  Dear Member, With restrictions being cautiously eased yesterday, I felt it was the correct time to give you an update on where we stand as a Society. Whilst it is wonderful to start seeing a bit of normality return to our lives, it is important to remember things aren't back to normal quite yet.  Last week, we returned to our normal opening hours across all our food stores (full details here). We recognise that, as life slowly returns to a degree of normality, our members need us to be open for longer hours once more. However, due to the exceptionally high level of demand still being seen in some areas (such as home baking, beers and wines), our stock levels are still not quite where we'd like them to be. We ask that you remain patient, and know that we continue to work with suppliers to return this to normal as soon as possible. Our primary concern is for the safety of our colleagues and customers, and we ask that all those using our shops be aware of others when buying groceries, and ensure that a social distance is maintained. Please continue to keep a 2 metre distance, as not all customers will be wearing face-coverings and safety must come first. Also, our managers still have the ability to close the store for brief periods during the day to allow our colleagues time to put deliveries out safely. In recent weeks, our food teams have working with our Quadrant delivery drivers to get much needed long-life groceries to food banks across the region, and we've awarded unconditional grants of £16,000 to five of them. Our high level of community support has continued throughout this pandemic, and you'll notice we are now also collecting for Coronavirus relief efforts in all our stores.   On Monday, coinciding rather neatly with the start of Co-op Fortnight. we were able to reopen our flagship Quadrant department store in Chelmsford. Safety measures included the closure of fitting rooms, though refund policies have been tweaked to provide added confidence to those trying items on at home. Sadly, our popular Brambles restaurant also remains closed, however - following yesterday's government announcement - I know they are working on their plans to be able to reopen safely, and in a COVID-secure way, as soon as they are able. We've gone straight into our Summer Sale, with discounts across all departments including housewares and furniture, plus there are some huge bargains to be had in our clearance areas. Furniture deliveries are taking place once again, however we are unable to dispose of old furniture at this time due to ongoing restrictions. Following Chelmsford's successful reopening, we will be turning our attention to our Braintree store, and hope to announce a reopening date shortly.   Though available over the last few weeks on the phone, our Chelmsford travel team are once again ready to welcome you back into the branch to help you with your enquiries face-to-face. We've brochures available for the hundreds of tour operators we work with for those ready for some holiday inspiration (and who isn't!) and you are also now able to book a consultancy appointment with one of the team to avoid potentially lengthy queues. I would recommend you do so: call 01245 490290. With airlines adding flights throughout July, and UK hotels now having a date for their reopening, everyone is more than ready to kick start the travel industry as soon as it is safe to do so. Alternatively, why not start planning for next year? 2021 holidays are now widely available, and demand for them will be high!   Our co-op funeral teams continue to work with the upmost compassion and professionalism under the most difficult of circumstances. We are still encouraging clients to phone or email with their arrangement wishes where possible, and our limousine service remains unavailable at this time. Venues will still limit the number available to attend services, however this will be increasing following the latest relaxations. Future updates will be posted to our funeral website where you can also find full contact details.  Those members who don't want to wait till our next Members Meeting (on 5th October) to find out how we got on in our last financial year, can find our full accounts available to read on our website here. If you'd prefer a hard copy, you can request one by emailing our Society Secretary, Ellen Tredwin, via ellen@chelmsfordstar.coop. Meanwhile, the latest issue of our members' magazine, Starlight, is also now available, and can be read online here. It includes more detail on some of the areas I've touched upon, changes to our Board, how our divisions have got on throughout lockdown, and a whole lot more. I believe that our community, and a sense of 'togetherness', will remain essential to all of us in the coming months, even with the latest relaxation to our enforced hibernation. If we continue to co-operate with each other, and to support those who are more vulnerable than ourselves, I hope we will come out of this pandemic as a stronger and more unified society. Take care.
Barry Wood MCMI CIRM
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Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Your latest member update
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