Crafty Co-op colleague paints a rainbow tribute to frontline heroes – completely out of handprints

Posted by rob smyth | Published: 08/05/2020

A community-minded colleague has come up with an arty way to celebrate frontline heroes – by creating a rainbow mural at a Burton Central England Co-op store entirely out of handprints.

Team leader Janet Fletcher decided to use some art and craft supplies to turn the front of the Stretton Precinct store into a tribute to frontline workers during this Coronavirus pandemic.

Her creative flair saw her use paint to create a colourful rainbow out of handprints for every Member and customer to see as they visit the shop for food and vital essentials.

Store Manager Carol Bennett said: “The window display was the idea of my team leader Janet Fletcher.

“We had some arts and crafts stock sent in and I suggested we should use the paints to do a rainbow in the window.

“We gave it some thought and came up with the idea of using handprints.

“Janet then demonstrated her creative side and completed the window display for all our Members and customers to enjoy.”

This comes as Central England Co-op is currently offering a 10% discount for all NHS workers to say thank you for their efforts working on the frontline to help tackle the Coronavirus.

All NHS workers have to do is show their ID card when they visit any of the retailer’s 242 food stores to receive 10% off all food and other essentials.

They will also be able to get priority access to Central England Co-op stores by moving to the front of any external queue when waiting to enter.

People can keep up to date with what is happening in their local community by visiting a dedicated online hub at www.centralengland.coop/updates

Notes to editors

Picture caption: The handprint rainbow at the Central England Co-op store in Stretton Precinct.

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 who serve 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