Cooperatives Yorkshire and Humber

 International Year of Co-operatives Festival - 16th September

The Co-operative Membership invites you to celebrate the 2012 International Year of Co-operatives (IYC) with a day of entertainment, music, workshops, and good food at our festival at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, West Bretton.

Activities at the YSP Learning Site
11.00–15.00: take a journey through sound and explore world music performances
11.00: prize giving ceremony for the Co-operative Children’s Art Competition
11.30–15.00: join the Bear Park Artists and Co-operative Children’s Art Competition winners to
create banners celebrating the theme of Co-operation (limited drop in places available on day)
11.00–15.30: visit the Co-operation Zone, a variety of stalls representing the broad range of
Co-operative businesses.
11.00–15.30: Tastes of the World, a Co-operative demonstration kitchen.
Activities at the YSP Visitor Centre
10.45–11.30: Co-operative Women’s Challenge talks
11.30–13.00 & 13.00–14.00: Belly dancing workshops*
11.30–14.30: drop-in and take part in pennant making workshops with First Question North
Activities in the Open air
11.30–15.00: Join artist led tours of YSP’s beautiful historic landscape exploring work by some of
the world’s nest female artists*
11.00–15.30: Join theatre company Pif-Paf on their roaming performances with their ‘Bee cart’.
Special benets for members on the day include: Free parking (to register for free parking please email your Co-op membership and vehicle registration numbers to learning@ysp.co.uk alternatively you can register your number plate on the day) and 10% discount in the YSP

Booking essential to guarantee your place. For more information or to book online visit ysp.co.uk/events

Sheffield.coop

http://sheffield.coop/ is a new site to promote co-operatives and co-operation in Sheffield is being developed by Sheffield based Webarchitects, http://webarch.net/.

The site currently hosts a basic directory of co-operatives and IPS's in Sheffield and the intention is to start to aggregate and archive news from all the co-ops in Sheffield.

Webarchitects have also been given permission from the .coop domain registery to create .sheffield.coop sub-domains for co-ops in Sheffield. This will allow small co-ops, for example housing co-ops, to have a organisationname.sheffield.coop domain name for their organisation without having to buy their own, expensive, .coop domain name.

Following a workshop at Futures North is was agreed to create a section on the site to document the history of the co-operative movement in Sheffield and this is being developed by Steve Thompson, http://sheffield.coop/history

Sheffield Renewables Share Offer

Sheffield Renewables has just announced the launch of their Community Share Offer. They need to raise £250,000 towards the cost of building their first hydro-electric scheme at Jordan Dam on the river Don near Blackburn Meadows. Jordan Dam Hydro will generate 310,000 kWh/yr, enough for 80 homes and will save Sheffield 170 tonnes of CO2 per year. The scheme will be Sheffield's first community owned renewable energy scheme. Profits will be used to fund local green initiatives, including more renewable energy.

Community Shares cannot be traded, but we plan to pay a modest rate of interest and allow investors to 'cash in' their shares after 3 years.

The Share Offer Launch will take place on Saturday, September 15th at 3pm at the Central United Reform Church in Sheffield. If you want to attend, please email: info@sheffieldrenewables.org.uk More details will appear on the Sheffield Renewables’ website: www.sheffieldrenewables.org.uk. If you are considering investing, you can make a ‘pledge’ on the website. The Community Share Offer will run from September 15th until December 14th.

Contacts: jean@sheffieldrenewables.org.uk
Jean Tinsley – 0114 250 8367 or 0114 233 6804
David Berry – 07900 261743.

Co-operatives United

100 days to go! Show some love for Co-operatives United
Saturday 21 July marks 100 days before the official start of Co-operatives United, the culminating event of the International Year of Co-operatives. We need your help to tell the world that Co-operatives United is happening.

On Friday 20th July we are asking everyone to show their love by tweeting a message about the event using our hashtag #ilovecoopsutd. A lucky tweeter will win two V.I.P tickets to the international film premier in Manchester, for the Manchester Rochdale Pioneers film.

The Co-operative Economy 2012

Owned and controlled by members and not shareholders, more than 5,900 co-operative businesses in the UK contribute £35.6bn to the UK economy and operate across all business sectors. For the past four years, the sector has outperformed the UK economy, demonstrating resilience in difficult economic times and proving that values and principles go hand in hand with commercial performance. Read the full report.

Co-operatives Yorkshire and the Humber Enhanced Benefits Package

Join our enhanced scheme for a number of new benefits including a free place at Futures North 2011. The package is being delivered jointly with Social Enterprise Yorkshire and the Humber and includes benefits such as membership of a business club for social enterprises and co-operatives and inclusion on a marketplace e-directory.

The package starts at just £25 for small co-operatives and full details can be downloaded here.

The Phone Co-op Affinity Scheme

CYH have an affinity scheme with The Phone Co-op. Any individual or organisation can join so If you're considering joining the The Phone Co-op there are several benefits you can receive by quoting our affinity number AF0461- details are available here.

If you are not a member but wish to be membership of Co-operatives Yorkshire and the Humber is free and open to all organisations who support co-operative values and principles. A membership form can be obtained by downloading a form from here