Thanks to one of our members who happens to work at the BBC in Leeds, we've attracted the attention of the folks at Look North, and yesterday we got on the telly. If like me you missed it there is a chance to see a clip here on the BBC website.
And as if that is not fame enough, I've just heard that we are featured in the Friday 10 July edition of the Huddersfield Examiner as well!
Clearly this media interest is a great opportunity to promote the shop and attract more customers for opening weekend, but it is also given us a chance to talk a little about some the other aspects of the cooperative.
We want to work with our members, our customers and suppliers to change how we think about the food we eat. We want to encourage more people to grow their own food, and to encourage more people locally to grow and produce food on a commercial or semi-commercial basis, and so stimulate a local food economy that over time will move the Colne Valley closer to self-reliance in terms of food. As consumers we love locally grown produce: it is fresher, and so tastier and healthier than stuff that has been transported for miles and miles. And with transport costs steadily rising, local food is often cheaper as well as being more environmentally friendly.
We chose a community owned cooperative structure for the enterprise not just because it is an ideally suited legal form for what we wanted to do, but because we feel passionately about the importance of communities coming together to meet their own need and take control of their own destiny. Of course the shop is very much in its infancy, and an enormous amount of work lies ahead to build it into a sustainable business, but what we have shown in the last few months is that ordinary people can come together and make things happen for ourselves. As someone said to me at the end of the public meeting after we had launched the community share issue: "This is not about a fruit and veg shop. this is about creating community."
