the world and my role within it, but for several reasons, I began to think about my hopes for the future. From a professional perspective, I have a great job. The

STEWARDSHIP

Raising the bar on wellness

I always enjoy our regular discussions with Members. These meetings offer the opportunity to sit down, share what we’ve been working on and hear people’s views on how the Society could serve our communities better. A couple of weeks ago we met with a group of our Members

TESTIMONY

What next for our larger stores??

The news that we are seeking interested partners to introduce more choice into our Grand Marché store in St Helier has understandably caused some Member confusion.   The fact that the paper chose to publish only part of the story didn’t help!  I thought therefore that Members would appreciate hearing

STEWARDSHIP

United Through Pride

Tomorrow sees Guernsey’s first ever Pride parade and the start of the inaugural Channel Islands Pride celebration. Jersey will then carry on the party next Saturday with their own parade after the handover of the official CI Pride flag (from the skies no less!). I applaud Liberate, the Channel

TESTIMONY

Leale’s Yard: Part 4

Photo Credit: The Guernsey Press I’m absolutely delighted that the Society has been granted full planning approval for our plans to regenerate Leale’s Yard. After a long and complicated journey, this was a big moment for us – and for Guernsey. As chief executive of the Society, Leale’s

TESTIMONY

A River of Light for St Helier

I’ve had the pleasure of working on some exciting and unique community projects in my time at the Society, and our plans to regenerate Pitt Street are no exception. The street, which runs from Dumaresq Street to Charing Cross, will be rejuvenated as part of the Charing Cross development

STEWARDSHIP

No More Boring Veg: Introducing the Goodness Gang

As a father of two young boys I have spent many a mealtime watching vegetables being flicked around a plate to wails of ‘Why do I have to eat these Dad, they’re boring!’  Ask your kids what they like, or find fun and chances are vegetables don’t feature

STEWARDSHIP

Mencap Pond Project: An environment for learning

We’re surrounded by unrivalled natural beauty in the Channel Islands. We can forget how lucky we actually are to have stunning beaches, cliff walks and woods right on our doorsteps and how we all need to make an active effort to protect them. Step in the Eco-Fund. Launched

INQUIRY

The Horse is Long Gone

I’m from a place. We all are. I was born in St Helier. It means something to me. So what makes that place? I think it’s a combination of identity and community. The heart of our community is our town: a place to work, a place to shop,

STEWARDSHIP

Variety and your Society: A Winning Team

Variety, the children’s charity is very close to our hearts here at The Channel Islands Co-operative Society. As I’ve said before, it’s been a great privilege of mine to work alongside Sandra Auckland in supporting the Variety Star of the Year Awards as key sponsors for