About Our Sponsors

We are very proud at United Co-op Band (Crewe) to have celebrated over 50 years continuous support from the Co-operative Member Relations. Their continued support has allowed the development of the band and also supports the Junior and Youth Wind Bands now boasting 50 plus members providing an excellent group of young musicians for the future .

This year in particular the support of the Member Relations has been especially appreciated as we have moved to our new facility in Underwood Lane. This move will allow for further development of all the Bands as we work together over the coming years. It has already provided a base for recording and production of our latest CD.

Please read on to find out more about the Co-operative, its history and all it is able to offer in the way of services to the public.

The Co-operative

In 2006 we had 1.5 million economically active members, making us the UK’s largest co-operative. Just £1 allows anyone to be part of The Co-operative, and each of our members has an equal right to a say in how the business is run and how we achieve our social goals.

Every year members receive a share of the profits that they helped to create. That is why in 2006 we returned some £19m of our profits to individual members.

In 2007 we had an annual turnover of £9.4bn and 87,000 employees serving around 10 million customers a week through food, healthcare, travel, funeral care and financial services.

The Co-operative Group has a responsibility to manage and develop its family of businesses in a sustainable way, and we have been offering good quality products and services at reasonable prices for well over 100 years. Ethical trading is what we are about.

Become a member and apply online today.

Co-operative Membership - our members are our owners

They are the sort of people that like to know their hard-earned cash is being used honestly, and that a percentage of it goes back into their community.

Anyone can become a member as long as they believe in what we stand for. All you have to do is invest £1 which we will collect from your first share of the profits. Being a member brings with it a host of benefits:

Members' share of the profits – pounds for points and your share in how much we make
Exclusive members' offers – benefits and offers with all our businesses
Getting involved – you can make a difference within your region and on the members' website
Member communities – bringing together regional and national networks of members
Community Fund – make a difference to your local groups by donating a few pence
Member democracy – elect who you want to represent your community

Exclusive members' website You will also have access to the members' website where you can:

See the latest membership news from your region and around the UK
Manage your profit account and donate some of it back into the community
Read about members' events in your area and around the UK
Take part in online discussions and live webcasts with our experts and other members
Find out about your region's democratic network
Vote on a committee member, or become a member representative yourself
Learn how to make a difference in your community with local initiatives
Find out about local and online member communities.

Apply online and become a member today

The Co-operative and Fairtrade

Our values and principles
From our beginnings in 1844, The Co-operative set out to do business fairly, honestly and democratically, in a world that was seeing exploitation of the weak, few rights for workers, unfair trading practices and poverty. Just like Fairtrade.
A co-operative is a business, but more than this, it is a group of people acting together to meet the common needs and aspirations of its members, sharing ownership and making decisions democratically.

Our members
We are governed by the wishes of our members - and as membership is open to anyone who believes in what we stand for and shop with at least one of our businesses - it means we have members from every corner of society. Fairtrade has been high on our members' agenda for a long time.

Fairtrade products are high quality
As well as being beneficial for the grower, Fairtrade products usually offer the consumer a better quality including fewer pesticides and more organic cultivation techniques. Growers naturally select the best of their crops for Fairtrade because they receive a higher price for these and naturally want to keep their supporters happy.

It's good for business
Customers want to buy products they can trust. The FAIRTRADE Mark provides reassurance. Through The Co-operative Food stores alone, Fairtrade sales exceeded £40million in 2006 (out of UK total of £290million) compared to just £100,000 in 1998.

Because it's the right thing to do
Through Fairtrade, we're encouraging poorer farmers to help themselves out of poverty because we don't believe it is right that they should be disadvantaged. By working in partnership with co-operatives in the developing world, co-operatives in the UK are demonstrating new shared values with like-minded people across the globe.

Information on this page was gathered from www.co-operative.coop, all information on this page is property of the Co-operative and does not come under the copyright of the United Co-op Band (Crewe)