A word from our President
A word from our President
It’s a genuine honour to have been elected as President of our Society and to serve alongside our newly elected Vice President, John Cook.
I’m deeply committed to strengthening our relationships with our members, and supporting communities across our region, and building on everything that makes the East of England Co-op such a valued and distinctive part of local life.
I would like to start by thanking our 3,000+ colleagues for their unwavering commitment to our co-op and the communities we support on a daily basis. The response to this year’s cyber incident affecting Co-op Group, which impacted deliveries to our stores, is a shining example of this dedication. Colleagues across the business pulled together alongside our local suppliers with dedication and resilience. They embodied the spirit of co-operation, responding with professionalism and collaboration to ensure we could continue to accommodate our members, customers and communities that depend on our co-op.
Supporting our communities
The East of England is home to a truly inspiring voluntary sector, and we’re committed to supporting the life-changing work of our local community organisations.
This year, our four core community programmes have made remarkable progress. Since its establishment in 2020, our Community Cares Fund has supported these fantastic organisations across our regions, making a difference to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
Local Giving, a new initiative established in 2024, has become embedded across our stores and branches. This initiative empowers our team members to choose and raise money for local charities and good causes themselves.
This year, our colleagues went above and beyond to support their communities, arranging and taking part in a wide range of successful fundraising activities.
How we performed
Achieving a £2.0m underlying trading profit is a fantastic achievement which everyone across our co-op should be immensely proud of. We have now achieved profit growth for three consecutive years, demonstrating that the strategy our leadership has put in place to secure the Society’s future profitability is working.
Our governance
I would like to thank my predecessor, Joy Burnford, for her invaluable contribution. After serving on our Board for five years and as President for a year, we said farewell to Joy as she moved to a new opportunity in December 2025. We appreciate her leadership and commitment during her time on the Board.
I am honoured to lead our Board and will be serving alongside our 14 fellow Directors, supported by our newly elected Vice President, John Cook. John brings extensive experience in local government and the co-operative movement, having previously served on the Society’s Board from 2012 to 2024 before being re-elected in May 2025. Our newest Director, Roger Grosvenor, was also elected in May.
In May, we said farewell to Suzanne Hawkes as she left the Board after completing a year’s service. Beverley Perkins also stepped down in May after an extremely impressive 12 years of dedication to our Society. We are grateful to Beverley for her commitment and the invaluable contribution she made during her time on the Board and the wider co-operative movement.
What does the future hold?
I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for us. There will undoubtedly be challenges along the way, but I’m confident that we have the foundations in place to keep driving our growth strategy forward. The development of our new membership proposition will be instrumental in our continued growth this year.
Exciting work is already underway to build a tailored membership experience, helping us improve how we attract, engage and retain our members.
I’m passionate about the role our co-op plays in building stronger, fairer communities. This is what we’ve been doing for 155 years, and we remain committed to serving our members, customers and communities in the place we call home.
