Central England Co-op store in Birmingham ‘Flying the Flag’ after recording video for special BBC show
Posted by rob smyth | Published: 13/05/2020
Central England Co-op colleagues in Birmingham who became an unlikely online hit with a viral video are set to be rewarded for their new found fame by being part of a primetime celebration of the Eurovision song contest.
The team from Great Barr Food Store, in Walsall Road, became the talk of the town after over 6,000 people viewed their recreation of Peter Kay’s iconic music video of the Tony Christie smash hit ‘(Is This The Way To) Amarillo’ all in aid of the BBC’s The Big Night In fund-raising event.
Producers from the Beeb were so impressed with their efforts that they got in touch to ask them to recreate a song from Eurovision past to be featured as part of a special programme Eurovision: Come Together at 6.30pm on Saturday 16 May.
The team got their thinking caps on and decided to recreate Flying the Flag by Scooch, the 2007 entry which saw the UK finish joint 22nd with 19 points.
Gill Evans, Store Manager, said: “We had so much fun doing the Amarillo video so we jumped at the chance when we were contacted by the BBC.
“We all put our heads together and had a look through the back catalogue of what our entries have been over the years.
“We decided on Scooch because at the minute, alongside all the other key workers, we are ‘Flying the Flag’ for the nation. It is also quite apt having recently been the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
“We had a great time creating the video. It allowed us all to let our hair down after working hard to serve our communities and keep them stocked with food and vital essentials during these uncertain times.
“The video has now been sent off to the BBC and we will all be tuning in on Saturday to see if we get our five minutes of fame on national television.”
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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