Celebrating Together - our colleagues honoured

Hard-working colleagues from across Lincolnshire Co-op have been honoured for making life better in their communities.

An awards ceremony was held at Lincolnshire Showground last night and brought together hundreds of team members from across the trading area. Lincoln City football manager Danny Cowley was the guest of honour and the event was hosted by BBC Radio Lincolnshire’s Melvyn Prior.

The prestigious Colleague of the Year and Branch of the Year accolades were bestowed on dedicated staff. Employees were also recognised for volunteering work and for completing training.

Award winners included pharmacist Jeff Law from Lincoln’s Cabourne Avenue Pharmacy. He was chosen as the winner of the Colleague of the Year gold award and was singled out for being helpful, trustworthy and inspiring.

Nominated by colleagues in his branch for his care and professionalism, Jeff was praised for going the extra mile when a pregnant patient presented themselves with signs of pre-eclampsia, which can have serious complications if it’s not monitored and treated.

Jeff took her to a doctors’ surgery but the GPs were on home visits. Keen that she was seen, he took her home to arrange childcare for her youngster and then took her to hospital himself, where she was then admitted.

He was also celebrated for his actions during the snow earlier this month. Pharmacies can’t dispense medication without a pharmacist on the premises, and despite a two-hour drive to work, even offered his support to other branches. He even ended up helping to make patient medication home deliveries – a lifeline for many people who can’t leave their homes.

The Information Systems team, which works across Lincolnshire Co-op’s trading area, collectively won the Colleague of the Year silver award.

The team was commended for pulling together and protecting all of Lincolnshire Co-op’s many IT systems during the aftermath of the WannaCry cyber security attack in May 2017. This involved lots of technical work out of hours, into the night and over the weekend, plus visiting many trading branches to check systems as soon as possible.

The Colleague of the Year bronze award was bestowed on Funeral Director Peter Riley, who runs the Gainsborough, Retford and Market Funeral Home. He was honoured for working together with Bassetlaw Hospice in Retford to organise a 1940s-themed fundraising event, doing everything from selling tickets to decorating the hall, and helping organise staff volunteering events at the hospice.

Branches of the Year roll of honour

Post Office of the Year – silver award

Waddington Post Office

Post Office of the Year – gold award

Long Sutton Post Office

Food Store of the Year – bronze award

Saxilby Food Store

Food Store of the Year – silver award

Kirton in Lindsey Food Store

Food Store of the Year – gold award

Crowland Food Store

Travel Branch of the Year

Spalding travel branch

Cruise Travel Branch of the Year –

Boston travel branch

Funeral Home of the Year – silver award

Grimsby Funeral Home

Funeral Home of the Year – gold award

Sleaford Funeral Home

Pharmacy of the Year – bronze award

Swineshead Pharmacy

Pharmacy of the Year – silver award

Spilsby Pharmacy

Pharmacy of the Year – gold award

Rookery Lane Pharmacy

Colleagues of the Year roll of honour

Bronze award

Funeral director Peter Riley, Gainsborough Funeral Home

Silver award

Information Systems Team, various Lincolnshire Co-op sites.

Gold winner

Pharmacist Jeff Law, Cabourne Avenue Pharmacy, Lincoln

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4pb9m-wXgg&t=7s