Case studies
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Coming together to build a local hub: Smarden Community Store
Content by Booster Fund
Smarden is a village close to Ashford in Kent. In 2019, its post office and shop closed, so local residents decided to raise funds to build a new store with post office and café services.
3 years 5 months
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From car park to paradise: Hulme Community Garden Centre
Content by Booster Fund
Hulme Community Garden Centre is a charity owned by its community, employing nine local people and with a turnover of £300k per annum. When it wanted to grow its indoor space and social impact, the…
3 years 5 months
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Pooling funds to reinvigorate a historic lido: Jubilee Pool
Content by Booster Fund
Jubilee Pool – operated by Community Benefit Society Jubilee Pool Penzance – is one of the last remaining salt-water lidos in Europe. Opened in 1935, it’s a beautiful art deco facility on the Penzance…
3 years 5 months
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Growing the community: Sutton Community Farm
Content by Booster Fund
The Community Shares Booster Programme enabled Sutton Community Farm to build a much-needed new barn and build a larger membership to better engage the local community and widen their customer base.
3 years 6 months
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Supporting the local community: Projekts MCR
Content by Booster Fund
Following a successful crowd funding campaign, Projekts MCR secured £134,338 with 70 investors in 64 days to expand their skate park, add energy-saving LED floodlights and be better able to support…
3 years 6 months
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Rehabilitation the co‑operative way: New Leaf Co‑op
Content by Business support for co-ops
The New Leaf Initiative is a Birmingham-based mentoring organisation that supports people with criminal convictions to find work.
3 years 6 months
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Flat pay and an equal say: Greencity Wholefoods
It’s 1978 and Glasgow’s Greencity Wholefoods co-operative is formed – born from the local activist movement with moral, ethical and environmental values at its heart.
3 years 7 months
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Restoring a centuries old business: Warwick Bridge Corn Mill
Content by Booster Fund
The Warwick Bridge Preservation Society in Cumbria issued a community share offer to lease and finish the fitting out of the mill and bakery situated in Warwick Bridge Corn Mill. They reached their…
3 years 7 months
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A lifeline for local people: Marsden Grocery
Content by Booster Fund
Villagers in Marsden, West Yorkshire wanted to create a shop to benefit the whole community, including residents on lower incomes, vegetarians, vegans and people on special diets who find it hard to…
3 years 7 months
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On the front foot through challenging times: October Books
Content by Business support for co-ops
In January 2020, October Books, a worker-owned and run community bookshop in Southampton, was on the verge of taking great new strides.
3 years 9 months
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Making Manchester’s The Meteor “bigger, better and more influential”
Content by Business support for co-ops
The Meteor is an independent, community‑based media outlet that’s been providing news, features and commentary to the people of Manchester since 2016. In July 2019, it became a co‑op.
4 years 2 months
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InFact Digital Co-op: “Co‑op working is the future”
Content by Business support for co-ops
They met through a digital boot camp. Loved working together. And discovered a shared belief in the power of technology as a force for good.
4 years 5 months
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Forty years and counting... the story of Suma
The UK’s flagship worker co-op, Suma was founded 40 years ago when seven people formed a wholefood wholesaler in West Yorkshire.
4 years 7 months
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A co-op with people power that keeps a proud heritage alive: Norwich Mustard
Content by Co-op Fortnight
Norwich Mustard co-op is proof that when an industry that’s been synonymous with a city for centuries is suddenly shut down by a large multinational – there’s a way for individuals to take control and…
4 years 10 months
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Reviving derelict buildings to bring hope to communities: Nudge Community Builders
Content by Co-op Fortnight
Nudge Community Builders in Plymouth is flying the flag for Co-op Fortnight (24 June to 7 July 2019) by leading a group of volunteers to mend and clean a much-loved community space at Union Corner the…
4 years 10 months
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Helping Blake House Cooperative plan for a sustainable future
Content by Business support for co-ops
As a new start‑up business, filmmakers Blake House Cooperative applied to The Hive to access an experienced peer mentor to help them with a range of areas, from business development to client…
5 years