Who's Who

A year on and here's an update on the board and staff at The GVG.

Carol Wood

Central to the entire operation, Carol is our shop manager. She was the main employee at The Artichoke, and she has a wealth of relevant knowledge and experience that is vital to our success. She knows the business, she knows the customers, and we all look to her for her expertise and common sense insight into what will work, and what won't. She's there every day except Wednesdays and some Saturdays.

Working alongside Carol we now have Helen Coxan, Jim Dooher, Heather Carter, Ange Dews, Marie-Claire Kidd and Freddie Best. Helen works as our Local Food Co-ordinator and deals with our local growers and suppliers, you'll see her in the shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Jim looks after much of the behind-the-scenes work including the early morning trips to the wholesale market and setting the shop up in the mornings, but he also works on Thursday mornings in the shop so you may well see him in action. Heather has just completed her Geography degree and is, for the moment, working Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursday late shifts and some Saturdays. Freddie is our 'Saturday boy', keeping the shelves stocked up on our busiest day. Ange works on Fridays and some Thursdays/Saturdays, and often brings her own produce in to sell. Marie-Claire works in the shop on Fridays and some Thursdays/Saturdays, often with her camera capturing Slaithwaite life.

Board Members

• Ange Dews: Ange has joined Carol as a staff representative on the board. She has expertise and interest in business management and development and has quickly become instrumental in helping to set up the systems that keep the shop ticking over.  She has also filled in as the buyer at market when Jim has been away, and, we think, secretly loves that side of the job !
   
• Camilla Govan: Our Society Secretary, Camilla is keen to develop our connections with local growers and producers. She has a background in community economic regeneration, most recently with the charity Action for Market Towns, and has a good business brain backed up with solid experience in social enterprise. She is currently vice chair of the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance steering group.
   
• Richard Izzard: Richard participated in the first public meeting we held in early May, and approached us straight after the meeting, dead keen to get involved. He has retail experience, and is the newest member of the steering group. Richard is part of the Moonraking Festival team.
   
• Pip Lane: Alongside Jon (below) Pip has been the key person in terms of getting the premises refurbished for both the Green Valley Grocer and The Handmade Bakery. Pip is an active member of the Marsden and Slaithwaite Transition Town group.
   
• Graham Mitchell: This will be Graham's third cooperative start-up. The first, an employee owned cooperative was started in 1988 and is still going strong to this day. The second provides Graham's current paid employment, and is based in the office above the shop, which is how he got to learn about the likely demise of The Artichoke at an early stage. Graham took the exciting idea of a community owned solution to the closure of The Artichoke and has worked with the other members of the steering group to bring the project to fruition. He is chair of the steering group and one of the founder directors of Slaithwaite Cooperative Limited. Graham is also a member of the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance steering group.
   
• Fiona Russell: Fiona got involved in the project through her role as a member of the Marsden and Slaithwaite Renaissance steering group (a useful organisation, that). Fiona is a writer and journalist, whose work regularly features in the Yorkshire Post. Fiona has also been a keen producer member of Holmfirth Country Market, and has lots of invaluable knowledge and expertise to bring to the cooperative. She is a founder director of Slaithwaite Cooperative Limited, and is looking after our press coverage at present.
   
• Jenny Stein: Jenny acts as Treasurer for the Cooperative, and comes to the steering group with solid and relevant experience as a finance specialist with Suma, the UK's largest employee owned cooperative, based in Elland.
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• Susan Thomas:  Susan is our environmental guru, providing advice on how to make the business greener.  She is fronting our involvement in "Greener Together", an initiative aimed at getting us all to act a little more responsibly with regard to our use of power, oil and water.  Susan also has many years experience as a retailer and a great deal of wisdot
   
• Jon Walker: Jon and Graham were working together on a project to network people involved in food projects as part of Transition Towns initiatives using the web, when it became clear that The Artichoke was close to closure. Jon has many years experience in cooperatives and the food business, both in wholesaling and distribution, and in retailing, so it was natural, to say nothing of being extremely useful, for him to be involved. He is taking responsibility for the refurbishment and refitting of the premises, amongst other things, and would have been a founder director of Slaithwaite Cooperative Limited if he had been available to sign the papers. Jon is the treasurer of Marsden and Slaithwaite Transition Towns initiative (MASTT).
  

  The Handmade Bakery

  Right from the start we have been working closely with the team over at The Handmade Bakery. Currently a three strong employee-owned cooperative business, Dan, Johanna and Matt began trading earlier this year out of borrowed kitchen and retail space in Mozzarella's in Marsden, producing and retailing some of the best bread we have ever tasted. Their need for space coincided neatly with the opportunity to do something at 14 Carr Lane in Slaithwaite, and we believe it is a brilliant symbiotic relationship that will strengthen both businesses. It certainly gives our shop a head start when it comes to working with local producers!