UP CLOSE: With Co-op Member Pioneer Deborah Speirs.

Godalming Nub News aims to support our community, promoting shops, businesses, charities, clubs and sports groups.

We profile some of these businesses and organisations regularly in a feature called 'Up Close in Godalming'.

Today we caught up with Co-op Member Pioneer Deborah Speirs.

Member Pioneers can be colleagues or members of the community. They create local action plans that mean Co-op can provide support at a local level. They work very closely with the Local Community Fund recipients, which are Local Causes that are supported by the local Co-op Members. They can be charities, local community groups or food banks.

Deborah Speirs is one of the 1,000 Member Pioneers across the country and has worked with local groups in Haslemere and Grayshott since last year. She recently also took on the mantle of Member Pioneer in Farncombe and Godalming, working with the Farncombe and Milford food stores and the Godalming Funeralcare service.

Member Pioneers are so named in reference to their long-standing tradition of uniting and supporting local communities, and in honour of the incredible work carried out by the Rochdale Pioneers almost 180 years ago.

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers was formed in 1844 with the intention of supplying good-quality food to the local community, with any surplus donated to local people in need.

Deborah explains: "Co-op thought it would be really good to go back to the original promise of creating a fairer society, together."

Deborah is an experienced fundraiser who has worked in the charity sector for over 25 years. Her role requires her to amplify the good work that is already happening in the community as well as co-ordinating the support that the Co-op gives to the Local Causes in the Godalming area.

She encapsulates it as: "Helping the community to thrive."

"My role is looking at what's great, at what could be great, or even greater, if it had more support," she says.

"I completely understand working with the Local Causes, how they need the funding that the Local Community Fund can give them.

"My role as a Member Pioneer is looking at causes and getting them to apply to be one of Co-op's Local Causes and to amplify what they are doing. To give them top tips and to join them up as far as possible.

"I also work by helping the Co-op in the areas where they are campaigning, such as Fairtrade Fortnight, #LonelyNotAlone, Black History Month, #Hope2020, and school meal vouchers with Marcus Rashford."

The three core pillars that are central to the Co-op ethos, and within which she works, are: fairer access to food, mental and physical wellbeing, and education and employment for young people.

"Another part of my role as a Member Pioneer is to use social media and its agility to link up with what's going on locally – to help join the dots. The new Co-operate platform is also a fantastic example of how we can do that," she says. The platform enables local groups to share details of their activities with the community. From youth clubs and meditation groups to virtual pony sessions and family Yoga, Co-operate lists local activities and groups that make good things happen in communities. "As I approach my first-year anniversary as a Co-op Member Pioneer, and it's been such an unprecedented year, I have found it truly rewarding to see the depth and warmth of community spirit and the willingness of people to help others," Deborah says. "I believe that co-operative spirit was always there, but somewhere along the way we forgot to ask or offer it. "Our local communities have shown that compassion has not been lost." To find out more about Co-op's Member Pioneers and how you can cooperate with them in your community, follow the link here. When Co-op Members buy own-brand products and services, 2p for every £1 spent goes to support local causes and community organisations. To find out more about Membership, follow the link here.