co-op snowy scene

Simon and I had a great time grappling with the shops waste at the co-op. It was a bit hit and miss at one point but we think that the final scene is alright considering its rubbish. Join us on Saturday at Co-op Northwich 11-4 to see the results in person, sing, craft and get faces painted.

Helping with the group

To find out about how you could get involved with the group  e mail Beth Barlow at bethbarlow@bethbarlow.com

Co-operative gig

We are at the co-op in Northwich on the 10th December with Facepainting, Craft activities and a bit of singing. Come join us and get in the christmas spirit whilst giving to those less fortunate. Monies will go to Oxfam and Mencap.

Minutes from meeting 17th October

Present: Beth, Julia, Ian


Books for the craft event- Julia has got some books. She will give half the books to Beth to cut into the relevant pages for creating trees. Does anybody else want to help with this? Its pretty simple and many hands make lighter work. 
Bookstore at Oakmere-We feel that two events is as much as we have the capacity for at the moment. If anybody else wants to run an event for Oxfam in the Bookstore at Oakmere contact Beth by November 1st. otherwise Beth will contact them and let them know that we cant cover this year.
Co-op gig- We decided we can cover the following for this event: Sale of books as long as books are donated by staff and customers prior to the event. School class attending as long as staff can cover the logistics of this bit. Dress down day for staff, Hampers supplied by co-op, facepainting, money off vouchers, press, cheshire FM and papers-(Beth to sort), healthy eating bags, ethical eating talk by the co-op, human joke machine, craft making stall, craft kits, sculpture from junk ( maybe in a dove, snowman, fairy, star shape) Refreshments from the co-op and choir.

Date decided on 16th December 11-4pm

Weaver square gig- Decided on choir, break for lunch and instrumental to fill the part when no singing. Face painting.
Ian to contact manager to check on date. Beth to get in touch with Oxfam manger to arrange meeting. Beth to speak to Ian B about PA system and playing. Julia to speak to good news singers and Beth to let Rivendell know the dates.

Date decided on 10th December 11-3pm

For anybody wanting to help out a bit we need help with any of these:
Cutting up books for the craft stall before the event
Singing as part of the choir on one or both of  the days
Playing instruments on the days
Rattling buckets
Looking after the book stall at the Co-op
Facepainting if you have a current CRB check. 
Help on the craft stall

Date of next meeting 

23rd November 7.30pm at the Bluecap. Apologies to Beth please so that we know who to hang on for.

Minutes from meeting at the Co-operative Northwich

We talked about the following ideas for the co-op day.

• Dress down day for staff
• Hampers to raffle supplied by the co-op
• Facepainting
• Sales of books
• Money off vouchers given out in store before the event and redeemable on good in store on the day
• Speaking to Cheshire Fm for press and possible outside broadcast
• Flyers printed by the co-op to tell about the event
• Press release from the Oxfam group as its not a business it will stand more chance.
• Healthy eating bags to kids from a class at a local school 
• Asking a class from a local school to come along ( the nearest school is
• Witton Church Walk C Of E Primary School) 
• A talk on ethical eating by somebody from the co-op for kids. 
• The human joke machine- give the manager a subject and he will come up with one joke for a donation. 
• Craft stall 
• Craft kits for sale
• A piece of art made from the waste from the shop
• Refreshments etc. for the singers will be supplied by the co-op 
• Choir singing either outside or indoors if weather bad. 

50/50 split on monies made 50 to oxfam 50 to mencap. 

We discussed the following for further events:

Car boot sale on the car park. Ran by Co-op with some proceeds going to Oxfam.

We discussed the following dates:

Friday 16th December as best fit for co-op

Saturday 10th and 17th are dates already being considered by the Good news singers.

Proposed plan of action: ( let me know if it seems wrong)

• Set a date for all gigs Asap
• Decide on which elements we could realistically cover
• Contact Jon at Co-op and arrange other meeting to finalise plans
• Contact school if appropriate
• Start a list of interested singers/volunteers
• Get volunteers for craft, facepainting, giving out flyers etc.
• Do press stuff
• Contact Oxfam shop to arrange to chat to them.

Meeting Minutes 19th September 2011

• We spoke about how it was best to leave members who were not always able to attend meetings on the mailing list as they would still want to know what was going on. If anybody would like to be taken off or added to  the contacts list please e mail Beth at bethbarlow@bethbarlow.com.
• Julia showed us the lovely ideas for the  make your own Christmas craft stall, these included lovely Christmas trees from old books. Heather is going to try and find out how we source books from Oxfam's partner company, wastesavers. Also to look into what Oxfam does with regards to giving books to people in this country and abroad. We need volunteers to cut up books ready for the event.
• As the co-op is the only supermarket to have taken up the opportunity to have singing, craft and face painting we are going to work with them and not pursue Tesco's, Asda and Morrisons. Beth and Julia are going to meet with the manager at 1pm on Thursday 22nd.
• Middlewich Garden centre already have a charity they support so can't add to that at the moment.
• The Bookstore at Oakmere may be interested. Beth to keep everyone up to date on progress.
• Ian contacted Development Arts Northwich (DAN). They gave him the contact for the city centre. Weaver Square is being transformed for Christmas, with a chance to sing and do craft, face painting on 3rd, 10th, 17th and 24th December. We decided to consider two of these dates 10th and the 17th.  ( since the meeting Rivendell singers have confirmed that they are busy on the 10th and 17th but there may be more scope for the 3rd Should we change for the 3rd?) Beth and Julia are going to see Oxfam shop manager to see if there are any points of mutual benefit for us to work on. Ian is going to liase with city centre contact.
• Julia and Ian are going to contact the good news singers to see if they can sing. Beth is going to contact Ian B to see about a PA system and other players to go with  a trumpet.We need musically talented volunteers if you know any.
• Beth went off on one about knitted bobble hats and salves. One for her to ponder.
• We spoke about craft kits to sell. One for further discussion.
• Ian to think about a list of 5 or 6 simple songs which everybody will know.
• Beth told the group about a charities event at St John's church Church Hall in Sandiway. On Wednesday  5th October 2-4.30pm there is a "Knit and Stitch" for charity event. This a chance for people to see how they can use their craft skills to help charities. Then on Saturday 8th October from 10am there is a craft stall and coffee morning. Beth and Heather to look into how crafts are used by Oxfam for possible inclusion in the Wednesday event.
• Beth would also like to tell the group about a Clothes Swap event at St John's on Monday 3rd October at 7.30pm. Bring some clothes to swap.
• Heather told us about the East Africa awareness sessions running throughout the country. Invite above to this if there if anybody who wants to go and find out more about what Oxfam is doing for this cause. Its at the Victoria baths in Manchester which is an old renovated swimming baths, well worth a visit.
• Heather is hoping to organise a new group get together which will be more accessible some time in the future.

Next meeting Monday 17th October, Blue cap at 7.30pm
Apologies please to Beth so that we know who to hang on for.

Meeting Minutes Tuesday 6th September

Present: Beth, Julia, Ian
Apologies, Lizzie, Chris, Lorna, Pat and Helen
Not Present: Heather

Riverside Results - Lisa from Riverside is sending us a voucher for £40.00 to be raffled as part of our next event or as a separate thing.
Woodpecker Meal results-They will do 2 meals for £10.00 any night but saturday and there is no need to pre book meals. Ian And Julia to find out if their group would be up for meeting at a meal like this again in Jan, Feb 2012. Everyone else to try and gauge interest in their groups. Maybe groups could coincide it with a late Christmas do.
Supermarket letters-Beth sent lettters to Asda and Morrisons in Winsford and Co-op and Tescos in Northwich. Manager from Co-op has been in touch and is really positive. They already support mencap so they would look to put on some activities too and then we split proceeds 50/50. Reps from our group to meet manager for a chat.
Press release With no picture of the event the guardian were less interested so we need to make sure we take picture of next event. Beth to remember to bring camera and maybe think of picture we could create in run up to next event.
Middlewich garden centre they are going to confirm if they are interested next Monday. possible dates discussed 10th or the 17th December. Julia to ring and take advise on dates from centre manager.
Singers/musicians Ian is going to speak to Dan in Northwich. Beth to Rivendale singers and folk club. Julia to good Will singers. Idea is to from a small group of individuals from these groups. Ian and Julia have access to a church hall to rehearse.
Crafts Julia is going to bring a demo of a book Christmas tree design to the next meeting for us to decide on.

Next Meeting
Monday 19th September at The Bluecap 7.30pm
Can everybody please continue to send apologies or attendance to Beth or Ian and Julia so that we know who to hang fire for before starting.