The Midcounties Co-operative Launches New Community Space for Gloucestershire

The Midcounties Co-operative has launched a brand-new community space in its Longlevens Your Co-op Food store, giving organisations from across the community an area to meet, run events or host information sessions free of charge.

The space, which is 1,000 sq ft, will also be home to the Cotswold Riding for the Disabled Association’s (Cotswold RDA) second charity shop. The store will sell a range of good quality preloved men’s, women’s, and children’s equine and country clothing and accessories, as well as a range of bric-a-brac to help raise funds for the charity’s riding school which delivers riding lessons to those living with physical and mental disabilities, helping to improve their health and wellbeing.

The charity shop will be run by participants from the Aston Project, an initiative that aims to inspire positive futures for young people by helping them to find work placements and apprenticeship schemes as well as volunteers from the Cotswold RDA and members of The Midcounties Co-operative.

To mark the launch of the new facility, Matt Windridge and Chris Chandler from The Midcounties Co-operative visited the site to present two of its local community partners with donations of £10,000.

The cheques were presented to representatives from the Aston Project and Gloucestershire Young Carers thanks to the fundraising efforts of people across the community through The Midcounties Co-operative’s community and charity partnership programme.

Matt Windridge from The Midcounties Co-operative said: “Supporting our communities is at the heart of everything we do. There are so many amazing organisations working hard to help those most in need, and I’m so pleased that we’re able to play our part in ensuring this invaluable work continues – whether that’s by offering them space to bring people together, or through our fundraising efforts.”

Claire Jenkins, General Manager of Cotswold RDA said: “The Midcounties Co-operative has supported the work of Cotswold RDA for many, many years. The community space within their Longlevens store is a very exciting innovation and we are thrilled to be a part of this. We look forward to having another space to generate much needed funds for the charity and also holding talks and other events to raise awareness of our work with disabled adults and children. One of the RDA ponies, Dave, who was present on the opening day, has starred in some children’s storybooks about his adventures. The author, Lois Kingscott, will be doing some readings from the books in the autumn.”

Local community groups and members of The Midcounties Co-operative can book the space free of charge and discuss any questions, by contacting the store manager, Nik White at 01452 305234.

For more information about how to become a member of The Midcounties Co-operative please visit the website or ask in your local Your Co-op Food store.