Captain Tom Moore’s local Central England Co-op joins with community to wish him a happy 100th birthday as retailer gives £10k to his record-breaking NHS fundraiser

Posted by james brindle | Published: 04/05/2020


Captain Tom Moore’s 100th birthday has been marked by his local Central England Co-op with a special display created with help from village schoolchildren as the retailer donates £10,000 to his incredible fundraising efforts.

Central England Co-op’s Marston Moretaine food store has been decorated with special bunting and messages created by schoolchildren from Marston Moreteyne VC School to wish the village’s most famous resident a happy birthday and thank him for raising millions for the NHS.

To show its support and appreciation for Captain Tom and of course the great cause he has been fundraising for, Central England Co-op has made a donation of £10,000 to his 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS campaign.

The Society has also designed special colouring sheets with over 500 circulated by the Marston Moretaine food store and they have been available to download as a great activity for children at home and so they give their birthday wishes to Tom by colouring them in and displaying them.

Luke Ficken, Central England Co-op Marston Moretaine Store Manager, said: “We are so proud to be part of a great community in Marston Moretaine and we have all been absolutely blown away by what Captain Tom Moore has done and the wonderful positivity it has brought to people during these uncertain times.

“Captain Tom’s family are regular customers to the shop, so we have been able to convey to them directly our pride and appreciation for everything he has done but we were keen as a community retailer to join together with the village and local schoolchildren to put on a display to wish Tom a happy 100th birthday and thank him for his incredible efforts.

“I would like to thank the children from Marston Moretyne VC School for helping us with some great bunting and artwork. I am also delighted that we as a Society have been able to support Tom’s fundraising campaign which has helped raise so many millions for our wonderful NHS.”

Anyone who wishes to donate to Captain Tom Moore’s 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS fundraiser for NHS Charities Together can still do so at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs

People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community and download the special Captain Tom colouring sheets by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates

 

Notes to editors

About Central England Co-operative

Central England Co-operative is one of the largest independent retail co-operative societies in the UK with interests in food, funeral, floral, travel and property investment.

Co-operatives have always been there for their communities; they were formed to protect them and help them flourish. 

Our 7,900 colleagues serving our Members and customers work hard to ensure that co-operative values, principles and spirit flow through everything we do to help support and improve our local communities.

Owned by hundreds of thousands of Members, we have over 430 trading outlets across 16 counties including West Midlands, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire. 

We are proud of our reputation for ethical business practices and corporate responsibility.

We invest a percentage of our trading profit into local communities through our Community Dividend Fund scheme, have donated over £1.3 million to our corporate charity partner Dementia UK and also operate a pioneering food redistribution partnership with FareShare Midlands so unsold food goes to those in need.

Visit www.centralengland.coop for more information or follow us on Facebook or Twitter using @mycoopfood

Press office contacts: Rob Smyth and James Brindle

Phone - 01543 421390

Email - publicrelations@centralengland.coop