Derbyshire shopworker knits special rainbow badges for colleagues to wear to show support for key workers

Posted by james brindle | Published: 22/04/2020

A Central England Co-op food store in Derbyshire has been showing its support for the NHS and other key workers with a colourful tribute thanks to a crafty colleague.

Wynn Taylor, Customer Service Assistant at Central England Co-op in Wirksworth, has knitted 50 special rainbow badges which all the team at the Harrison Drive store are now wearing with pride.

Wynn has knitted them along with a friend to pay tribute to the amazing work key workers are doing and has used the rainbow as it has become a symbol of support for people wanting to show solidarity with NHS workers on the frontline.

She said: “My manager Kevin knew I like to knit and asked if I could knit anything for the team to show our support, so my friend and I thought we would do some rainbow badges.

“All my colleagues are really proud to wear them, which is lovely, and it is a nice way to show our support for the NHS and all key workers.

“We have had lots of nice comments about them from customers and NHS workers in particular who have thanked us for showing our support.”

Kevin Tromans, Store Manager at Central England Co-op in Harrison Drive, said the team were delighted to wear the badges.

He said: “The badges look fantastic and it is great that Wynn has taken the time to do them. They are really appreciated by all the team and I hope they raise a smile during these testing times.”

To further show support for local healthcare workers the team decided to donate a hamper of Easter goodies to staff at Hannage Brook Medical centre in the town for their hard work and commitment to helping the community.

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

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