The Friends of Maghull and District CIC (FOMD) along with two other fantastic diverse local charities have been privileged to have been partnered in the local Co-op (Deyes Lane) over the last year, and will know their final donation total in a celebration events in November.

We invited the Co-op team (pictured & publication (1) ) along with other donors to Bobby’s Wood, (where we will use the money to buy plants for the huge community border) to express our immense gratitude. We were absolutely surprised and delighted to learn, on the day, that we have been fortunate to be partnered with the Co-op for another year, along with two other local charities (tba), that will help to fund the third year and final of three stages of environmental objectives for Bobby’s Wood/Woodend (at the junction of Liverpool Road South and Northway.

I hope you will join us in thanking the Co-op. Anyone who visits the shop will recognise how extra helpful, friendly and incredibly resilient they have been to provide a 07:00 to 22:00 hours service whilst meeting the challenges of the pandemic. They have even organised extra charity events throughout the year involving fancy dress when the pandemic restrictions were reduced. It has been a difficult year to raise funds of course, not only because of managing the pandemic needs but it was impossible to raise the charity profile through face-to-face contact, and then the Co-op funeral care also closed in The Square.

On reflection, the more you explore the Co-op:

• they have provided countless charitable partners in every store across the country for local communities

• they have incredibly, high perhaps unsurpassed, ethical standards in everything they do from Fair Trade, recycling plastic wrappers, excluding unethical businesses evidenced from completing a charity application to applying for a Co-op bank account and much more.

This week FOMD is celebrating becoming a charity Community Interest Company (CIC) and due to the Co-ops brilliant and encouraging support of charities and their rigorous ethical standards/values, particularly when so many banks are bizarrely declining charity accounts, we are considering transferring our account to their bank in the near future.

The community can still donate online until the end of the month and we would again welcome the community’s kind donations of woodland themed plants between the dormant period of October and March, hopefully emulating the astonishing 200+ shrubs donated last year. Please contact us at woodendcwp@gmail.com and view our thank you video at https://youtu.be/E6dsg4oiMsw “.

If you are interested in weeding over the next few days or planting shrubs or trees over the next few weeks please contact us on the above email address.

(1) https://www.facebook.com/ChampionNewspapers/posts